Westhampton Beach Football Seeded Second In Competitive Division III Heading Into Season Opener This Weekend

With just seven seniors last season — the smallest senior class in over 25 years — expectations for the Westhampton Beach football team weren’t exactly low, they just weren’t as high as they had been in recent years. Still, ranked sixth coming into last season, the Hurricanes went on to earn the third seed in the playoffs and eventually reach the county championship, where they lost to longtime rival Sayville.

The one thing the team’s success last season did was put a target on its back coming into this season. Unsurprisingly, Westhampton Beach was ranked second, behind Sayville, in what is arguably the most competitive division in Suffolk County, Division III.

The season gets underway this Saturday, September 2, at Harborfields at 1 p.m.

“We’re excited about this year,” head coach Bryan Schaumloffel said. “We only had seven seniors last year. This year we have 18 seniors. We’re returning 18 of our 22 starters with a ton of experience due to the success they had last year, and they’re excited about it. They know nothing is guaranteed, and that we play in a very competitive division with a lot of good quality teams and Smithtown West coming down from Division II. Nothing comes easy. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but they all had a great summer, worked really hard in camp and, so far, so good. The kids are just really excited about Saturday.”

The high level of quarterback play will dictate a lot of the success this season in Division III and thankfully for the Hurricanes, they’ve got one of the best in the division in three-year starter Will Gambino, an All-State and All-County passer returning for his senior year. He’ll have much of his receiving core intact, which includes senior Kevin Smith, who caught over 60 passes from Gambino last season, as well as receiver Michael LoRusso, who made some big grabs last year as well. Jordyn Brown is another senior who will play both tight end and defensive end and will be a force on both sides of the ball this season.

Andrew Mensch was an All-State lineman last season, and he will lead what Schaumloffel says is one of the biggest offensive lines in the history of the program — which includes 6-foot-5-inch, 300-pound Stony Brook University commit Gabe Blowes, Ryan O’Connor and Gavin Brand, who is taking over for the graduated All-State lineman Noah Hebberd at center.

Not to be forgotten are a pair of playmakers in senior Nolan Michalowski and junior Brody Schaffer. After missing some time due to an injury, Michalowski helped revitalize the offense midseason and ran for 783 yards and eight touchdowns. Schaffer burst onto the scene last season in Michalowski’s absence and rushed for 538 yards and eight of his own touchdowns leading to a Second Team All-Long Island honor. Schaffer showed to be a bit of Swiss Army knife last season, playing both sides of the ball while also successfully handling kicking duties. His performance in the county semifinals at Half Hollow Hills West was impressive, scoring touchdowns on both offense and defense, kicking a pair of field goals, and successfully making the majority of his extra points and routinely booted touchback after touchback on kickoffs.

Schaumloffel is also impressed with the offseasons of seniors Heath Sumwalt, Riley Miller and Gianni Amodemo. Miller, after adding 20 pounds this offseason, is moving from safety to linebacker, and Amodemo made some big plays in the county championship against Sayville. Aidan McDermott is another returning starter as a lineman and linebacker and Schaumloffel said senior Connor Rodgers looks to fill the defensive end position left by the graduated Sal Fracapane.

After Sayville and Westhampton Beach, it was East Islip, Hills West, new addition Smithtown West and then Comsewogue that all followed in the rankings, and the ’Canes are not missing one of those teams in their schedule this season. All games are going to carry their own significance, and it’s important for his team to come out firing this weekend when the season opens, Schaumloffel said.

“It is imperative to have a great fast start,” he said. “After the success of last year, I sometimes have to reel them in a little bit. But my offense is practicing right now as we speak, as we put them through a few pretty physical weeks of practice and things aren’t going to be easy. There were, however, many teams seeded below us and there are just not going to be any easy weeks.”