North Babylon football runs for 371 yards to secure home playoff game, No. 3 seed in Suffolk Division II
TJ Shaw of North Babylon celebrates after scoring a touchdown during a Suffolk Division II football game against Newfield on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026. Credit: Errol Anderson
It was throwback Saturday in North Babylon. The Bulldogs, in search of a home playoff game, used the program’s famous ground-and-pound rushing attack against Newfield.
Tailbacks Jack Miller, TJ Shaw and Chandler Como rushed for a combined 371 yards and five touchdowns as host North Babylon rolled to a 35-25 win over Newfield in the final game of the Suffolk Division II regular season on Saturday.
The win earned North Babylon (5-3) the three seed and a home playoff game against No. 6 Newfield (3-5) at noon Saturday.
“We thought we might meet them in back-to-back weeks,” said North Babylon coach John Rowland, whose team took a 28-3 halftime lead and extended it to 35-3. “It’s great to play them again at home.”
The current version of the North Babylon running game brought back memories of the legendary Bulldogs teams that captured six Long Island championships from 1995 to 2004. North Babylon produced All-Long Island backs Barry Baker (“The Touchdown Maker’’), Jason Gwaltney (Long Island’s all-time leader in touchdowns and yardage), Jason Hickson, Omar Palmer, Bobby Alpi, Scooter Berry and Ian Smart, among others.
Miller, who rushed for 186 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries, pointed to the physicality of the running game and the contributions of the offensive line as the major factors in the success. “We all work together and sacrifice for each other,” he said. “We play a very physical brand of football and it’s everyone.”
Miller leads Long Island in rushing yards (1,578) and touchdowns (22).
Newfield took the lead after a big hit on the opening kickoff forced a fumble recovered by Noah Adlah at North Babylon’s 10-yard line. Aidan Lesmeister drilled a 26-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
North Babylon responded with an eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive capped by Miller’s 22-yard run. The senior shed two tacklers in the open field before finding the end zone. Christian Creaven-Tintella added the first of his five extra-point kicks for a 7-3 lead.
The Bulldogs added an eight-play, 92-yard scoring drive. Shaw, in his first game back from a right elbow injury, went over right tackle for a 9-yard touchdown run and a 14-3 second-quarter lead. Shaw opened the drive with a 27-yard run.
“It felt good to be back on the field with my teammates,” said the senior, who finished with 126 yards on six carries. “The line played great.”
Miller added 6- and 2-yard touchdown runs for a 28-3 halftime lead.
Junior Chandler Como, the Swiss Army knife in the North Babylon backfield, contributed 57 yards on eight carries, including four hard-nosed first-down runs. Como, playing with stress fractures in his left foot, also was the lead blocker in an offense designed to wear down the opponent.
“Chandler is under the radar,” Rowland said. “He’s as tough as they come. He wears a walking boot almost 22 hours a day all week so he can play on Saturday. Broke his foot in the first game of the season. There is no one else who would be playing with that injury.”
Como also credited the offensive line as the key to winning. “They’re out there every play in the trenches creating space to run,” he said. “And when I’m not carrying the ball, I love blocking for my guys.”
Como sprung Miller for his fourth TD, a 37-yard run on the first play of the third quarter for a 35-3 lead.
He’ll tell you it was the seven men up front who created the running lane for Miller’s TD dash. Guards Phenix Kourkoulis and Michael Henry, tackles Wisin Cartagena and Nate Green, center Shane Bacchus, and tight ends John Caroleo and Alan Sokolowski were in sync all game.
Newfield then scored 22 second-half points. Quarterback Connor Stebbins found Stephen Carney with TD passes of 12 and 18 yards and Chase Wolmart had a 1-yard touchdown run.
“I’m proud of my guys and the second-half effort,” coach Nick Adler said. “We finished strong and that could be a momentum-builder for next week’s playoffs. The North Babylon running game is legit. We haven’t played them in three years and it’s hard to simulate what they do in practice. Now we’ve seen it and must figure out a way to stop them.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
