Kicking off: Preshod McCoy rushed for 144 yards and scored all four of his team's touchdowns in No. 17
North Babylon's 30-6 victory over No. 15 East Islip in a battle Saturday of unbeaten Section 11 Class AA teams ranked by the New York State Sportswriters Association.
East Islip had allowed only 32 points through its first six games, but North Babylon rolled up 249 rushing yards.
McCoy's 30-yard run in the second quarter built a 14-0 lead before East Islip cut the margin in half before halftime. Midway through the third quarter, Dontae Caldwell returned at interception 57 yards to set up McCoy for a momentum shifted 8-yard TD run five plays later.
(North Babylon-East Islip photo gallery)
In another big Suffolk County contest, William Floyd was dominating in a 34-0 rout of No. 21 Northport, which had been averaging 36 points on the strength of a running game that was grinding out 285 yards per contest.
Floyd limited the Tigers to 39 carries for 76 yards and just 154 total yards.
"The challenge was right before us," defensive end Andrew Incantalupo told Newsday after a three-sack, seven-tackle day. "Northport has two backs that ran over every team in the division. Coach (Paul Longo) put together a great game plan and we completely shut them down."
Senior quarterback Darryl Moore rushed 13 times for 133 yards and three touchdowns. The first score was set up by defensive end Kevin Hauter's blinside sack and fumble recover at the Tigers 27.
First down: With a disproportionate number of the schools in that class located in that half of the state, it's not surprising the Western Region has won seven of the last nine NYSPHSAA Class D championships. And it looks as though this year's rep will be formidable as well as Sections 3 (Westmoreland), 4 (Delhi), 5 (Dundee or Avon) and 6 (Maple Grove or Randolph) all have teams steamrolling toward a pair of high-power state quarterfinals in three weeks.
Chief among them for the moment is top-ranked Westmoreland following its 25-6 win over No. 15 Dolgeville. Junior Dan Smith threw for two TDs and ran for another, finishing 12-for-20 for 249 yards through the air to set up a sectional final against Utica Notre Dame. It will be a rematch of Westmoreland's 44-12 triumph in the season opener.
A muddy field and rugged defense limited Westmoreland to 92 rushing yards.
"It was tough to run the option in that kind of weather, and Dolgeville took away the run," Smith told The Observer-Dispatch. "We knew we weren’t going to be able to do that. We had to open it up. The conditions weren’t great and they were stacking their defense, so we had to do something else."
Second down: Senior Zach Hinkson kicked a 30-yard field goal in overtime as Caledonia-Mumford eliminated No. 9 Clyde-Savannah from the Section 5 Class D tournament, 17-14.
Jon Cappotelli rushed for 145 yards as the Red Raiders advanced to a Thursday rematch with Avon, a 36-8 victor over the Red Raiders on Oct. 2.
Cal-Mum's Mike Anderson scored on the final play of the first half on a 2-yard run then threw the conversion pass to Madison Suhr to tie the score at 14.
The second half was scoreless, and Cal-Mum stopped the Golden Eagles on four plays to open the overtime. Hinkson then made his winning kick on a fourth-down snap.
Third down: No. 6 Nanuet broke open a close game with
