Tigers get washed away by JFK 

This would be the second year in a row that the schedule-makers assigned the 2-1 Fort Hamilton Tigers to play a Friday night game at the 3-0 JFK Knights’ home field at Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx. With the expectation of a flat start from the long Brooklyn bus ride, the Tigers surprised their top tier Bronx opponents and dominated play during the first quarter.

The Tigers maintained possession all quarter as quarterback J. T. Turner drove downfield using a trio of running backs — Tom O’Neill, Jayden Pagan and Mekhi Smith. Eating up the quarter on the ground, the Tigers reached the one-yard line only to be denied the end zone on fourth down.

Using their goal line stand as a rallying point, the Knights proceeded to score twice in the second quarter to quickly gain the lead. Avery Reed (126 yards rushing and 3 TDs) started JFK’s scoring with a 31-yard run, followed by an 11-yard run by Dayvion Stephens to give the Knights a 14-0 half-time lead.

Down by two scores at halftime, Tiger co-captain Tom O’Neill stood up to challenge his team to rise to the occasion with more energy for the second half. Right after O’Neill’s challenge, the skies opened up to a torrential rainstorm that turned out favorable for the host Knights.

Moving downfield in a driving rain, JFK’s Joseph Adjei Afriyie proved to be as slippery as an eel to score on a 56-yard touchdown run to start the third quarter at 22-0. The Tigers finally answered back with a score of their own on an eight-yard rush by Mekhi Smith that would just put a dent in the 22-6 JFK lead. The Knights finished off the quarter with another Reed touchdown run for 15 yards, which practically sealed the game at 28-6 to end the quarter.

In the final quarter, Reed struck again on a two-yard push across the goal line to make the final score 34-6 to complete JFK’s game total of 337 yards rushing.

In his postgame huddle, Fort Hamilton coach Dan Perez addressed his rain-soaked team, making the point that everyone needed to put this loss behind them and to step up their week of practice so they would be able to take on New Dorp for their much-anticipated homecoming game.