Chris Stumpf leads North Babylon to 48-47 OT thriller over West Babylon in Suffolk II semis

As the national anthem echoed around North Babylon High School, coach John Rowland placed his arm on quarterback Chris Stumpf’s shoulder. It’s a tradition between the two, one that dates to when Stumpf became the starting quarterback as a sophomore.

Saturday marked the last time the two would do that ritual on their home field. Next week, the two will be standing together with the rest of the Bulldogs at Stony Brook University after defeating West Babylon, 48-47, in overtime in a remarkable Suffolk II semifinal.

Stumpf threw touchdown passes on all three of his completions. The senior captain’s third touchdown toss came in overtime when he found running back Jordan Konig, who made a spectacular contested catch to give the Bulldogs the lead. Junior kicker Jacob Serigano added the extra point to give North Babylon a seven-point lead.

“Three touchdowns is a mark that I don’t know if I’ve ever hit in my career,” Stumpf said. “It’s a great feeling . . . We had a play call and it was meant for [Konig] the whole way. He made a great play.”

West Babylon answered when Nicholas Serrano scored on a 2-yard run. The Eagles elected to go for the victory, but the pass attempt on the two-point conversion fell incomplete.

North Babylon (9-1) will play No. 4 West Islip at noon Saturday at Stony Brook University for the Suffolk II championship. West Babylon finished with a 7-3 record.

North Babylon has Long Island’s leading rusher in Jawara Keahey, who had 26 carries for 183 yards, including touchdown runs of 68 and 33 yards. Konig added 14 carries for 65 yards.

“It’s great watching him run the ball,” Konig said of Keahey. “Just going down to block and watching him run, he makes crazy things happen, and he’s great every time.”

Despite the team’s successful running game, when it came down to third-and-12 on the first drive of overtime, the ball ended up in Stumpf’s hands, and he made the play.

“Quarterbacks in North Babylon, for obvious reasons, don’t get the recognition other quarterbacks do because we are a ground-and-pound team,” Rowland said. “He’s got a great arm. He’s really come into his own this year, and he’s made great blocks on our power plays . . . I think today was his best game of the year.”

Stumpf’s other two touchdown passes went to tight end Alexander Griffith, who also recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.

“I know I caught [the touchdowns], but if he saw someone was on me . . . he wouldn’t have thrown it,” Griffith said. “He’s a great guy, and he’s been my quarterback since last year. We have a great chemistry, and it’s only going to get better.”

West Babylon’s Thomas Raccomandato had a terrific game on both sides of the ball. He forced a turnover on downs with a textbook tackle behind the line of scrimmage on North Babylon’s first drive and then scored the game’s first touchdown on a 77-yard catch-and-run. Raccomendato also recovered a fumble in the second quarter and threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Luke Barrera on a trick play.

Quarterback Elijah Outlaw completed 10 of his 16 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns.