Sports

Porters football team improves to 5-0

ROBERT O'ROURK PHOTO | Gene Allen of Greenport/Southold/Mattituck breaking away from a pair of Stony Brook defenders.
ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Gene Allen of Greenport/Southold/Mattituck breaking away from a pair of Stony Brook defenders.

PORTERS 33, BEARS 0

Five wins, no losses. The Porters march on.

Greenport/Southold/Mattituck continued its marvelous run in the high school football season on Saturday by spoiling Stony Brook’s homecoming, posting its third shutout of the season, 33-0, and, of course, remaining unbeaten at 5-0. It’s a striking contrast to last year when the Porters went 0-8 and finished the season with a 13-game losing streak.

That must seem like ages ago now that the Porters have one of the top-ranked defenses in Suffolk County (giving up only 5.4 points per game), a running back (Frank Sierra), who has become a touchdown-scoring machine, and a belief in themselves that appears to grow from one win to the next.

Porters coach Jack Martilotta said he did not know the last time the Porters started a season by winning their first five games.

As usual, the Porters had a lot of positives to take out of the game, including two touchdown runs by Sierra, giving him eight in three games and 11 for the season, and a pair of touchdown passes by Matt Drinkwater. Defensive coordinator Mike Miller’s defense, meanwhile, surrendered a measly 72 yards of offense, made 11 tackles for losses and allowed only four first downs and one pass completion by Stony Brook (1-4).

The Porters took a 14-0 first-half lead on Drinkwater’s 47-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Christian Angelson racing down the left sideline and Sierra’s first touchdown of the day; he banged his way into the end zone from 5 yards out.

Both teams lost players to injuries in the first quarter. Porters lineman Cody Fisher went down with an apparent injury to his left knee and hobbled off the field after making a tackle with 4 minutes 36 seconds left in the quarter. Martilotta said he believed that Fisher would be O.K. Stony Brook’s starting quarterback, Erik Holvik, also exited the game, and was given a concussion test on the sideline. He was replaced by Asaiah Wilson, the senior transfer who led Bishop McGann-Mercy into the playoffs last year. But not even Wilson’s presence was enough for the Bears to get on the scoreboard.

Sierra found the end zone again on only the third play from scrimmage in the third quarter. His 2-yard run was set up by Gene Allen’s 38-yard scamper and a 23-yard pass to Allen.

Stony Brook looked likely to score some points after Charles Tankeh intercepted a pass up the middle and returned it 51 yards to the Porters’ 24-yard line in the third quarter. But the Porters’ defense stiffened, and the Bears went four and out.

An interception by Tyshe Williams set up the Porters’ final touchdown in the fourth quarter, a 4-yard swing pass to Allen with 5:59 to go. But John Drinkwater’s extra point wasn’t the end of the scoring. That didn’t come until after his twin brother, Matt Drinkwater, stopped Ben Walter in the end zone for a safety, and John Drinkwater booted a 25-yard field goal on the next possession.

The Porters had players surpass 100 yards in passing, rushing and receiving. Matt Drinkwater threw for 193 yards, completing 13 of 24 passes. Sierra ran for 110 yards on 17 carries. He almost had a third touchdown, but a 75-yard run to the end zone was called back because of a holding penalty. Allen made 9 catches for 113 yards.

The Porters registered 380 yards worth of offense.

Defensively, Matt Drinkwater was involved in 10 tackles. Sal Loverde and Jared Schenone were involved in 9 each for the Porters.

Stony Brook’s leading tackler was Hunter Skorobohaty, who had a hand in 10 of them.

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