Montauk Sharks Bite Brooklyn Rugby Club

The Montauk Rugby team, after having virtually vanished from sight this fall, reappeared in all its glory at the Hank Zebrowski field in Montauk Saturday afternoon, taking it to a team, Brooklyn, that had won overwhelmingly in the sides’ first meeting, at Prospect Park, on Sept. 23.

The 24-17 win was the Sharks’ first of the season, vis-a-vis four losses, but was sufficiently impressive to give Montauk’s fans hope for the future, which, for the most part, appears to lie in the hands of younger players like Brandon Johnson, Jordan Johnson, Axel Alanis, George Calderon, and Sebastian Antonio.

Mixed in with such veterans as Connor Miller, Scott and Jim Abran, James Locke, Shane O’Keefe, Kevin Brabant, James Rigby, Ryan Borowsky, and the 58-year-old Rich Brierley, who was on the field for about 50 of the game’s 80 minutes, the collegiate-age players’ spirit reminded Brierley, he said afterward, of the combative spirit Montauk was known for in years past.

Brierley acknowledged that the locals have not traveled well this fall, “though the young guys,” he said, “have always been there.”

Brooklyn, the New York South division’s second-place team, behind the Long Island R.C., which is 7-0, had defeated Montauk 33-5 in their first meeting, but it was different this time. 

Brooklyn’s Ben Forteath kicked out of trouble a few times in the early going. O’Keefe missed a penalty kick wide right about 15 minutes in, but soon after, Brandon Johnson, an all-American last year at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland, broke through for a 60-yard score to which O’Keefe added the extra points. 

The visitors, who were quick off the mark whenever Montauk was assessed a penalty, capitalized on one such moment from about 30 yards out near the end of the first half, a try by Shalva Gotsiridze that narrowed the locals’ margin to 7-5. That was the score at halftime.

During the brief break, Borowsky and Brierley told their teammates that if they cut down on their mistakes in and around the rucks, they’d be up by three scores.

Montauk surged right away when play resumed, taking advantage of a bad clearing kick attempt to get the ball out to Calderon, one of the side’s forwards, who dashed 30 yards up the right sideline into Brooklyn’s try zone. Presented with an acute angle, O’Keefe’s point-after kick went wide right, but no matter: Montauk was up 12-5.

Miller, who said later he had come just to watch, entered the fray with about a half-hour remaining and was to augment the Sharks’ firepower, though not until after the visitors, taking advantage of Montauk knock-ons (fumbles forward), had tied the count, at 12-12.

Soon after, Rigby, who played fullback that day, and Miller, at fly half, combined for a 30-yard score in the far right corner of the visitors’ try zone. Kevin Bunce Jr.’s iPhone photo was subsequently consulted by the referee to ascertain whether Miller, as Brooklyn claimed, had been shoved out of bounds just before he’d crossed the line. The photo showed he hadn’t and the try stood.

Again, faced with a very acute angle, O’Keefe’s extra-point kick went wide right, leaving the score unchanged, at 17-12.

Brooklyn was on the move and was kicking to a lineout within Montauk’s 5-meter line when the Sharks, beginning with Scott Abran’s one-handed swat of the head-high kick, put the game away in stunning fashion. The blocked ball made its way to Brandon Johnson. After rambling some 50 yards, Johnson kicked the ball forward on the ground, catching up with it in time to shovel it back to Miller, who capped the length-of-the-field drive by touching the ball down in Brooklyn’s try zone. This time, O’Keefe’s kick was good, for a commanding 24-12 lead. 

It remained for Brabant to foil a Brooklyn breakaway with a game-saving tackle within Montauk’s 22-meter line in the final minute.

“I love it,” said Jordan Johnson, when asked afterward how he liked rugby. 

“There’s been a big turnaround in his life — he’s made a miraculous recovery,” Brierley said of Johnson, who nine months ago suffered a stroke at a teen “rave” party in Springs that resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of the homeowner. 

Kevin Bunce, who has brought along the above-mentioned young players, said he hoped to use his coaching connections to get Jordan Johnson, who played on the wing that day, into either Mount St. Mary’s University (where he would likely be his cousin Brandon’s teammate) or into Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

The revived side is to play home games, at East Hampton’s Herrick Park, with Rockaway on Nov. 4 and with the Suffolk Rugby Club on Nov. 11.