Blue Waves open football season with come-from-behind win

After an offseason where everything seemed to go wrong, Riverhead righted the football ship Friday night with a come-from-behind 19-14 road win over Central Islip. This year’s coaching staff had already come to terms with losing six of seven promising sophomores from last year’s team to transfers – including the starting quarterback. A short roster means certain players need to play both offense and defense during games. Throw in that Central Islip chose to host its homecoming on the first week of the season — because they were playing the underdog Blue Waves — that’s a sign of the low expectations for the season.

But none of that mattered on Friday. Trailing 14-7 with five minutes left in the game, Riverhead emerged from the ashes. It was an effort that could make former players from the golden era proud. Up to that point, the tide was running against them — whenever a good drive was coming together, a penalty killed to momentum. Riverhead had two first-half scores called back due to penalties.

The Blue Waves put the ball in the hands of last year’s center, Karter Doyle, who is this year’s quarterback, his first season playing the position. He slimmed down from last year but the switch from snapper to signal caller was very much a question mark.

“The original goal for me was to play running back coming into camp,” Doyle said. “They asked me to step in to play quarterback and I just took the job and never looked back. Studied the playbook, studied the film and memorized everything. But everyone knows a quarterback is nothing without their offensive line. I thought they did a great job today.”

With five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the coaching staff put the ball in Doyle’s hands to try to tie the game. Riverhead was finding success on the ground from both running back Nate Nentwich, who notched 70 yards on 11 carries, and Doyle, who racked up 108 rushing yards. 

On the first play of the drive, a designed quarterback keeper drifted Doyle over to the sideline for a five yard gain before he took a hard hit to the stomach. He only sat out one play and hopped back into the lineup. Kevin Qualey got a few runs to move the sticks before Doyle eventually punched it in from 15 yards out for his second rushing touchdown of the day, leaving Riverhead down by a point with just one minute remaining on the clock.

“After talking to the coaches we felt good about just kicking the extra point there instead of going for two,” head coach Ed Grassman said. “We had faith in our kicking game and we felt like they were really tiring down and that we would win in overtime.”

That plan took a left turn when the kick was blocked, leaving Riverhead trailing, 14-13. 

“I saw the kids walking off the field dejected like they just lost the game,” Grassman said. “I was like ‘hey we still have three timeouts guys. This game is not over.’ Coach McCormick looked over to me and said ‘we’re winning this game.’”

Three offensive snaps went nowhere for Central Islip on the ensuing possession, which ended with a monster sack by Kayvon Dennis to make it fourth and long. With timeouts called after every down, Riverhead was left with 47 seconds to play that dwindled down to 40 after the punt went out of bounds. The Blue Waves had a chance — with 45 yards to go and no timeouts.

On the first play of the drive, Doyle dropped back and connected with Qualey on an out route. He sprinted toward the sideline, trying to get out of bounds and conserve time. But at the last second he changed his mind and cut back inside.

“Coach told us get out of bounds and stop the clock,” Qualey said. “I looked up and saw one guy to beat in an open field. I trusted myself to be able to do that and get in the endzone.”

Qualey got past the defender and it was a sprint to the end zone from there.

“I’m not gunna lie, my hands were shaking going into that last drive,” Doyle said. “I’ve never had that much pressure on me for anything. When I saw that he was that wide open on the route I had to get him the ball. KQ took care of the rest.”

Qualey sprinted around the field following the score with the ball stretched out to the sky, his teammates chasing him. The only sophomore from last year’s team who returned this season, it was only fitting that Qualey scored the game-winning touchdown.

“We respect the decisions my classmates made and we wish them the best wherever they went,” Qualey said. “Our focus through camp has always been trust in the guys that we have here. We can only control what we can control.”

Riverhead is off to a solid start with the opening victory. But it can’t stop there and the will need this momentum to carry over into next week against Commack.

“We definitely have things to work on and we’re hard workers here,” Qualey said. “But I believe we’re going to get better every week and have a strong season.”