Football: SWR closes out regular season with win
WILDCATS 40, BEARS 21
Shoreham-Wading River made history Saturday afternoon.
Next week, they’ll get a chance to do it again.
The Wildcats (6-2) clinched their first home playoff game in program history with a 40-21 win over The Stony Brook School (5-3) on homecoming at Shoreham-Wading River High School. The victory locks the Wildcats into the No. 3 seed in Division IV behind Babylon (8-0) and Mount Sinai (7-1).
Now the Wildcats will get an opportunity to win their first playoff game in school history. They’ll face Stony Brook again in the first round of the playoffs as the Bears finished sixth in the power rankings.
After falling behind 7-0 against the Bears Saturday, the Wildcats ran off 33 straight points behind a dominant defensive effort. The Wildcats allowed the Bears to score on their first possession — which included two fourth-down conversions — before shutting down the Stony Brook offense. The Bears final two scores both came in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
Shoreham running back Tyler Anderson scored two touchdowns, including a 60-yard run later in the third quarter after Scott Lavey intercepted a Stony Brook pass.
Anderson finished with 180 rushing yards on 19 carries.
Anderson helped ignite the Wildcats’ offense in the second quarter during a 14-play, 99-yard drive that spanned more than 10 minutes. Anderson capped the drive with an 18-yard touchdown run.
It was all Shoreham from there.
Back-to-back sacks gave the Wildcats a safety and a 9-7 lead. Anderson and Isreal Squires combined for the first sack and then Anderson wrapped up the scrambling Stony Brook quarterback in the end zone for the safety.
The Wildcats got the ball back with 1:14 left in the half. After two rushing plays, quarterback Danny Hughes threw a 49-yard touchdown with three seconds left on the clock to Squires to give the Wildcats a 16-7 halftime lead.
Dominic Pirraglia scored on a 9-yard touchdown run that made it 23-7 Shoreham on the Wildcats’ first possession of the second half.
Shoreham kicker Zach McAuley was 5-for-5 on extra points and also booted a 38-yard field goal that made it 33-7 midway through the fourth.
