Featured Story

Football Notebook: Martilotta says no disrespect intended with late TD pass

Bishop McGann-Mercy football player Max Beyrodt 090916 copy

So, what happens when the No. 11 seed (Greenport/Southold/Mattituck) plays the No. 10 seed (Bishop McGann-Mercy) in Suffolk County Division IV?

A blowout, of course.

Greenport not only won Friday night in Riverhead, but won big, 40-0. Who saw that coming?

“I wasn’t expecting to blow them out like this, but this is definitely what we needed,” Greenport junior Jordan Fonseca said. “We just need to keep rolling from here.”

The Porters held a 28-0 lead in the fourth quarter by the time a number of junior varsity players were inserted into the game. One of them, freshman quarterback Ahkee Anderson, ran for a touchdown and threw for another, his first TDs at the varsity level.

It was Anderson’s 44-yard scoring pass to Brandon Clark with 4 minutes, 1 second left — Greenport’s only pass of the night — that Mercy assistant coach Mike Quick apparently objected to, walking onto the field to have words with Greenport coach Jack Martilotta.

After the game, Martilotta said he thought Anderson was going to run on the play in question and was surprised to see him throw the ball.

“I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful,” Martilotta said. “I wasn’t trying to run up the score.”

Later, both Martilotta and Quick were talking, smiling and hugging.

The heat is on

Not only was Friday a day in which the temperature reached the 90s, but the humidity was brutal, especially for football players wearing helmets and pads. All of that mixed together, along with annoying flying insects, made it feel as if the Greenport-Mercy game was being played in a swamp.

The start of the game, originally scheduled for 6 p.m., was pushed back a half-hour because of a modified heat alert. The teams were given water breaks, but it was still tough on the players.

“The heat was definitely a factor tonight,” Greenport senior Keegan Syron said. “It made everything hard.”

Good showing by ‘D’

Both teams had quarterbacks make their first varsity starts — Greenport junior Sean Sepenoski and Mercy sophomore Ryan Razzano. Razzano (7-for-11, 73 yards, one interception) was taken out of the game for Max Beyrodt in the second quarter to undergo the concussion protocol, but later returned.

Greenport’s defense limited Mercy to 126 yards of offense. Thirteen Mercy plays went for negative yardage as Porters defenders crashed through the line.

“I think our defense has always been our strongest point, and it was tonight, too,” Keegan Syron said. “We allowed no points tonight, as you can see, and it’s just the defense. It really held the team together.”

[email protected]