It was the clash of two longtime rivals that had not seen each other in several years as the 3-2 Fort Hamilton Tigers hosted the 2-3 Lincoln Railsplitters from Coney Island. Celebrating his 30th season, Railsplitters coach Shawn O’Connor said that Fort Hamilton’s field brought back both good and bad memories from when he last played the Tigers nearly a decade ago. Now with both teams situated again in the same conference, the rivalry was revived.
In fact, the rivalry goes back to 2010 when both Fort Hamilton and Lincoln were undefeated and met at Yankee Stadium to decide the first-ever PSAL championship game that Tigers coach Dan Perez won in his rookie season.
From the very start, it appeared that this game could be a bad memory for Lincoln as an errant snap from center sailed through the end zone for a two-point safety. Despite the opening miscue, the Railsplitters bounced back on their next possession to score on a 70-yard pass play to Giovanni Napoleon to take a 7-2 lead. The Tigers answered back as Mekhi Smith burst 30 yards to the one-yard line to set up Jayden Pagan’s one-yard plunge to give Fort Hamilton a 9-7 lead to end the first quarter.
Working quickly to build on their slim lead, Tigers quarterback J. T. Turner found Aiden Porter at the three-yard line as the senor co-captain managed to keep one foot in-bounds on a high-leaping catch. From the three, the Tigers ran a swing pass to Tom O’Neill to increase Fort’s lead to 15-7, which stood until the half.
The third quarter proved to be a defensive battle on both ends that was punctuated by O’Neill’s second solo quarterback sack of the game. Trailing since the first quarter, the Railsplitters’ running backs finally found their stride in the final quarter. First, Napoleon scored his second touchdown on a 28-yard sweep to tie the game at 15-15. Mikhi Negron scored next on a direct snap from center on a five-yard wildcat play up the middle to give Lincoln a 22-15 lead.
With time winding down to the 1:30 mark, the Railsplitters executed a perfect punt to bury the Tigers at the 10-yard line. Deep in their own end, the Tigers eventually succumbed to the Lincoln defense on four downs to end the game.
