It was a clash between two Suffolk County Class A contenders in the second Epoch Game of the Week as the Huntington Blue Devils traveled to Connetquot to take on the Thunderbirds. After being defeated by Huntington both in the regular season and in the postseason last year, Connetquot showed that this season they are different team as they never trailed en route to an 11-7 victory to improve to 4-1 on the season and 3-0 in the conference.
The first quarter saw Connetquot’s Tyler McCarthy and Tyler Moore set the tone offensively, playing an up tempo pace and scoring the first three goals of the game giving them the early 3-0 lead. Defensively the combination of long poles Kyle Cochran, and Aiden Dinnigan creating turnovers and Connor Fitzgibbon in the net managed to keep Huntington off the board after the first 12 minutes and take a 3-0 lead going into the second quarter.
The momentum continued for the Thunderbirds in the second frame where they extended their lead to 4-0 on a lefty underhanded goal scored by the sophomore Jake Gallose. Huntington responded to get on the board on an assisted goal from Mikey Kline to Thomas Girimonti which cut the deficit back to three. Anthony Annunziata and Colin Lennon each added goals in the period and Huntington outscored Connetquot 3-2 which gave them a manageable two goal deficit at halftime with Connetquot leading 5-3.
In the third quarter it was a defensive battle the first six minutes of the frame with both Connor Fitzgibbon and SammyMac Arner coming up with saves for their respective teams, but midway through the period Connetquot had an answer on the second goal of the game scored by Jake Gallose assisted by Tyler Moore. The fast pace continued with defense turning into offense. One of the biggest plays of the game for Connetquot came with 5:45 in the third that started with a save by Fitzgibbon and a clear by Cochran leading Moore scoring his third goal of the game to once again extend the lead to four. Ultimately they outscored Huntington 3-2 in third to take an 8-5 lead going into the fourth
The Thunderbirds kept their foot on the gas in the final 12 minutes and did not relinquish the lead. Huntington trailed 10-7 with just over one minute remaining looking to chip away at the deficit, but a turnover gave the ball back to Connetquot where AJ Jeffares put the finishing touches on the game resulting in an 11-7 win. The Epoch and Revo Players of the Game were Tyler McCarthy, Tyler Moore, and Kyle Cochran!
Next up for Connetquot (4-1) will be Bay Shore on April 8th. Huntington (2-2) takes on Middle Country in their next game on April 12th.
