Pirates sail past Tigers for playoff position

Tottenville 28, Fort Hamilton 6

The regular season was on the line for the 5-3 Tigers to hold on to fourth place as they geared up to play the third place 6-2 Pirates just one week before the playoffs last Saturday night under the lights at Tottenville.

Although the Tigers drew first blood with a pick-six in the first quarter, the Pirates offense explored for ownership of the game by the end of the first half. For the Tigers, this would be their third loss in a row to finish the regular season with a record of 5-4, sending them lower than they expected on the playoff seeding chart for the month of November.

Tottenville came out aggressively passing in the first half as Jayson Magnani seized an errant pass for a touchdown returning an inception 60 yards down the sideline for Fort Hamilton’s first score of the game.

Returning back to their aggressive passing form, the Pirates quickly moved downfield and went ahead 7-6 on Andrew Russo’s 15-yard sprint into the end zone ending the first quarter.

Midway in the second quarter, Tottenville capitalized on a number of Fort Hamilton penalties that brought them into the Tigers’ Red Zone, which led to Devin Martin’s two-yard catch to pad the Pirates lead, 14-6.

With time winding down to the half, Pirate quarterback Josh Rainey decided to let loose with a “Hail Mary” pass that found James Munson right on the goal line that stunned the Tigers to close the half for a 21-6 lead.

With a substantial lead, the Tottenville defense held the Tigers scoreless for the rest of the game. The Pirates finally sealed their win when Dion Barnes broke one down the sideline for 35 yards for the last Tottenville score of the game.

The Tottenville win allows the Pirates to remain in third place for the playoffs behind second place Erasmus (8-1) and first place Lincoln (9-0); while 5-4 Fort Hamilton drops down to 10th place on the playoff chart. Next week, the Tigers take on seventh place 6-3 JFK in the Bronx as the first round of the PSAL playoffs begin.