By Steven Zaitz

If you weren’t sure if the summer was over on Long Island, all you needed to do was step outside your front door this past Saturday. 

It was raw, damp, gray, windy and downright nasty, as our region dealt with the remnants of Hurricane Ian.

But for Head Coach Pat Campbell and his men, the Northport Football Tigers — it was one of the most unexpected days at the beach the team has ever had.

After sleepwalking through their first three games and somehow winning two of them, the Tigers faced arch-rival, previously undefeated, and consensus No. 1 team in Suffolk Conference II, Lindenhurst, and took them to the woodshed, blanking the Bulldogs 19-0; and if you can believe it, the game wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate.

The Tigers trounced the Bulldogs in all three phases of the football game, ripping off 287 yards rushing yards, dominating in the trenches on both sides of the ball, unleashing a relentless pass rush, and even winning on special teams. 

Considering that Northport has had lapses in concentration and execution for long stretches of games this year, and Lindenhurst came into the contest having outscored opponents 79-29 in their three wins, a Tiger victory would have been considered a mild to medium-sized surprise. What happened on Saturday however was shocking to everyone as the Tigers ran the ball at will, ringing up 21 first downs. Lindenhurst only had three.

“We hadn’t played well yet as a team,” Campbell said. “We’ve been getting beat on defense with people getting behind us and we’ve have given up too many long runs. Today we played up to our capabilities and played great complimentary football. Our offensive line was great, our D-Line was fantastic. I’m proud of our guys.”

Like every good upset, there is a backstory. The Tigers had a 20-6 lead with 10 minutes to play in last year’s Suffolk semi-final, high-stakes playoff game at Lindenhurst. But in the fourth quarter, the Tigers missed an extra point, committed 75 yards of penalties, and allowed the Bulldogs to score two late touchdowns in less than five minutes to win the game.

“We lost our composure in that game,” Campbell said. “The guys that were here learned a lot from it and the guys that weren’t here, have heard about it from those that were. We never want to have that feeling again.”

Northport Senior Quarterback and Captain Owen Johansen was there — and certainly did not forget.

“It was a big emphasis for me to beat this team,” Johansen said, who had his sixth rushing TD in three weeks and threw the ball beautifully despite the less-than-ideal conditions. “This wasn’t just another game for me, and I don’t want to speak for the rest of the boys, but that loss was in the back of my mind all week and when this game was over, it felt better than just a normal win.”

All of these pent-up thoughts and emotions seemed to come gushing out from every Northport player on Saturday.

Johansen, who has built a reputation as a hard-hitting, run-stuffing linebacker, looked even more ferocious than usual. On the very first play from scrimmage, Johansen knifed into the Bulldog backfield and splattered running back Brady Dolan for a three-yard loss. This play set the tone for the afternoon, as the Tigers would consistently have three, four or five blue helmets surrounding Lindy ball carriers before they even got to the line of scrimmage.

“Besides being a great quarterback, Owen is just a nasty, instinctive football player,” Campbell said.  “That play got us going right away and we were in attack mode — in their quarterback’s face all day and we shut down the running game.”

This gaggle of gang-tacklers, along with Johansen were Tim Cleary, Thomas Krause, Matt Diaz, Andrew Miller, Giancarlo Valenti and Christian Raio, who together made it seem like they stole a copy of Lindenhurst’s playbook, holding the Bulldogs minus seven yards rushing for the game. Lindenhurst’s All Long Island Wide Receiver Chris Carson caught two quasi-desperation bombs for 51 yards but if you remove those, the Bulldogs gained 18 yards on 35 offensive snaps. This is 0.5 yards per play.

“We knew they wanted revenge from last year but that is no excuse for the way we played” Carson said, who has been a star at Lindenhurst in baseball and football since his sophomore year. “It was just a rough game from top to bottom and our level of effort was not enough. Whatever the reason was, it will not happen again.”

As the defense enjoyed its finest game of the year, the Tiger offense was reluctant to play second fiddle, and it started with guys up front. 

On the nine-play drive which was their opening offensive series, the Tigers had runs of 18, 10 and 15, slashing and dashing behind blowout blocks of Cleary, newly inserted right guard Justin Macke, Mason Hecht, Conner Hennigman and Matt McGovern. It was both exhilarating and shocking a thing to see — a defense of Lindenhurst’s caliber getting carved up like a Thanksgiving Butterball. Johansen finished the opening drive with a 15-yard touchdown run, squeezing past All-County linebacker Nick Rose at the front left pylon.

Macke, who made a key block on Johansen’s score, was a junior fullback last year and used the heartbreak in Lindy as inspiration. 

“We haven’t beaten them in four years and this win was absolutely amazing,” Macke said. “They ended our season last year and we worked long and hard since then to get to today — and today we played Northport football and showed what we are capable of.”

A 98-yard drive is a pretty good indication of capable. That’s just what Northport did early in the second quarter. 

After losing a yard from their own two, Northport rammed the ball down the Bulldogs’ throat for a 99-yard touchdown march and a 14-point lead.  The highlights of the drive were a 39-yard run by Giancarlo Valenti off left tackle and a play-action pass to his brother Nick for 27 yards. Running back Michael Raio finished off the drive by flipping up and over the tackle attempt of Dolan and into the end zone for a five-yard score. Lindenhurst had no answers for any of this.

“Our offensive line was excellent today,” said Raio, who combined with Giancarlo for 177 rushing yards. “On the touchdown, He (Dolan) came in low, so I tried to jump over him. He got a piece of my foot and I went flying. I’m glad I came down in the end zone.”

After another three and out near their own goal line, Bulldog punter Ian Webb mishandled a snap that rolled through the back of the end zone for a safety, giving Northport a 16-0 lead that they took into the half.

The Tigers continued to dominate territorially after the break but were not able to put up any points in the third quarter.  Even with a 16-point lead, Campbell admits to having flashes of déjà vu of November’s playoff debacle as his teams’ penalties started to accumulate and it remained a two-score game.

 “Lindenhurst is ranked number one in the league for a reason,” Campbell said. “We bogged down a couple of times in the third quarter and we all know what happened last year, so yeah, it crossed my mind.”

Tiger Placekicker Billy Griffiths did his best to put Campbell’s mind at ease when he made a 33-yard field goal with 7:30 remaining in the game. It finally gave the Tigers the three-score lead they craved. 

“I was pretty confident that I’d make it,” said Griffiths, who played on the Tiger soccer team last year and has earned the nickname Billy the Boot. “The weather was a factor throughout the game, but for that kick I had the wind at my back, so I felt pretty good.”

As the soggy Northport crowd came to a crescendo, sensing a win, Chase Sasso, a senior running back, carried the ball for a couple of first downs and the game was officially sealed for Northport. He was thrilled to be on the field for such a big win.

“It was great to be out there and to finish the game,” Sasso. “I ran as hard as I could, making sure I held on to the ball with both hands.”

Northport is now tied with Lindenhurst for first in the Conference II and like Sasso, was not going to let this opportunity slip through its fingers.