Porters suffer tough loss in return to varsity football

It didn’t start the way they had hoped, but it ended on a more encouraging note.

Greenport/Southold/Mattituck’s return to varsity football on Friday night was plagued by a shaky beginning, fumbles, and missed tackles in a rough outing and learning experience in a 39-6 loss at Hampton Bays.

The Porters, who played their first varsity contest since the 2024 season, offered no excuses after the Suffolk League IV season opener.

“I can’t speak for everybody. There’s no one person who’s accountable. We, as a team, made a lot of mistakes, myself included,” senior lineman Emmett Tramontana said. “That was the big thing. It was small errors that compound. They snowball into bigger errors. A missed block turns into a tackle, into the backfield. That turns into a fumble. It’s a team as a whole; we made mistakes.”

There are only seniors on Greenport’s 24-man roster. Bo Olshefsky, who made his varsity head coaching debut, noted that only two players had varsity experience.

“That first quarter was definitely a hard pill to swallow for a lot of our guys, too,” he said. “I would say 90% of our roster, this is their first time seeing varsity football. They were able to see pretty quickly how fast and physical this game really is at the highest level in high school.”

The Baymen took advantage of three first-quarter fumbles to grab a 25-0 lead. Senior running back Michael Single (112 yards on 10 carries) scored four touchdowns on runs of 4, 2, 17, and 29 yards. He also kicked three extra points.

Connor Bullinger’s 32-yard pass to Brayden Talmage and Brayden Atkinson’s 11-yard fumble recovery added a second-quarter TD for a 39-0 halftime advantage.

“The first half was nothing like what we thought,” junior quarterback-safety Brayden Kruk said. “We were just all anxious and stressed out.”

The Porters were a different team in the second half, which had a running clock due to the score differential. They dominated, attempting 22 plays to the hosts’ 12.

Olshefsky said that the main halftime theme was togetherness.

“Being able to play together as a team, to be able to calm down, to reset,” he said. “We went to a new mindset. We need to be running as a collective instead of being individuals.

“We had a newfound energy and more togetherness and collectiveness.”

They were rewarded on Kruk’s nine-yard pass to junior running back-linebacker Markus Kruszeski on a fourth down with six minutes, 19 seconds remaining in the game.

“That touchdown showed that we could put together good drives and have success even when we’re down big,” Kruk said. “Just shows that we can fight through and persevere.”

Added Kruszeski: “It felt good. We could get a touchdown with the team if we’re using teamwork. It was a good play that we developed.”

Beyond the defeat, the Porters welcomed back playing at the varsity level. They were 4-4 as a JV squad last year.

“I’m still excited to be back, win or lose,” Tramontana said. “It’s a great opportunity. It’s a great learning opportunity. Myself as a senior coming back to it, and the freshmen and the sophomores coming to it for the first time, it’s a great opportunity to see these harder opponents. We’re used to going up against each other. These guys [Hampton Bays], they were good.”

Due to Rosh Hashanah next weekend, Greenport’s home opener against Elwood John Glenn is set for Thursday, Sept. 11 at 6:30 p.m.

Kruszeski said it could not come soon enough.

“Can’t wait to get back to practice, work on what didn’t work out in the game,” he said. “Come Thursday, hopefully we will put up a good match.”

As it turns out, the Porters will get an opportunity to redeem themselves against Hampton Bays at Homecoming on Oct. 16.

It is rare for football teams to meet twice during the regular season. But because low turnouts forced Port Jefferson and Amityville to cancel their seasons, teams are scrambling to fill their schedules.

“I think I’ll remember the score so that when we come back and we play them … to see how we improved over the season,” Tramontana said.

Greenport still is looking for opponents on Sept. 19 (Port Jefferson) and Oct. 30 (Amityville).

“Unfortunately, that’s stuff that is out of our control,” Olshefsky said. “It all depends on who is available that week. We’ve been talking to other schools, trying to get Nassau County involved. Any chance we can get any sort of another game, we’re going to take it.”