RSS Feed
 |
|
|||||||||||||||
Babylon Panthers ready for great new football season Enthusiasm reigns. And the Babylon Panthers began their preseason workout regimen. To set this year's stage, we ought to go back to the Panthers' last encounter. The team had gone all the way to last year's county final, undefeated atop the division. There they fell to a very strong Mount Sinai club in a thriller, 28-27. Babylon hadn't been behind on the scoreboard in any encounter during the season until well into the third period of the final. With sixteen seconds remaining in the quarter, Mount scored to take a brief 25-20 lead. It was the only score yielded by the Panthers in the third period all year. The Panthers roared right back and scored in 22 seconds to regain the lead at 27-25. But the Mustangs hit a field goal with 3:08 remaining in the game to take the Suffolk title. In all, Babylon never trailed any opponent all season except for a total of three and a half minutes in the last game. They completed the season 9-1. This year promises more action from a perennial contender. Suffolk Division IV will increase from twelve to fourteen teams. Stony Brook and Wyandanch have dropped out. Amityville, Miller Place and Westhampton moved down from Division III. Center Moriches will enter the season with a new team. The preseason seedings have Mount Sinai and Shoreham in the top two slots with Babylon third, followed by Amityville, Westhampton, Miller, Glenn and Southampton. Displaying cautious optimism, Coach Rick Punzone feels that the team is very cohesive and carries a strong work ethic. Twenty-two Babylon seniors have graduated vacating twenty starting positions. But the upcoming reserves from last season are experienced and hungry. As this season's challenge may be in the area of depth, staying healthy will be key. The offensive line will be anchored by center Tom Heavner, flanked by guards Marc Martinez, Matt Lauria and Keith Menger. Battling for the tackle slots will be T. J. DeMartino, Don Pietrowski, Kerry Carlock and Bill Vukovich. Beau Bachety, Sean Gargiulo and Conor Tennyson are three tight ends with plenty of experience. The wideouts will be J. T. Pate, Dom Rifice and, up from the JV, Alex Grandal. Ryan McKeown came up to the team in last year's playoffs and will be seen on special teams and in lineplay. In the backfield, Willie Rivas will take the helm at quarterback with Greg Griffo as his backup. Running backs Bryan Schweitzer and Joe Bender will be backed up by Sean Melow and Cory Rugen. Babylon's winning tradition will escort the team into this season's encounters. In 2006, the team outscored opponents 412-104, while compiling 3336 yards on offense, 2850 rushing. They averaged over six yards per carry. The Panthers moved 486 yards in the air, averaging over seven yards per attempt. They held opponents to 1658 yards per game, only 715 rushing. Babylon made 137 first downs and held the others to 75. They were Plus 7 on turnovers.
The regular season varsity schedule for 2007: 9/15 vs. Miller Place 2 pm, 9/20 (Thursday night) at Mount Sinai 7 pm, 9/29 vs. Hampton Bays 1:30 pm, 10/6 at Shoreham 2 pm, 10/12 (Friday night) at Westhampton 7 pm, 10/20 Homecoming vs. Glenn 2 pm, 10/27 vs. Amityville 2 pm, 11/3 at Bayport 2 pm. The October 20 Homecoming game is against Glenn. Many will remember Babylon's thrilling 35-33 victory against the Knights in last year's playoffs.
|
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
||||||||||||||
