Bonac Football Can't Hold On to Late Lead, Falls to Amityville at Home

The East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton football team led visiting Amityville, 13-12, with just over six minutes remaining in Saturday afternoon’s game, but the Bonackers’ hope for their second victory of the season were dashed when Joshua Garrett rushed 20 yards for the winning touchdown with 5:59 remaining.

Garrett then added a two-point conversion to create the final score, 20-13, sending the Bonackers to 1-4 in Division III, while the Warriors improved to 2-3.

“They were a little bit better than I thought,” East Hampton head coach Joe McKee said after the game. “They were definitely physical, had a nice offensive line, backs ran hard, quarterback was shifty. We had a 13-12 lead with 5, 6 minutes to go. We had our chances, we just couldn’t stop them in the end.”

East Hampton held that late lead thanks to a tremendous effort by Will Darrell. The senior blocked an Amityville punt, scooped up the ball and ran 40 yards for the touchdown to give the Bonackers that 13-12 lead with 9:39 remaining in the game.

That was actually Darrell’s second touchdown of the game. After senior Danny Lester forced a fumble that Bonac recovered on its own 25-yard line, Darrell scored his first touchdown when junior quarterback Charlie Corwin found him all by his lonesome on the left side of the field. Darrell caught the pass and ran 63 yards for the touchdown, and after Aryan Chugh’s successful extra point attempt, East Hampton had its first lead of the game, 7-6, with 8:28 remaining in the first half. Tyree Jones opened the scoring with an 8-yard run for Amityville halfway through the first quarter.

Amityville had the last laugh of the half, though, when Jermaine Jackson scampered in from eight yards out to five the Warriors a 12-7 lead, which was the score at halftime and into the fourth quarter after neither team scored in the third.

McKee remarked to his team after the game that it was tough losing a game it had in hand in the final minutes, but he’s confident his team can bounce back from it.

“They’re a good group of kids, never give up on ya, fight to the end,” he said. “We’re just 22, 23 kids on the team, it’s tough. We’re trying to learn how to win games and that’s part of it. They’ve won some games, that’s part of learning how to win.”

East Hampton will now prepare for its next opponent, Harborfields, which will be making the early morning trip out to the East End Saturday morning for a 9:30 a.m. kickoff. The game was rescheduled to the morning due to a conflict with getting officials for the game.

The Tornadoes are 3-1 with victories over Rocky Point, Comsewogue and Wyandanch and its lone loss to undefeated Sayville, but McKee thinks, considering all factors, his team has a shot. At the very least, he just wants to see his team continue to battle and work hard.

“Like I said, they’re one of the better groups I’ve had, super nice kids. I expect them to come in and work hard and see what we’ve got,” he said. “I don’t think [Harborfields] is as physical as some of these other teams we’ve played, and I think we’ve got a chance.”