This group of Patriots from Ward Melville can make some program history, but it will need to get past a very large obstacle with shoulder pads standing in the way.

Ward Melville has never experienced the fabulous football feeling of winning a Long Island championship.

“In the past few years, we’ve played in a bunch of high-level games, but we haven’t been able to win the big one,” coach Chris Boltrek said. “So that’s definitely an incentive for these guys.”

Because after winning a big one — upending two-time defending Suffolk I champ Floyd 31-28 in Friday’s county final — Ward Melville has a second-ever chance to win its first Island title after falling to Farmingdale in the 2022 Class I championship game.

The 10-1 Patriots will face 11-0 Massapequa for Island supremacy in this cla

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