PSAL PLAYOFFSFt. Hamilton30South Shore14

All year long, Vinny Laino was concerned that his team would suffer an injury to derail its season.

Since Fort Hamilton only had 25 players on its roster, Laino knew his team couldn’t spare anyone. But in the top-seeded Tigers’ 30-14 victory over 14th-seeded South Shore yesterday in the PSAL quarterfinals, it was Laino’s opponent that was done in by misfortune.

South Shore (6-4) came into the game winners of six straight, thanks largely to RB Anthony Self, who had been the PSAL’s most dominant force for the latter part of the season. But he went down with a sprained left ankle in the second quarter, with Fort Hamilton up 16-6, and head coach Tommy Salvato knew his chances of beating the Tigers were not good.

As he walked back to the sideline, away from his star runner, Salvato muttered to himself, “Why us? Why him?”

“Without him, we’re a mess,” said Salvato, whose team entered yesterday’s game having won six in a row. “It kills me that we didn’t have him out there because I think it would have been a closer game. But we still lost to a better team.”

With the victory, Fort Hamilton (9-1) advanced to host No. 5 Wagner on Saturday.

Fort Hamilton was better yesterday mainly because of Bobby Ransom, who scored the game’s first touchdown when he caused a fumble from his linebacker spot, recovered it and raced 80 yards to the end zone. Then on the first play of the second half, Ransom took a handoff and broke it for a 76-yard touchdown to help put the Tigers up 22-6.

“I’m in there to make plays,” Ransom said. “That’s what I did today.”

Daryl Dawkins also returned a fumble for a score for the Tigers, but it was Self’s injury that turned the tables.

“You can’t replace a player like that,” Laino said of Self, who despite playing less than a half, had 119 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. He returned for one series in the fourth quarter, but was ineffective.

South Shore fought valiantly without Self, but couldn’t produce enough on offense to get by Fort Hamilton, which is looking for its city-wide title.

Curtis 46, Tottenville 0

The second-seeded Warriors advanced, led by Sha-Ron Gutter, who had 185 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Curtis hosts No. 4 Sheepshead Bay Saturday.

Wagner 34, Brooklyn Tech 0

Timmie Kelson ran for 136 yards and a touchdown. The fifth-seeded Falcons visit Fort Hamilton in the semis.

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Martin Luther King won its third straight PSAL soccer title and sixth in seven years with a 2-0 defeat of Newtown yesterday at Cardozo. Ian James led ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^MLK with a goal and an assist.