Raiders Fall to Sachem North in Opener, 33-7

The Patchogue-Medford Raiders fell victim to the Sachem North Arrows at the opening football game of the season Saturday night at Sachem North High School, by a score of 33-7.

The Arrows, who went to the Suffolk County finals last season, struck early and often Saturday night.

The first arrowhead shot at the scoreboard by Sachem North came the first time they got their hands on the ball--literally.

Junior running back Dalton Crossan returned a punt for a touchdown following the Raiders' first possession.

"The game started off terrible," said Raider head coach James Chiarello. "It's 7-0 before you can blink an eye, things just weren't going our way."

Despite the early score, the Raiders did have early opportunities to rattle the Arrows.

Right after throwing an interception on their second possession, the Raiders picked off Arrows quarterback Michael Mccarthy on their very first play from scrimmage.

The Raiders, however, failed to seize that opportunity and followed the turnover with a three-and-out.

The Arrows followed up their first-play interception with another turnover, this time via fumble.

Once again, the Raiders found themselves in a position to even the score. Just like the first opportunity, it ended with a punt.

"We couldn't get a first down early on," said Chiarello. "It could have kept it a little closer than it was."

It was all Sachem North from there.

Not closing that gap early on forced Chiarello's team to sway from their general game plan of running the ball.

"That was probably the first time in a long time that we threw the ball 15 to 20 times." Chiarello said of his altered offense.

"We were down playing catch-up, and you can't play catch-up running the ball."

The Raiders didn't show a normal air strike by any means, however.
Coach Chiarello features two quarterbacks that he utilized during the game.

Seniors Kevin Gerard and Gabe Lijoi split the duties under center. Not only are there two different players throwing the ball to confuse defenses, but one of them is a southpaw.

"It gives a little different perspective to the kids in the secondary," said Chiarello of Lijoi.

Besides the two "regular" quarterbacks for the Raiders, there was also a wildcard thrown into their offensive mix tonight.

Sophomore lineman Joe Lacey took three snaps late in the second quarter. Lacey, who sometimes runs their two-minute drill, threw three incomplete passes to end the half.

"He wings the ball down the field and finds an open kid," said Chiarello of Lacey's quarterback cameo. "We said it's the end of the half, we might as well try something."

Coming into Saturday's game, Chiarello knew his team would be in for a tough start.

"I knew it was going to be a tough situation with their speed, trying to keep up with those guys," said Chiarello. "You like to start off against a team that maybe doesn't prepare as much during the summer, but they work [hard] those guys."

The Raiders will try and get on the winning side of the ball next Saturday, when they take on Sachem East.