Albertina Bonilla's safety gives Amityville flag football 2-0 win over Harborfields

Albertina Bonilla plays with attitude and it shows.

The senior defensive lineman made play after play Friday in Amityville, but none was bigger than the safety she forced with 18:23 remaining in the second half.

With Harborfields backed up on its own 2-yard line, Bonilla sniffed out a run by Julie Ilovic and pulled her flag in the end zone to put two points on the board for Amityville. They were the only points of the game.

Bonilla finished with nine flags as Amityville defeated Harborfields, 2-0, in Suffolk League I flag football.

“My coaches tell me I have an attitude, but they have patience with me,” Bonilla said. “They tell me all the time about what I mean to the team and I just want to give them my best.”

The safety was set up by a perfectly-placed punt by Alana Henry, forcing Harborfields (0-3-1) to run a play out of its own end zone.

“Field position played a big role,” Amityville coach Bill Maisel said. “That punt was crucial in getting that safety, which essentially won the game for us.”

Bonilla and fellow defensive lineman Tamia Bayne, who pulled seven flags, led an airtight defense for Amityville (3-2).

After Abigail Buckley's interception gave Harborfields the ball at the Amityville 24, she had a 19-yard run to set up first-and-goal from the 5. But Amityville didn't budge. Henry broke up a pass in the end zone on fourth down to keep the Tornadoes off the board.

Bonilla made another game-changing play later in the second half. On fourth-and-15, Harborfields quarterback Kiera Buckley took off running and made two defenders miss. She got to the Amityville 21, where Bonilla — who else? — flagged her one yard shy of a first down with 6:36 left in the game.

“We’ve had games where we let people run past us and that’s how we got beat,” Bayne said. “For her to stand her ground today, she did us a solid. We owe her one.”

Amityville’s offense found its legs on its final drive, with senior running back Natalyah Smith rushing for two first downs, including a 22-yard run to the 2-yard line.

Smith is as shifty as they come, and she came oh-so-close to breaking several long touchdown runs.

“I was trying to score the whole game so we wouldn’t be stuck on two points,” Smith said. “I always feel like I’m about to score a touchdown, but I turn around and realize my flag is gone.”

Bonilla made Harborfields players feel the same way.