Sachem North will play Connetquot in football semis

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UPDATE: The text below has been modified slightly to show that the game time is actually Saturday at 1 p.m., and not Friday night. SectionXI.org had it listed incorrectly.

ORIGINAL: All four top seeds in the Suffolk County Division I football playoffs were victorious during the first round, so No. 3 Sachem North will travel to No. 2 Connetquot for the semifinals. The game will be played Saturday, Nov. 16 at 1 p.m.

No. 1 Commack (9-0) will host No. 4 William Floyd (7-2) in the other county semifinal on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Sachem (7-2) is coming off a 42-12 victory over No. 6 Northport (4-5) on Friday evening. Connetquot (8-1) beat Longwood (3-6), 33-6, in their semifinal bout. The Thunderbirds experienced their only loss of the season earlier in the year at Sachem, a 56-40 defeat.

The 56 points scored against Connetquot were the third most for Sachem in a single-game, and the 96 points were the second highest combined score in Sachem history. Needless to say, both teams have strong offenses.

Sachem is 22-8-2 all-time against the T-birds dating back to 1980, including a stretch of five straight wins and 13-2 run in the last 15 contests. The Flaming Arrows have outscored their Ronkonkoma rivals, 717-378, over the last 33 years of playing.

This marks the fifth straight season that Sachem has played in the county semifinals.

-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro