Half Hollow Hills East football's defensive line of Michai Crump, Tyler Jerrick and Carl Smith key win
Half Hollow Hills East’s Michai Crump reacts during a Suffolk Division II football game against host Huntington on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. Credit: Kathy M Helgeson
Two games. Two shutouts.
The Half Hollow Hills East defense is legit.
The defensive line of Michai Crump, Tyler Jerrick and Carl Smith put together a masterful performance, limiting host Huntington to 88 total yards of offense in the RedHawks’ 31-0 win in Suffolk Division II football Saturday afternoon.
Crump had 14 tackles and two sacks, Smith had eight tackles and a sack and Jerrick added eight tackles.
And if those three weren’t making a tackle at the line of scrimmage, linebackers Chase McCoy, Mateo Villa, Brody Pleasants and Brian Bisnauth were flying to the ball.
“This is the best defensive front that Long Island has seen in a very long time,” Crump said. “It’s hard to get yards on us. In practice, it’s us against us every day. I believe we have some of the best offensive linemen on the Island and iron sharpens iron.”
Each of the RedHawks’ first five drives started on Huntington’s side of the field. Adonis Owen’s 25-yard touchdown run gave Hills East a 7-0 lead with 9:07 left in the first quarter. Three plays later, Villa intercepted a pass to set the RedHawks up on Huntington’s 15-yard line.
After a sack by Huntington’s Ricardo Berry forced a long field goal try that missed wide left, Hills East forced another three-and-out and Jayden Jimenez blocked the punt to put the RedHawks offense on Huntington’s 8-yard line.
RJ Peters hauled in an 11-yard TD pass from Vincent Banculli three plays later for a 14-0 lead with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.
“I don’t think there’s any better feeling as a defensive lineman than playing for three downs and getting the opposing offense off the field and then we go on offense and score a touchdown,” Crump said.
Huntington (1-1) picked up its first first down came with 1:04 left in the first half.
Peters had eight catches for 109 yards. The safety also had five tackles.
“The front seven makes my job really easy,” Peters said. “I don’t really have to do much when I’m back there. Every time I try to come down and make a tackle, either the line or the linebackers are already there.”
With top running backs Jayden Bryan and Tony Keahey out of the lineup, Owen had 10 carries for 92 yards and two touchdowns and Kaylib Merchant added a 49-yard TD run.
“It’s easy to get overshadowed in the backfield with Bryan and Keahey,” coach Alex Marcelin said. “But Adonis is a great player and we knew what we had in him. I’m happy he got the opportunity to show everybody who he is.”
As good as Saturday’s defensive performance was, Marcelin believes the best is yet to come for Hills East (2-0).
“I work with the defensive line in practice and they’re the hardest working group,” Marcelin said. “Our defensive coordinator, Dave Pittman, does a great job of putting them in position to succeed. The scary thing is, they’re nowhere near as good as they’re going to be because we’re still making mistakes.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
