Football: Babylon marches to 22nd straight win
DIVISION IV SEMIFINALS | PANTHERS 42, WILDCATS 13
One of the most successful seasons in Shoreham-Wading River’s history came to an end Friday night at the hands of a team that’s well versed in sending other teams packing.
Top-seeded and unbeaten Babylon rolled to its 22nd straight win by walloping Shoreham, 42-13, in the Division IV semifinals at Babylon High School. The Wildcats, the No. 4 seed, finished the season 7-3.
Babylon advances to play No. 3 John Glenn in the county finals next week. Glenn rallied from a 14-0 hole to defeat Mount Sinai, 21-14, in the other semifinal Friday night at Mount Sinai High School.
The Wildcats never had much of a chance against the talented Panthers, whose spread offense and multitude of weapons made life miserable for the Shoreham defense. Babylon led 20-0 late in the second quarter before Shoreham broke through with a 36-yard pass play for a touchdown. Quarterback Daniel Hughes connected with junior Bryce Casey on a slant pattern for the touchdown with 4:03 left in the second quarter.
The Wildcats were in position to maybe make a game of it if they could get a stop on Babylon’s next possession. Shoreham had the ball to to start the second half.
But the Panthers marched 73 yards in just under three minutes to score another touchdown before the half and extend the lead to 26-6 at halftime.
Babylon senior running back Eric Schweitzer scored two touchdowns on the ground and tallied 113 rushing yards. Quarterback Nick Santorelli completed 7 of 11 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Ray Wardell, who’s 6-foot-5, caught four passes for 63 yards and had one touchdown. Wide receiver Jake Carlock caught a 30-yard touchdown pass and also returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown on the Wildcats’ first possession of the second half.
Shoreham senior Tyler Anderson tallied a game-high 167 yards on 14 carries. He scored an 82-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for Shoreham’s second score and ran for 25 yards on the game’s final play.
Hughes completed 7 of 15 passes for 117 yards. He was picked off three times.
Shoreham was without receiver/defensive back Isreal Squires in the second half because of a hip injury. Sophomore defensive back Chris Rosati was also limited with a nagging hamstring injury.
It was the second straight year Shoreham’s season ended in the semifinals. Two years ago the Wildcats lost to Babylon in the first round of the playoffs.
The Wildcats are now 1-15 all-time against the Panthers, who are marching toward a second straight Long Island title.
