Altrui's 3 TDs Carry Raiders Over Sachem East

There wasn't anything fancy about the Patchogue-Medford Raiders varsity football team's approach on Friday afternoon to their 31-7 win against Sachem East. They used their size advantage to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and the end result was a workmanlike triumph over the host Arrows.

The game had been halted due to lightning Thursday night with 4:48 remaining in the first quarter. Play picked up Friday afternoon, and Sachem placekicker Eric Link quickly tied the game by tacking the point-after on Steven Casali's touchdown run, which was the final play Thursday. From then, though, it was all Pat-Med as the Raiders scored 24 unanswered points en route to their current record of 1-1.

"It's the start of the season, and we hope to roll from here," Raider head coach Mike Hansen said. "We're just thinking about Connetquot next week and they're undefeated. They're tough. "

What momentum the postponement failed to take from Sachem the Raider defensive front surely did. After East evened the score, Pat-Med drove the ball down the field late in the first, and Joe Altrui put the Raiders ahead, 14-7, with a 3-yard touchdown run off right guard. It was just the beginning of a one-sided second quarter that saw the Raiders outscore its hosts, 21-0.

"We left yesterday after throwing an interception, so we wanted to get back to the basics," Hansen said. "We're prepared all year with the blocking. They're great kids and that's our strength."

A stalwart Raider defense forced Sachem to go three-and-out on its next two drives, and Pat-Med, which dropped a 33-7 decision to Sachem North last weekend, answered by driving the ball downfield with relative ease. It benefited from good field position as well – the Raiders began those possessions at the Arrow 41-yard line and their own 48, and they didn't even attempt a pass. Altrui capped them both, scoring from 6 yards out with 4:20 to go, and again from the 5-yard line with just 30 seconds remaining in the half.

"We set the tone early," Hansen said. "I told them that we can't let these guys hang around and we didn't."

It was a standout day for Altrui, and it came with a heavy heart. He informed his teammates beforehand that his grandfather had passed away. "He could have been with his family, but he wanted to come to the game," Hansen said. "I guess his grandfather was watching him."

Pat-Med finished up the scoring late in the fourth as Tom Mansfield booted a 21-yard field goal with just under three minutes left.

Trailing 31-7 at that juncture, Sachem opened up the playbook for quarterback Kyle Starke, and he responded by directing an impressive charge to the Pat-Med 5-yard line with under a minute to play. However, sophomore Dominic Fucci came around the corner to sack Starke on second down and once again on the 4th-and-4, putting the Raiders a kneeldown away from a win.

Up to that point, Pat-Med didn't allow Sachem to get any kind of traction offensively on Friday, holding the Arrows without a first down until the waning moments of the third quarter, when Owen Martin scrambled 9 yards on a fake punt, converting a 4th-and-7 at the Sachem 28.

Connetquot comes to Patchogue-Medford High School Saturday, September 24. The Thunderbirds doubled up Brentwood, 26-13, on Thursday to improve to 2-0.