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Babylon Football: Panthers claw Wildcats, 35-20 The Babylon Panthers forced six turnovers and beat the Shoreham Wildcats in the battle of the Cats, Saturday at Shoreham. The final was 35-20. Shoreham had it in the offensive stats, totaling 331 net yards 303 rushing) and 18 first downs. But the Panthers buckled down when it counted most and capitalized on interceptions by Greg Griffo, Beau Bachety and Sean Gargiulo, fumble recoveries by T. J. DiMartino, Conor Tennyson and Alex Grandal and sacks by Matt Lauria and Bachety. Game time was changed from 2 p.m. to 2:30 to accommodate students taking the SATs. A dozen Babylon players got to the field minutes before the opening kickoff. Shoreham players took the SATs at their school and didn't have the same difficulties. Coach Rick Punzone said he was a bit disappointed in the defensive play during the game, but had a great deal of praise for his special teams. All year, they've played a key role in each game with super punting, long kick returns, excellent blocking, forced fumbles and extra point scores while thwarting those of the opponents. Babylon scored first when a Shoreham punt was taken by Joe Bender who handed off to Bryan Schweitzer. The fleet back raced left, followed the wall and zipped 62 yards for the touchdown. Kerry Carlock added the first of his five extra point kicks. Shoreham answered in the second quarter. Brendan Kelly blasted through left guard, shook a number of tackles and went the distance, 77 yards for the TD. The Panthers then rallied for four rapid unanswered touchdowns. Schweitzer took the kickoff, broke up the middle and raced right going all the way, 89 yards for a TD. Eleven seconds later, Bachety picked off a pass in the backfield and ran it in from the Shoreham 8-yard line. Seconds later, DiMartino recovered a fumble at the Wildcat 28. On the first play from there, Schweitzer raced for his third TD. Following Gargiulo's pick at the Shoreham 32, quarterback Willie Rivas immediately gunned to Alex Grandal on a fly down the right side for the score. In all, the Panthers scored 28 points in two minutes and 46 seconds. Babylon led 35-6 at the half. Schweitzer took the kickoff to open the second half at the Babylon 21 and ran it to the 48. He went off limping with a bruised thigh and was unable to return to action. In all, he had 178 yards in return yardage and 221 in all purpose yardage, good for three TDs, in only one half of play. Shoreham scored twice in the second half on runs by Kelly from the 7 and from the 8. The big back added a 2-point conversion on the last one with less than two minutes on the clock. Called the Big Red Machine, Kelly has been one of the Island's best running backs over the past three years. He had 33 carries for 244 yards and three TDs in this one. Add 26 yards on a pass reception for a total 270 all purpose yards. As a linebacker, he also intercepted a pass. The Babylon JV is now 4-0, having beaten the Shoreham JV 23-14. Good work by an up-and-coming group of Panthers.
Tomorrow night (Friday), Babylon plays the tough Westhampton Hurricanes at Westhampton Beach. Game time is scheduled for 7 pm. Both teams are 3-1 and have fallen in close games to Mount Sinai.
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