A Memorable Team Is Feted at The Clubhouse, as East Hampton Celebrates Gridiron Success Again

East Hampton High’s football team, which went deeper into the playoffs this year than any of its predecessors since 1994, was feted by coaches and parents at a buffet dinner at The Clubhouse in Wainscott on December 1.

The host, Scott Rubenstein, told the varsity and junior varsity players that the community was proud of them, proud of the way they’d carried themselves on and off the field.

“A few years ago, there were rumors that football was finished in Bonac … but,” Rubenstein added, to a loud burst of applause, “Joe McKee turned the program around.”

Backed by a large screen, on which played highlights that included dramatic touchdowns by Alex Davis, Jackson Ronick, Jai Feaster and Charlie Stern, McKee, who began his revival work a decade ago, said East Hampton’s 6-4 season had indeed been memorable, a season that had featured big wins over Half Hollow Hills West — a team that had “annihilated” the Bonackers in the first round of last year’s playoffs — Wyandanch, Smithtown West, Westhampton Beach, Rocky Point and Islip, and two tooth-and-nail 28-14 losses, in the regular season and in the playoffs’ semifinal round, to undefeated Sayville, Suffolk’s Division III and Long Island champion, games that had Suffolk high school football fans singing East Hampton’s praises.

Simply put, the Bonackers could play with anyone, said the head coach, who went on to credit his varsity assistants, Kelly McKee (special teams), Jason Menu (offensive and defensive lines) and Jaron Greenidge (defensive coordinator), and the junior varsity’s mentors, Cory Strain and Ray Lubatkin, with having catapulted the program.

He thanked Samone Johnson’s cheerleaders too. Addressing them, McKee said, “To see you guys supporting us in that rainstorm at Rocky Point was pretty awesome.”

That 35-0 dark and stormy night shutout of the Eagles had earned the team a berth in the playoffs. McKee said afterward that he couldn’t remember East Hampton ever having made back-to-back appearances in postseason play.

East Hampton has three All-County players, Livs Kuplins, Alex Davis and Theo Ball, the quarterback; six First Team All-Division players, the three mentioned above, as well as Stern, Feaster and Ronick; and three Second Team All-Division players, Cole Dunchick, Jake Rivera and James Corwin. He had never had so many First Team All-Division players, McKee said.

Davis, a Bridgehampton senior who gained nearly 900 yards over the course of the season, has been nominated by Division III coaches as the county’s top running back, Kuplins as the county’s top defensive back, and Manny Morales as the county’s top kicker.

Moreover, Kuplins has been nominated to receive a county award bestowed upon an All-County player with a high grade point average, and Stern is to receive a National Football Foundation academic award. McKee said he had never had anyone nominated for these awards before.

The team’s offensive and defensive numbers — it outscored its opponents, collectively, 313-146 — were impressive. The O-line was the division’s second-best, behind Sayville; the D-line was one of the division’s best, too.

Menu sung the praises of his “unsung heroes,” a group that included left tackle Sully Mathews, left guard James Corwin, center Tyler Rodgers, right guard Rivera, right tackle Tiger Brew and Dylan Ward. Brew, who won the team’s Versatility Award, was, Menu said, “an outstanding right tackle and defensive end, an excellent pass blocker.

“Jake Rivera was our leader on the line, leading by example, one of the best linemen I’ve ever coached. Rodgers was our anchor at the center position, an amazing technician who had no bad snaps all year. James Corwin switched from fullback to guard, where we needed him — he’s one of the most coachable players I’ve ever had. Sully Mathews, at 6 foot 5 and 285 pounds, was a force in our run game, a tremendous pass blocker and one of the nicest young men you’d ever want to meet.”

Ward, who received from McKee an award in memory of the late Alex Koehne, a lineman from Sag Harbor’s Pierson High who died early in McKee’s coaching career, of meningitis, “never missed a workout in the offseason and was an immovable force on the defensive line. Orson O’Brien and Joe Martinez played huge roles for us as subs on both the offensive and defensive lines.”

While the junior varsity had gone 3-5 this fall, “it could just as easily have gone 6-2 or 7-1,” Strain said. Given the expected return of Brew, Mathews, O’Brien, Ronick, Jackson Carney, Pax Minardi and Finn Mirando, plus some good juniors and sophomores coming up from JV, next year’s varsity “could be sneaky good,” said McKee.

Among other team awards handed out that night, Ball, “one of the best quarterbacks in the county,” was named as the offense’s most valuable player; Davis, “one of the top backs we’ve ever had,” was the leading rusher; the leading receiver was Kuplins; the touchdown leader was Ball; the leading impact player was Ronick; Morales was the special teams MVP; the Will to Win Award went to Rivera, who was also the outstanding defensive lineman and the Hustle Award winner; Corwin was the most outstanding offensive lineman; the Coaches Award went to Cole Dunchick; the Bob Budd Award went to Stern; the Service Award went to Morales; Feaster, a Bridgehampton senior who saw action at seven different positions, was said by McKee to be the most versatile player he’d ever seen; the most-improved defensive player was Carney; the Spirit Award went to Martinez; and the Tough Bub Award went to Rodgers, who sustained a broken ankle early on in the playoff semifinal at Sayville.

McKee, near the end of the two-and-a-half-hour gathering, thanked the parents for their support, and said he’d never forget them. They had been “a big part of this team’s success.”

“Good kids,” he said, in signing off, “come from good parents.”