Alex Davis returned from an early-season hamstring injury just in time to lift East Hampton High School’s football team to a 50-10 homecoming win over Wyandanch on Friday night at the Fred W. Thiele Jr. Recreational Facility.
“He’s our big weapon,” Joe McKee, Bonac’s coach, said of the senior running back, who hails from Bridgehampton High School. Davis finished with 110 yards on 11 carries and three rushing touchdowns — and that was in only two quarters of play.
After the Bonackers had racked up a 50-0 lead over Wyandanch by halftime, McKee sent in his second unit, including three jayvee callups, for the second half of the game — a move made not just with sportsmanship in mind, but also to get younger, less experienced players some playing time. “They did relatively well,” the coach said. “Obviously you’re always wanting to score, but at the same time, when you’re up 50-0, you just stay basic.”
Also for East Hampton, Jackson Ronick, a junior running back, totaled 100 yards on just three carries, including a 65-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that couldn’t have been a more ideal play. “The whole offensive line did a good job,” McKee said. “We blocked it pretty perfectly. He broke through the line of scrimmage, made a nice cut, got through their second line, and ran it out.”
Jake Rivera, a senior offensive and defensive lineman, “played great on both sides of the ball,” the coach said, singling out “a pretty athletic” interception return for 32 yards in the first quarter.
Of their opponent, McKee said that Wyandanch “definitely has the athletes. I think they’re having a hard time recruiting players” — not unfamiliar territory for East Hampton — “but they’re very capable of becoming a football powerhouse again.”
The homecoming crowd created an “absolutely incredible atmosphere” in the team’s first outing at the new town field, McKee said. Its record is 2-1 heading into Saturday’s home game at 1 p.m. at the school’s Long Lane field against undefeated Smithtown West.
“Now comes the meat and bones of our schedule,” McKee said, calling Smithtown West “a quality opponent.”
“We have our work cut out for us,” he said. “We’re coming out for them. It should be a really good game.”
