The Half Hollow Hills East Thunderbirds will head out on the road to face off against the Northport Tigers at 3:15 p.m. on Friday. Half Hollow Hills East's defense has only allowed 8.2 points per game this season, so Northport's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Half Hollow Hills East is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering East Islip just ended the team's three-game winning streak on Saturday. They lost to the Redmen on the road by a 33-14 margin. While losing is never fun, the Thunderbirds can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New York football rankings (they are ranked 66th, while the Redmen are ranked 13th).
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Northport, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Saturday. They pulled ahead with a 20-19 photo finish over North Babylon on Saturday. The win almost wasn't to be: the Tigers were down 12-0 in the third quarter.
Enrique Hernandez went supernova for Northport, rushing for 88 yards and a touchdown on only 11 carries, while also throwing for 186 yards and a touchdown on only 15 passes. The dominant performance gave Hernandez a new career-high in rushing yards.
Having lost for the first time this season, Half Hollow Hills East fell to 3-1. As for Northport, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 3-1.
Everything went Half Hollow Hills East's way against Northport in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, as Half Hollow Hills East made off with a 63-41 win. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Northport's Michael Campoli, who rushed for 181 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 10.1 yards per carry, and also picked up 44 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Half Hollow Hills East to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
