Westhampton football's Brody Schaffer has huge all-around day with two touchdowns, 162 rushing yards and three PATs in win
Brody Schaffer rushed for a touchdown, returned a punt for a score, caught three passes and also kicked three PATs for Westhampton on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Senior Brody Schaffer is the lone returning starter for the Westhampton football team.
Listed on Westhampton’s roster as a kicker and a running back, Schaffer means much more to these Hurricanes. In addition to getting most of Westhampton’s carries, Schaffer also returns punts and kicks. Defensively, he plays defensive end, outside linebacker and inside linebacker. And yes, he is the punter and kicker — a Newsday All-Long second-team kicker in 2022.
“(Schaffer) shows everyone that they can do everything,” Westhampton senior quarterback Finn Drake said. “I feel like it kind of motivates everyone that they’re not set at one position, they can really do everything.”
Schaffer rushed for 162 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries in the visiting Hurricanes’ 27-21 win over East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson in a Suffolk Division III game in East Hampton Thursday afternoon. He also had a 60-yard punt return touchdown, caught three passes for 36 yards and made three PATs.
“It’s tough having 21 out of 22 starters leave, with them being seniors last year,” Schaffer said. “I definitely thought I would lead the team with Finn. We just go into every single week keeping the team motivated and just having the drive to want to win every single week.”
Coach Bryan Schaumloffel said: “Brody’s a special player in three aspects of the game. He’s probably one of the best kickoff guys and punters on Long Island. He’s very special on offense — he can turn nothing into something any moment. On defense, his speed and his athleticism are a game-changer.”
Westhampton (2-3) held East Hampton (2-3) to just 45 rushing yards.
“They’re barely getting any running yards on us,” senior linebacker Aidan Arrasate said.
“We locked it in. We focused in and we just got after it.”
The two programs played just three times in the past 15 years but annually from 1929-1975. Westhampton leads the all-time series, 35-24-3.
“We’ve been playing since 1929, and the East End of Long Island has been playing football for over 100 years,” Schaumloffel said. “So this is a big game even though we don't get to play them often.”
Schaffer put Westhampton ahead 6-0 on a 26-yard touchdown run with 6:31 left in the first quarter. His punt return extended the lead to 13-0 with 1:05 left in the quarter.
East Hampton answered 14 seconds later as Alex Davis returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards to the house to make it 13-7. The Bonackers briefly took a 14-13 lead after James Corwin’s 1-yard touchdown run with 5:55 left in the first half.
Drake, a receiver-turned-quarterback after starter Jake Calloway’s Week 1 injury, threw a 43-yard scoring pass to Brady Spanbock with 3:32 left in the second quarter to take a 20-14 halftime lead.
Playing just his fourth career full game at quarterback, Drake completed 6 of 11 passes for 80 yards and a score. Drake said the transition to quarterback was “definitely rough” but credited his coaches’ support.
Drake broke several tackles for a 54-yard touchdown run to make it 27-14 with 5:09 left in the third quarter.
In a second half largely ruled by stout defenses, East Hampton quarterback Theo Ball led the Bonackers on an 11-play, 81-yard drive capped with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Cole Dunchick to cut it to 27-21 with 2:02 left.
Westhampton then recovered East Hampton’s pooch kick. Schaffer picked up a first down on a 7-yard run with 59 seconds left to ice the game and allow Westhampton to go into victory formation.
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
