Dominant Second Half Leads Westhampton Beach Football to Playoff Victory Over Deer Park

The Westhampton Beach football team came into this season with a fairly young team made up of mostly juniors, some whom had played last season, some of whom hadn’t. The overall thought surrounding the team was that it would progress throughout the season, but where that would take it was anyone’s guess.

The Hurricanes were going to find out Friday night how much they had improved, hosting Deer Park in the opening round of the Suffolk County Division III playoffs. In the season opener on September 9 in Deer Park, the Falcons gave the ’Canes all they could handle, but it was the ’Canes who came out on top, scoring a touchdown in the final minute of the game.

While the latest matchup between the two teams in the postseason was far from a perfect game for Westhampton Beach, it was clear it had certainly improved in the two months since that first game. The ’Canes defeated the Falcons, 37-20, advancing to the county semifinals this Saturday at Half Hollow Hills West at 1 p.m., a rematch of a week six game in which the Colts handed Westhampton Beach its first loss of the season, 45-33.

“We probably did some things that we’ll reflect on and talk about as a staff, but I felt in control the whole game,” Westhampton Beach head coach Bryan Schaumloffel said of Friday night’s playoff win. “I’m really proud of the guys, how they came out in the second half. We told them at halftime that we’re the better team, and the better team will win the second half. And we did exactly that. Besides two plays, I thought our defense played great. They are getting better and better. They’re hitting, they’re getting after the quarterback.

“I’m proud of the guys, and I’m excited to play another week — excited to get another chance at Half Hollow Hills West.”

After both teams traded blows in the first quarter, sophomore Brody Schaefer gave Westhampton Beach a 10-7 lead on a 41-yard field goal. Just minutes later, junior quarterback Will Gambino connected with junior Heath Sumwalt for a 42-yard passing touchdown. The ’Canes missed the ensuing extra point, but the game had the sense that much of the momentum was in their favor.

To Deer Park’s credit, though, it didn’t allow that to happen.

Hayden Levinski caught a 39-yard touchdown with 1:15 remaining the first half, then, with less than a minute remaining and the ’Canes in their own territory, Gambino tried a pass at the line that was intercepted by the Falcons and brought back to the ’Canes’ 12-yard line. Eventually Deer Park ran in another touchdown and just like that, the Falcons led, 20-16, at halftime.

Gambino hit Michael LoRusso on an inside slant route, and the junior receiver quickly turned upfield untouched for a 26-yard touchdown, and that was the start of what became a dominant second half both offensively and defensively for Westhampton Beach, outscoring the Falcons, 21-0, leading to the victory.

“It was a great team win,” senior Sal Fracapane said. “We beat them earlier in the season. That was a tough game for us to start out with, but I think we’ve really come back and we’ve improved overall over the past few weeks. You could see it tonight putting up 37 on them.”

“I just think we had high expectations coming into this game,” junior Nolan Michalowski said. “Week one we beat them by four points in the last drive, so all week we adapted to what we saw week one and just applied it. Started off really slow, but second half we really turned it up.”

Gambino fired another touchdown to Kevin Smith later in the third quarter, and Michalowski added a score in the fourth quarter. Gambino completed 15 of 25 passes for 174 yards. Michalowski, who rushed for 175 yards and three touchdowns against Rocky Point in the regular-season finale a week prior, rushed for another 174 on Friday night. LoRusso caught five balls for a team-leading 90 yards.

Michalowski missed a good chunk of the season due to an injury he suffered in the win at Islip on September 30, but he has come back strong, especially the past two games.

“I hate being away from my team, but just an unfortunate injury,” he said. “PT every day. It was a tedious recovery, but I’m right back. It’s good to be back.”

“He’s a hard-nosed runner and he catches the ball great out of the backfield,” Schaumloffel said. “We played him a little bit more on defense this week. He’s a dynamic kid who can do a lot of great things with the ball in his hands.”

Schaumloffel also gave a lot of credit to Schaeffer, who not only hit a long field goal early, but consistently kicked touchbacks on kickoffs, not allowing some of Deer Park’s more dynamic players opportunities to run with the ball.

Overall, the team is excited at its second shot at Hills West. A win on Saturday would put the ’Canes into the county championship against the winner of Sayville and Harborfields.

“We’re going to have a great week of practice and we’re going to get after it. We’re going to try and bring it to them,” Schaumloffel said.

“We’re going to be hyped,” Michalowski added. “We couldn’t be more excited to play them again. That was a game that mistakes killed us. If we clean that up, we already played them, so we’re going to have a lot of good adjustments.”