State crown a first for Center Moriches

December 5, 2009 by COREY McLAUGHLIN / corey.mclaughlin@newsday.com

They started the season like most other Center Moriches boys soccer teams, practicing two hours every day in the summer. As the fall season went along, they racked up a good number of wins, like teams before them had also done. But the 2009 Red Devils ended the year like no Center Moriches group before them when they won a state title on a chilly November day in Oneonta.

The 1-0 win over Marcellus (Section III) in the Class B final on Nov. 22 gave the Red Devils their first boys soccer state title in program history, and the first state championship in any sport in school history. T.J. Thompson scored the final goal of the season and the Center Moriches strong defense did the rest, as it had for much of the year.

With its defense, led by junior Jack McGarrity, seniors Andrew Pirozzi and Chris Ogden and junior Sonny Saguto, and a balanced offense, Center Moriches (18-3-1) never lost a game when it scored first, going a perfect 18-0 in those situations, and two of its losses were 1-0 defeats.

For the young team - three seniors and eight juniors in the lineup - the formula for success was stonewalling defense, talented midfield play and timely scoring. It's how they won the Long Island title 1-0 over Cold Spring Harbor, and how they won the state with Thompson's goal in the 56th minute.

"We thought as long as we played the way we could play, we'd win," Pirozzi said during the celebration after the final. "We thought one goal was going to do it as long as we defended."

Offensively, Thompson came up big at states, also scoring once in the 2-0 state semifinal win against Grover Cleveland (VI), but scoring was spread around all season. Four players had at least 10 goals. Senior Derek Bennett led the team with 15, and those juniors were good, too. James Whelan had 14, Brian Alifano 11 and Harvey Houpe had 11 and created more with 15 assists.

"We had different guys step up every day," coach Chris O'Brien said, along with a solid goaltender Peter Altman, who had 10 shutouts.

Upstate, their fans brought a bright red sign that read: "GO RED HOT DEVILS." The banner hung on the sidelines during both games in Oneonta, and after each victory the players ran over and celebrated in front of it.

"This is what everybody has been playing for since you're three or four years old," Bennett said a few minutes after winning the final. "When you're little running around in circles after the ball, and now to this. It's crazy, it's awesome."

They celebrated like champions, with one unusual twist. The team gathered around a cell phone and on the other end was assistant coach Eric Beilski, who stayed back home with his wife who was pregnant and approaching birth. The players screamed into the phone and back to Long Island.

"He's always hard on us," Bennett said of the assistant coach. "So we yelled back."

That they had won.