4 Photos
Seniors Cole Dunchick (1) and Charlie Stern (9) lead the Bonackers onto the field for Saturday afternoon’s home game against Smithtown West. JACK GRAVES
Manny Morales kicks a successful extra point. JACK GRAVES
Bridgehampton senior Alex Davis en route to a 15-yard touchdown run. JACK GRAVES
East Hampton senior Livs Kuplins hauls in a pass from senior quarterback Theo Ball. JACK GRAVES
Smithtown West’s coaches, when asked by a reporter before Saturday’s football game at East Hampton High School began if they had a roster to share, demurred, and the game that ensued that sunny afternoon proved to be so one-sided that it was probably just as well that the Bulls remained anonymous, for it was all East Hampton that day.
Jaron Greenidge, one of Joe McKee’s assistants, said in the post-game huddle that the 45-7 win, during which, he noted, the Bonackers had not given up one offensive touchdown to a team that had come in at 3-0, was “expected.” Well, not by everyone. A knowledgeable source when asked the day before what Bonac’s chances were, said there was “a slight chance” East Hampton would win.
Manny Morales’s opening kickoff sailed into the end zone, and on the visitors’ first play from the 20 yard line, the runner was hit for a 5-yard loss by Tiger Brew, Jackson Ronick and Jackson Carney, who, on second down, dropped the ball-carrier for a 3-yard loss, after which Cole Dunchick almost intercepted a pass, and Smithtown West, set back on its heels, punted to the 50.
A leaping catch by Livs Kuplins of a third-and-five Theo Ball aerial advanced the ball to Smithtown West’s 25. Ronick ran for 4 yards on first down. Alex Davis took the ball in from the 21 on the next play.
And so it went, with the visitors, thanks to East Hampton’s on-rushing defenders, going three-and-out, and with the offense repeatedly cashing in. With two minutes remaining in the first quarter, Ball and Kuplins combined for a 20-yard score, to which Morales tacked on the point-after kick, for a 14-0 lead.
Before the second quarter was over, the Bonackers had scored two more times, thanks to a 40-yard touchdown run by Jai Feaster, Davis’s fellow senior from Bridgehampton, and thanks to Morales’s 15-yard field goal leading up to the halftime break.
With Ronick at quarterback in the absence of Ball, who had limped off the field early in the second period, Kuplins took a pitch and rambled 52 yards for Bonac’s fourth TD soon after play resumed, extending the home team’s margin to 30-0, and Morales’s kick soon after upped it to 31-0.
The Bulls advanced the ball to a first-and-10 on Bonac’s 25 early in the fourth, but a subsequent sack by Charlie Stern and a penalty set them back, and another sack, by Orson O’Brien — East Hampton’s fourth such of the day — gave East Hampton possession at its 24. Ronick gained a yard on first down, and on the second one, Feaster, who seemed to have been stopped, broke through a clutch of would-be tacklers for a thrilling 75-yard touchdown, East Hampton’s fifth of the rout. Morales’s point-after blast into the trees made it 38-0.
Seven minutes remained, but East Hampton wasn’t finished. A fumble recovery by James Corwin at the Bulls’ 10 yard line a minute later set up East Hampton’s sixth score, a second-and-goal plunge from the 1 by Davis.
It was 45-0, and 43 minutes had come off the clock, before Smithtown West finally got on the board, by way of a 98-yard runback by Michael Cascione.
McKee, who has worked tirelessly during the past decade to bring East Hampton’s football program back, said he couldn’t remember being as proud of a team’s performance as he was that day.
“We’re not done,” said Greenidge. “Be proud, but don’t be satisfied.”
