Former Port Jefferson football players embrace new home at Rocky Point

Port Jefferson’s Sam Fabian is wearing different colors this fall, but he hasn’t lost the feeling of home.

After Port Jefferson’s varsity football program folded, Fabian and four former Royals were given an opportunity to continue their season at Rocky Point. Six more former Royals are on Rocky Point's junior varsity.

“I was ecstatic,” Fabian, a junior, said. “We’d spent months and months thinking things were going to work out, and things didn’t work out. I was on the bus, my dad called me. It was 2:53 exactly. It’s one of those moments you remember. I just stood up and screamed to the whole bus that we were able to come here.”

Fabian wasn’t the only former Royal thrilled by the news.

“I was beyond excited,” senior lineman Maklyn Mejia said. “I got the call at home, and I yelled so loud everyone in my house came running to my room wondering what was happening to me.”

Fabian is coming off a season in which he recorded 70 tackles, including 15 for loss and two forced fumbles. He immediately gives Rocky Point an important presence up front.

The light blue helmets are new, but Port Jefferson players have quickly adapted to Rocky Point’s energy and brotherhood.

Rocky Point players broke a huddle by yelling ‘juice,’ and there was plenty of it at practice. Players from both schools clicked with one another and had an energetic showing on Tuesday at Rocky Point High School.

“It was a little scary coming in,” Fabian said. “You worried about assimilating the culture, but the second we came in, we were completely accepted by Rocky Point.”

"Everyone’s warm and welcoming,” Mejia said. “They all talk to us like family, like we’ve been here for years. It’s no different.”

Rocky Point senior quarterback and captain Peyton Reisinger said the transition has felt just as natural from the other side.

“We put on the same jersey. We wear Rocky Point, just like them,” Reisinger said. “They assimilated very well, and we just see them as our brothers.”

“I don’t see them as Port Jeff kids,” he added. “I just see them as one of our own.”

That immediate connection is exactly what Rocky Point coach Anthony DiLorenzo hoped to create.

“I made it very clear from day one that this wasn’t a charity case,” DiLorenzo said. “We need them, they need us, and together, we take on the opponent.”

Effort, energy and love are the three pillars of Rocky Point’s program. They were evident throughout a practice filled with constant encouragement and players pushing each other from drill to drill.

“I really believe that this is the culture here — it’s an accepting culture,” he said. “We take on new guys every year that have never played football, and we help to build those habits that hopefully lead to success on the field and in life.”

This also fills a need for Rocky Point. DiLorenzo said the Eagles were thin along the offensive and defensive lines, and Fabian, at 6-1 and 205 pounds, gives them another experienced presence up front.

“So far, he’s had a motor and great energy,” DiLorenzo said. “He fits in very well with what we do on the daily.”

The next step comes Saturday on the road against Eastport-South Manor, when the Port Jefferson players will suit up alongside their new teammates in a game for the first time, representing Rocky Point.

For Fabian, after months of uncertainty about whether he would get that opportunity at all, Saturday can’t come soon enough.

“To be able to go out and play a game is just amazing,” Fabian said. “Especially with the brotherhood we all have here.”

The uniform may be different, but the adjustment already feels complete.

Fabian smiled.

“I’m ready to bring the energy. We are Rocky Point now.”