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Babylon Football: The Babylon Panthers roared into the top seed in the Division IV playoffs as they ripped the Mount Sinai Mustangs 45-18, in a battle of unbeaten powerhouses. Babylon completed the regular season undefeated at 8-0. Mount suffered its first loss and will go into the playoffs in the second seed. Babylon's powerful offense couldn't be stopped. Quarterback Chris King was 6 of 12 in the air, good for 96 yards, and rushed for 60 yards on eight carries. Fullback Jake Casciola blasted for 130 yards on 15 carries and tailback Ish Mohammed carried 15 times for 84 yards. The offense ran for 370 yards on the ground. They totaled 18 first down and 466 yards on 61 plays from scrimmage, all season highs. The Black D did its job as well. They held the Mustangs to a net 136 yards, only 45 rushing, and eight first downs, four on their last possession of the game. Mount's three scores occurred on a kickoff return and two pass plays, each in the last half minute of play in each half. Babylon chalked up four sacks, one each by T. J. DeMartino, Matt Martinez and Ish Mohammed and one shared by Frankie Deesing and Zak Viverito. Babylon's first drive went 78 yards on ten plays. The key occurred when punter Bill Parker took a high snap, decided to run right and sped to the Mustang 39-yard line, a pickup of 24 yards. The play led to a score as King ran through left tackle on a keeper and went 24 yards for a touchdown. Tim Schweitzer added the first of his four extra point kicks. The Mustangs responded immediately as James Wittpenn took the kickoff at his 16-yard line, raced up the middle, cut left and went the distance, 84 yards for the TD. The extra point kick was wide right. It was the first TD of the season yielded by the Panthers other than in the final period. Babylon later attempted a run on fourth and short but was stopped. Mount took over on the Bab 25. They got as far as the 8 where Mohammed swooped in and nailed quarterback Sean Kelly for a sack, driving them back to the 16. Wittpenn's field goal attempt appeared to be partially blocked and hooked off to the left. In the second quarter, Babylon scored three times. They marched 80 yards on nine plays with Casciola banging away for 75 of them on six carries. The fullback capped the drive from the 10, smashing through a right side gap between the blocks of Matt Martinez and Alex Mangini. Babylon then added three on Schweitzer's 37-yard field goal. The Panthers scored again when King fired a 10-yard flag to Matt Griffo on the right side of the end zone. There were two key plays in the 65-yard drive. One was a 35-yard pass play with King hitting Schweitzer to get the ball to the Mustang 25. On the next play, King rolled right, ran out of the pocket and got the ball to the 11 on a great block by Martinez taking out two defenders. Mount Sinai answered as Tyler McCabe ran the kickoff 38 yards back to the Babylon 46. From there, Kelly fired deep down the left side to Dan Seijido, a beauty catch. Three plays later, the two combined again on a left fly for the TD from the Babylon 20 with 23 ticks remaining. The pass on the extra point try was incomplete and Babylon carried a 23-12 lead into the half. Babylon did suffer a loss during the second quarter as captain Anthony Parrinello went out with a leg injury. He was replaced on the offensive line by Marc Martinez and at linebacker by T. J. DeMartino. Both did a fine job for the remainder of the game. Eddie Rifice has also been doing the job at linebacker as he filled in for the injured Beau Bachety. The Panthers weren't finished. They scored 22 more points. Babylon went 85 yards on nine plays. The drive opened with Mohammed's 25-yard sprint around the left side. King later gunned 18 yards to Parker and then 16 to Schweitzer. That one was tapped into the air by both the receiver and defender, with Tim grabbing it for the score. Consecutive sacks by DeMartino and Matt Martinez drove the Mustangs back to their own 5 and the snap back to punter Andrew Tessler went through the end zone for a safety. Babylon's next drive went 54 yards on nine plays, capped by Mohammed 8-yard dash around the right side. Their last score was a 40-yard scamper by Bryan Schweitzer who burst through left tackle and then cut right to speed the distance. The Mustangs scored before the end of the contest on Kelly's four yard pass to tight end Mike Sweeney. The running attempt at a 2-point conversion was stopped. Other stuff: Tim Schweitzer had 189 all purpose yards (122 in runbacks, 64 on three receptions and 3 advancing a loose ball). Mount QB Sean Kelly was 7 of 13 passing for 91 yards. Their wideout Dan Seijido caught 6 for 87 yards. Defensive backs Kelly and Connor Fitzgerald had an interception apiece. Babylon did not punt throughout the game. Babylon's marching band was outstanding on a cold day. Under the direction of Charles Leech and Elizabeth Foster, they have performed beautifully at the home games. The JV football team succeeded earlier by defeating the Mustang JV 30-14 at Mount Sinai. The JV Panthers completed the season undefeated at 8-0. In another Babylon success this week, the Lady Panthers soccer team defeated Mattituck, the number one ranked team in the State, in their division playoffs. Of the varsity game, coach Rick Punzone said, "We had very good passing. We didn't use it much all year, but this was a good opportunity to balance the running attack with the passing game. On defense, we were able to shut down the run against Mount Sinai, a very good team. I was a little disappointed in the number of penalties and some sloppy play. We'll have to work on that this week."
Saturday, the first round of the playoffs will have Shoreham (6-2) at Mount Sinai (7-1). Babylon will host Glenn (5-3) at Williams Field. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Panthers won their regular season meeting against the Knights 47-10 in the third week of the season.
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