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Babylon Football: Panthers edge hurricanes in seesaw thriller The Babylon Panthers featured terrific line play as they came from behind to edge the Westhampton Hurricanes 18-15 at Westhampton Beach last Friday night. Carl Hansen Field is named after the legendary educator whose career from 1929-1960 rose from teacher to coach to athletic director to superintendent of schools for the district. The annual Hansen award, given to Suffolk County's outstanding football player, is named for him. The game was a thriller with the lead changing five times. Babylon intercepted passes to end Westhampton's final drives in each half. The Panther line was dominant on both sides of the ball. On offense, center Tom Heavner anchored a solid line to a fine ball control game. Tailback Aaron Pinto had 73 yards on 18 carries. On defense, the interior (Marc Martinez, Sean Melow and Keith Menger) stifled the runs while ends Beau Bachety and Matt Lauria rushed the passing game into a number of incompletions and linebacker T. J. DiMartino came up to fill the inside gaps with a number of big hits. Coach Rick Punzone expressed his elation in his post game comments. "Our lines were outstanding. We prepared well and challenged the team all week to work hard with the tradition of Babylon football in mind. Hopefully, we've turned the corner on some previous mistakes. This is the effort we've been waiting for all year." The Panthers are now 4-1, Westhampton 3-2. Babylon scored on their second possession going 55 yards on eleven plays. Joe Bender capped the drive from the 2-yard line diving over right guard behind Martinez. Westhampton responded in the second quarter going 60 yards on six plays. Tailback Kyle Hubbard swept the left side for 32 yards to the Babylon 27. The TD play went 21 yards with quarterback Chris Bougatsos hitting tight end Jake Mainzer in the right side of the end zone. Scott Johnson kicked the extra point to put the Hurricanes up 7-6. Babylon's second scoring drive went 82 yards on twelve plays. The key was a 40-yard bomb with quarterback Willie Rivas hitting Alex Grandal on a right fly moving the pigskin to the West 31. Melow capped it over right guard from the 1, again behind Martinez. And Babylon led 12-7. Late in the first half, with the Panthers driving, cornerback Joe Lenihan picked off a pass on the Hurricane 36 and toted it to the Panther 47. Taking to the air, Bougatsos directed his team to the Babylon 8. But the Black D held. On fourth down, Westhampton set up for a 25-yard field goal. They faked it and Hubbard, the holder, rolled right and fired to the end zone. There, linebacker Cory Rugen intercepted to stop the drive with a few ticks remaining on the clock. The third quarter was scoreless. A Babylon drive ended when West linebacker T. J. Fallon moved in for a sack and a pass from Rivas to J. T. Pate was caught along the right sideline and Pate, in the air, was bumped out of bounds in what should have been a first down deep in Hurricane turf. The ruling was an incomplete pass. Tough call. Just over a minute into the final period, Bougatsos hit Lenihan on a deep right flag to put the Canes ahead. The play covered 20 yards. The two combined on a left square out for the 2-point conversion and Westhampton led 15-12. With 7:09 remaining, the Panthers took over on their own 27. Commanding excellent ball control, Rivas led them 73 yards on fourteen plays. The drive took almost five minutes with Babylon chalking up five first downs. The key was a sliding catch by Pate on a right buttonhook at the West 36 for eleven yards. Babylon returned to the ground attack moving the ball into striking range. Tailback Bryan Schweitzer carried it in from the 3 following a block by Lauria at right tackle. And Babylon was up 18-15. The Hurricanes weren't done. Bougatsos passed them from their own 37 to the Panther 17. For the game, he completed 9 passes in 24 attempts for 131 yards and two TDs. With 49 seconds remaining, he fired to Lenihan on a right flag at the goal line. But once again, Westhampton was thwarted on a late interception. This time Pate picked it off at the 2 and took it up to the 15, a game saver. From there, the Panthers ate up the remaining 45 seconds to win it. Recordwise, the victory places the Panthers into a three way tie at the top with Amityville (4-1) and Mount Sinai (4-1). The previously unbeaten Mustangs fell to the Warriors 16-14, last Saturday.
This Saturday is Homecoming for Babylon. The Panthers will host the Glenn Knights (3-2) at Williams Field. Starting time is scheduled for 2 pm. Babylon beat Glenn twice last year. The second was a 35-33 cliff hanger to knock the Knights out in the playoffs. Glenn will be seeking revenge in this one.
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