Last Second TD Ends Lions Season

In an instant, West Islip’s dream of a championship was over.

The top-seeded Lions suffered a heartbreaking 20-19 loss to No. 8 West Babylon Saturday at West Islip High School. Eagles quarterback Clifton Melhado hit wide receiver Matt Devlin with a 16-yard pass as time expired.

While neither team was crisp in the Division II football playoff matchup, West Islip’s high-powered offense, which averaged 37 points per game in the regular season, struggled and accounted for only six points on Saturday.

Two of West Islip’s three touchdowns came via a 95 yard interception return by senior Nick Aponte and an end zone fumble recovery by sophomore Max McNicholas following a long Aponte punt return. Dan Johnson scored the Lions lone offensive touchdown early in the second quarter.

In addition to the team’s offensive struggles, the Lions also two missed two extra points and a field goal.

“We played our ‘A’ game on offensive most of the season, but just didn’t play our ‘A’ game today,” said head coach Steve Mileti, who was at a loss for words to describe his team’s performance.

Adding to West Islip’s offensive struggles was a leg injury sustained by junior quarterback Sam Ilario in the third quarter. While Ilario missed an offensive series, he returned in the fourth clearly hobbled, but managed to run for a key first down with 5:18 remaining.

Mileti said he contemplated replacing Ilario with backup QB AJ llchert for the remainder of the game, but once his starting signal caller showed he was able to run “north and south,” the head coach went with his starter.

But as it did all day, West Islip’s potent offensive stalled late in the fourth quarter and gave the ball back to West Babylon at around its own 30-yard line with about three minutes remaining.

On the game’s final drive, Melhado patiently led West Babylon’s offensive, chewing up small chunks of yardage and neatly using short sideline passes to move the ball while also conserving precious seconds. He found Devlin with the game-winning pass on a play that was snapped with 1.4 seconds remaining.