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Sports

Huntington Football Beats Harborfields, 35-14

Blue Devils advance to Suffolk Division III semifinals with win.

The  football team picked up where it left off last week and then some.  The Blue Devils outscored rival Harborfields, 35-14, en route to a Suffolk Division III quarterfinal victory on Saturday.

Quarterback Danny Plant and running back Calvin Bollar accounted for five touchdowns to lead No. 3 Huntington (7-2) to the semifinals. The Blue Devils have won seven of their last eight games, the . .

The Heroes: Danny Plant completed 10 of 16 pass attempts in the game and scored two touchdowns.  Plant's first score was a 54-yard bomb down the far sideline to Tyre Brown, who somehow maintained his balance and possession of the ball as he stumbled into the end zone with a Harborfields defender in tow.  The score made it 21-6 as the Blue Devils began to put the game out of reach.

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"That was great," Plant said of the play.  "I don't know how he caught it.  That was a game changer."

Plant's second touchdown pass was a 30-yarder to Ryan Mulligan.  Plant faked the handoff and then bootlegged out to his right side, giving himself plenty of time to find Ryan Mulligan streaking into the right corner of the end zone.  Mulligan beat the Harborfields cornerback, made the catch, and then tumbled over the goal line.

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Calvin Bollar scored three rushing touchdowns for the Blue Devils.  He pounded in short scores of 1 and 2 yards in the first half, and added a 27-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.  Bollar finished the day with 97 yards on 19 carries.

Trayvon Toney also had a nice game running the ball. He finished with 54 yards on 12 carries.  Toney also had an interception on defense.

The Turning Point:  Going into halftime up 21-6 meant the Blue Devils  had a lead of only two scores and Harborfields was primed to make a comeback.  Huntington got the ball coming out of the locker room and made sure that didn't happen. 

On a drive starting from the Blue Devils' 35-yard line, Plant got the drive going with a 38-yard completion to Mulligan.  That put Bollar in position to make a big play as he scored his  third touchdown of the day from 27 yards out to put the Blue Devils up by 22. 

The touchdown seemed to deflate Harborfields, which went four and out on its next possession and then quickly gave up another big touchdown.

Quotable: "After a big win last weekend against Islip, the kids really believed," Huntington coach Steve Muller said.  "Now we just have to keep working together."

The Bottom Line: Huntington played nearly as well against Harborfields as it did in its first meeting in September.  It's always hard to replicate success against a team when you play them a second time, but Huntington did a great job defensively containing the Harborfields running game.  The Blue Devils made Harborfields punt four times, turn the ball over on downs twice and only allowed two touchdowns, with the last one coming late in the game.

Key Stat: The Blue Devils only turned the ball over one time in this game.  Punter Matthew Curley fumbled the long snap and Harborfields fell on the ball.  The mistake didn't hurt his team, however, as Toney came up with his interception on the very next play.

Who's Next?: Teams will be reseeded following first round games, but with top seed Sayville, No. 2 Islip, and No. 5 Westhampton all winning, it's likely that Huntington will get a rematch -- this time on the road -- with Islip next Saturday. . 

Suffolk Division III Football Quarterfinals

TEAMS………………...1…....2…..3…..4 – F

Harborfields........…0……6..…0......8 – 14

Huntington…..……..7…...14.…14....0– 35

H - Bollar 2 run (Curley kick)

HF – FitzMaurice 17 pass from Clark (kick failed)

H – Bollar 1 run (Curley kick)

H – Brown 54 pass from Plant (Curley kick)

H – Bollar 27 run (Curley kick)

H – Mulligan 30 pass from Plant (Curley kick)

HF – Fessenden 10-pass from Clark (Fessenden pass from Clark)

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