Westhampton runs past Lawrence

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In its first appearance in the Long Island Class III championship game since winning three straight titles, Lawrence proved no match for Westhampton and star running back Dylan Laube on Sunday.

Laube broke L.I’s all-time single-season touchdown record, scoring six times and rushing for 227 yards on 25 carries, to lead the Hurricanes to their first-ever crown, 54-26, before a crowd of more than 3,000 at Stony Brook’s LaValle Stadium.

Laube’s fifth touchdown, a dazzling 69-yard scamper, with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter, was his 46th of the year and put him past North Babylon’s Jason Gwaltney (2004) in the record book and gave Westhampton (12-0) an insurmountable 41-12 lead.

“He’s awesome,” Lawrence head coach Joe Martillotti said of Laube, who also scored from 2, 4, 22, 11 and 5 yards out, finishing with 47 touchdowns on the year. “We strung some things out but we didn’t do a good job filling the cutback lanes,” he added. “They beat us on the edge a couple times and the game really started to get away from us in the third quarter.”

Lawrence (10-2) got rushing and receiving touchdowns from senior Christian Rodas, and rushing scores from seniors Chris Collier and Suquan Stays. Junior quarterback Christian Fredericks went 12-for-22 for 142 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and senior Keijohn Graham paced the defense with 12 tackles.

“It feels great to win our first Long Island title,” Westhampton head coach Bill Parry said. “Lawrence is very athletic and we knew we had our work cut out for us.”

The Hurricanes scored on each of their eight possessions and led 20-6 at halftime. They had first-half scoring drives of 64, 68 and 55 yards. Martillotti felt a Collier-to-Rodas 60-yard touchdown late in the second quarter nullified by a penalty was a turning point and took some steam out of his team.

“That call was big,” Martillotti said. “Instead of it being a one-score game at halftime, we go in a little flat down 13 points and having to kick off to them to start the second half.”  

The Hurricanes, who racked up 443 yards on the day, needed only four plays in the third quarter to extend their lead to 27-6. Lawrence responded with a touchdown drive on its own, capped by a Collier 5-yard scoring run, but it was less than a minute before Westhampton was back in the end zone.

In what would be the only time Parry called a pass play, quarterback Clarke Lewis hit a streaking Nolan Quinlan behind the Lawrence secondary for a 64-yard touchdown and the margin was 34-12. Laube’s record-breaking score followed and the difference was 29 heading into the fourth quarter.

“He’s a once-in-a-lifetime player,” Parry said of Laube, who had 100 yards in the opening quarter. “For him to break the touchdown record on top of us winning, it’s extra special.”

Each team scored twice in the fourth quarter. Stays scored from 11 yards and Rodas from 5 yards on the last play of the game. Charles Fee hit 7 of 8 extra-point tries for the Hurricanes.

“We were hoping for a back-and-forth shootout,” Martillotti said. “We just couldn’t keep up with them.”