This Sunday will mark Sachem’s 18th appearance in a Suffolk County football championship game. In the grand scheme of Long Island football history, this puts the Flaming Arrows in the middle of the pack compared to schools like Garden City (42), Farmingdale (32), Babylon (29), Sayville (26) or Bellport (24), who seemingly find themselves competing in the title game literally every year.
Sachem, however, is on a bit of a streak, clinching a spot in the title game for the fourth time in the last five years. There are precedents of championship consistency in the program though considering they played in three straight championships from 1977-1979 and four straight from 1983-1986.
Sachem’s championship successes began just six seasons after Fred Fusaro took over as head coach. The 1977 season was special on a number of levels and saw Sachem’s first Hansen Award winner in Brian Dehler, plus the program earned its first Rutger’s Trophy as the top team in Suffolk County. It took Sachem 16 years to win its first championship after the program was founded in 1961, and they piled on with two more consecutive victories in the title game in 1978 and 1979.
Back then the “divisions” were actually called “conferences” in both Suffolk and Nassau, but that changed in Suffolk in the early 1980s. By the mid-’80s, Sachem had become a powerhouse, winning county titles in 1983 and 1986, and appearing in title loses in 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1989. Sachem’s current head coach Dave Falco was a senior on the ’83 club, which is still the only undefeated squad in school history. The Flaming Arrows appeared in six out of the 10 championship games played that decade.
There was an nine-year gap between 1986 and Sachem’s next county championship win in 1995. That team was packed with junior talent that wound up winning the school’s sixth county title just a year later. Sachem assistant coach Dave Caputo was a senior on that team, which is the last to win a championship for the Flaming Arrows. That’s also the only team in program history to play in the Long Island championship since it was developed for football in 1992.
In the modern era it’s been all about Sachem and Floyd in Suffolk’s Division I. No team has won as many games as Sachem in the last five years in the entire county, and very few on Long Island can compare in the wins column either. It’s just a matter of nabbing that lucky No. 7 for its championship crown.
Championship Historical Notes
- Sachem is 6-11 in its 17 appearances in county finals.
- The most points Sachem has scored in a championship game are the 34 it put up against William Floyd in a 41-34 loss during the 2010 season. This also happened to be Sachem’s highest scoring offense of all-time.
- The 75 combined points in that 2010 bout are also the most total points between Sachem and its opponent in a championship.
- The most points the Flaming Arrows have allowed in a title game are 48 by Pat-Med in a 48-20 loss in 2002. This was also Fred Fusaro’s last game as head coach at Sachem.
- Three of the previous 17 championship appearances have occurred while Falco has been the head coach.
- Sachem is one of just a handful of schools on Long Island to appear in a championship game in each of the last four decades.
Sachem’s Suffolk County Championship Games
- Division I: 2013 … ?
- Division I: 2011 … W. Floyd 35, Sachem 20
- Division I: 2010 … W. Floyd 41, Sachem 34
- Division I: 2009 … W. Floyd 27, Sachem 6
- Division I: 2002 … Patchogue-Medford 48, Sachem 20
- Division I: 2000 … Commack 35, Sachem 27
- Division I: 1996 … Patchogue-Medford 18, Sachem 13
- Division I: 1995 … Sachem 21, Longwood 0
- Division I: 1994 … Connetquot 10, Sachem 7
- Division I: 1990 … Connetquot 14, Sachem 6
- Division I: 1989 … Connetquot 9, Sachem 7
- Division I: 1986 … Sachem 14, West Islip 0
- Division I: 1985 … West Islip 24, Sachem 7
- Division I: 1984 … Whitman 17, Sachem 14
- Division I: 1983 … Sachem 20, East Islip 14
- Conference I: 1979 … Sachem 19, West Islip 7
- Conference I: 1978 … Sachem 15, East Islip 0
- Conference I: 1977 … Sachem 21, Patchogue 16
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro