East Islip Football Wins Suffolk County Championship

EAST ISLIP, NY — East Islip High School football are the new county champions.

In a dynamic game with a nail-biting finish, the team beat Sayville High School on Friday at Stony Brook University's Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, winning 35 - 28 and earning the Suffolk Division III championship.

East Islip quarterback Derek Burrell, who East Islip coach Sal Ciampi called “the greatest single player in East Islip football history,” had a game for the ages, finishing with 178 yards on 20 carries, scoring three touchdowns, and completing seven of eight passes for another 116 yards.

Burrell wowed the crowd with a 69-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and when the game was tied with 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter, he took the ball and ran for a 31-yard winning touchdown.

Other highlights included a key Leo Lopez interception and a Cooper Parkinson 96-yard fumble return for a go-ahead TD.

More than 3,300 people were in attendance.

East Islip will play the winner of Plainedge-Bethpage game for the Long Island Class III title on November 26 at Hofstra University.