It was the kind of scene that exemplifies the camaraderie between William Griffin and Micah Barnes, two of Long Island's finest halfbacks, who happen to share the same position.

Last Saturday, Griffin, an all-America halfback, was on the sideline in favor of his counterpart, when Barnes, a Division I recruit at defensive back, broke free from four defenders and sprinted 73 yards for a touchdown to put Bellport up by 28-0 against Northport. The Clippers won, 55-0.
        Micah Barnes
"When Micah broke for that long run, the guy who almost knocked me over because he was jumping up and down so much was William," said Joe Cipp, who has coached 29 Division I players since he founded Bellport's football program in 1976. "Here they are competing at the same position, and this kid is more excited than the kid who scored. They are true friends."

The combination of Griffin and Barnes, both 17-year-old seniors, has helped Bellport of Brookhaven rumble for more than 300 rushing yards a game.

In the thrashing of Northport, the Clippers set a school rushing record, amassing 521 yards, on the strength of Barnes's 164-yard performance and Griffin's 123-yard game. Bellport (5-0) entered yesterday's clash against Central Islip (1-4) as the state's No. 4 ranked team.

"Opposing teams know that they don't have to worry just about one running back, we have two," Barnes said. "When one is not running so good, the other will step it up."
        William Griffin
Griffin, 5 feet 10 inches and 180 pounds, handles most of the load in their two-man rotation. In five games this season, Griffin, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds and the 100 in 11.1, has carried 74 times for 734 yards and 10 touchdowns. Griffin's ability to make cuts at full speed has attracted the attention of Air Force, Buffalo, Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan State, West Virginia and Virginia.

"Every time I line up, I think that I could break it," said Griffin, who trained himself to accelerate on cuts by tying one end of a long rope to a tire and the other to his waist and running with it, creating the sensation of tacklers trying to pull him down. "While I'm running with the ball, I just react to the defensive players. If I see a different color jersey, I run away from them."

Like Griffin, Barnes, a 5-11, 180-pounder, could outrun defenders with his 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash. He is known as a slashing type runner who breaks tackles on a regular basis. He has carried 39 times for 381 yards and 6 touchdowns. Barnes is being recruited by Boston College, Delaware, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Miami and West Virginia, because of his ability to close in on the ball at a defensive back.

"Griffin is more like a Barry Sanders type," Barnes said. "He's real quick in and out of holes. He shakes real good. I'm more of a power runner. I cut more strongly. But I don't cut as much as he does." For Griffin and Barnes, their friendship and football career began when they were in seventh grade. They became friends while walking the same route to school and soon thereafter got their first taste of organized football together. They were so excited when they joined their junior high school team that when they tried on their equipment for first time, they didn't want to take it off. They rode their bikes straight to Griffin's house and began practicing what they had learned.

"We started playing one-on-one," Barnes said. "I would throw the ball to him and he'd run at me and he would do the same to me."

No one was more surprised to see Griffin in full gear than his father, William Sr. The elder Griffin, a former basketball and football player at Bellport, started training his son when he was 2 years old and did not relent until he was 7. His wife, Shonda, convinced him thar he was pushing too hard.

"The ball was bigger than him and he was really drilling it into him," said Shonda Griffin, who played softball for Cipp in the late 1970's. "I was like, take it easy, you're going to kill the boy."

William Sr. then turned his son's attention to basketball. He sent him to various camps and satisfied his guilt when William took a liking to the sport. But nothing pleased Mr. Griffin more than when he returned home from work one day and saw William with a football helmet.

"I just looked at my wife and said, 'I didn't push him,' " he said. "Then I took him into the backyard and we started training all over again. Now he's under some great coaches and he plays because he likes it."

With the high school season winding down, both Griffin and Barnes, who will wait until the end of the season to choose a college, know that the final chapter of their playing careers together is coming to a close. Griffin is pondering scholarship offers in the midwest and Barnes, a native of Alabama, is considering schools in the South. Both are committed to going out in a blaze of glory.

"It's our senior year and it's the last time we could be on the team together," Barnes said.

"We'll probably go off to different colleges. So it would be nice to go out and win a championship with him and our other friends on the team."

Reference: New York Times, October 26, 1997