Sachem assistant coach Alex Grimm had the team in a pre-game huddle at midfield during warmups and gave an emotional speech about making the most out of senior night, their final regular season game at home.
“I will coach as hard as I can tonight for you,” he screamed,” and I expect you to play as hard as you can.”
The Flaming Arrows picked the right game to put forth their best defensive effort and adhere to Grimm’s calling. Sachem North capped its 2013 regular season with a dominant, 21-7, victory over local rival Patchogue-Medford on Friday at Fred Fusaro Alumni Stadium.
Sachem is now 6-2 and will await a playoff seed most likely in the top four of Suffolk County’s Division I, which means it’ll host a first round playoff game next weekend. All dates, times and opponents are still yet to be determined.
Patchogue-Medford (5-3) boasts one of the best pass-catch tandems on the Island with quarterback Anthony Lee and receiver Conor Coughlin. Lee was 10-for-22 and threw for 78 yards, 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions. Coughlin was held to 5 receptions for 54 yards and 1 touchdown.
Coming off a Week 7 win at Lindenhurst, Sachem had made some strong defensive adjustments that allowed the Flaming Arrows to let up just 13 points the last two weeks. They took a more simple approach to schemes and alignments, according to senior captain Malik Pierre, who had two interceptions Friday.
“We needed to play fast and physical,” said Pierre. “We knew Pat-Med had [Coughlin], the best receiver the county, and we had to stop him. Our defense hasn’t been great all year, but we’re getting it back to where it should be.”
And where it should be is keeping Patchogue scoreless in three quarters, including the entire first half that saw four straight plays stopped inside its own five yard line with four minutes left in the second quarter. This is a Pat-Med offense that was averaging 37 points per game entering Friday’s contest and has scored no less then 23 points against an opponent.
“The kids have been able to play faster on the defensive side of the ball,” said Sachem coach Dave Falco. “They work hard. They know how to get lined up. We were trying to stop everything. You can’t stop everything. Play defense, run to the ball and hit. [Sachem defensive coordinator] Dave Caputo works his tail off and has done a great job. It really was an excellent job by the defensive staff.”
While Pierre was busy making plays on defense, he was equally as effective on special teams and from his running back position. He put Sachem on the board first at 10:41 of the second quarter on a 75-yard touchdown run off a fake punt from Sachem’s 25-yard line.
“We practiced it for like three weeks and we never got to do it,” he said. “When I saw coach call for it on the sideline I got so excited. I knew it was gunna go for a dinger. It’s like an option play basically. I had the option guy and no one came to me, so I just ran with it.”
Said Falco, “We always talk about quality special teams as one of our things. Quality special teams wins football games and sometimes you have to surprise people.”
Sachem made it 14-0 on a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Anthony Service at 10:20 of the third quarter. Service helped set up the quarterback sneak play with a 35-yard run on the previous snap, which put the ball inside Raiders’ territory.
On the next series Pierre had carries of 18 and 33 yards to give Sachem good position for its third score of the game, a 3-yard touchdown run by Anthony Ross to make it 21-0.
Pat-Med’s only touchdown came on a 25-yard pass in the third quarter from Lee to Coughlin.
News & Notes
- Trent Crossan had 5 carries and 16 yards rushing, all from the tailback position, before he left the game in the first quarter with ankle issues stemming from an injury he’s suffered from since Week 3.
- Sachem senior Mike O’Donnell recorded an interception in the victory.
- Total yards: Sachem out-gained Pat-Med, 403-159, in total offensive yardage.
- With his three extra points in the win, Sachem senior kicker Bryan Morris is just 12 points away from owning the Long Island scoring record for kickers. He currently has 170 and the record is 181 held by East Islip’s Sean Moller.
- Pierre had a game-high 16 carries for 176 yards and 1 touchdowns to go with his two interceptions on defense.
PHOTOS: See more photos from Sachem North’s football senior night
HISTORY: Malik Pierre reaches 2,000-yard mark for his career
Scoring Breakdown
- S: Pierre, 75 run, Morris kick
- S: Service, 1 run, Morris kick
- S: Ross, 3 run, Morris kick
- P: Lee to Coughlin, 25 pass, kick good
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro