Amityville football forced to forfeit game against East Islip due to injuries
Amityville head coach Jason Epps said his team is hoping to have enough healthy players to finish out the schedule.
Credit: Peter Frutkoff
The Amityville football team was forced to forfeit Friday night’s game at East Islip because it did not have enough healthy players.
The state requires a minimum of 17 players to field a team, according to Tom Combs, the executive director of Section XI, the governing body of scholastic sports in Suffolk County.
“The Amityville administration contacted our office and said they did not have the required 17 players to play this week,” Combs said. “We are aware of at least nine players that are currently out due to injury. They’re working on getting their players healthy for the remaining games on their schedule.”
Amityville coach Jason Epps said the team had 16 healthy players this week after starting the season with 27 players on the roster.
“We have quite a few injuries and need to get our guys healthy,” Epps said. “We lost three starters at East Hampton last week. All three suffered concussions and are currently in the concussion protocol and cannot play. It’s been a tough season.”
The forfeit dropped Amityville's record to 0-6. Amityville has a bye next week and plays its final two games at home, including Homecoming Day in two weeks when they host Rocky Point. The final game of the season is against Comsewogue.
Epps said despite the abundance of injuries, the team has held practice all week.
“We’re still working hard,” he said. “We need to get these guys back for the final two weeks. We have some time with the bye coming up this week.”
East Islip (3-2) is coming off a 20-13 road loss to undefeated Sayville. East Islip will have the weekend off for the second time in four weeks.
“We are disappointed and feel terrible that the kids in Amityville are injured and cannot field a team,” said East Islip coach Sal J. Ciampi. “And I feel terrible for my guys because we were planning on giving all of our players, who don’t get regular playing time, the opportunity to play against Amityville. They were excited about the chance to get some playing time and now that’s not going to happen, so it’s a letdown.”
Ciampi said Suffolk's Division III has an uneven number of teams, which creates a bye week in the schedule.
“There’s already a bye built into the schedule and that was already an issue,” Ciampi said. “No one wants a bye in the football season — we only play once a week. And now this, we’ll have played twice in a month.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
