Patrick Coan's four touchdowns keep Sayville undefeated in Suffolk III football
Patrick Coan looks downfield against Smithtown West. Credit: Steven Zaitz
For the last four years, Sayville handed the ball to Kyle Messina when the Golden Flashes needed to run the clock out.
After Messina’s graduation, Sayville still wants the ball in its best player’s hands at the end of a close game. Quarterback Patrick Coan answered the call Friday night at Smithtown West.
Coan led a nine-play, 60-yard drive that spanned 3:42 and ended with the Lehigh commit punching in a 2-yard touchdown run with 38 seconds left to seal Sayville’s 30-21 win over Smithtown West in Suffolk III football.
The senior completed 11 of 20 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown and had 21 carries for 106 yards and three TDs to help the reigning Suffolk III champs improve to 5-0.
“I’m going to put the ball in his hands with the game on the line without a doubt,” coach Rob Hoss said.
The game-sealing drive almost ended before it got off the ground. Coan took a designed run to the right on the first play but had the ball punched out in the backfield by Vin Lepore. Sayville tight end Jack Dolan dove on the fumble to keep the Golden Flashes’ drive alive.
On the next play, Coan stepped up in the pocket and delivered a 14-yard dart to Colin Darling on the sideline for a first down. A few plays later, Coan broke a 33-yard run and was brought down at the 1-yard line.
“That’s a testament to the guys picking me up after my mistake,” Coan said. “Them getting open and my line giving me time to find Darling, it made my job a lot easier and kept the drive going.”
Smithtown West’s Nick DeVito ran in a 4-yard TD to tie the score at 14 with 3:07 left in the third.
Coan answered 2:27 later with a 7-yard TD run to take a 21-14 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Ryan Linker forced a fumble at the 5-yard line that rolled into the end zone and was recovered by the Bulls for a safety to give Sayville a 23-14 lead with 24 seconds left in the third.
“I saw him running the other direction, but (Cole Canterella and Saad Abid) come in on the side, and they forced him to run back and I was right there,” Linker said. “(Canterella and Abid) really made that play.”
DeVito completed 14 of 23 passes for 196 yards and ran for two touchdowns and Michael Cascione had 17 carries for Smithtown West (3-2). After rolling to three straight wins to start the season, the Bulls suffered a 45-7 loss to East Hampton/Bridgehampton (3-1) last week.
“Hats off to Smithtown West, they didn’t play really well last week, but the team we played today was the team that was playing at the beginning of the year,” Hoss said. “They played very well and they were physical. I told our kids, ‘Sometimes, you have to go through games like this to grow.’”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
