When Sachem North and Connetquot take the field tonight for their Suffolk County Division I football game, it will be much more than a routine Week 8 match-up. Playing for the first time since 2018, when Connetquot was shifted to Division II because of enrollment, the neighboring schools will pick up where they left off to jumpstart a rivalry that began in 1980.
To commemorate the modern chapter, both programs have agreed to play for a rivalry trophy with local significance. Since the school communities are bordered by Lake Ronkonkoma, they’ll now play for the “Hugh Birdsall Oar” in the Battle of Lake Ronkonkoma.
Local lore suggests that the Native American Princess Tuskawanta of the Algonquin Tribe was attracted to Birdsall, a young man her family forbade from seeing. The myth says the princess wrote letters to Birdsall, who lived across the lake, and delivered them by rowing to the middle of the water and floating the notes on a piece of bark. Various tales are spun from their love story, some more grim than others.
In recent history, the princess was carved into a 32-foot European beech tree on the lake’s northeast corner. The princess is always spoken about, but Birdsall doesn’t get much recognition. Until now.
Friday night’s game is about much more than lake lore, however. These teams have met 36 times since 1980, and Sachem holds a 23-11-2 advantage. The Flaming Arrows have outscored the Thunderbirds 777-507 all-time, but Connetquot rattled off three straight wins in Suffolk County championship battles in 1989, 1990, and 1994, deeply solidifying the local rivalry. After Sachem won six straight games from 2009-2013, Connetquot has won the last three in 2014, 2017, and 2018.
Rivalry trophies have existed for well over a century in college football. Minnesota and Wisconsin play for the Paul Bunyan Axe, Indiana and Purdue play for the Old Oaken Bucket, and Michigan and Minnesota play for the Little Brown Jug, among dozens of other unique physical sentiments that enhance the optics of already emotionally stimulating contests. The Birdsall Wooden Oar, developed by the Sachem Alumni Association, will be engraved each year with the score of each game and kept by the winning school until the victor changes.
“I promise to have chills going down my spine on Friday night when our bus pulls into Connetquot,” said Sachem football coach and alum Dave Caputo. “As a player, I knew exactly where the town’s border was where this transformation took place, but fast forward all these years, and the mutual respect that both alumni bases have developed for each other is tremendous.”
Like Caputo, Connetquot coach Mike Konsevich played for the program he coaches, lives in his community, and is raising his family in the same school system where he developed. Their passion for football and community spirit are identical.
“I have always had a great respect for Sachem Football since the late ‘80s when I became a part of the rivalry,” said Konsevich. “We won some great games and lost some heartbreakers. Throughout all of these games, over 30 years of competition, what I can tell you about Sachem is this: you are in for a battle for four quarters. They are tough, well-coached, disciplined, and play with a lot of grit.”
Turn back the clocks about 30 years, and you probably wouldn’t find Sachem coach Fred Fusaro or Connetquot coach Nick Masi sharing such friendly commentary. In recent years, alumni from both programs have also worked together to launch the “Thunder Arrow” non-profit, which spearheads a golf outing in honor of beloved alums Freddie Kemp from Sachem and Richie Lacasse from Connetquot.
Caputo recalls the sweet sense of victory beating Connetquot in the 2013 semifinals en route to an eventual Long Island championship. He also still lives with the sickening feeling of losing on a last-minute field goal in the 1994 county final, a 10-7 win for Connetquot.
“We are now the torch holders carrying on this great rivalry for our schools to enjoy and have fun with,” he said. “I don’t know what the outcome will be Friday night, but I know that hundreds of alumni can assure you it will be the most physical and passionate game of the year. And starting this year, someone will walk off the field with that wooden oar.”
