A Walk in the Park: Bonac Football Enjoys First Game in Herrick Park in Nearly 50 Years

Hundreds of spectators posted up right against the temporary fence that surrounded the makeshift football field in the middle of Herrick Park as the East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton football team hosted Amityville there for its homecoming game on Saturday afternoon.

As the players remarked after their 34-8 victory on how it was, by far, the biggest turnout for one of their home games, it was much more than that for their head coach, Joe McKee. As he noted, the last Bonac team to play its school games in the park was the 1977 team, so it’s been 47 years since it happened and it was something McKee thought was overdue.

“In all honesty, its been a dream of mine for just about all the years that I’ve been coaching,” he said after the game as the cleanup from the day began. “I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid, growing up, watching all the games. I only played my junior high games here. I always had this vision the last couple of years, since they’ve revamped the park where the field became regulation again.”

McKee sincerely thanked East Hampton Athletic Director Kathy Masterson and East Hampton Village officials for taking his idea, running with it and making it a reality.

“They got the field up in order, put the banners out, and they just made it a real special day,” he said. “We haven’t seen a crowd like that in a long time. I envisioned it to be something just like this, but you never know how it’s all going to go. But once we did our walk down from the high school in the parade and got dressed at the middle school, and then to come here greeted and cheered by all these people, it was a pretty big-time environment and more than a special day for East Hampton football.”

McKee also said that it was just about one of the most nerve-wracking weeks of his life. On top of it being homecoming, with all of the festivities that went along with it, the Bonackers are in a fight for a potential playoff spot and needed a win over Amityville to keep those hopes alive. But a strong drive by the offense to start the game probably put some of those nerves at ease, at least somewhat.

Junior quarterback Theo Ball threw a pass up for junior wide receiver Livs Kuplins, who has made a penchant of making leaping, acrobatic grabs just like the one he made on Saturday to put Bonac inside Amityville’s 10-yard line after what was a 25-yard gain, or so. That eventually led to the first score of the game, when Ball found junior Charlie Stern in the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown completion. After junior Manny Morales made the ensuing extra point, East Hampton led, 7-0.

It only took two plays in to Amityville’s first offensive drive of the game before East Hampton junior linebacker James Corwin tipped a pass and caught his own deflection for an interception that gave Bonac the ball right back, but Corwin paid for it. He took a hard hit on the play and was down for a little bit before getting helped off the field by coaches and trainers. He missed the rest of the game.

East Hampton controlled the tempo of the game for almost its entirety, but had a little trouble getting points on the board initially after the first touchdown. Alex Davis was stuffed on fourth down and goal from Amityville’s 3-yard line early in the second quarter, then just a few minutes later he had what was about a 40-yard touchdown run called back on a holding penalty. Davis, as he’s shown a penchant to doing, so far this season, wouldn’t be denied his fair share of touchdowns, though.

Two big players in which Ball connected with junior receiver Cole Dunchick and sophomore Jackson Ronick broke free for a big gain, Davis scampered his way into the end zone with 4:30 remaining in the first half to push Bonac’s lead to double digits at 13-0. The Bonackers scored again on their next drive when Ball found Ronick 20 yards for a touchdown, and after Morales’s extra point, held a commanding 20-0 lead at the half.

After several tries, Amityville’s Triston Trellis finally punched one in from three yards out to put his team on the board. But on the ensuing kickoff, Davis took it 77 yards for a touchdown, and just a few minutes later intercepted a pass that he took 27 yards for another touchdown.

Davis scored in all three facets of the game, and McKee could just smile at the athletic talent of the Bridgehampton junior.

“Gamechanger, no doubt about it,” he said. “He’s proven that this year, time and time again, and he’s not just a one-hit wonder. He’s going to be a special player for a long time.”

McKee thought his players were a little apprehensive playing on the grass field at the park as opposed to the turf at the high school. But once they saw the crowd, they bought into it all more and more.

“It was a nice environment,” said East Hampton senior Bowie Pipino, who had a sack on the day. “It was fun. I feel like more people are going to come to our home games now. We’ve got one more and then playoffs. That’s the goal.”

Speaking of playoffs, the win over Amityville gave the Bonackers, who have now matched their win total from last season, a pretty good boost and are now sitting seventh in Division III with a 3-3 record. They play at Hauppauge this Friday night at 6 p.m., before hosting Eastport-South Manor in the regular-season finale on November 1 at 1 p.m. A split of those two games could still get East Hampton into the postseason.

“I think we’re still in the playoff hunt. Win our last two we’re almost guaranteed to be in, but if we split there’s an outside chance, theoretically, we can still get in,” McKee said.