DIVISION II:
BELLPORT - 43
E. ISLIP - 0

   "Opoku Johnson"
E.I., E.I. - 0. With a stifling defense, Bellport - Long Island's football team of the 1990s - shut out rival East Islip in a Suffolk Division II final before 4,500 fans at Bellport. Even more impressive, though, was that Bellport used a high-flying, hard-running offense to win its second straight division title by the lopsided score of 43-0.

"We crowded the ball and our linebackers made the plays they were supposed to," Bellport coach Joe Cipp Jr. said. "They didn't do that last time."

Oh, yes, last time. Oct. 12. Week 4. The only loss of the season for Bellport (9-1). Of course, it came against the hated Redmen, 14-7.

"After we lost that game, the crowd started chanting at us and telling us we stunk," junior running back William Griffin said. "From that point on we were hoping we would get the chance to play them again in the playoffs. [Yesterday], we took advantage of that."

Bellport started out with some razzle-dazzle that caught East Islip off guard. On fourth-and-2 from the 43-yard-line, Mike Brown set up in punt formation. Brown took the snap and faked the punt, then ran 43 yards for a first-quarter touchdown. Cipp's sleeve wasn't out of tricks as the Clippers faked a point-after kick and Damon Weston ran for the two-point conversion.

With the floodgates opened, Bellport's offense overpowered the Redmen. Griffin scored his first of three second-quarter touchdowns on a 4-yard run, set up by Opoku Johnson's 56-yard punt return that put the Clippers inside the 5.

Griffin scored his two other touchdowns on over-the-top dives from the 1. The second was set up by a 37-yard pass from Weston to Brown, who was caught at the 1. The third was off a Weston-to-Brown connection for 36 yards, this time with Brown out-leaping defenders Matt Landin and Anthony Passalacqua before falling out of bounds at the 1.

"I really didn't have to do anything on two of the touchdowns," Griffin said. "I'll take them any way they come."

Johnson gave Bellport its final two scores on runs of 43 and 8 yards. He led the Clippers with 195 yards rushing on 20 carries. Griffin ran for 22 yards and Weston was 4-for-7 passing for 96 yards.

In East Islip's regular-season win, Tim Messner ran for 140 yards and Landin added 93. Yesterday, the Redmen were held to 46 yards rushing and 102 total yards. John Fernandez and Alex Lazo each had seven tackles to lead the Bellport defense. East Islip coach Tim McIntee had little to say after the game. "We couldn't do a thing on special teams, that was the difference," McIntee said. "They have skilled players who were ready. We weren't ready."

"Our offensive line drove everyone off the ball," said Weston, a senior quarterback. "We knew going into this game that we weren't going to lose. No way."

In the storied traditon of Bellport football - the Clippers have won conference titles in 1982, '89, 1991, '92, '95 and '96 along with Long Island Class II titles in 1992 and '95 - this may well be the best defensive team in school history. Yesterday's shutout was a school-record sixth of the season.

"Our defense has been great all year," Cipp said. "You don't shut out West Islip and East Islip too often, never mind doing it back-to-back in the playoffs."

The last team to score on Bellport was Northport in the fourth quarter in a 42-36 Clippers' win Nov. 9.

Bellport will play either Division or Lawrence in the Long Island Class II championship game at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Hofstra.

But yesterday was a time for celebrating for Bellport. With 12 seconds left, Clippers players sneaked behind Cipp with a bucket of ice water and gave their coach a ceremonial drenching. "That must be something new," Cipp said. "They didn't do that 10 years ago." Maybe not the pouring, but definitely the winning.

SUFFOLK DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIP (at Bellport)
 

BELLPORT	8	22	7	6	43
EAST ISLIP	0	0	0	0	0

B - Brown 43 run (Weston run)....
B - Griffin 4 run (kick failed).......
B - Griffin 1 run (Weston run).....
B - Griffin 1 run (Johnson run)....
B - Johnson 43 run (Brown kick)
B - Johnson 8 run (kick failed) ...

Reference: Newsday, 11-24-1996, pp B22.