All Matt Sweeney kept telling himself was “catch this ball.”
After his Rocky Point teammate Devin Cline scored a touchdown to almost even the score between the Eagles and Eastport-South Manor in overtime, the junior offensive linebacker and running back made a hopping catch before reaching into the end zone for the two-point conversion that kept his team unbeaten. The 36-35 win that spoiled the Sharks’ homecoming September 28 keeps Rocky Point at the top of the Division III standings with East Islip (both 3-0).
“We went to the sideline and quickly drew up that play. It worked out,” Sweeney said. “We haven’t beat them in two years. Were killed by them last year at their homecoming (48-6), so this feels real good.”
Even more so after the Eagles found themselves trailing for the first time with just 8:52 left in regulation. Following a Cline (four touchdowns) 2-yard run for a score, the two-point conversion failed, and Eastport-South Manor started slowly moving the chains the other way. But then the Sharks fumbled the ball, and sophomore cornerback Trevor Lamoureux (one interception) recovered it for the possession that led Cline to another 2-yard touchdown run to put Rocky Point ahead 28-21 with 3:15 on the clock.
“We knew they were going to play physical, run the ball,” said Rocky Point senior quarterback Gavin Davanzo. “So we were ready for some smashmouth football.”
A huge Sharks snag brought the ball to the 1-yard line, and a penalty took the ball halfway to goal before Paul Baldino bulled his way up the middle for the game-tying score with 39 seconds to go.
“I was scared, but at the same time I was so happy we still had a chance to take the game,” said Cline, a junior fullback and linebacker, of going into overtime. “We wanted to play as a team and play our hearts out.”
Baldino also scored the go-ahead touchdown for Eastport-South Manor in overtime to force Rocky Point to try and do the same. Davanzo said he never doubted what his boys could do.
“All I could think about was celebrating on the bus ride home with my boys,” he said. “This is surreal. The past couple years Rocky Point’s been on a downward spiral, but we’ve turned things around.”
Rocky Point has already collected more wins than it did during its 1-7 2018-19 campaign, and tied the number of wins in the 2017-18 season (3-6 overall, 3-5 in Division III). In 2016-17, the Eagles ended the year 5-5.
And besides improving on the last two seasons, this Rocky Point team has already found its way into the record books with a 35-0 blanking of Amityville September 21. It was the first time in school history the Eagles shut out an opponent on homecoming weekend.
“The team chemistry is great with this team,” Cline said. “Things are changing in Rocky Point.”
