Sports

Football: Wildcats hit the playoffs running

Shoreham-Wading River hit the high school football playoffs running. Literally.

The second-seeded Wildcats ran for 481 yards and ran up a 60-14 thumping of No. 7 Port Jefferson in a Suffolk County Division IV playoff qualifier Friday night at Thomas Cutinella Memorial Field in Shoreham. It’s the most points SWR has scored in a game this season.

SWR quarterback Xavier Arline gave further evidence of why he is a human highlight machine. Arline raced for four touchdowns, two on his first four carries. His TDs came on runs of 64, 46, 28 and 74 yards, giving him 26 for the year. By halftime he had 273 of his 281 yards.

In addition, Arline’s only completion of the game and only pass of the second half was an 81-yard scoring connection to Johnny Schwarz. As a defensive back, Arline made an interception for the second week in a row.

SWR (8-1), which trailed by 7-6 early in the second quarter, also had Dominic Visintin score on two of his first three carries — TD runs of 77 and 48 yards. Visintin ended up with 135 yards (all but one in the first half) from four carries.

Arline and Visintin accounted for all but six of SWR’s points. Visintin ran in four two-point conversions and Arline had two. Max Barone ran for a TD as well.

Port Jefferson quarterback Sam Florio ran in both of the Royals’ TDs. In addition to 63 rushing yards, Florio went 10-for-18 passing for 97 yards.

Port Jefferson, which lost to SWR by 40-14 on Oct. 20, finished the year with a 4-5 record.

SWR will play a semifinal game on its home field next Friday night.

A week earlier on the same field, SWR racked up 523 rushing yards in a 51-21 blowout of rival Bayport-Blue Point.

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Photo caption: Shoreham-Wading River’s Xavier Arline (10 carries, 281 yards, four touchdowns) tries to break an attempted tackle by Port Jefferson’s Sam Florio. (Credit: Bill Landon)