Westhampton Beach Football Team Is Off To Worst Start In Years

Bryan Schuamloffel said he can’t remember the last time a Westhampton Beach football team started the season 0-3. But one thing he does know is his Hurricanes aren’t about to give up.

“It’s been a tough start, there’s no denying that,” the head coach said. “Our guys are working hard, our guys are dedicated — we just have to keep plugging away. Sayville has some great players, they’re well-coached and they do the little things correct, and we have to start doing the little things correct. It’s definitely not that we’re lacking effort, but we’ve got work to do.”

While Westhampton Beach has already surpassed more losses than it’s had in any of the last five seasons, and racked up two less than in the last five years combined, the senior-heavy squad shows plenty of signs of promise. Despite what a 37-6 Friday night loss to Sayville sounds like, the guys marched into the locker room at half time down just 7-0. And the Hurricanes could have been up 21-7.

Senior running back Rob Moreland (12 rushes for 51 yards) kicked things off with tackles for losses of 4 and 2 following an exchange of possession, but a quick gain of six in-between was all Sayville needed before Mack Murtha’s 20-yard catch-and-run on fourth-and-8 to put the Golden Flashes up with 4:29 to go in the opening stanza.

“Although disappointing, I believe that the talent on our team does not reflect the score, and I am sure that through the hard work and dedication of everyone involved, we will turn this around,” Moreland said. “Our defense is strong, and I am confident that if we are able to control time of possession and move the chains that will alleviate the defense having to spend as much time on the field, because it takes twice as much energy to play defense as it does offense.”

The next 12 minutes is where Westhampton really turned it on. From the end of the first and into the second, senior defensive end Zach Fuhrmann (five tackles) made three straight takedowns for a loss to force Sayville to send out the punting team.

“I felt great out on the field and was playing my hardest,” Fuhrmann said. “I was using my field vision to see where the ball was and getting off my blocker immediately to go get the tackle.”

At the 10:20 mark, senior running back Deegan Laube carried the ball to the 8-yard line. There was even a flag on the play — illegal motion by Sayville — but the Hurricanes declined the penalty in favor of excellent field position. Unfortunately, two plays for losses were followed by Westhampton Beach penalties — tripping and holding — and by the end of the drive the Hurricanes were at the 42-yard line. But still the team still had another chance at it when a roughing the kicker call on the fourth-down punt resulted in a 15-yard penalty that handed the Hurricanes a first down with the ball on the 28. Two plays later, Sayville’s Benny Sands scooped up a fumble recovery.

“We came out strong in the beginning. We felt we held them in check for the first half,” Laube said. “But Sayville is always a tough team to play, and we couldn’t capitalize in the red zone, unfortunately.”

Fuhrmann, senior middle linebacker Frankie Noto (three tackles for loss), senior free safety Christian Killoran (two tackles) and sophomore defensive end Jordyn Brown provided the Hurricanes with highlight tackles before halftime. But what really got the visiting crowd going was Killoran’s interception that gave Westhampton the ball on the Golden Flashes’ 17-yard line with under a minute left.

“I felt great in the first half. The entire defense was making big plays,” Killoran said. “But we had too many possessions where we couldn’t capitalize.”

There were three quick downs before the team was forced to punt, and another interception at the 32-yard line with 25 seconds even gave the Hurricanes yet another chance, but a few pass attempts and a 37-yard field goal attempt missed their mark.

“Our guys are coming out here and playing hard and I think that showed, down 7-0,” Schaumloffel said. “Our defense was great, and our defense has been pretty good the past few games. We’re just not executing when we need to, and that’s been a recurring theme this season thus far.”

But the Hurricanes did eventually get on the board during a six-play, 35-yard drive that was capped by senior quarterback Geoff Arrasate’s (7-for-14, 60 yards) 4-yard toss to Laube in the end zone while scrambling to make it 21-6. A penalty on Westhampton pushed the extra-point kick back five yards, and the attempt banged off the right goal post.

“Honestly, that was all on our quarterback who made a good play under pressure,” Laube said. “I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Scoring a touchdown is always exciting, but it’s tough to celebrate unless you get a win.”

Freshman Kyle Messina, who rushed 21 times for 145 yards and scored three straight times, earned his final touchdown on a 29-yard dash where he shed of tackles to take it to the house with 7:04 left in the game. Thomas Golio iced it with a 24-yard scoop-and-score off a fumble.

“I thought we continued to play pretty well in the second half, but we started to fatigue and Sayville capitalized on that,” Killoran said. “It is for sure not the start that we had hoped for. We know that we are a very talented team, and that our record doesn’t reflect how good we are. So the focus moving forward is that every week our goal is to go 1-0 — to focus on the game we have in front of us and nothing in the future or the past.”

Westhampton Beach returns to its own gridiron for a homecoming game against Deer Park Friday, October 8, at 6 p.m. The Hurricanes then host Comsewogue Friday, October 15, at 6 p.m.