Patchogue-Medford football rallies behind Aidyn Modeste to top Bay Shore
Patchogue Medford's Aidyn Modeste scored four touchdowns to lead the Raiders over Bay Shore on Saturday. Credit: Bob Sorensen
In his final shot to win a homecoming game, Patchogue-Medford running back Aidyn Modeste refused to be denied.
Modeste rushed 29 times for 165 yards and four touchdowns, including the tying and winning scores in the fourth quarter, to carry Pat-Med to a 35-28 win over Bay Shore on Saturday. At the halfway point in the season, the Raiders (2-2) have already matched their win total from last year and have won consecutive games for the first time since late-October 2022.
“I’m just thankful for the linemen; we picked it up at the end,” Modeste said. “I’m excited that I did this in front of all my family and friends. I love to see it.”
With 7:16 remaining in the game, Pat-Med quarterback Brett Rupolo threw a back-shoulder pass to Modeste down the left sideline, which caught behind him for a 33-yard gain. Five plays later, Rupolo fired a strike over the middle to wide receiver Justin Perez for 21 yards to set up at the 6-yard line. From there, Modeste went up the middle twice and broke the plane with 3:43 left to tie the game, 28-28.
After forcing a three-and-out on defense — largely thanks to a tackle for a loss of five yards by defensive end Andrew Johnstone — Pat-Med got the ball back with 2:05 left. Modeste ripped off runs of 15 and six yards before Rupolo followed with one for 10. Now at Bay Shore’s 29-yard line, Modeste went right up the gut, cut to the right and took it all the way for the go-ahead score with just 59 seconds left. The Raiders’ defense came out and forced four straight incompletions to seal it.
Now back at .500 , Modeste is happy to be a part of the rebuild.
“We grinded during the summer, and we’ve got an amazing staff; that’s all I can say,” Modeste said.
At first, the homecoming magic did not appear to be on Pat-Med’s side. With just under six minutes left in the third quarter, Bay Shore defensive back Connor Berenz recovered a muffed punt at the Raiders’ 33-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Xavier Hector lofted a pass down the middle of the field that wide receiver Mike Sutch caught with one hand for the touchdown, and tight end Layton Avinel made a strong catch in traffic for the two-point conversion to give the Marauders a 20-7 lead.
Trailing by 13 with 2:42 left in the third quater, Rupolo threw an interception on third down and 17 to set Bay Shore up at Pat-Med’s 33. However, offsetting penalties were called, nullifying the pick and breathing new life into the Raiders.
Rupolo rolled out to his right and hit wide receiver Marc Compere III in stride, and he took it 67 yards for the touchdown to cut the deficit to 20-14. He led four consecutive scoring drives to end the game and finished 14-for-18 passing with 257 yards and a touchdown. In the second half, he went 8-for-8 with 176 yards and the touchdown.
“I locked in right there,” Rupolo said. “I knew I had to make a play there to bounce back and that touchdown did that. It was big. I learned there that you can’t look down at the bad things; you’ve got to keep your head up and keep working.”
For Bay Shore (0-4), Cato Thomas rushed for one touchdown and caught another. Hector threw two touchdown passes. Rey Cerda also rushed for a touchdown.
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
