December 1, 1994
East Hampton High School’s football coach, David MacGarva, had just turned back to the field of play after having told an assistant, Peter Goodson, which plays the Bonackers would run in overtime, when, with 26 seconds left in regulation, he saw a misalignment in the defensive secondary — one defender in zone coverage and two in man-to-man.
Comsewogue’s play, an out-and-up pass pattern that had helped to save the Warriors’ hides in the regular-season finale with Half Hollow Hills West, went off before MacGarva could call timeout.
. . . The perfectly thrown 38-yard bomb arrived in Matt DelRosso’s hands just as the pursuing linebacker, R.J. Etzel, tripped over the cornerback, Earle Hopson, who had slid across Etzel’s path as he rushed over toward the receiver. With Hopson and Etzel splayed out on the turf, and with Rob Balnis, the free safety, too far away to catch him, Comsewogue’s 1,000 or so fans raised their voices to the heavens as DelRosso ran the remaining 30 yards unhindered to the touchdown that won the Division III county playoff championship 22-14.
. . . Comsewogue was on the ropes and wobbling when, with three minutes and five seconds remaining to play, and with the score tied at 14, East Hampton kicked off. . . . On the third-down play, with 1:03 showing, Etzel broke through from his outside linebacker position to recover a fumble by Comsewogue’s quarterback, Todd Cassese, at Comsewogue’s 25-yard line.
The tumult and shouting from East Hampton’s side of the field was like a tidal wave, sweeping all before it. Balnis gathered in Robbie Peters’s pass in the flat and on the crest of the din swept the right side, almost to the 15, just inches shy of a first down.
But then there was an awful screeching of brakes in the form of a yellow flag and an offensive pass interference call on Troy LaMonda, East Hampton’s big tight end, who was said to have administered an illegal downfield block. Not only were the Bonackers docked 15 yards, but they also suffered a loss of down, a reversal they almost overcame three downs later with Luis Ruano’s authoritative 45-yard field goal try into the wind that, while on the mark, landed five yards short.
. . . “Troy didn’t do anything wrong — he went in motion and blocked the defensive end at the line of scrimmage,” MacGarva said in walking off the field. . . . “That was a bush call — the official who made it was on the other side of the field. We would have nailed ’em in overtime. The kids showed a lot of heart. To go 8-2 with everything that was against us . . . these kids really came through. There were no whiners, no inflated egos. They were united all season long. They played a wide-open brand of football, exciting football. No three yards and a cloud of dust. They were the most enjoyable team I ever coached.”