East Islip football's Jake Simmons totals 4 TDs to power past Commack
East Islip running back Jake Simmons breaks free and heads in for a touchdown against host Commack in a Suffolk Division II football game on Saturday. Credit: George A. Faella
Jake Simmons is in for a big year.
After a strong rushing performance in Week 1, Simmons did it all Saturday afternoon at Commack High School.
The senior ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, caught two passes for 36 yards and a score and returned an interception 26 yards for a TD in East Islip’s 42-14 win over Commack in Suffolk II football.
Coach Sal J. Ciampi said that coming into the year, the plan was for Simmons and senior H-back Niko Meyers to be the featured weapons of the offense. But Meyers sprained his ankle on the opening kickoff of last week’s 22-10 win over Bellport.
“We said that until we get [Meyers] back, we’re gonna lean on Jake. He’s been a three-year starter for us on some great teams,” Ciampi said. “We knew he was good, but he’s really gone to another level this year.”
“I’m ready for stuff like that,” Simmons said. “I’m ready to get all these carries. I worked all offseason for a big workload. It’s just something you have to be ready for. Adversity happens to everyone, you’ve just got to be ready to perform on any given day.”
East Islip leaned heavily on Simmons on its second drive of the game. Simmons capped a six-play, 80-yard drive with a 14-yard TD run to give EI a 14-0 lead. Simmons carried the ball on all six plays.
With time winding down in the first half, Simmons caught a screen pass from Aiden Ierardi and followed a block from Dylan Bayer all the way to the end zone for a 29-yard score. It gave East Islip a 21-7 lead with six seconds left in the half.
“If we get anyone on our offense out in the open field with blockers, Coach Ciampi trusts all of us that it’s gonna be a big play,” Simmons said. “You saw Bayer maul a kid right in front of me and I had a free lane straight to the end zone.”
Simmons pounded in a 5-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter. On the third play of Commack’s ensuing drive, EI’s pass rush got home and forced an unbalanced throw, which Simmons intercepted and returned for a score to give EI a 35-7 lead with 1:37 left in the fourth.
“None of that really happens without the pass rush,” Simmons said.
Led by the defensive line of Andrew Arena, Ben Hillenbrand, Bayer and Evan Gordon, EI held Commack to just 23 rushing yards. After a second straight dominant performance, Ciampi has been pleased with EI’s run defense.
“It definitely boosts us for the rest of the season, but there’s not an easy team in this division,” Gordon said. “We have to come into every game with the same mindset and that’s just to dominate.”
Eddie Simonetti caught a 24-yard TD pass from Ierardi, Arena ran for a 2-yard TD and Parker Redding added an interception.
AJ Arizonis caught a 35-yard TD pass from Lincoln Riggs and Danny Levine punched in a 4-yard TD run for Commack (1-1).
Last season marked EI’s 14th time reaching the Suffolk finals in Ciampi’s 25 years as head coach. After graduating several impact players, EI knows it has an uphill battle to get back to Stony Brook University.
Said Simmons: “The idea of, ‘We’re gonna be good because we’re East Islip,’ we got that out of our heads and we know that we really have to work this year if we want to win something.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
