Torin Bograd found Chad Rowe in the corner of the end zone for a 23 yard touchdown pass to give the Huntington football team a thrilling 27-20 overtime victory over Smithtown East at Blue Devil Stadium last Saturday afternoon.
The lead seesawed back and forth between the two teams throughout most of the game. Smithtown East tied the score with a 24 yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. Neither team could score during their first possession in overtime. But then Bograd threaded a needle and lofted a pass to Rowe who hauled it in despite tight coverage and kept his feet inbounds by the smallest of margins.
Quarterback Torin Bograd tossed the winning touchdown pass on Saturday. (Darin Reed photo)
Huntington went on to hold off Smithtown East’s final sequence of plays to claim victory before an excited crowd of 500. The win gives the Blue Devils a 3-2 mark heading into next Saturday’s game at Northport.
The victory catapulted Huntington to fourth place in the 14 team Suffolk Division II standings. The Blue Devils have outscored their five opponents this fall by a 117-82 margin.
Junior Nasir Youngblood rushed 23 times for 283 yards and three touchdowns. He scored on runs of 1, 31 and 63 yards and also ran back several kicks for big yardage. The teenager now has 12 touchdowns this fall.
“I feel the key to today’s victory was to keep our heads up and play like it was our last game, giving all we have and not thinking that the game was over when they were up on us at one point,” Youngblood said. “I feel amazing by it, too. I promise you I do. Yeah we were not giving it our all in the beginning, but I knew at one point we were going to wake up and get our heads in the game. I just hoped it wasn’t going to happen when it was too late. I really believe in my team a lot. I love all my guys and would do anything for them.”
Bograd completed four of seven passes for 68 yards. “The key for today’s win was our persistence and not letting up,” the junior quarterback said. “The game was not the prettiest, but we got the job done and did what we needed to do when it mattered the most. I felt that we really needed this game to send a message to the whole county and we got that done and I am extremely excited about it. The team knows how big a win this is, but also knows that we need to get back to work and patch things up. Overall, it was a great team effort and win coming down to the last seconds.”
Huntington fell behind a little more than a minute into the game when Smithtown East’s Anthony Weidtman connected on a 30 yard field goal. The Bulls extended their advantage to 10-0 on a 15 yard touchdown pass by Weidtman to Kevin Melore.
Youngblood’s first touchdown run brought the Blue Devils to within 10-7 by halftime. Huntington took the lead in the third quarter when Youngblood ran 31 yards for his second touchdown of the afternoon. Smithtown went ahead 17-14 on a five yard touchdown run by Melore.
Youngblood then ran 63 yards for his third touchdown, but Huntington missed the extra point and led 20-17. Weidtman tied the game with a 24 yard field goals with seconds remaining. The teams then exchanged overtime possessions starting at the 25 yard line before Bograd found Rowe with what proved to be the winning touchdown pass. The Blue Devils then held Smithtown East on its final possession to claim the victory.
“The key to today’s game was playing with our hearts,” Jaylen Bush said. “The team and I knew we would win if we fought side by side with each other and we came out with the victory.”
With each team entering the game with a 2-2 record, it was a must-win contest for both squads. Huntington once again had to contend with costly penalties, dropped passes and quarterback sacks, but in the end, got the job done.
“We just had to keep playing,” Aedan McDonald said. “We started slow, but we finished strong. We pulled things together as a team and now we have to get ready for next week.”
Senior Lex Colato once again enjoyed a productive afternoon in the offensive backfield and defensive secondary with several big plays on both sides of the ball. “I feel like we really stuck together as a team and played all-out,” he said. “We all stepped up on both offense and defense to take home the win. The big moments where we had to make plays, we made them. I’m really excited to see what’s in store for us. We have a lot of potential and can make it far.
Huntington plays at Northport on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Tigers are 1-4 this fall. They have lost games to Connetquot (13-7), Half Hollow Hills East (30-6), Centereach (14-0) and last weekend to West Islip (42-7). Northport’s lone victory came over Deer Park, 31-6.
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Huntington is now 3-3 all-time in overtime games. The Blue Devils are 4-2 all-time against Smithtown East in the six games the two teams have played against each other.
