The last time East Hampton High’s varsity football team was bumped up from Division IV to Division III, “the black and blue division,” five years ago, Bonac’s coach, Joe McKee, was greeted by seven players on the first day of practice. This year, given the same situation, he’s got 24 on the varsity, a few fewer than he’d rather have, but many more, nevertheless, than turned out in 2017.
Led by Charlie Corwin, its junior quarterback, Finn Byrnes, a senior running back, Will Darrell, a senior tight end, Danny Lester, a senior wide receiver, and Richie Maio, a senior offensive and defensive lineman, the team looked quite good in a scrimmage with Oyster Bay (whose athletic director, Eric Bramoff, had formerly been the A.D. at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor) Saturday morning. As did the 32-player jayvee squad, whose head coach is Jaron Greenidge. “Jaron’s doing a phenomenal job with the jayvee,” McKee said, adding that Nick Ward, the junior center, “definitely helped.”
The varsity and junior varsity teams took turns running 15 plays over the course of a couple of hours, during which Lester returned a fumble for a touchdown, Byrnes ran for a 60-yard score, and Corwin, who had some long gainers, connected with several receivers. Meanwhile, Bonac’s defenders held the Nassau C-size school scoreless.
Thanks to the good offices of East Hampton’s new athletic director, Kathy Masterson, who came here from Westhampton Beach, Matt Fulham, a coach of winning football teams there for two decades, is now one of McKee’s assistants. “He’s a tremendous help,” McKee said of Fulham. “He’ll be our defensive coordinator and will work with the offensive line.” McKee’s brother Kelly is also an assistant. All the coaches that day wore T-shirts emblazoned with ‘Movin’ on Up’ on their backs.
Provided that Corwin and Byrnes and the other ball-carriers get some blocking, East Hampton, whose preseason ranking was 14th among the 14 schools in Division III, ought to be competitive. Asked for his reaction following Saturday’s scrimmage, McKee said, “Not bad. There were definitely a lot of good things, and there were some surprises. . . . What worries me, though, is our depth.”
East Hampton’s eight opponents have preseason rankings that range from 13th (Wyandanch) to sixth (Westhampton Beach). The Bonackers are to play at Wyandanch Saturday. Twelfth-ranked Rocky Point is to be East Hampton’s homecoming opponent on Sept. 17. That game, under the lights, is to begin at 6:30 p.m.
Presumably among Saturday’s aforementioned “surprises” were the performances of three Bridgehampton Killer Bees, Mikhail Feaster, a junior running back and defensive back on the varsity, and Alex Davis and Jai Feaster, ninth graders who are on the jayvee.
It perhaps goes without saying that most of McKee’s charges will go both ways. On defense, Corwin is the safety, Byrnes is a linebacker, Darrell’s a linebacker, Lester’s a linebacker, Maio’s a defensive lineman, and Mikhail Feaster is a defensive back.
Field Hockey, Tennis
Football wasn’t the only good news story this week: The field hockey team, coached now by Samantha James, with Nicole Ficeto, a former varsity coach, as her assistant, defeated Miller Place, a perennial field hockey power, 1-0 in a league-opening game here last Thursday.
The goal was scored about five minutes into the first quarter by the junior right winger, Emma McGrory, who, after gathering in a pass from a fellow forward, Kerri O’Donnell, near the midfield stripe, swept up the right side and put a hard low shot past Miller Place’s goalie, the ball thudding against the back of the cage.
McGrory’s goal was to hold up for the remaining 55 minutes of play, during which Bonac’s freshman goalie, Caeleigh Schuster, made 21 saves. East Hampton, in contrast, had only three shots on goal. The visitors had six penalty corner plays to East Hampton’s four, though Bonac’s rushers, McGrory and Chloe Coleman, a senior who, with Sadie Cober, the senior sweeper, anchors East Hampton’s defense, repeatedly foiled the Panthers’ plays.
Asked if there was anyone she cared to cite, James said, “Everyone was amazing. It was definitely a tough game. Miller Place was aggressive . . . Caeleigh played great.”
The girls tennis team was the first varsity squad to see action last week as it played a mandatory nonleaguer here with Connetquot on Aug. 31. Kevin McConville, the team’s coach, had Riley Roesel at first singles, Audrey Monaco at two, Maya Molin at three, and Lyla Wilson at four. His doubles teams were Lily Somers and Caleigh Barletta at one, Sam Pillco and Rachael Monaco at two, and Stella Peterson and Haley Rigby at three.
Connetquot wound up a 4-3 winner, but it could well go the other way should the teams meet again this season. The next day, the Bonackers defeated Bellport 6-1 in an away match