Blue Devils Stopped in County Semifinals

Blue Devil boys’ lacrosse fans were believing on Saturday afternoon as Huntington took the lead against No. 1 Half Hollow Hills in a Suffolk Final Four pairing. A win would have put Huntington in its first county final game in many years.

With the score tied late in the third period at 7-7, Half Hollow Hills staged a furious rally, scoring seven of the final eight goals in the game to stun Huntington, 14-8. The Blue Devils finished the season with a 13-5 mark.

Huntington took a 5-4 first period lead before falling behind by halftime, 6-5. The two teams found themselves tied at 7-7 as the clock ticked down late in the third period. All of a sudden, everything seemed to click for Half Hollow Hills as the team seemingly solved the riddle of the Blue Devil defense and a deluge of goals followed.

Huntington had plenty of chances, but Half Hollow Hills goalie Sal Santoro stopped 20 shots. Thomas Girimonti (56 goals; 31 assists) scored four goals and had an assist and Brian Hrybenko (22g; 14a) added two goals. Colon Lennon (29g; 22a) tallied a goal and an assist. Tommy Kline (23g: 25a) also scored in the game. Dan McNulty (38g; 31a) picked up an assist. Goalie Will Fallon made eight saves.

The Blue Devils found it hard to stop Half Hollow Hills’ Zach Marco, who scored six goals and Anthony Raio, who had four goals and an assist. Huntington went down fighting.

The loss naturally stung Huntington, especially its seniors who were wearing their Blue Devil uniforms for the last time. Head coach Julian Watts and assistant coaches Andrew Gutierrez and George Powers huddled together after the game. The season has been a wild ride and the team has played well. Players and coaches put countless hours into off-season workouts and all of it paid obvious dividends.

As the seconds raced down to the final horn, the Blue Devils’ fans gave the team the cheers it so deserved after playing its heart out over 18 games this spring. The players breathed new life into the program and the school and community sat up and took notice.