What happened at William Floyd on Saturday afternoon to Sachem North was largely expected considering the depletion of the Flaming Arrows roster.
Without seven starters in the game, including multiple star players, Floyd got the better of Sachem, 36-3.
Among the players out were Trent Crossan (hamstring), Kevin Bragaglia (shoulder) and Anthony Ross (foot).
“Unless we have those young guys back, it’s going to be more of the same,” Sachem coach Dave Falco said. “It’s going to be young guys out there playing. It’s the nature of high school football. We put some kids in position today where they couldn’t be successful. That’s not something you want to do as a coach, but you have to put 11 guys out there. Nobody is feeling sorry for us, we have to get back to the drawing board.”
Floyd (5-1) quarterback A.J. Otranto led a powerful offense with his 9-of-14 passing day for 182 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 10 carries for 75 yards and a 20-yard touchdown run.
Sachem’s (4-2) lone set of points came off a 28-yard field goal from junior kicker Bryan Morris in the second quarter. Morris successfully completed an onside kick on the next play, but Sachem coughed up the ball on a fumble, nixing its biggest emotional output of the afternoon.
Among the players who received more playing time than normal was Anthony Service, who played quarterback for the varsity for the first time. Starter Mike O’Donnell only played the first series. Service was 1-for-5 and completed a 12-yard pass to Malik Pierre.
Sachem backs Tyler Andreassi (71 yards) and Pierre (73 yards) combined for 144 yards on 34 carries. Floyd out-gained Sachem, 342-212, in total offensive yardage.
This marks the first time since Weeks 4 and 5 in 2008 that Sachem has lost back-to-back regular season games. It’s also the first time Sachem has failed to score a touchdown in a game since 2006 (Week 5 against Longwood, 13-3 final). Sachem has allowed 30-plus points in back-to-back games only two other times in 51 seasons (2007 and 1974).
Falco said all injured players are day-to-day and he will not make a decision about their playing time until they have been medically evaluated prior to their next game.
The Flaming Arrows pick up again next Friday evening against Longwood. Sachem’s 1977 Suffolk County championship team will be honored at halftime for a 35th anniversary celebration.
RELATED: PHOTOS: View more images from the Sachem-Floyd game
Scoring Summary
-F: Otranto, 33 pass, kick no good
-F: Otranto, 10 pass, kick good
-F: Floyd, 1 run, kick good
-S: Morris, 28 field goal
-F: Otranto, 20 run, kick no good
-F: Floyd 30 field goal
-F: Faison, 40 run, kick good
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro