Northport Tigers Football Energizes Homecoming Crowd With Win
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By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com
The Northport Tigers have found their stride.
On Saturday, the football team won its fourth straight game, a dominating 48-7 effort over Sachem North on the Tigers’ homecoming day.
Northport coach Kip Lukralle called the performance one of the Tigers’ best of the season.
“We had a difficult start because of the early start of the season and a difficult schedule,” he added. “We’ve really gotten better and better each week and that’s what we’ve asked our kids to do, is to continue to work hard. We’ve put ourselves in a very good position right now.”
More than 2,000 students, families and faculty filled the Tigers Stadium for the game, cheering alongside Northport’s cheerleaders.
And the Tigers gave them plenty to cheer for right off the bat.
Early in the first quarter, senior running back Sean Eagers ran in a 7-yard touchdown and senior quarterback Ryan Walsh threw a pair of touchdown passes, both for 40 yards, to senior wide receiver Curtis Lafond and then junior running back Max Napoli. The Tigers capped off the offensive clinic with a 30-yard touchdown toss from Walsh to Lafond.
The show continued into the second quarter, when senior Andrew Bolitho returned an interception 15 yards for a touchdown and junior fullback Jeremy Gerdvil executed a 46-yard touchdown run.
The Tigers added to their lead in the third quarter when Eagers returned an interception 60 yards for another touchdown.
Junior kicker Tate Atherton converted six of seven extra points to help improve Northport to 4-2 in Suffolk Division I play.
Moving forward, Lukralle said the Tigers are taking each contest one game at a time with the ultimate goal being a spot in this year’s playoffs. The Tigers are next slated to host Connetquot on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Halftime at Saturday’s game brought a colossal performance by the Northport Tiger Marching Band, whose 60th anniversary is this year, as well as the Tigerettes and the Flagline. Students covered the football field and performed songs like “Happy Together” and “Play That Funky Music.”
The 2017 Northport Hall of Fame inductees were introduced after the induction ceremony, which was held earlier that morning. The inductees included Richard Castellano, the first Northport coach to be inducted; Frank Cavagnaro; Joseph Correia; Craig Dowd; Edward Ettinger; Beth Grecco-Gothers; Thomas Henske; Vincent Porciello; Karen Scheibe-Meneses; Kaylie Schiavetta; Thomas Thatford; Kevin Tschirhart; and the 2001 boys varsity lacrosse team.
To top that, seniors Elyse Farabaugh and Colin Trainor were crowned homecoming queen and king Saturday night during the school’s annual homecoming dance.
