It was Friday night under the lights as the 3-1 Fort Hamilton Tigers traveled to Pier 40 on the Hudson River to play the 2-2 Stuyvesant Peg Legs.
Just a week ago Fort Hamilton suffered a stinging two-point overtime loss to A. Phillip Randolph H.S., and now the team was anxious to begin the second half of the season with some more W’s.
For the third week in a row in a Fort Hamilton game, a long touchdown run would be scored on the first offensive possession of the game. This time it would be the Tigers’ turn to enjoy a long run as Trey Marshall rumbled 68 yards down the sideline. Manny King then followed with a two-point conversion run to give the Tigers an early 8-0 first quarter lead.
Stuyvesant immediately answered with a 45-yard drive that Vitaly Pyagay capped off with a seven-yard quarterback keeper to end the first quarter with the score at 8-6.
Fort Hamilton’s Aiden Porter figured prominently in the second quarter as the two-way sophomore gathered in a 19-yard pass from quarterback Aidan Farley to put the Tigers up 14-6.
Dropping back on defense for a punt return, the normally sure-handed Porter fumbled a Stuyvesant punt deep in the Fort Hamilton end. Subsequently, the Peg Legs came close to making their second score until Porter made up for his fielding miscue. From his cornerback position, Porter made a shoestring interception in front of the end zone to stop Stuyvesant’s last attempt to score before the end of the half.
Starting the second half with a 14-6 lead, the Tigers sent Marshall up the middle on a five-yard TD run, along with a two-point pass reception by Porter to bring the score to 22-6.
For the second week in a row, the Tigers’ defense held their opponent’s offense scoreless in the second half. The game closed out with a final score of 22-8 as Stuyvesant’s surging defense scored a fourth quarter two-point safety on a Tiger punt attempt from the end zone.
This was another standout game for two-way sophomore fullback Trey Marshall, who scored his 12th and 13th touchdown of the season. Of Fort Hamilton’s total 249 yards of offense, Marshall gained 171 yards.
Next week, the 4-1 Tigers will host another one of this season’s teams on the rise, the 5-0 Engineers of Brooklyn Tech.