Inaugural Cornhole Tournament Raises $5,500 For Hampton Bays Food Pantry

Cornhole boards lined the turf at the Doug Oakland Athletic Complex at Hampton Bays High School on Saturday for the school’s first ever cornhole tournament, which was created by the district’s social worker, Christopher DeRosa, and the student-led “Do Good Boys” club.

The tournament, which had 50 pairs signed up, was a huge success in just about every aspect, DeRosa said. The main goal of the tournament was to raise funds for the high school’s new food pantry, which is part of the first-of-its-kind partnership in the state with grocery store chain Stop & Shop. Through registration fees, additional donations, such as the food truck Blue Elm Foods giving 100 percent of its proceeds that day to the cause, $5,500 was raised with every dollar going to the food pantry.

“We were so excited about the turnout and so thankful the weather held up. It started raining just as we got off the field, right as we were cleaning up,” DeRosa said. “We had a lot of alumni come back to the school for the first time since graduating just a couple of years ago. A lot of community members also participated, and that’s what made it so special — people. We’re such a small and close community here in Hampton Bays so it was a great turnout.”

It was a pair of alumni — Adam Escobar, a 2003 graduate, and Michael DeRosa, a 2002 graduate — who won the inaugural event. Michael DeRosa, the Bridgehampton athletic director, is the older brother to Christopher, who joked he “sadly” had to hand over the championship cornhole board. The boards, which when next to each other depict a sun setting over Ponquogue Bridge, were hand-painted by Hampton Bays senior twins Daniela and Manuela Rodriguez. Shane Courtenay, a 2015 graduate, also sang the National Anthem.

The plan is to make the tournament an annual event.

“We had such a great response. We had people asking us to do it next week,” Christopher DeRosa said. “We had people come out from the city just to come out and see what it was all about. It doesn’t get better than that.”

Hampton Bays Superintendent Lars Clemensen was among the many who attended Saturday’s event.

“Today’s Inaugural HBHS Cornhole Tournament raised $5,500 for our school-based food pantry for students. Thanks to Stop & Shop, this space exists to provide dignity, choice and basic need for our students,” he wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend. “Community support, including the 50 competing teams and the many local businesses who formed an enticing raffle table, made this a success. Public education meets many needs for kids — ones that are seen and unseen — and that unlocks the limitless potential for our Baymen. Thank you to our school social worker, Chris DeRosa, for a meaningful and fun community day.”