North Forks 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.”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 communit...