• Bellport's first game of the 1990 season, Union-Endicott's second.
• A non-league regular season game that went on the books.
• Bellport was told by U-E, "We'll even give you $1,000 to come up here!", to offset travel costs.
• An eight-hour bus trip from Bellport to Union-Endicott (Ty Cobb Stadium, Endwell, NY) using standard school buses.
• Bellport team stayed in a hotel Wed., Thurs., Fri. nights.
• The Union-Endicott team came out and watched Bellport practice Thursday night on the U-E field.
• The game drew a crowd of approximately 6500 fans.
• Bellport had a fan representation of about 500 people.
• A hotel worker told Coach Cipp that Susan Wagner H.S. had been beaten by U-E 50-0.
• U-E Head Coach Fran Angeline (31 years) was quoted as saying, "[Antonio O'Ferral] is as fine as I've ever seen - on both sides of the ball."
• U-E Coach Ed Folli said, "He's [Antonio O'Ferral] the best I've ever seen, and I've been here 18 years."
• Bellport Head Coach Cipp says jokingly [but serious], "Their Band was bigger than our whole school !"

Before The Game

Advertisement in front of the Union-Endicott High School	Arriving at the school for the game	Pre-game in locker room	Getting "taped-up" in locker room

The Game (Friday Night)

"Stretching"	"Pep Talk"	"The Captains" (Matt Neuss, Antonio O'Ferral, Jeff Cipp)
Antonio O'Ferral (QB) throwing the ball mid-game	The Union-Endicott Band	Bellport Possession
Laura Cipp, Steve Uhrie, Steve Jr., Coach Still	Interview with Coach Cipp and Grant Glickson (NY Times)	"Final Score"

After The Game

H.S. Prep Magazine Correspondent talking to Coach Cipp and Coach Erikson	After-game interview, (left to right) Matt Neuss, Jeff Cipp and John Valenti (first assignment working for Newsday)	Watching the re-broadcast of the game at the hotel via local TV station (left-to-right Mike Satterly, Matt Neuss, Charlie Holmes, Jeff Cipp)

At The Hotel

In "The Lodge" parking lot	"Banquet Masters" welcome sign - where we ate most of the time	"Lodge" Itinerary board	Dinner Hall

It might be a little too early to be tossing a football around the yard, but for Joe Cipp, the air has a considerable autumn crisp to it already.

Cipp's Bellport football team has been approved to travel upstate and meet New York State-power Union-Endicott High School (Ranked No. 1 in the state last year) in a lamp-lit showdown on September 14. The game will mark the first time a Long Island football team has headed upstate to meet one of our neighboring powers.

"I really can hardly wait," Cipp said. "I want so much to show the people upstate that Long Island produces some pretty tough football players."

Cipp had advertised in a New York State Sportswriters Association newsletter of his desire to meet an upstate football power before the season started. The previous two seasons, Bellport had played and beaten Sayville. And Cipp believes Sayville turned down next season's invitation since both Sayville loses might have cost them Rutgers Cup votes. "Ithaca High School and Union-Endicott were the only schools to answer the ad," Cipp said. "But Union-Endicott was more aggressive and they have a great football tradition. So we agreed to play."

Bellport plans to arrive at the school on a Thursday, practice that night then rest up for the Friday night game which Union-Endicott school officials have said should draw about 15,000 fans. It will be Union-Endicott's second game of the season and Bellport's first. "We know how 4,000 fans can rock and roll when we play East Islip, West Islip or Central Islip - but 15,000 - the kids ought to love that," he said.

Cipp is hinging a lot of his hopes on returning All-State quarterback Antonio O'Ferral and a sound defense that earned it a No. 10 state ranking last year. Cipp, however, hinted that ranking should be higher since Bellport's single loss - a 25-22 playoff defeat to Connetquot dropped his team eight notches in the polls. Union-Endicott is coming off a 10-0 season and the contentment of beating up on some highly-respected football teams from Pennsylvania.

"All in all, it's going to create some good times for everyone there, win or lose," said Cipp. "But I'd rather we win."

Bellport coach Joe Cipp, certain his team will be a strong contender for the Rutgers Trophy signifying Suffolk's best football team, should find out just how good the Clippers are when they travel upstate to face Union-Endicott tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

Union-Endicott, which won its season opener last week, 24-12 over Kingston, is considered the premier team in the state this season. Last year it was 11-0.

"Whoever wins this game should be considered the best team in the state, I think," Cipp said. "I hoped the game wouldn't be blown out of proportion. But because of how good they are and how good we might be, this game is more important than even I thought."

Bellport, which was 9-1 last season, is led by senior Antonio O'Ferral, a 5-11, 185-pound quarterback who went 50-for-89 last season for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns. He also ran for 487 yards on 69 carries. Jeff Cipp, a 6-2, 215-pound linebacker, leads the defense, which also features linebacker Matt Neuss. Tailback Jarvis Shields, a 5-8, 160-pound senior who ran for 922 yards with 13 touchdowns on just 73 carries last season, leads Union-Endicott.

Between 300-400 Bellport fans plan to make the trip to Union-Endicott, located in Endwell, outside Binghamton. That should hardly make a dent in the crowd, though. Union-Endicott averages about 7,500 per game.

Big game, Bellport coach Joe Cipp said. Maybe his team was in for a rough time. Union-Endicott, after all, was considered the best team in the state. It had won 16 consecutive games, including its home opener last weekend against Kingston.

Bellport not only took on the best team in the state last night - it also beat it, earning a 30-7 victory that stunned an estimated crowd of 6,000 at Ty Cobb Stadium. Bellport quarterback Antonio O’Ferral gained a game-high 96 yards on nine carries, running for two touchdowns and passing for another, and the Clippers' defense stopped the Tigers cold.

"You know what," Union-Endicott coach Fran Angeline said, "that is some football team. We were very impressed."

Who wouldn't have been? Just before he boarded the team bus, Cipp smiled as he said, "Deep down, I knew we were this good."

Bellport made that clear from the first play of the game, when the defense forced Tigers tailback Markus Wilson to fumble and linebacker Jeff Cipp recovered at the Union-Endicott 37-yard line. O'Ferral spun off at least five men on the next play and wasn't stopped until he reached the 1. Greg Turner carried it in on the next play. And, just 1:25 into the game, Bellport was on its way.

Forcing a fumble on the next possession by Union-Endicott, Bellport scored in nine plays on a 17-yard pass, O'Ferral to Anthony Pedatella. Although the Tigers scored on the first possession of the second quarter, Bellport held a 16-7 advantage at halftime. A clipping penalty negated an 84-yard punt return for an apparent tying touchdown by Jarvis Shields and a high snap rolled out of the end zone on a punt for a safety with 6:07 left. O'Ferral added two fourth-quarter TDs.
 
 

BELLPORT	14	2	0	14	30
UNION-ENDICOTT	0	7	0	0	7

B - Turner 1 run (McGowan kick)
B - Pedatella 17 pass from O'Ferral (McGowan kick)
UE - Koukides 7 pass from Piester (Beers kick)
B - Safety (snap rolled out of end zone)
B - O'Ferral 15 run (McGowan kick)
B - O'Ferral 14 run (McGowan kick)
 

Wanted: Football game. Team seeks an opponent for first game of 1990 season. Willing to travel. THE ADVERTISEMENT by Bellport coach Joe Cipp wasn't worded exactly that way  -  he can't recall how it was worded  -  but it might as well have been.  Having a good team, and therefore failing to entice local schools to schedule it in a non-league game, Cipp placed an ad in a newsletter last spring. By doing so, he and his team joined what has become a growing trend among football teams on Long Island: Have team, will travel.

The premise behind all this is simple. Good football teams want to play good football teams. And if you can't find a willing opponent in your own backyard, well, then you go where you're wanted.

As a result, when the football season opened this weekend, several teams from Suffolk ( teams in Nassau are locked into a rigid league schedule and are unable to get away) found themselves either far from home or playing a team that was far from home. And, it seems, they love it.

"I think most coaches feel more secure in playing someone from their own area, a team that maybe they know that, year in and year out, they're better than," Sachem coach Fred Fusaro said. "A lot of people don't want to take the chance of starting with a loss. But, if you feel secure about where your program is, an out-of-town game against a good opponent can be a positive. Win or lose, it can tell you where you stand."

Sachem, which, along with Bellport, is a legitimate contender for the Rutgers Trophy, found out yesterday when it  suffered a 42-28 loss to Brockton (Mass.), a six-time state champion regarded as one of the best high school teams in the nation. St. Anthony's, meanwhile, opened against North Rockland in Thiells. St. John the Baptist hosted Xaverian of Westwood, Mass., a team that has won six straight state Catholic
Conference titles and whose only loss last season was to Brockton.

And Bellport? Cipp placed  his ad after  claiming Sayville backed out of what had become their traditional opening game. Bellport received a few offers: Ithaca High called, then backed out when it discovered how good Bellport is; College Park High (Pa.) called, but discovered it was locked into a game; and, Union-Endicott, regarded as the best team in New York state called. Bellport accepted.

"The way I see it," said St. John the Baptist coach John Dee, whose teams have faced Trumbull and Fairfield Prep in Connecticut, "there is too much to gain from one of these games not to do it. Some guys look to roll over some creampuff, just to get a win. We don't use this as a morale booster. I want our kids to know what we need to do to be a good football team, to know that our league games are not easy. A game like
this drives the point home."

It certainly proved to be a smart move for Bellport. Not only did the Clippers beat Union-Endicott, 30-7, before a stunned crowd of 6,000 at Ty Cobb Stadium, they snapped U-E's 16-game winning streak and staked claim to being the best team in the state. "Coach didn't want to put that much emphasis on this game because we still have to come home and win games," said senior linebacker Jeff Cipp, the coach's son. "But this
was important."

The idea of travel, although it often comes about out of necessity rather than desire, is important, too. For a cost of $2,000-$3,000, Bellport was able to make a trip, debunk a few theories about the upstate football's superiority over downstate football and give its three solid Division I prospects - quarterback Antonio O'Ferral, who gained a game-high 96 yards with two rushing touchdowns and one passing; and linebackers Matt Neuss and Jeff Cipp - some valuable exposure. As Joe Cipp said, "We were able to grow as a team. It was good for the kids because it showed them how things are done somewhere else. And it was an experience they'll remember for the rest of their lives."

He was on the ground and in pain. He had been hit hard, his left  shoulder dislocated. And now, as Antonio O'Ferral lay sprawled on the  grass, his mother, who had never wanted him to play football in the first place, leaned over him in tears. He was 10 years old.

"There was this look of fear in her eyes," O'Ferral said.  "You could see it in her face. I remember she told me, `I don't want to see you play anymore. This is it.' I told her I wanted to, no matter what. I pretty much begged her. I said, `This is what I want to do. Next week, I
 will be back again.' "

His desire worried Lydia O'Ferral. While her son pleaded and her husband, Carlos, laughed, telling her about how boys will be boys, she remained fearful of football - of what it might do to her son. "I was scared to death of it," she said. "I was like, `This is a silly game, people going out and beating up on each other.' There was no doubt I was completely against it - especially after he got hurt. But he was like, `Ma, please let me play.' How could I refuse?"

Like anyone who has not had the misfortune of being his opponent, Lydia O'Ferral is glad her son remained so adamant about football and that he kept his promise and continued to play it. Because eight years later, Antonio O'Ferral, the two-time All-Long Island, All-State quarterback / defensive back from Bellport, has been named recipient of Newsday's 30th annual Hansen Award, presented each season to the outstanding football player in Suffolk.

O'Ferral was chosen from a field of finalists that included Sayville running back / defensive back Jason Mastropierro and Central Islip running back / linebacker Eric Unverzagt.

O'Ferral is the third player from Bellport to receive the Hansen Award. Tom Watson, an offensive and defensive lineman, won it in 1982 and running back Rodney Cooke won it in 1980.

"The freshman coach [at Bellport] reminded me the other day what he had said about me back when I was on the freshman team," O'Ferral said Friday as he celebrated his selection with his parents, brother Evan and sister, Joanna Spiekerman, at their home in East Patchogue. "He said he told people, `This is the next Hansen Award winner at Bellport.' I guess he was right."

Not that there was ever a doubt about his ability, according to Joe Cipp, the Bellport coach.  Cipp first saw O'Ferral play when he was 10, and remembers the game in which O'Ferral was injured. And, for good reason. That team, called the Lynvet Giants, featured many future  members of the 1990 team at Bellport, among them: Matt Neuss, Greg Turner and Jeff Cipp, son of the coach.

"This is going to sound stupid," Cipp said, "but I remember that I watched him and thought, `He'd be perfect for our offense.' He had poise, even at that age. He made decisions and they were the right ones. And he was an athlete. You could see that right away. He was someone who had all the basic ingredients."

The most impressive ingredient was the way he ran. Carlos O'Ferral recalled how his son, barely a teenager, would challenge his older brother, Carlos Jr., to a race. "He'd beat him," the elder O'Ferral said. "It seemed like he floated when he ran, like his feet never touched the ground. He was so smooth." Soon, Carlos and Lydia even had nicknamed Antonio "The Pink Panther."

"He moved like the Pink Panther," Carlos said. "He'd walk into a room and we'd start singing, `Da'dant, da'dant. Da'dant. Da'dant, da'dant, da'dant, da'dant, da-daaa . . . ' "

That was obvious on the field. All-League as a sophomore, All-Long Island and third-team All-State as a junior, O'Ferral blossomed this season into the most dominant player in Suffolk on both sides of the ball. He rushed for 10 touchdowns, accounted for 100 points and totaled 1,436 yards of offense - passing for 259 yards in one game, returning an interception 96 yards for a touchdown in another. He had 10 interceptions and made 146 tackles.

Union-Endicott, a perennial upstate power, named O'Ferral to its post-season all-opponent team - on offense and defense. Then again, in leading Bellport to a three-year record of 22-4, including 7-1 this season, the 5-10, 185-pound O'Ferral danced over, and darted past,  countless opponents.

Although his team never won the Suffolk championship, losing to Connetquot, 25-22, in the Large Schools Championship in 1989 and falling to Central Islip, 14-6, in the divisional final this season, O'Ferral said he learned a valuable lesson from athletics.

"I learned that things don't always go your way," he said. "You can be the best, the way I felt we were the best team going in, and that doesn't mean you can't lose. In sports, you just can't predict."

One thing is predictable, though: O'Ferral is destined for major-college football somewhere. He has postcards on his wall from schools all over America, not to mention a 3.66 grade-point average and 950 SAT scores. He calls it "The Wall of Decisions."

Most want him as a defensive back or a running back, mainly because he has been timed at 4.45 seconds in the 40  -  and, because they feel he is too small to play quarterback. He already has committed to visits to Kentucky and Wisconsin and has considered Arizona - the lone school recruiting him at quarterback - as well as Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Penn State and Syracuse.

"Maybe I'm saying this because he's my brother," said Evan O'Ferral, a sophomore running back / defensive back at Bellport. "But sometimes it's hard to believe the things he does out there. He doesn't look great, like he could be great. But, when he gets out there on the field,
 it's like he's a man amongst boys. I see some good athletes and then I see him. He makes them look like nothing sometimes. He's just that good."

Of course, if Antonio O'Ferral had listened to his mother way back when, he might never have gotten a chance to prove himself. But his persistence paid off. "I still worry about him," Lydia O'Ferral said. "I'm not any less scared. But when I watch him play . . . it's exciting. His moves. The way he handles the ball. I can tell he's good."