Tigers tame Lehman Lions for third win

Coming off their second straight win last week at FDR, the 2-2 Tigers rode their momentum to another win as Fort Hamilton hosted the 2-2 Lehman Lions from the Bronx.

In attendance to see the Tigers’ third win of the season was Bay Ridge’s Super Roofer Bill Boshell, a 1978 Fort Hamilton grad who hosted a post-game pizza luncheon for the team. Although he was not a football player, Boshellearned the school’s JFK Physical Fitness Award in his senior year for his overall play on the basketball and track teams. 

The win was significant for the Tigers since the young team composed of mainly sophomores and juniors improved to a 3-2 record with three games left on the eight-game regular season schedule. Besides going over .500, three juniors had career games to contribute to the 42-20 win.

Junior co-captain Aidan Farley turned in another poised performance at quarterback, throwing for a personal best 293 yards for five touchdowns on 12 of 17 attempts.Running back August Porter gained 118 total yards and scored three touchdowns on offense. On defense, the two-way junior made an interception as well as an onside kickoff recovery to start another Fort Hamilton drive. Tim Tan also had a top day on defense as the junior linebacker made seven unassisted tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery.

In the first half, Manny Dimitrakios scored on a 34-yard pass play, August Porter scored his first touchdown on a 75-yard pass play and Jawad Fares scored on a 4-yard pass to put the Tigers up 22-0. Just before the end of the half, Lehman’s Sameer Thomas scored on a 4-yard pass to close out the second quarter 22-8.

The Lions scored immediately at the beginning of the second half on a 5-yard sprint by running back Deandrew Arzu, while the Tigers responded with two quick scores of their own. Porter continued on a roll and scored on a 10-yard reception and then finished his day with a 3-yard pass to put the Tigers ahead 34-14.

With the game essentially in hand by the fourth quarter, the Tigers put the icing on the cake when Farley found a streaking Ismail Haider for a 75-yard pass play for the sophomore receiver’s first touchdown of the season. By the end of the game Lehman wore down the Tiger defense and drove down to the 3-yard line with five seconds left where the Lions’ Thomas (160 rushing yards) scored his second touchdown.

“We knew that this was a very important game for us,”Porter said. “We studied them [Lehman] on film and practiced hard during the week. We were all in for this game.”

Next week the Tigers travel to play Benjamin Cardozo, another 3-2 team, under the Friday night lights of Bayside,Queens.