Westhampton Beach Football Comes Back To Defeat East Islip, Advances To County Championship Against Sayville

Playing in a conference semifinal with an opportunity to advance to the county championship is usually enough of a motivating factor for a team, but there was more on the line for the Westhampton Beach football team when it played at Sal Ciampi Field at Boomer Esiason Stadium in East Islip on Friday night.

East Islip had defeated Westhampton Beach on its home turf in the 2019 Suffolk County Division III semifinals. Many of the Hurricanes who played on that team wanted to avenge that loss, and being that the Redmen and ’Canes hadn’t played each other since then, since the two teams were separated once the county decided to play a league system rather than a division due to the pandemic, Friday night’s game was the first opportunity to do so.

On top of that, Westhampton Beach wanted to respond after suffering one of its toughest losses in recent memory a week ago at Sayville, whom the ’Canes would most likely face again if they were to move on to the county final.

They’re going to get their shot at redemption.

In a thrilling game that came down to the final minutes, Westhampton Beach, which was trailing for most of the game, scored 20 unanswered points to come back and defeat East Islip, 27-21, avenging that 2019 semifinal loss and earning another opportunity to take down rival Sayville, which defeated Hauppauge, 41-6, in the other semifinal on Friday night.

Sayville will host Westhampton Beach in the county championship this Friday night at 6 p.m.

Westhampton Beach senior co-captain Jackson Hulse summed up his team’s motivating factors pretty well following his team's victory.

“Even before the Sayville loss, the same team beat us on our turf last year, same round of playoffs,” he said, speaking of East Islip. “That left a bitter taste in my mouth. That left a bitter taste in all of the kids that were playing on the team that year. And from that point on we had a mission: to beat this team.

“I had a feeling that we were going to come here and beat them on their turf,” Hulse added. “And after that Sayville loss, we did what we needed to do. We made the corrections, we didn’t get beat, our DBs did amazing, up front we did great. We had little slip ups here and there, but, hey, we turned it around. We finished the job.”

East Islip took a 21-7 lead after quarterback Steven Stassi connected with Derek Burrell for a 35-yard touchdown pass, and it looked like that was going to be the score at halftime with 1:55 remaining in the first half. But the ’Canes came right back.

Westhampton Beach quarterback Christian Capuano threw a deep pass for receiver Owen Spizuoco. East Islip defender Jason Fiorello got his fingers on the ball, but Spizuoco did a great job of staying with it, catching the ball and racing into the end zone to make it 21-13 at the half.

After a scoreless third quarter, East Islip dropped back to punt on fourth down but Terrall Faines eluded all of the Redmen’s would-be blockers and blocked the punt, then tracked down the bouncing football, setting up the Hurricanes deep in East Islip territory. A minute later, Capuano kept the ball and raced his way into the end zone for a touchdown, and after a failed two-point conversion, Westhampton Beach trailed, 21-19, with 8:03 remaining in the game.

Faines said that, following a few punts earlier in the game, he knew there would be an opening for him where he could break through and possibly block a punt.

“I knew I was going to get the block and I did it all for my brothers,” he said.

Less than a minute after the touchdown, Nick Waszkelewicz intercepted a Stassi pass and brought the ball all the way to the Redmen’s 13-yard line, giving Westhampton Beach prime position to take the lead. Waszkelewicz had intercepted two other passes earlier in the game that were called back because of penalties.

“I got two stolen away from me so I knew I had to get one more,” he said, with a big smile. “I dropped back and I saw him throw it and I was right there and grabbed that. I was reading [Stassi’s] eyes, staying in my zone and breaking on the ball.”

East Islip didn’t make things easy for Westhampton Beach to take the lead. The ’Canes faced a decision on 4th and 2 from East Islip’s 5-yard line to either kick a field goal to take a one-point lead, or, go for it. They opted for the latter, putting Capuano behind his offensive line. After a measurement, the ’Canes got a new set of downs.

Even then, the Redmen forced another fourth down situation. On 4th and 1 from the one and 1:28 remaining in the game, Westhampton Beach didn't hesitate and went for it. Hulse took the hand off to the right side, and behind a few key blocks, Hulse leaped into the end zone, giving the ’Canes a 25-21 lead. On the ensuing two-point conversion, Hulse took a pitch to the right side and threw a pass that found Spizuoco to make it a 27-21 game.

Westhampton Beach then stood tall on defense, eventually forcing East Islip to turn the ball over on downs.

Westhampton Beach head coach Bryan Schaumloffel said he was proud of both his players and his coaching staff, specifically pointing out his offensive coordinator Mark Johnson's fortitude for going for it on fourth down.

“We had adversity in the first half. We made some mistakes, but we came out and played Hurricane football in the second half with a lot of heart, a lot of big plays,” he said. “Terrall Faines with the blocked punt. That fourth down gutsy call going for it to win the game. Nicky Waszkelewicz on a big interception. I mean, it was just a great game.

“We talked all week about righting the ship,” Schaumloffel added, about his team responding to the loss to Sayville. “It was a little bit of an embarrassment, the guy passing for 500 yards, so our defensive guys really had a little chip on their shoulders today. We made some mistakes in the first half, but we tightened it up in the second half.”

Now the attention will turn to the county final and Sayville, which hasn’t lost a game yet this season and has beaten its opponents by an average of more than 33 points per game. But Schaumloffel said his team, which has only suffered the one loss to Sayville, will be up for the challenge.

“We’re excited for it. We’re excited to play one more in the county championship. Making it to the county championship is a big deal. It's not easy to do, there’s a lot of great teams. This team deserves it.”

Hulse, who accounted for 15 of Westhampton Beach's 27 points on Friday night, said it’s going to take a lot to take down a tough team in the Golden Flashes.

“It’s got to be the most focused week of practice,” he said. “Sayville is just on another level and we got to bring it to them. We're good, we’ve got to bring it to the next level. To do that it’s just going to take focus and a lot of heart. A lot of heart.”