Central Islip Football Shuts Out Whitman, 20-0

The Whitman Wildcats trailed early and never recovered, falling to Central Islip, 20-0, in Suffolk Division I Football Saturday.

For both squads, it seemed to be a day at the races as Whitman (1-6) and host Musketeers (3-4) hardly passed the ball, running for a combined 250 yards on the ground.

"We wanted to shorten the clock up, that way our defense isn't always on the field," Whitman coach Robin Rosa said. "Our best defense is to hopefully move the chains, and keep our offense on the field."

Junior Xavier Livingston led the way for the Wildcats, chalking up 40 yards on 13 carries, mostly out of the quarterback position.  Darrell Felder, junior running back, chipped in with 35 yards on 15 carries in the loss.

Hero: When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Just ask junior linebacker Larry Tillman. Even with his team trailing  big early, Tillman's aggressive style of play never diminished. He made his presence known throughout the game, recording 10 tackles and forcing a fumble late in the first half.

"He is pretty consistent, and he is getting better," Rosa said. "He is learning how to play linebacker . . . so as he gets better he is starting to understand his reads."

Honorable mention goes to sophomore quarterback Mitchell Bermudez, whose 75-yard completion to junior Timothy Laster proved to be the team's only completed pass. The hook-up to begin the fourth quarter put the Wildcats in scoring position for the first time in the game. Unfortunately, Whitman could not score from the Central Islip 10-yard line.

Turning Point: The game may have been out of reach at this point, but Tillman's forced fumble late in the second quarter seemed to shift the game's momentum, if only temporarily. The hard hit on Central Islip running back Darrell Flores ended a late half scoring threat by the Musketeers, who had made their way into the Wildcats' red zone.

Quotable: "We are just trying to find ourselves as far as what we want to accomplish," Rosa said. "We have been getting blown out most of the games, and this week we weren't blown out, played a hard game, and moved the ball."

 "What we see is all our young kids starting to execute plays," Rosa added. "Offensively we are starting to see what offense we can run, and we are just going to get better."

Bottom Line: Points don't come cheap, and cost even extra when you fall down big early. On their first three possessions of the game, the Musketeers' backfield of Michael Cruz, Darrell Flores and Edward Johnson managed to break free for scores of 16, 29 and 15 yards, respectively. This proved to be enough for the win, despite seeing new life from the Wildcats through the next three quarters.

Key Stat: Central Islip's Flores finished with 103 yards on 11 carries, while the Wildcats only managed collective 90 yards on the ground.

Who's Next: Longwood @ Whitman, Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

Suffolk Division I Football

Teams……………...1.....2.....3.....4 – F

Whitman…….…..0.....0.....0.....0 – 0

 Central Islip....20.....0.....0.....0 – 20

CI – Cruz 16 run (conversion failed)

CI – Flores 29 run (conversion good)

CI – Johnson 15 run (kick failed)