Smithtown West boys soccer ends 10-year title drought with Suffolk Class AA championship victory

Smithtown West was back where it had been a year ago, playing soccer for a Suffolk championship plaque.

Last season ended painfully for the Bulls. They fell in penalty kicks against Connetquot.

How much was that talked about for this season?

“Almost every day,” Smithtown West coach A.J. Gercke said.

The top-seeded and very motivated Bulls liked Thursday’s result much better. They won the Suffolk Class AA title for the first time in 10 years, taking a 2-0 win over No. 3 Huntington at Patchogue-Medford.

“It’s my first one on the coaching staff,” Gercke said. “It feels great. We came so close last year.”

Next up is a return visit to Pat-Med for the Long Island AA championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday against the winner of Thursday night’s Garden City-Manhasset Nassau title match.

“I think we can go all the way,” sophomore midfielder James Martino said of a state title run. “We have a great team. We can definitely do it.”

Huntington could have ended a county title drought that dated to when Lyndon Johnson was working in the Oval Office — 1964, when the Blue Devils were co-champs.

“I think the coaches and maybe the community looks at that,” coach John Pagano said. “The players just look at the here and now. My heart breaks for them.”  

The Blue Devils applied lots of pressure. They had a 7-3 edge on corner kicks, including four in a three-minute span early in the second half.

But it was Smithtown West that finally capitalized in the 52nd minute. Martino rocketed a shot from outside the box on the left side, sailing it past goalkeeper Dylan Hayden, who made nine saves on the day.

Then Gavin Reis scored with 3:58 left, putting in an eye-opening bicycle kick from inside the box following a feed from Jake Hutter.

“We had the first goal, and I was like, ‘We might win this,’ ” Reis said. “And then I just scored that goal and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, we just won counties.’ ”

Nick Kondenar made eight saves, and the back line of Alex Tylar, Connor Madden and Jack Visnius, in the words of Gercke, “had their best game of the season” and “played out of their minds.”

So Huntington had to settle for the winningest season in program history, finishing 15-3-1.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s measured by one game,” Pagano said, “but I consider it a major success.”