When it rains, it pours, and it certainly poured Friday night in West Islip, where the East Hampton High School football team contended with bad weather and a bit of bad luck in a 34-7 loss to the Lions in the first round of the playoffs.
The rain held off, and the Bonackers contained the West Islip offense for most of the first half. But after a failed opening drive, a fumble on fourth-and-one during their second drive, and a missed field goal attempt, East Hampton went into the second half down 7-0. That’s when the skies and West Islip’s scoring opened up.
“They’re a good team. They’re experienced guys,” said Jaron Greenidge, East Hampton’s head coach. “We have a lot of young guys starting for us. A couple guys went down and some plays didn’t go our way. We had a tough time rallying, getting back, but that’s the game of football.”
West Islip piled it on in the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns but missing an extra point. The Lions scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to go up 34-0 before Jackson Ronick ran for 61 yards to put Bonac on the board with just over 30 seconds left in the game.
“We preach to the guys every week, ’Just give us your best, just give us your best and we’ll live with the results.’ He’s someone that goes 100 percent at all times, regardless of the score, regardless of how he’s feeling,” Greenidge said of Ronick. “He was banged up, he was bruised, but he’s going to give everything he has and leave it all out on the field.”
The final score and the early playoff exit certainly don’t tell the full story of East Hampton’s season. Ranked 11th at the start of the year, the Bonackers moved up to the sixth seed entering the playoffs. Given the team’s core of younger players and its brand-new head coach, it’s hard not to see this season as a success.
“Time and time again they proved that they are a bunch of fighters, scrappy guys, and just so proud of where we started to where we are — it’s tremendous growth,” Greenidge said.
Many of the Bonackers, especially the seniors, left the soggy field in tears after huddling and cheering “Family!” one last time. Greenidge said they had nothing to be ashamed of and that he was especially proud of their resilience.
“This is a great group of guys. I consider it such a blessing to be able to work with these kids every day,” he said. “They allowed me to coach them and be hard on them, but at the end of the day, it’s a big family. That’s why we broke it down with family today because that’s what football is.”
