It’s all about winning for Levar Butts, so even though the Huntington High School senior played one of the best games of his career, he walked off the field dejected after the Lawrence football team upended the Blue Devils, 41-32 to win the Long Island Class III championship before a crowd of more than 4,000 at Stony Brook University’s LaValle Stadium.
Butts was spectacular, rushing 14 times for 133 yards and three touchdowns and notching 10 solo tackles, five assists and two quarterback sacks on defense. Teammate Troy Greene had 19 carries for 131 yards and a touchdown.
Despite scoring five touchdowns and rumbling for 270 yards on the ground, Huntington (8-4) couldn’t overcome the performance of Golden Tornadoes’ quarterback Joe Capobianco, who completed 14-of-20 passes for 353 yards and three touchdowns, including an 82-yard first quarter bomb to wide receiver Elijah Jones.
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Butts doesn’t care about his personal stats and neither do any of his teammates. The Blue Devils are only concerned with winning so as they walked off the field last Saturday drenched in sweat and covered with bruises, they were devastated, despite a magical ride through the playoffs that culminated when Huntington topped three-time defending Suffolk champion Sayville in the county finals.
“I am so proud of this team,” Blue Devil head coach Steve Muller said about Huntington. “We won eight games and the county championship. We lost to a great team today, but we scored 32 points! All of us will always remember this season.”
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A rocky start
Huntington got off to a rocky start in the LI finals, spotting Lawrence (11-1) 14 points after a series of miscues and some prolific passing by Capobianco, who threw his 100th varsity career touchdown pass during the game.
Trailing 14-0, the Blue Devils quickly rallied behind the punishing ground attack of Greene and Butts. Greene capped a three-play, 62-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown run for Huntington’s first points of the day. Butts found the end zone a short while later to culminate a six-play, 49-yard drive that took just 1:49.
Nursing a two-point lead, Lawrence responded with back-to-back touchdown passes by Capobianco, the only quarterback to start three Long Island championship games. The two scores put the Golden Tornadoes in front, 27-12 early in the second quarter.
Huntington battled back again just 11 seconds later with Butts sprinting 42-yards through a crowd for his second touchdown of the day. But, the Blue Devils failed to convert the extra point attempt for the third straight time and found themselves trailing, 27-18.
A 30-yard touchdown run by Lawrence’s Jordan Fredericks (23 carries for 118 yards) culminated a quick 47-second, four play, 60-yard drive to give the Golden Tornadoes a 34-18 halftime lead. Huntington again responded, with Butts scooting 44-yards for his third touchdown of the game. Greene notched a two-point conversion by going around the left end to bring the Blue Devils to within eight points at 34-26. That’s as close as Big Blue could get.
When Huntington fumbled on its own three yard line with 6:37 remaining in the fourth quarter, the ball rolled into the end zone and Sean Moran fell on it for Lawrence’s last touchdown of the game, extending the Golden Tornadoes’ lead to 41-26.
Went down fighting
The Blue Devils went down fighting. Quarterback Ben Kocis (8-for-19, 87 yards) capped a 69-yard drive by hitting Infinite Tucker with an eight-yard scoring strike with just 48-seconds remaining on the clock to pull Huntington to within nine. But, it was too late. Lawrence ran out the clock on the final two plays to claim its second consecutive LI title.
“No one expected us to ever get to the Long Island championship game this season,” Kocis said. “We were always picked to lose and never got the credit we deserved. I am extremely proud of each and every one of my teammates. We brought a Suffolk County title back to Huntington, which I think is pretty remarkable.”
Like Kocis, Christian Jamison, who had a key interception for Huntington on the eight-year line and who caught a pass for a 23-yard gain, refused to dwell on Saturday’s outcome. “I’m proud of the team for our effort against Lawrence,” Jamison said. “Although we lost, we showed a lot of heart and never quit.”
Blue Devil Notes: Huntington converted just four-of-13 third downs . . . Lawrence (18) had one more first down than the Blue Devils (17) did . . . The Golden Tornadoes held the ball for 24:19, just a bit longer than Huntington’s 23:41 . . . Tucker had five solo tackles and six assists . . . Tim Mattiace had four solo tackles and three assists . . . Davonte Evans caught four passes for 33 yards . . . Jamison, Greene, Butts and Tucker had one reception each . . . Huntington fumbled away the ball twice . . . Capobianco was sacked twice . . . Kocis was sacked three times . . . Jamison and Ryan Iwanicki had interceptions for Huntington . . . Jamison’s interception stopped a Lawrence drive on the eight-yard line . . . Iwanicki returned his interception 40 yards . . . Lawrence was hit with seven penalties for 73 yards . . . Huntington was flagged eight times for 51 yards . . . Kocis tossed one interception, which came on a tipped ball . . . The Blue Devils notched four of five fourth down conversions . . . Huntington scored three-of-four times in the Red Zone . . . Lawrence was three-of-five in the Red Zone.
