Football: Three in a row for surging Porters
PORTERS 42, MARINERS 20
The Greenport/Southold/Mattitutck High football team continued its remarkable resurgence on Friday night.
Junior quarterback Matt Drinkwater combined with senior wide receiver Gene Allen for four touchdowns and senior running back Frankie Sierra scored two on the ground himself to help the Porters to a 42-20 victory that spoiled Homecoming at Southampton High School.
After enduring a 13-game losing the past two years, the Porters have won three games this year and remain undefeated heading into the halfway point of the season.
The Mariners (1-2) made Greenport (3-0) sweat a bit early on as it enjoyed a 20-14 lead with 8:30 remaining in the second quarter. But the visitors rattled off 28 unanswered points — four consecutive touchdowns — to pull away in the Suffolk County Division IV encounter.
The first half was back-and-forth until the visitors took control in the second quarter.
Greenport drew first blood as Allen’s first TD off a 16-yard Drinkwater toss with 6:14 left in the first quarter. Junior John Drinkwater kicked the first of his seven extra points for a 7-0 lead.
Southampton, however, used three big plays in its next three drives to pull to a 20-14 advantage.
First, Shaundell Fishburne’s fake punt turned a fourth and nine situation into a first-and-10 scenario on the 10-yard line. William Taylor Reddick’s 10-yard scoring run tied the game at 7 with 2:44 to go in the first quarter.
On their next series, the Mariners grabbed a 13-7 lead on a 69-yard run by senior running back Lyle Smith with 11:41 remaining in the second period. The hosts tried a two-point conversion but failed to complete a pass for a 13-7 lead.
But the Porters came back on their next drive to edge ahead, 14-13, on another Drinkwater TD pass to Allen with 9:26 left in the half.
Only three players later, Fishburne brought through for a 62-yard touchdown for a 20-14 Southampton advantage with 8:30 remaining in the half.
But Greenport refused to wilt and scored three touchdowns in the final 5:49 of the half to turn a tight game into a commanding 35-20 halftime lead.
On the Porters’ next drive, Sierra rambled in from six yards with 5:59 to go in the period to give them the lead for good at 21-20.
Allen almost lost the ball at the goal line en route to his third score of the half, off a 23-yard pass for a 28-20 advantage with 1:32 remaining.
The Porters took advantage of a 20-yard shanked punt and used a two-minute drill over the final 45.7 seconds of the half to perfection. They drove 58 yards in eight plays, culminated by yet another Drinkwater TD pass to Allen, this time a twisting and turning 12-yard with 30 seconds left in the half.
Greenport dominated the second half, which had only one score — Sierra’s two-yard run with 2:59 left in the third quarter.
The Porters dominated and controlled the ball so well that they allowed the Mariners to run only 13 plays.
