Greenhill's Four Touchdowns
Seal Victory
Tyler Greenhill ran for 282 yards and scored four touchdowns last Saturday morning to help the Huntington junior varsity football knock-off undefeated Miller Place in an offensive extravaganza, 46-27.
After losing its first game of the season, Huntington has now reeled off three consecutive victories and played better each week. The Blue Devils continued that trend against the Panthers.
Huntington took the opening kick-off last weekend and went on an eight play drive capped off by Greenhill's three-yard touchdown dash. The sophomore then notched a two-point conversion to give the Blue Devils an early 8-0 lead.
With placekicker Pat Reilly unavailable, Huntington developed alternative plans, but on the team's very first kick-off, those plans failed as Miller Place ran the kick back 67 yards for a touchdown.
Huntington took possession of the ball on their 42-yard line and on the first play Greenhill ran 58 yards for a touchdown behind pancake blocking by Troy Greene and John Mallouk. Greenhill's two-point conversion attempt was successful and the Blue Devils went up 16-8.
A short time later, Huntington's defense came up big when James Byrnes forced a fumble and Mark Curley recovered it. "This gave us great field position on their 27-yard line," said Ron Wilson who coaches the Blue Devils along with Todd Jamison. Greenhill used a series of carries to get the ball down to the seven yard line but that's where the drive ended following two incomplete passes.
With the Panthers back on the prowl, the Blue Devil defense turned in a stellar effort, forcing Miller Place to punt on fourth down and short yardage. When Huntington quarterback Ben Kocis got his hands on the ball again, he fired sharp passes to Troy Greene and John Mallouk to gobble up yardage. A five-yard touchdown run by Greenhill followed by a two-point conversion run by Joe Thomas gave Big Blue some breathing room at 24-7.
The Panthers responded with a quick 36-yard touchdown drive to cut Huntington's advantage to 24-13. With less than three minutes remaining in the first half, the Blue Devils put together a seven play, 65 yard drive that culminated with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Kocis to Kiernan McGovern. Greenhill's two-point conversion gave Huntington a 32-13 halftime lead.
Miller Place came out fired up for the second half and promptly marched down the field, using just four plays to reach the end zone and narrow its deficit to 32-21. The Panther defense stifled Huntington's offense throughout much of the third quarter until Greenhill finally found a hole and made a 22-yard beeline for the end zone and his third touchdown of the morning.
Trailing 38-21, the Miller Place offense wasn't ready to wave a white flag just yet. The Panthers capitalized on broken secondary coverage to score a fourth quarter touchdown and edge a little bit closer at 38-27. But, Greenhill ended any hopes Miller Place might have harbored for a comeback when he ran 25 yards for his fourth touchdown of the game to seal Huntington's 46-27 victory.
Huntington hosts Deer Park at Blue Devil Stadium this Saturday at 9 a.m.