Hill: High school rivals reunited as Raiders running backs

Nearly seven years later, new Raiders practice squad running back Chris Collier smiles and puts his head down when asked about his high school coach’s comments before the Long Island championship game in his senior season.

“You found that article?” he laughs.

Then-Lawrence coach Joe Martillotti said before the game his team had a plan and was confident in its ability to contain Westhampton star Dylan Laube.

Narrator: That plan did not work.

Laube ran for 227 yards and six touchdowns in a 54-26 win, setting the Long Island (New York) record with 47 touchdowns on the season.

‘I knew we were done’

Collier, who scored a couple of times that day and had a long touchdown pass wiped out by a penalty, wasn’t surprised. He had first encountered Laube on a football field in a youth league game and was familiar with his abilities.

“We were 9 when I played against him the first time, and he went crazy that day,” Collier remembered. “He’s been a great player his whole life. But I remember him because he had this crazy neck pad he wore as a kid all the way up to high school.

“(In the championship game), this kid got the ball and he has this move that I’ve seen since we were 9 where it’s just a jab step and go around the corner. Once I saw him do that to probably the two fastest guys on our team, I knew we were done. I don’t even think we got a stop the whole game, and it seemed like he had about 400 yards.”

Collier and Laube would go on to successful college careers, but they kept track of each other through social media and the occasional encounter. That was until this week when Collier signed with the Raiders after a stint in Baltimore and they found each other in the same locker room.

It just so happens to be the week Laube is set for perhaps his most extensive action of the season with top running backs Alexander Mattison and Zamir White unlikely to play.

“I think we’re the only two (current NFL) running backs from Long Island, which is a crazy thought,” Laube said. “But even crazier is that our last high school game was against each other. It’s a full circle thing for us. Football is a very close-knit community on the island because it’s a big lacrosse area. Just to see two kids who played against each other now on the same team on the biggest stage is one of the biggest achievements anyone could ask for.”

Collier said it’s been a big topic of conversation back home.

“It’s a ‘what are the odds?’ type moment,” he said. “When I heard I was coming to the Raiders, I was like, ‘No way. I’m playing with my boy Dylan.’ It was crazy. All my boys back home and everyone on Long Island has been talking about it. It’s pretty cool we’re in the same locker room.”

Laube is doing his best not to live in the past in their interactions, however, regardless of how dominant his performance was that day.

“I haven’t said much because I think he knows,” Laube laughed. “It was a tough game for them. But he was the best player on their team and a great athlete. I’ve mentioned it a few times, but it was years ago and now we just kind of have mutual respect for each other.”

Laube has saved more of his ire for the host of that game, Stony Brook University.

The local school declined to recruit Laube despite his record-shattering performances on the gridiron.

“That game was even played on their field, and they never offered me (a scholarship),” he said. “I always took that personal every time I played them. I feel like I made a statement that game. It was the first time my town had made it to the Long Island championship, and it was a crazy game.”

Laube went on to become an All-American at New Hampshire and won all four meetings he played in against conference rival Stony Brook.

‘My brother forever’

Collier had 1,800 yards and 25 touchdowns that senior season himself, but was barely recruited because of a serious knee injury suffered in his junior campaign. He had an even more circuitous journey from Nassau Community College to Wagner to Lock Haven, where he had an All-American season in 2023 and got on the NFL’s radar.

Now they’re both enjoying defying the odds they overcame to be NFL running backs from an area that doesn’t produce many.

And they are now doing it together.

“We’ve always followed each other and kept in touch,” Collier said. “But we’ve never really been in the same area. Now that we’re in the same spot, I feel like he’s going to be my brother forever.”