The opening day kickoff is still about five months away, but Section XI has already developed tentative 2019 varsity football schedules.
The Huntington football team will play an exciting set of home and away games. The first day of high school football practice in Suffolk County will be Monday, August 19. Game play will begin on Friday, September 13. Huntington is seeded No. 8 in the 14-team Suffolk Division II.
The Blue Devil schedule includes: (week and seed indicated)
Week 1: No. 2 West Islip at Huntington
Week 2: No. 13 Copiague at Huntington
Week 3: Huntington at No. 4 Centereach
Week 4: Huntington at No. 10 Half Hollow Hills East
Week 5: No. 12 Smithtown East at Huntington
Week 6: Huntington at No. 6 Northport
Week 7: Huntington at No. 14 Deer Park
Week 8: No. 1 Lindenhurst at Huntington
The first round of the playoffs will be held on Saturday, November 9 with the semifinals set for Saturday, November 16 and the county championship game scheduled for Saturday, November 23 at Stony Brook University at 4 p.m. The Long Island championship game will be played at Hofstra University on Saturday, November 30 at 4:30 p.m.
Huntington is losing All-State quarterback JP Paci to graduation along with several other talented seniors. While their loss will obviously be felt, Blue Devil head coach Steve Muller expressed optimism that a strong team is returning to the field for the 2019 campaign. Many veteran underclassmen are coming back along with some a group of talented junior varsity players that are due for promotion.
Muller and his staff have been working for several months on next year’s team, figuring out where all the parts of the puzzle fit offensively and defensively. Returning players are engaged in physical conditioning.
Among Huntington’s returnees are All-Division players Jonathan Koumas, Tazadon Smith and Jaylen Bush. “We have some great kids coming back,” Muller said. “We expect to be very competitive.”