Tigers dwarf New Dorp

After three games on the road, the 3-2 Fort Hamilton Tigers hosted the 0-5 Central Cougars of New Dorp. Hungry for the team’s first win, the Cougars immediately took the Tigers by the tail in the first quarter as New Dorp quarterback Nick Dagnese engineered two consecutive passing attacks within Fort Hamilton’s 10-yard line. Although the Cougars cruised downfield twice with relative ease, the Tiger defense made two Red Zone stands to hold New Dorp on downs to leave the first quarter scoreless.

“I told the team it’s not about [New Dorp]; it’s about us getting better and doing our jobs,” stated Tiger Head Coach Dan Perez referring to his defense playing out of position to allow the Cougars to drive practically unopposed twice downfield.

In the second quarter Tiger quarterback Connor Fitzsimons (6-8 for 44 passing yards & 4 carries for 34 yards) started the day’s scoring on an 80-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard Troy Booker touchdown.  After being penalized 15 yards, Coach Perez called for a Wildcat formation to make up for the loss of yardage that saw Seba Nekhet regain the penalty yardage plus 45 more yards for another touchdown.

With time winding down in the quarter Blake Swam leaped high to snag a New Dorp pass his second interception of the season and returned the ball 60 yards for the last score of the second quarter for a 24-0 Fort Hamilton lead at the half.

Troy Booker opened the third quarter with a 40-yard touchdown run which was called back on another Fort Hamilton penalty.  Catching his breath from the 45-yard line, Booker ran an identical route for his second touchdown to give the Tigers a commanding 32-0 lead.  Finishing strong, Booker (10 carries for 151 yards) put the icing on the cake as he scored his third touchdown of the game on a 45 yard sprint at the end of the third quarter for the 40-0 Fort Hamilton win.

Recapping the game Coach Perez stated, “We came back to make some big plays to win this game today.  Troy had some great runs and Blake’s interception for a touchdown was big for us. [Troy] puts [the points] up really quickly.”