Bay Shore football on the right path after win over Riverhead
Bay Shore's Jayden Jean, right, celebrates with Nehemiah Wilkinson after a touchdown at the Suffolk Division 1 football game Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. Credit: Neil Miller
The Bay Shore football program’s progress is tangible.
In the three seasons before coach Andrew Nevit took over, the Marauders went 3-19, including a winless fall 2021 campaign. The second-year coach has now guided the team to back-to-back four-win seasons.
Bay Shore coasted to a 35-7 home win over Riverhead in a Suffolk Division I game Saturday afternoon. Senior running back Jayden Jean ran for 171 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, and junior quarterback Xavier Hector completed 11 of 19 passes for 151 yards and three touchdowns.
“I got to thank my coaches,” Bay Shore coach Andrew Nevit said. “I got to thank our players for buying into the vision and culture we put in place since day one …
“We’re trying to change that perception of what Bay Shore football has been the past few years. We talk about breaking the mold, right. Obviously, there’s a perception about us. We want to break that mold. We want to show that, hey, this is a respectable program, this is a competitive program. I’m so proud of the way our guys fought today.”
Bay Shore (4-3) may not make the playoffs due to not having enough points in the power rating system. But Jean, in his fourth varsity season, shares Nevit’s belief.
“The program is definitely headed in an extremely positive direction,” Jean said. “From my freshman year to now, it’s a completely different culture. Coach Nevit and the rest of the coaches definitely changed this place, and it’s a big future ahead of us.”
The Marauders went 2-4 during the spring 2021 season. They went 0-8 that fall, Jean’s freshman season, and 1-7 in 2022. Bay Shore went 4-4 in Nevit’s first season.
Bay Shore struck first Saturday. On fourth-and-14 with 5:56 left in the first quarter, Hector threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Eriq Graham St. Louis to give the Marauders a 7-0 lead.
Riverhead (1-6) had a third-and-goal from the Bay Shore 4 to start the second quarter, but defensive lineman John Calixto recovered quarterback Karter Doyle’s fumble.
Hector led a two-minute drill to end the first half, capped by his 10-yard touchdown pass to James Sobotka with 15 seconds left before halftime.
“(Hector’s) always determined,” Sobotka said. “He’s hard-working. Every day, he’s ready to work. He’s there. He’s a great attitude. He’s a great player.”
Doyle’s 89-yard touchdown run made it 14-7 with 9:05 left in the third quarter. Bay Shore answered with a 10-play drive and a 19-yard touchdown run by Hector with 4:05 left in the third quarter.
Jean added an 18-yard touchdown run that handed the Marauders a 28-7 lead with 10:15 left. Hector threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Sobotka with 3:01 remaining.
“I think we did better than what other people expected (this season),” Hector said. “I feel like it puts a lot of fear into other teams, what we got to come.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
