On the heels of its first-ever League II championship, the East Hampton boys swimming team took second place out of 28 schools at the county championship meet at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood on Saturday. 

Craig Brierley, Bonac’s coach, called it “the team’s best finish ever” in the competition, adding that the boys “again posted many best times. A very impressive feat given that there were so many best times two weeks ago at the league championships.”

“In the first event,” Brierley wrote in an account of the meet, “the 200 medley relay, the boys dropped three seconds from their best time to take fourth place, showing that they were ready to compete with the best in the county.”

Among the events that followed, “Ethan McCormac earned county champion in both of his individual events, the 50 and 100 free. Ethan also led off the 200 free relay” — with Owen McCormac, Aidan Forst, and Ryan Duryea — “that went a season-best time, took first place (county champions), and finished under the state qualifying time.”

“At the conclusion of the meet,” the coach continued, “we finished with 205 points to Half Hollow Hills’ 402.5,” that team taking its 13th county title in a row. East Hampton finished 28.5 points ahead of third-place Connetquot, which had 176.5. 

As for the swimmer of the meet, this time it was up to Brierley and his assistant, Brian Cunningham, and the honor went to Ryan Duryea, a senior from Pierson. “Ryan was slated to swim the 50 free three times, first in the medley relay, next in the individual event, and then as the anchor in the 200 free relay,” Brierley said. “All prior to his signature event, the 100 breaststroke. Racing the 50 free once is enough of a physical and mental challenge,” but Duryea clocked “a best time in all three. . . . When it came to his 100 breast event, he really had to dig deep and push himself as he swam to a fourth personal best time in the meet, displaying a fantastic display of mental and physical toughness. All season Ryan has been a huge asset to the team with his leadership and versatility to contribute in any event.” 

Among the other best times from the county meet were Joey Badilla in the 100-meter backstroke, Thor Botero in the 50 freestyle, Colin Harrison in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, Tenzin Tamang and Nicky Badilla in the 100 butterfly, Owen McCormac and Fernando Menjura in the 100 free, and Aidan Forst in his 50-meter leg in the 200-meter freestyle relay.

And the season isn’t over, as next up is the state championship meet on March 1 and 2 at the Nassau County Aquatics Center in East Meadow, where Ethan McCormac will swim the 100 and 200-meter freestyle events and join Ryan Duryea, Aidan Forst, and Owen McCormac in the 200 freestyle relay.

Joe Vas, the East Hampton School District’s athletic director, said last Thursday that East Hampton would go it alone in the fall when it comes to football.

Joe McKee, who has been trying mightily for the past few years to revive Bonac’s program, which dates to 1923, was undoubtedly pleased with the turnout of 34 footballers at an after-school meeting held at the high school’s cafeteria on Feb. 5.

Vas said he wasn’t sure how many juniors, sophomores, and freshmen there were, “but it was a great turnout.” The current eighth graders, numbering about six, said the A.D., didn’t attend, “but we have their names.”

As reported last week, Vas and Southampton High’s athletic director, Darren Phillips, proposed to Section XI’s conference placement committee that East Hampton, with the Ross School also in the mix, combine with the Mariners (who already are combined with Pierson and Bridgehampton) and play in Conference IV, vying for the playoffs.

The placement committee said no to that, said Vas, whose sense of a recent convocation of 50 or so South Fork parents at Pierson High in Sag Harbor was that “Southampton’s parents and leadership weren’t interested in combining if it meant forgoing the playoffs.”

“So, we’re not going to combine,” he said. “We’re going to go it alone, as we did last year. Darren and I may revisit combining next year, but for the moment our goal is to field a varsity and a junior varsity if we can. We’ll play in Conference IV and forgo the playoffs. . . . At the worst, we’ll have a varsity with no jayvee, though, as I said, it would be good to have both.”

The football program here, as has been the case elsewhere on Long Island, has been skating on thin ice. The last time a Bonac football team made the playoffs was in the fall of 2012, when Bill Barbour was the coach. There was a varsity the next year, but then, owing to a lack of numbers, things began heading south.

There was no team in 2014 — only the fourth time in the school’s history that that had happened; there were varsities in 2015 and ’16, but no team in ’17, and no varsity this past fall either, though there was a junior varsity coached by McKee and his assistant, Lorenzo Rodriguez.

That team improved steadily after losing in its first two outings, to Hampton Bays and Bayport-Blue Point.

“For half the kids on the team that game at Hampton Bays was the first they’d ever played,” Bob Budd, a longtime volunteer coach, said at East Hampton’s homecoming game with William Floyd’s freshman team at the end of September.

Floyd, a football power, plays in Conference 1, a conference that, without dispensation of some sort, a combined South Fork team would be kicked up to if enrollment were the sole criterion.

The Bonackers beat Floyd freshmen — “as good as any jayvee team East Hampton will see this season,” according to Floyd’s A.D., Mark Mensch — 30-18.

And, in its final game of the season, at the end of October, the Bonackers lost 41-40 at Southampton, Bonac’s archrival since the early 1920s. McKee, following a 56-yard Topher Cullen to Christian Johnson touchdown pass play, went for the win, but Kevin Bunce was stopped just short of the goal line on an extra-point play in the final minute.

As for the recent player meeting, McKee said he definitely was pleased with the turnout of 34, “and there were even some more kids who for one reason or another weren’t able to come, not to mention the half-dozen football-playing eighth graders who didn’t attend.”

“My plan,” he added, “is to have a varsity and a jayvee. The next thing is to get them into the weight room with Lorenzo and my brother Kelly. Then, in late May or early June, we’ll begin informal workouts.”

As for combining, “The Section told us that if we wanted to combine we would go to Conference 1,” with schools like Floyd, Ward Melville, Connetquot, and Longwood. “We’re staying in Conference IV and forgoing the playoffs. . . . We have talent, no question about it.”

Ryan Fowkes, a senior and East Hampton's top runner, followed up his win in the 1,000-meter indoor event at the county small schools meet last week by finishing second at that distance Monday night in the Section XI state qualifier at Suffolk Community College-Brentwood. His time was 2:36.15, and his placement in the top three means he'll be making the trip to the state championships at the Ocean Breeze facility on Staten Island on March 2.

Fowkes holds the school record in the 1,000 – the 2:34.75 mark he set in the small schools meet on Feb. 3, also held in Brentwood. The winner of the state qualifier Monday, Michael Danzi of Smithtown West, finished in 2:35.71.

As for the girls, Ava Engstrom, Coach Yani Cuesta's top distance runner, clocked a 5:08.90 in the 1,500 meters at the state qualifier. Her 13th-place finish over all was the best by a sophomore. And Bella Espinoza pole-vaulted a height of 8 feet 6 inches, good for seventh place.

Ryan Fowkes topped the county’s 47-man 1,000-meter field Sunday in winning the small schools race in 2 minutes and 34.75 seconds, breaking the school record that he had held and, as a result of bettering the 2:35.24 cutoff time, earning the senior a trip to the state meet should he finish in the top three at the state qualifier meet Monday.

“It was a personal best for him,” said Fowkes’s coach, Ben Turnbull, in reporting “the good news.” Matt Maya, another East Hampton senior, by finishing fourth in the 55-meter high hurdle prelims in 37.91 seconds, earned a berth in the finals, but was prevented by illness from competing.

As for East Hampton’s girls, Yani Cuesta, their coach, said Ava Engstrom had won a point by finishing sixth in the small schools 3,000-meter race, and that Mimi Fowkes had earned a point by finishing sixth in the 1,500-meter racewalk. Juliana Barahona, Grace Brosnan, JiJi Kramer, Lillie Minskoff, Penelope Greene, and Bella Espinoza also competed for the Bonackers.

East Hampton High’s football program continues to be on thin ice, as it were, with the prospects as of earlier this week remaining as iffy as they have been over the course of the past half-dozen years.

The last time a Bonac football team made the playoffs was in the fall of 2012, when Bill Barbour was the coach. There was a varsity the next year, but then, owing to a lack of numbers, things began heading south. There was no team in 2014 — only the fourth time in the school’s 90-year history that that had happened; there were varsities in 2015 and ’16, but no team in ’17, and no varsity this past fall either, though there was a junior varsity coached by Joe McKee and his assistant Lorenzo Rodriguez.

During this period, Joe Vas, East Hampton’s athletic director, has been trying to keep the program afloat, suggesting — as yet to no avail — to Section IX, the governing body for high school sports in Suffolk, that East Hampton, despite its Conference III enrollment numbers, be allowed to remain in Conference IV, a somewhat less competitive conference.

Vas has told Section XI’s football committee — of which he is a member, as is Southampton’s A.D., Darren Phillips, and six other A.D.s — that when it comes to placement, East Hampton intends to field a team in Conference IV, “to keep the door open,” though the placement question remained up in the air as of Friday, when East Hampton’s athletic director was interviewed. Ther deadline for conference placements is fast approaching.

“A couple of years ago, if you remember, our proposal to stay in Conference IV and forgo the playoffs passed in the committee, but lost when it came to a vote of the four conferences’ 52 schools.”

“We’re not the only school on the Island that’s struggling when it comes to football. Greenport is struggling, Mercy’s closed, Stony Brook isn’t in Section XI anymore . . . Bayport-Blue Point . . . Hampton Bays. . . . We’re trying to maintain, but it’s not easy, especially when you consider that there’s no youth football in East Hampton anymore.”

Combining with Southampton, which already is combined with Pierson and Bridgehampton, and with the Ross School in the mix as well, “would result in an overall enrollment of 1,609, and would put us in Conference I, with schools like William Floyd, Central Islip, Bay Shore, Riverhead. . . . I can’t see us doing that. That wouldn’t be a sound decision.”

Another option — and one with which Phillips agrees, Vas said — would be to petition Section XI to combine and to play in Conference IV for one year and vie for the playoffs, after which an assessment would be made.

East Hampton’s A.D., who met with about 50 South Fork parents and school officials at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor the night of Jan. 30, said, however, that his sense was that Southampton parents were not in favor of combining if it means playoffs are not in the picture.

The football committee’s placement meeting was to have been held Tuesday in Smithtown. 

In the meantime, Phillips was to have met with his players to ascertain what they would like. Likewise, McKee was to have met Tuesday with ninth through 11th graders interested in playing on Bonac’s team. If all those on this past season’s jayvee roster turned out, there would be around 26. At least 16 players are needed to field a football team.

There wouldn’t be enough, Vas said, to have a varsity and a jayvee here, and, if it were decided to stick with a jayvee, seniors would not be able to play.

“My view,” he said, “is that we should combine and vie for the playoffs.” Given the waning interest in football of late, combining was the only thing that made sense, the A.D. said. “We haven’t had a varsity in two years and the numbers aren’t promising. Kids aren’t playing football as they have in the past.”

Plan B, he said, was to “go it alone, as a varsity or as a jayvee.”

And, assuming the worst, he was asked if there might come a time when the plug would be pulled.

“That possibility has been part of the conversation, though we’re trying everything to keep the program going,” East Hampton’s A.D. replied.

For the first time since the program began here in 2010, an East Hampton High School boys swimming team is a two-time champion, not only in the regular season, which it sailed through at 7-0 (9-0), but also in the postseason League II meet, which took place last Thursday at Suffolk Community College-Brentwood.

Usually diving has proved to be the stumbling block at the league championship meet — East Hampton has no divers — but not this year. The second-place team, Hauppauge, won 27 points in diving and still trailed the Bonackers 298-277 at the end.

East Hampton’s superior depth was in evidence the entire way, with three swimmers scoring in the 200-yard individual medley, the 50 freestyle, the 100 butterfly, the 100 free, and in the 100 backstroke.

The tipping point, East Hampton’s coach, Craig Brierley, said, came midway through the 12-event competition, after Hauppauge, as aforesaid, had earned 27 points in diving to take the lead at 121-117.

“The boys were actually very encouraged by this,” Brierley said in an emailed account, “though they knew they had a lot of hard work ahead of them to outscore a talented Hauppauge team. . . . In the next event, the 100 butterfly, Colin Harrison, Nicky Badilla, and Kevin Pineda took fourth, fifth, and eighth [the top 12 in each event were scored] to put us up 143-135. From that point on, we never trailed again. In the end, our boys put up 18 lifetime personal best times, and if an athlete didn’t do a best time he was very close to it.”

“The boys really demonstrated what their training prepares them to do,” Brierley continued. “Which is to compete with fire in their hearts . . . they reach for the greatest heights together. . . . It was a wonderful experience, and Coach Brian [Cunningham] and I are 

so happy for the boys and the program.”

East Hampton, as aforesaid, won the meet with 298 points, followed by Hauppauge (277), Sayville-Bayport-Blue Point (236), Northport (190), West Islip (138), Deer Park (92), North Babylon (67), and Lindenhurst (36).

Ethan McCormac, who has qualified for the state meet in four events, won the 200-yard freestyle, won the 100-yard free, and anchored the winning 200 free relay team that included Ryan Duryea, Harrison, and Owen McCormac. Ethan McCormac also anchored East Hampton’s second-place 400 free relay team, which included Fernando Menjura, Edward Hoff, and Aidan Forst.

Other runners-up were Joey Badilla, in the 100 backstroke, and Ryan Duryea, in the 100 breaststroke.

Third-place finishers were the 200 medley relay team of Joey Badilla, Jack Duryea, Harrison, and Owen McCormac; Ryan Duryea in the 200 individual medley, and Owen McCormac in the 50 free.

East Hampton’s depth was particularly evident in the 200 individual medley, with Ryan Duryea placing third, Joey Badilla fifth, and Tenzin Tamang ninth; in the 50 free, with Owen McCormac third, Harrison fourth, and Thor Botero sixth; in the aforementioned 100 butterfly, with Harrison fourth, Nicky Badilla fifth, and Pineda eighth; in the 100 free, with Ethan McCormac first, Hoff fourth, and Jack Duryea sixth, and in the 100 back, with Joey Badilla second, Ryan Bahel sixth, and Luke Tyrell ninth.

Tyrell, a senior, was to share swimmer of the meet honors afterward for having made the county cut in the backstroke, a goal he’d pursued for two seasons. 

“When, in his final attempt of the season, Luke touched the wall under the qualifying time, his teammates roared because they knew how hard he had worked for it,” Coach Brierley said.

Forst too was named swimmer of the meet by the captains for having contributed 56 points as the result of his season-best leg in the 200 free relay, his fifth-place finish in the 500 free, and his lifetime-best leg in the 400 free relay.

Besides Tyrell, Menjura, a Pierson sophomore, also recorded a county-qualifying time in the 100 freestyle, leading off the 400 free relay with a 52.78 leg.

Brierley and Cunningham are to take 14 members of their 31-man squad to the county meet this Saturday at Suffolk Community College-Brentwood. The group, which comprises Ethan McCormac, Forst, Hoff, Ryan Duryea, Joey Badilla, Botero, Harrison, Owen McCormac, Nicky Badilla, Tamang, Jack Duryea, Menjura, Ryan Bahel, and Tyrell, will compete in all the swimming events.

Before Monday’s showdown between Shelter Island and Bridgehampton at the Beehive, the Hardings, father and son, stood side by side for photos with the son’s 1,000th-point ball, and not long afterward the Killer Bees’ high-scorer put on a show, to the delight of his father and a gym largely packed with the Bridgehampton High School boys basketball team’s fans.

(The Hardings are the only father-son duo to have been 1,000-point scorers at Bridgehampton in the school’s hoop history. Asked during the game how many points he had scored, the senior J.P. Harding said, “Twelve-something . . . he’s probably passed me now.”)

The Bees not long ago had lost 65-62 on The Rock, but this time Ron White’s team rocked Shelter Island 78-61.

A 50-foot, three-quarter-court heave by Elijah White that banked in off the backboard fronting the stage as the first quarter ended set the stage for the rout. 

When it was over, Max Spooner, White’s assistant, said J.P. Harding had scored 34 points and, even more impressive, had 30 rebounds — an extraordinary performance, even by Killer Bee standards. In brief, the Bees, whose swarming defense didn’t give the visitors a chance to breathe that night, came to play.

Naejon Ward, the junior point guard, whose layups curl their way nicely into the basket, finished with 11 points and 10 assists; White, with 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 8 assists, and Johnny De Groot (who because of an injury had not played in the teams’ first game), with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Bridgehampton and Shelter Island will meet again — in the county Class D championship game at Center Moriches High School Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. 

“We’re locked and loaded, but Shelter Island’s a scrappy team and I respect their coach,” Jay Card Jr., said White, who added that “we’ve got to play to win rather than play not to lose.”

Alas, there will be no playoffs for East Hampton’s Bonackers, who went down fighting in a loss to Wyandanch here this past week. 

It was a 4-point game with a little over a minute to go, after Turner Foster hit a 3-pointer, but the visitors, whose Dionte Jordan (45 points) was unstoppable, kicked the lead back up to 10 in the ensuing moments on the way to the 99-93 win.

Rebounding, as it has been all season, proved to be the Bonackers’ sore point.

As for Jordan, “We played four different defenses against him,” but to no avail, said East Hampton’s coach, Dan White. “He’s long, fast, and has a good handle, very impressive. I think Wyandanch is the best team in our league right now.”

Christian Johnson, East Hampton’s strongest rebounder, led the team with a career-high 33 points; Foster had 23, 14 of them coming in the fourth quarter; Jeremy Vizcaino, whose buzzer-beating layup bested Mount Sinai 56-55 here on Jan. 30, had 16, and Malachi Miller 13.

East Hampton lost 76-52 to Amityville here Monday to finish the league season at 6-10.

Like the Killer Bees, Pierson’s girls, a Class C team, are also headed to the playoffs. They improved their league-leading record to 14-0 (and extended their winning streak to 15) by virtue of a 64-34 win over Smithtown Christian in the Whalers’ gym Saturday afternoon.

Katie Kneeland finished with a game-high 27 points, and Chastin Giles, the team’s quick, pinpoint-passing point guard, with 22.

“Defense has been the key for us all year, but our offense has come around the past few weeks,” Kevin Barron, Pierson’s coach, said afterward.

As for the playoffs, Barron’s charges won’t have to play for a county classification title, there being no opposition. Last year, he said in reply to a question, “We lost to Stony Brook [which no longer plays in Section XI] in the first round . . . kind of an upset.”

Thursday, February 7

GIRLS BASKETBALL, East Hampton faculty-alumnae game, East Hampton High School, 4 p.m., and Mattituck at Pierson, Sag Harbor, 6:15 p.m.

Saturday, February 9

BOYS SWIMMING, East Hampton at Suffolk County championship meet, Suffolk Community College-Brentwood, 10 a.m.

Sunday, February 10

SKATING, Katy’s Courage fund-raiser, with raffles, puck throw contest, recital, skate-a-thon, and hockey game, Buckskill Winter Club, Buckskill Road, East Hampton, from 12:15 p.m., rain date Feb. 17.

Monday, February 11

BOYS BASKETBALL, county Class C playoffs, first-round game, third seed at second seed, 5 p.m.

WINTER TRACK, state qualifier meet, Suffolk Community College-Brentwood, 5 p.m.

Tuesday, February 12

BOYS BASKETBALL, county Class D championship game, 5:30 p.m., and county Class C championship game, 7:30, Center Moriches High School.

When asked following Saturday’s easy home win over Westhampton Beach, a game in which East Hampton High’s boys basketball team knocked down nine 3-pointers, if the Bonackers weren’t leading the county in 3s, Dan White, East Hampton’s coach, said he wasn’t sure, but that the team was probably the county’s worst rebounding team.

Actually, White’s charges, who smothered the Hurricanes with an energetic full-court man press in the first half, rebounded quite well that day, with Christian Johnson, Malachi Miller, Turner Foster, Max Proctor, and Jeremy Vizcaino all doing their part in the continued absence of the 6-foot-3-inch Bladimir Rodriguez Garces, who, owing to a foot injury sustained early in the season, is out for the rest of it. 

A 3-pointer by Max Proctor got the home team off on the right foot, and one by Vizcaino soon after made it 6-0. By the end of the first quarter it was 11-4, and by the end of the second, during which Foster and Vizcaino each hit two 3s and Miller one from beyond the arc, it was 33-15.

And so it went, though White called off the dogs in the second half, dropping back into a 2-3 zone. Even so, East Hampton continued to extend the margin. As the fourth quarter began, with the Bonackers leading by 26, Westhampton’s coach was heard to exclaim, “This is the most embarrassing game we’ve played all year.”

White substituted freely in the fourth, with Liam Leach leading the way offensively, with 8 points, including two 3s. The final was East Hampton 58, Westhampton Beach 26, the Hurricanes having scored their 20th point by way of a Riley MacDonald foul shot with four and a half minutes remaining to play.

“We played well . . . we rebounded consistently and took charge early,” White said afterward, adding that “we’re 5-7 now. We have to win three of our last four [versus Sayville, Mount Sinai, Wyandanch, and Amityville] to make the playoffs, which is doable. It would be a big accomplishment if we do.”

Earlier in the week, Miller Place, a tall, solid team that East Hampton was hoping to best — having been trounced by 34 at the Panthers’ gym earlier in the season, “the worst game we’ve played,” according to White — defeated the Bonackers 70-59.

It was a 7-point game with about three minutes to go, after Miller, with Foster getting the assist, drained a 3 for 64-57, but it was not to be as the visitors made two free throws and capped two fast breaks, one following a turnover, while the Bonackers, outscored 6-2 going down the stretch, came up empty twice from 3-point range and once in traffic. East Hampton finished with 11 3-pointers — five by Miller, three by Foster, two by Vizcaino, and one by Proctor.

As of Monday, Miller Place led League V at 11-2, with Mount Sinai at 9-2, Wyandanch at 9-2, Amityville at 8-5, and Sayville at 7-5, after which came East Hampton at 5-7, Bayport-Blue Point at 3-9, Shoreham-Wading River at 1-11, and Westhampton Beach at 1-11.

East Hampton was to have played at Sayville Monday, and was to be at home to Mount Sinai yesterday, is to be home to Wyandanch tomorrow, at 6:15 p.m., and is to finish up here Monday with Amityville, also at 6:15. 

The girls also played here Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m., with Miller Place, and though they wound up losing 66-37, it was a season-high point total for Krista Brooks’steam, which, she said, was missing four players that day.

“We played really well — the girls worked hard,” the coach said. “They were executing their plays . . . over all, they did a great job.”

Five games remained, Brooks said, with Amityville (4-8), Wyandanch (1-13), Shoreham-Wading River (7-7), Mount Sinai (10-3), and Bayport-Blue Point (9-5). 

Paige Cardone, Brooks’s daughter, led East Hampton Saturday with 13 points, a season-high, and Kailey Marmeno had 9, also a season-high.

A meeting of parents living in the Sag Harbor, Southampton, East Hampton, and Bridgehampton School Districts, including Ross School parents, was to have been held at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor last night to discuss the future of football on the South Fork.

“There’s a lot that needs to be talked about — a lot of schools on the East End are in trouble when it comes to [football] numbers,” Joe Vas, East Hampton’s athletic director, said during a brief conversation at Saturday’s basketball games here. “The school officials from all these districts — the athletic directors, the school boards, the superintendents, and other administrators — met last week. Now we want to hear from the parents.”

East Hampton, whose program has been on again, off again for some years now, asked not long ago if it could combine with Southampton in football, but was turned down by that district’s school board. Vas said he had reason to think Southampton’s present board might be more receptive to the idea. 

“We’re already combined when it comes to youth football, P.A.L. football,” he said.