North Fork’s undermanned football team front and center for locals as interlopers invade

Millionaires dock their house-sized yachts to the east, and there are miles of farmland and cornfields to the west.

The Porters play on a not-so-seen patch of grass that could be plowed for sod while fans brave wooden bleachers that might as well have been installed during the Bush Sr. administration — and a pack of deer was foraging behind an end zone during Tuesday’s practice at Greenport High School.

But North Forkers will never treat their sole varsity football team like Long Island’s small potatoes.

“It’s electric. … To look up into the stands, we can pack them out. It’s a great feeling, having everybody supporting you. It’s like nothing else,” Porters lineman Emmett Tramontana told The Post. “The farmers and the guys with the four-story yachts — they’re all coming out to support us.”

After all, the local teens and their gridiron matchups provide a much-needed escape for the year-rounders, whose autumn weekends are a constant clash with a D-Day-sized force of invasive city slickers.

Each year, their beloved community gets further eroded by out-of-towners jonesing for a day of fall foliage, vineyards, pies, and pumpkin and vegetable picking, all while causing BQE-grade traffic jams in once-quiet neighborhoods that are now ultra-luxurious getaways by the water.

“We have people out here, everywhere, with tourism. But in the fall, when it’s football season — it’s just us, our team,” Porters head coach Brian Olshefsky said. “And we can become the main attraction of this town.”

A real drought

The North Fork’s three minuscule school districts of Mattituck, Southold and Greenport all combine for one program — and even that sometimes isn’t enough. Porters football didn’t have enough players for a varsity team in 2025 while tourists keep taking over the rural stretch.

“Our enrollments at all three schools have gone down over the past decade,” said Olshefsky, who added that 11th graders had to play JV last season.

“They have a lot of community pride here, and they really love their athletics, and they’re excited to see varsity football back. … The feel in the fall gets different out here with it.”

Olshefsky has a skeleton crew of 20-something playing both sides of the ball during his first season as head coach after a few years as an assistant.

The Porters got creative to fill their glaring gaps, like doubling soccer player Matt Malinowski as a kicker, which is allowed in Suffolk County.

Tramontana, a Southold senior, came into two-a-days with six years of play under his belt, but fellow 12th-grade lineman Aaron Cruz is putting on the pads for the first time.

He plays bass in Greenport’s band and got recruited by his music teacher.

“Everything is new to me right now. I don’t know much, but I am hoping to learn a lot more,” Cruz admitted. “It’s really cool … but there’s pressure being on varsity.”

Upperclassmen who played JV last year are the Porters’ “lifeline” and have taken to acclimating newcomers like Cruz, their coach said.

Even if it means trial by fire.

“If you get them used to hitting,” Tramontana said, “they’re not gonna be scared in the game.”

The Porters may not have a size advantage like larger counterparts, but Olshefsky accounts for that in his wing-T offense, which relies on “skill and speed.”

Quarterback Brayden Kruk trusts the group in front of him.

“With the amount of training that we’ve put in throughout the past weeks, I feel like they’ve gotten ropes,” the Mattituck junior said.

“I feel like we can make a push for playoffs, and going .500 or above is my goal.”

Planting the seeds

Part of the numbers problem is that the North Fork doesn’t have its own youth development league. The closest option is trekking miles up-island to Riverhead, Olshefsky said.

“At that young age, trying to pique that interest is probably our biggest goal right now. The biggest thing of what we’re trying to do is build this thing up back from the bottom, versus building from the top.”

More small Suffolk programs are struggling in the fourth of four divisions.

Port Jefferson School District pulled its varsity program this season, and Southampton also went JV-only in 2025.

The South Fork team combined with Hampton Bays for 2026 and will face the Porters in Week 1.

Several of the tinier programs on the island have been advocating for modified eight-on-eight leagues, which exist upstate and have championships.

The Porters’ focus remains on the here and now: giving the North Fork a Friday night lights experience it has waited too long for.

“We’ve had a storied past. In the ’50s and the ’60s, this was a solid program. We have a Rutgers Trophy. We have championships here,” Olshefsky said.

“The last time we had varsity football here two years ago, this town shut down.”