These Vikings conquered.
The South Shore football team staged a late-game comeback and erased a double-digit deficit to take down Fort Hamilton 32–30 and grab the squad’s first victory of the season on Sept. 18. Senior quarterback Jason Martin led the charge down the stretch, stepping up — both in the pocket and as a leader — to spark the Viking’s offense.
“My teammates always tell me that they look up to me,” said Martin, who racked up 403 all-purpose yards. “So as [long as] I stay calm, they stayed calm as well.”
Martin got South Shore on the board early, airing the ball out from the get-go and settling into a rhythm with his receivers. The senior connected on a handful of deep shots down the field — including two bombs of 70 and 41 yards — one of which Armand Robinson took into the end zone.
Even more impressive however, was Martin’s ground attack. His dual-threat approach gave the Vikings an edge early and kept Fort Hamilton on its toes as South Shore took a 16–8 lead headed into the break.
“They were trying to blitz a lot off of the edges, so we took advantage of trying to quick-pass as they blitzed,” said Martin, who finished with a game-high 126 rushing yards. “And we did a great job of that throughout the game.”
Fort Hamilton — also searching for its first win of the season — was not going down without a fight.
The Tigers stormed back in the second half, scoring twice in the third quarter and jumping out to an eight-point lead as the fourth quarter began.
Quarterback Seba Nekhet was the difference-maker for the Tigers, racking up 127 passing yards on just seven completions. He also added 119 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground, jump-starting Fort Hamilton’s defense as the clock ticked down.
Nekhet was part of a three-pronged rushing attack for Fort Hamilton — which also included Ricardo Linton and Troy Booker — that averaged more than seven yards per carry, and the trio nearly led the Tigers to a victory.
The Vikings never lost focus, though, and South Shore found a way to bounce back in the fourth quarter, led by Martin under center. The senior racked up 277 passing yards, spreading the ball out to five receivers as the Vikings notched 16 points in the fourth quarter.
But it was the defense that gave him the chance to win the game.
Fort Hamilton fumbled the ball with about a minute left on the clock and Giovanni Denard recovered, giving Martin just enough time to go back to work under center. He tied the game just a few moments later, rumbling in to the end zone for his third touchdown of the game and, after a two-point conversion, South Shore had stormed back for the lead and the victory.
Now the Vikings, bolstered by Martin’s strong play, have a bit of extra confidence in the team’s collective mindset and South Shore is certain the squad can face just about anything.
“We stayed tough and kept fighting throughout the whole game, it didn’t matter what the score was — we didn’t stop fighting,” said South Shore coach Matt Ciquera. “Jason Martin is one of the best quarterbacks in the city, and it showed today.”
