Schools
Huntington Football Comes Back to Defeat Islip, 14-7
Danny Plant and Calvin Bollar help hand Islip its first loss as the Blue Devils head for a playoff game next Saturday.
The Huntington Blue Devils came from behind to beat previously undefeated Islip, 14-7, in a classic Division III football game at Huntington High School Saturday.
Neither team scored until Islip's Jeffrey Craig kept it himself for an 8-yard score with 5 minutes left in the first half. But Huntington manufactured two impressive touchdown drives in the second half to pull off the upset.
The Heroes: Huntington quarterback Danny Plant performed impressively in the second half, completing 4 of his 5 pass attempts including a momentum-changing 26- yard touchdown pass to Tyre Brown that tied the game at 7 to start the third quarter.
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Calvin Bollar had a huge second half for the Blue Devils as well. He exploded for a 42-yard carry to start a Huntington drive at the 31-yard line. That big carry got his team deep into Islip territory and helped set up his eventual 3-yard touchdown run to take the lead for Huntington. Bollar totaled 111 second half yards on 14 carries, including his touchdown.
The Turning Points: Huntington's biggest moment in this game was undoubtedly Plant's 26-yard touchdown pass to Brown. It changed the momentum in Huntington's favor and seemed to ignite the Huntington defense to make a stand as they forced Islip to punt on their first three drives to start the half.
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Islip had one last chance to tie the game as it drove down the field with time running down in the second half. On second and 8 and less than a minute left on the game clock, Craig threw a pass over the middle toward the end zone but the route was jumped by Huntington linebacker Jared Thorbourne. The interception sealed the victory for Huntington when Plant took a knee to end the game.
"I knew they would throw to the outside," Thorbourne said of the play. "I got called for a couple of pass interference penalties in the beginning, so they threw it to the big man and I jumped the pass and intercepted it."
Quotable: "It's a tremendous win for our program," Huntington coach Steve Muller said. "Beating the No.1 seed in our division showed these guys that they can believe in themselves, that we're ready for the playoffs and we're ready for the next step. This is what we talked about all year. It's one game at a time."
Bottom Line: Huntington pulled off one the biggest wins in its program's history. Islip was the clear favorite coming in and Huntington played them tough on defense and got the key plays that they needed on offense in order to win. They'll host a playoff game next Saturday as they look to keep their championship drive moving.
Key Stat: The Huntington defense recorded two sacks on Craig as the pressured him all game long.
Who's Next?: Huntington will host a yet to be determined team at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Suffolk Division III quarterfinals.
Suffolk Division III Football
TEAMS………………...1…....2…..3…..4 – F
Islip...............…...…0……7……0…..0 – 7
Huntington…………..0…..0….14…..0– 14
I - Craig 8 run (Rosenthal kick)
H – Brown 26 pass from Plant (Curley kick)
H – Bollar 3 run (Curley kick)
