In 2011, the WHB varsity football team made history by making it to the Suffolk County Championship game played at Stony Brook University. Other accomplishments were of the 2011, winning two home playoff games and beating Islip ,who we had not beaten in 15 years. It was quite a historic year that was expected from anyone who followed football in the community.
As the 2012 season approached, the football team found out that they would be not going to the infamous “Camp Lokanda.” That was a disappointment; now the team would have two practices a day in the summer for two weeks. Once the summer was over the coaches did not set the bar very high for this team with only 5 or so starters coming back. They would not reveal this until later in the season that their goal for this team was 4-4. Coach Parry acknowledged that would we coming into the season generously ranked 5th when would should have been 8th or 9th.
In the first game, The Hurricanes upset the 4th ranked team Comsewogue 21-12 in a season opener on Friday night under the lights.
Suddenly 4-4 seemed like a realistic goal after the next game, homecoming against a weak team Harborfields. The Hurricanes, expecting an easy win, fell short 27-20 in a heartbreaking loss. Now, nobody in the County thought that they would even make the playoffs.
However the Hurricanes knew that they would have to bounce back with a historically tough Bellport team coming up. The Hurricanes came into the half with a 21-0 lead and seemed unstoppable as they cruised to a 34-14 victory. Unfortunately defending The Long Island Class III Champions Sayville would edge out the Canes 35-7 and yet a 4-4 year seemed more likely than ever.
The Canes were to be very careful about their next opponent, facing an 0-4 Islip. The teams that had beat them had a 15-1 combined record. Trying to avoid another Harborfields, and with only a 9-3 lead at the half, the Hurricanes rallied to blow out Islip in the second half out scoring them 21-6 and finishing them by a final score of 30-9.
The Hurricanes tried to continue this momentum against a very tough Amityville (4-2). The Hurricanes would play toe to toe with the score tied 14-14 at half. The Hurricanes sealed the deal with a game winning interception by junior Zack Rignola. After a slim 24-22 victory over Amityville, WHB faced an even tougher opponent, Miller Place.
After the win everyone decided 4-4 was no longer good enough for this year. The Hurricanes would have a tough time moving the ball and a tough time stopping Adin Greenfield and lost in a 34-0 blowout by the Miller Place Panthers. Luckily for the Hurricanes, a quite easier opponent lay ahead.
A bitter rivalry lasted for years between ESM and WHB, however WHB has come out on top eight of the nine meetings between the schools. WHB knew going in that this was going to be a sweet victory. The Hurricanes would easily pull out on top with a 41-20 victory over the Sharks.
With the regular season behind them, the team looked at the playoffs, a new season. Anything we did in the regular season didn’t matter anymore. As the Hurricanes finished 3rd with a 5-3 record, they would have a rematch of week 1 against Comsewogue. The hurricanes played a hard fought game that went into overtime with a score of 0-0. This game showed them what Coach Fulham says every week, “Every play is the ball game.” This quote couldn’t have been truer than on this night.
It could be argued that there is six or seven plays that if they didn’t go our way that we wouldn’t have won that game including a touchdown saving tackle by Zach Rignola. With the season in their balance they pulled through with a 6-0 win in overtime.
After quickly escaping overtime game the Hurricanes knew that they had an even tougher opponent. They were going to have to play Miller Place again, the same team that beat them 34-0 in the regular season. During the season Coach Parry said “They’ve already written you off, they’re not even thinking about you.” This was true, all five analysts from MSG-Varsity and four from Newsday had picked Miller Place to easily win this football game. Nothing against the analysts because on paper that’s the way anybody would pick and they would call you crazy for calling an upset. Well, when game time came, the Canes came ready to play.
On the first drive they would shock the Miller Place defense score on the opening drive as they set the tone with a 7-0 in the first quarter. That was extremely crucial to winning this game because if you set the tone, you control the game and if you control the pace of the game, you will win the game.
The Miller Place Panthers would quickly score making it 7-7. However the Hurricanes offense seemed unstoppable quickly putting on another touchdown making it 13-7 as it would stay at the half. Here we were not only in the game but also up 13-7 at half as opposed to down 21-0 last time we played them. It was amazing to be in this game. All we thought about was thought 24 minutes to Stony Brook. Late in the 3rd quarter, the Panthers would score and complete the extra point to make us know down one point, 14-13. The Panthers next did the unexpected as they onside kicked it, knowing they have not stopped our offense all game expect for a select few penalties. They would recover it, but the defense stood its ground and held them on 4th and 2, thanks to a big play by Brian Corrigan. The Hurricane offense rallied as they put on a 16-play drive to score and put the Hurricanes up 19-14 (after failed 2-point conversation). The Panthers would know have their turn on offense as they drove the ball down to the 13 yard line with 25 seconds left on the play clock. The Hurricane defense would come up big yet again and on 4th and 12. There would be an incomplete pass and no one could believe it. Not only were we going back to Stony Brook, but also we finally hushed up the seniors from last, year who claimed we would go 2-6, maybe 3-5. We showed that there is a reason they play the games and that you can never count out the Hurricanes, and with heart you can do anything. Unfortunately the Hurricanes would fall again to Sayville in a 36-7 defeat in the Suffolk County Division III Championship. Sayville now has a 23- game-winning streak.
This was still another historic year in Hurricane football, who will never quit, give up, or lay down because an opponent is supposedly better, because the better team doesn’t always win, the team that plays 48 minutes of better football. That doesn’t just apply to football, but any sport.
People may argue which team was better, 2011 or2012, but the difference in the 2012 team is that they exceeded their expectations by a larger margin and even shocked their own coaches. The 2011 team was expected by everybody to go the Suffolk County Championship. The 2012 team overcame much adversity, such as, Kayne Mitchell getting hurt, Brian Culhane missing games from an ankle injury, and a few loved ones close to the team who passed away. So always remember, with heart you truly can accomplish the seemingly impossible, and think twice before you ever count out The Hurricanes.