Put Some Respect on Their Names: Bonac Football Thoroughly Defeats Wyandanch in Season Opener

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

It’s not only lyrics from a song from the late great Aretha Franklin, it’s something the East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton football team wants — respect.

The Bonackers realize that its recent rocky past — from not having a varsity program to being allowed to play in Division IV the past two seasons when their enrollment numbers say they should have been playing in Division III — are not going to win them any extra credit.

They also realize it is the program’s first foray into Division III since 2011 — but they still expect some respect.

On Friday, the day before the high school football season opened up across Long Island, Newsday did its typical “staff picks” of which teams will win their upcoming games. When it came to East Hampton, which was playing at Wyandanch — a team that is also making the move up to Division III this season — on Saturday, all three writers picked the Warriors to win, even though the Bonackers had defeated them last season, somewhat convincingly, too, 35-12.

Now with some extra motivation, East Hampton dismantled Wyandanch, 50-8, on Saturday, and the players made it clear after their victory: Put some respect on their names.

“The biggest factor in our game today was people doubting us,” said senior Aryan Chugh, who successfully converted six extra point attempts in Saturday’s win. “We’re the underdogs in this league, and that’s what people think of us, and so we wanted to show out and show people that they’re wrong.

“We came in with a chip on our shoulder,” he added.

The Bonackers didn’t waste any time putting points on the board, driving the ball just over 50 yards their first score when running back Finn Byrnes crossed the end zone just minutes into the game. Even though Byrnes crossed the plane of the goal line and should have been given the touchdown, the ball was hit out of his hands, causing what the officials saw as a fumble that Bonacker Danny Lester recovered and therefore he was given official credit for the touchdown.

On the ensuing extra point attempt, the snap was botched somewhat, so the placeholder ran the ball out and found Lester in the end zone for the two-point conversion to make it an early 8-0 lead for East Hampton.

Byrnes, officially, scored his first touchdown of the game just minutes later, and Bonac poured it on from that point forward, scoring 21 points alone in the second quarter to take a commanding 36-0 halftime lead.

Byrnes rushed for 148 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries for the Bonackers, while Bridgehampton’s Mikhail Feaster, playing in his first varsity game, added two rushing touchdowns and also intercepted a pass on defense. Will Darrell also hauled in an interception and Richie Maio recovered a fumble on defense.

“Definitely coming into this week, it was definitely a big factor that we wanted to prove everyone wrong,” Darrell reiterated after the game. “We know Division III is much harder competition than we faced last year, so all this week everyone was disciplined at practice and everyone was working their tail off, so after this good win right here, with homecoming coming up, we’re going to be working even harder.”

It was East Hampton’s first Division III victory since September 25, 2010, when it won on the road at Shoreham-Wading River, 35-7. East Hampton head coach Joe McKee said he not only understood where his players were coming from coming into the game, but he agreed with it.

“This year’s Wyandanch team is a lot less experienced than last year. It’s a good start, and we’ll take it,” he said. “I thought they played well,” he said of his own team. “With it being their first game, kind of a new offense that we’re putting in, we definitely have some things we have to get cleaned up, but I’m definitely very happy.”

The Bonackers will certainly face stiffer competition this Saturday when they host Rocky Point under the lights at 6:30 p.m. for what will be a culmination of a long day celebrating homecoming. The Eagles are coming off a 29-14 loss at Harborfields, so they’ll be gunning for their first win of the season, and McKee said it’ll certainly be a different game.

Even after their lopsided victory in the opening week, Byrnes is confident that people will continue to downplay his team.

“Even after this game, I think people are going to doubt us,” he said. “We’re just going to go out and play our brand of football. That’s all that it comes down to.”