Ed Petrie, the state’s winningest public high school boys basketball coach, who on Sept. 22 became an inaugural member of East Hampton High School’s Hall of Fame, was among four honorees inducted into the Westchester Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 10.

    An article that appeared in The Journal News said the legendary coach “developed [his] winning ways and a desire to coach in Westchester County, where he grew up and displayed great talent as a baseball and basketball player. . . . At F.E. Bellows [now Rye Neck High School] in the 1950s, Petrie played shortstop on the baseball team, beginning as a ninth grader, and was a standout guard, also beginning as a ninth grader, on the basketball team coached by Jack Hasley,” whose example inspired Petrie to become a physical education teacher and coach.

    Petrie is to be inducted into Rye Neck’s Hall of Fame in December.

More MightyMan

    Aside from Thomas Brierley, the 16-year-old East Hamptoner who was the runner-up in the recent MightyMan Sprint triathlon in Montauk, the following locals did well in that race: Craig Brierley, Thomas’s father, 47, who placed 28th over all, in 1:10:47, and who was second in the men’s 45-to-49 age group; Luis Morales, 27, of East Hampton, who was 71st over all in 1:17:25; Patricia Fall, 46, of East Hampton, who was 121st in 122:33; M. Holland, 47, of Montauk, who was 123rd in 1:22:50, and Laura Gundersen, 18, of Amagansett, who was 173rd over all, in 1:27:03, and won the 18-and-under division.

    Moreover, John Broich, 51, of Sag Harbor, and Tom McGlade, 48, of Amagansett finished 20th and 21st in the MightyMan Half-Ironman, in 5:05:43 and 5:05:49. Each placed second in his age group.

    Other local Half-Ironman finishers were Peter Zippelius, 34, of Bridgehampton, who was 85th in 5:49:15, and David Sherwood, 44, of Sag Harbor, who was 113th in 6:06:47.

   A record turnout enjoyed an extraordinarily warm October day at Crescent Beach on Saturday for the Shelter Island Fall 5K run and walk. Mary Ellen Adipietro, the race’s director, said on Monday that 670 had registered and almost 600 finished the race, a benefit for the Coalition for Women’s Cancers at Southampton Hospital and the North Fork Breast Health Coalition.

    The winner was Chris Koegel, a 29-year-old from Malverne and a relative of the Theinert family of Sag Harbor and Shelter Island. Koegel’s time was 16 minutes and 39 seconds, close to his personal best. He has run the Shelter Island 10K, but it was his first 5K on the island, he said, calling it a “beautiful course.”

    As his relatives were out of town running an Army 10-miler in Washington, D.C., it was “an honor to run on Shelter Island for Joe,” he said, speaking of his cousin Lt. Joseph Theinert, who was killed in Afghanistan. Wearing a “Joey” shirt, he said, “I also know my grandma would have been excited.” Patricia Theinert died in August. “It is one of the first times we stayed in Sag Harbor without her . . . she is greatly missed.”

    Janelle Kraus Nadeau, 34, of Shelter Island and Madison, Conn., was the winner among women, in a time of 18:49. Cliff Clark, her former high school coach, who was on hand as a volunteer, recalled when she was a decorated athlete at Shelter Island High before she went on to Wake Forest. Her running career at that university involved indoor and outdoor 5,000-meter Atlantic Coast Conference championships in her senior year and earned her a spot in its Hall of Fame. She qualified for the N.C.A.A. championships in that event and barely missed qualifying for the Olympic trials.

    Now, however, a 1-year-old baby is on her hip, though that doesn’t seem to slow her down. A regular at the Shelter Island races, she ran with a bridal veil a few years ago and then got married that afternoon. Her husband, Bill Nadeau, 36, finished first in his age group and sixth over all in 19:09 on Saturday.

    Bryan Knipfing, a 28-year-old Shelter Islander, took second over all with a time of 18:36, and John Cline of Boston took third in 18:45.

    Barbara Gubbins, 52, of the Gubbins Running Ahead stores, was at the race as a sponsor and a runner, finishing second over all among women in 19:34, crossing the finish line a few seconds after Rom Tubatan, 35, of Wainscott. Lorna Cook, 52, of East Hampton, was the first female racewalker to come in, with a time of 29:45.

    Also awarded that day was Holly Mott, 39, of Mattituck, who took first among runners who were breast cancer survivors.

    Adipietro said it was exciting that more teams have gotten involved, some with up to 50 members, taking part for survivors or victims of the disease, which kills more than 180,000 women a year in this country. The race was dedicated to Teresa Montant of Shelter Island, who died of cancer a year ago.

    The event raised about $22,000, to be split between the Coalition for Women’s Cancers and the Breast Health Coalition, Adipietro said. A raffle generated an additional $3,000 for Lucia’s Angels, which helps East Enders who have breast cancer with baby-sitting, ambulatory trips, therapeutic spa services, and assistance with bills such as health insurance premiums, home heating, automobile repairs, and groceries.

   After bowling a perfect game, the first in her life — and she has been bowling since the age of 7 — the 42-year-old Dot Grossman dropped to one knee and cried.

    Asked if he’d gotten “the shot,” her husband, Ian, who is the East Hampton Bowl’s general manager, and who watched the singular perfect game unfold, said he had not, though it would have been hard to do, he added, “because everyone ran to her and enveloped her in hugs.”

    “She’s one of the best female bowlers I’ve ever seen,” said the general manager, who is his wife’s coach, “and the first woman ever to bowl a 300 on these lanes, which date to the 1960s.”

    Because Grossman’s 12-straight-strike feat took place during a Nine-Pin TAP league (in which nine pins down equal a strike) on Oct. 15, “her score can’t be sanctioned,” said her husband, “but all of Dot’s strikes were real — her name’s going up on the board.”

    The lanes’ general manager said that he, himself, had bowled “a few 300s,” but added, “I don’t care how many you’ve bowled, your knees start to shake at the end and your heart rate accelerates. . . . Bowling a perfect game is extremely difficult.”

    For her part, his wife, who grew up in Locust Valley, said she began bowling with her mother, who would take her to Madison Square Garden, “where there were a lot of leagues.”

    As for falling to one knee and tearing up, she said, “I never thought I would actually ever get one [a perfect game]. I always thought I’d leave the 10-pin. “Oh yes, I was shaking — there are so many chances to not throw a strike. . . . I bowled a 283 once, many, many years ago, and I’ve had 279s and 280s, but never this.”

    Asked why she thought women had not fared quite as well as men in the sport, Grossman, who’s averaging 205 in three leagues at the Bowl — the aforementioned one, the Wednesday Mixed, and Thursday’s women’s league — said, “The men have always thrown a heavier ball, which makes for greater speed and torque, while women have generally used a lighter ball — 12 to maybe 14 pounds — which results in lower speed and less deflection. Though now, the new equipment is enabling us to throw a ball equivalent to what the men throw.”

    The new 300 club member said she used a 15-and-a-half-pound ball (16 pounds being the heaviest) that had been drilled for her recently by Paul Sanchez of Riverhead. “He knew I had a birthday coming up.”

    She said she also wanted to thank the Bowl’s mechanics, Jeff Jager and Will Garbowski, who had laid down the oil pattern that night.

    Asked what came into her mind when preparing to bowl the game that came after her 300, Grossman said, “I thought I’m exempt from bowling well for a while!”

    “The expectation level’s so high now, but that’s okay.”

   The Montauk Rugby Club finished the regular season here Saturday with a 46-5 thumping of Bayonne, N.J., thus winding up in second place in the Empire Geographical Union with a 6-1 record.

    Now the Sharks must wait until early May to find out whether they’ll be one of the two sides from the Northeast and New England regions to advance to U.S.A. Rugby’s Division II Sweet Sixteen.

    For finishing second, Montauk will get a bye in the first round of the regional playoffs, as will the Empire Union’s undefeated champion, Danbury, Conn., a side that Montauk did not play this fall.

    Rich Brierley, the Sharks’ coach, said in reply to a question that he thought the locals were on the same level as the Connecticut team.

    The regional Final Four would probably be played on Randalls Island in New York City, he continued, adding that “Danbury will play the Princeton-Syracuse winner, and we’ll play the Rockaway-Buffalo winner on May 5, and the finals will be the next day.”

    As for the site of the Sweet Sixteen tourney, Montauk’s coach said, “It’s yet to be determined. U.S.A. Rugby puts it out to bid. I’d be more than happy if we went back to Pittsburgh. They did an excellent job last year.”

   The Sharks scored eight tries in Saturday’s game at East Hampton’s Herrick Park. “We had them moving back for most of the game, but it took us a while to get going,” Brierley said.

   There was, he said, “at least a one or two-man overlap” when Erik Brierley, Montauk’s fullback, took off on a 25-yard run down the sideline about 15 minutes into the fray, touching the ball down in Bayonne’s try zone.

   “The forwards set that try up,” said Brierley, who added that “they played great all day, especially James Lock, one of our props, and our ‘man of the match,’ who was everywhere and then some!”

Before the first half had come to an end, Jim Abran (assisted by Gordon Trotter), Connor Miller (again assisted by Trotter), and Steve Turza (assisted by John Glennon) had scored tries as well, treating Montauk to a 24-0 lead at the break.

   It was more of the same in the second half as Erik Brierley, Zach Brenneman (two), and Trotter scored. Trotter, whose wife was said to be on the verge of giving birth, did not have a great day kicking — he converted three of the eight tries — but, given the onslaught, it mattered little.

   “After our seventh score,” said Brierley, “I had it that Gordon made the [two-point] conversion, the referee had it that he didn’t, and Gordon said he didn’t remember.”

   Josh Brussell, who coaches East Hampton High’s boys volleyball team, said following his team’s sweep of Westhampton Beach here Friday that it’s likely the Bonackers will have a home playoff match.

    Kathy McGeehan, the girls’ coach, who was helping to keep score that day, said she’s hoping for a first-round home playoff match too.

    “We know how to solve John Glenn,” McGeehan said, “but we’ve yet to actually do it. It has to do with taking care of the ball.”

    Glenn is the sole league rival that East Hampton’s girls have not defeated. “Hopefully, we’ll meet them again in the playoffs,” said the coach, who added that her team had begun to come on “after the first round. . . . Defeating St. Anthony’s in the Harborfields tournament was our best outing thus far, though we lost [middle blocker] Christina Cangiolosi for two weeks to a concussion in that match.”

    Cangiolosi’s sidelining had hurt, the coach said, “though Carley Seekamp has been stepping up. We have wins over Miller Place, Rocky Point, and Amityville with our new lineup, and we did better against Glenn the second time. The first set was 25-23, in the second set we started out on a 6-0 run, but ­didn’t maintain the lead. . . . We’re hoping to get Christina back for the playoffs.”

    Maria Montoya, McGeehan said, “has been serving and hitting well, Melanie Mackin has been taking off, Katie Brierley [the libero] has been great, and Raya O’Neal [one of Newsday’s players-to-watch in Suffolk] has been a force as an outside hitter when she’s in the front row and as a setter when she’s in the back row. Lydia Budd’s been setting too. The team’s really been developing. I’m hoping they’ll peak in the playoffs.”

    The girls were to have played at Westhampton Beach Monday. Although the Hurricanes did not impress when they played here recently, McGeehan said she expected her ancient coaching rival, Lenny Zaloga, would have them ready to play. “We can’t afford a loss to them,” McGeehan said.

    Back to the boys, Brussell’s charges pulled out game one in crunch time, after a carry allowed Westhampton to tie the score at 20-20.

    A subsequent wide serve by Chris Pesce put the ball back in the hands of East Hampton, whose Patrick Silich served to 23-20 before netting a delivery. A kill by Westhampton’s Matheus Silverio made it 23-22, and an ace by Zac Ellenhorn evened things at 23-all, prompting Brussell to call a timeout.

    When play resumed, and with Ellenhorn still serving, Silich made a great save of a Silverio smash after which Thomas King, East Hampton’s star, put the ball away through a double block.

    At that point, with East Hampton up 24-23, Peter Shilowich was brought in to serve out the set, which ended when Silverio was called for a carry at the net.

    The second set was tied five times before the Bonackers, at 16-all, began to inch away.

    Three successive aces by King, whose jump serve is murderous, made it 20-16 East Hampton, causing the Hurricanes’ coach to call a timeout.

    King notched another ace when play resumed, for 21-16. The visitors fought back to 24-23 as a line-drive serve by Silverio struck Brock Lownes in the chest near the baseline. A subsequent crosscourt kill by King that landed on the sideline put the Hurricanes away.

    The visitors were pretty much done for at that point: East Hampton went out to a 7-1 lead in the third set and never looked back as Silich, King, and Shilowich notched aces, and as Brock Lownes and Dennis Lynch, who had come off the bench, had kills. The game — and match — ended, at 25-17, when Silverio’s kill attempt sailed well over the baseline.

    The Bonackers were to have played League III’s top team, Eastport-South Manor, Tuesday. “We lost in five to them the last time,” said Brussell. “If we beat them, we’ll definitely finish second, possibly in first. . . . Essentially, we’re shooting for second place and a home playoff match.”

    Questioned further, the coach said, “We’ve got a young team [King, Brock Lownes, and Evan Larsen are seniors] but they’re getting a lot of experience. . . . Thomas is our go-to guy, Brock is versatile. . . .”

    When it was noted that his rotations often didn’t feature a lot of height, the coach said, “Height’s not the key — it’s heart and determination.”

    “They began to come alive in practice this week,” Bill Barbour Sr. said following Saturday’s 39-17 loss here to Mount Sinai, which his son, and head coach, Bill Jr., had described as “arguably the best team in the league.”

    Yes, it was a defeat, but the Bonackers’ heads were not bowed. They’d given it their all, and their spirits were high throughout the fray.

    “It was a great game — I’m proud of them,” the younger Barbour said afterward. “They didn’t back down; it was a loss to build upon.”

    Some key players, including two linebackers, Jamie Wolf and Colton Kalbacher, were out that day, but their replacements stepped up.

    Things didn’t begin well. Mark Donadio broke up the middle for a 74-yard touchdown on the game’s first play, and Pete Vaziri was rocked by an onrushing Mustang as he gathered in the subsequent kickoff. But one play later, Vaziri, after receiving a pitch from Cortland Heneveld, East Hampton’s quarterback, reeled off 21 yards for a first down at the visitors’ 49-yard line.

    The drive ended one foot shy of another first down, at the Mustangs’ 40, but it was clear then that however things went, the Bonackers had come to play.

    Near the end of the first quarter, following Mount Sinai’s second TD, East Hampton drove down to a fourth-and-goal at the 7, at which point Max Lerner, whose kicking has been one of this season’s highlights, came in to kick a field goal.

    East Hampton went into the halftime break trailing 26-3, though the team came out fighting in the third.

    From Bonac’s 25, Heneveld passed incomplete for Thomas Nelson to lead it off, but Nelson grabbed Heneveld’s next aerial at the 45, igniting the crowd, after which Johnny Pizzo zipped up the middle to Mount Sinai’s 35. Following another incompletion, Pizzo ripped off more yardage before slipping at the 23. With second-and-9, Heneveld found Nelson with a pass in the end zone, the latter easily outreaching his defender in the right corner.

    Lerner’s point-after kick was good for 26-10, and a moment later East Hampton had the ball again, on Mount Sinai’s 35 following an onside kick by Lerner that Nelson leapt high to grab after the ball had traveled the requisite yards.

    A defensive pass-interference call on fourth down gave East Hampton possession at Mount Sinai’s 22. Heneveld then ran the ball down to the 15 for a second-and-3 there. Andre Cherrington, the senior fullback, bulled his way up the middle for a first down at the 12. And then Heneveld hit Pizzo with a pass at the goal line.

    Bonac fans standing at the fence near the parking lot said later they thought Pizzo had broken the plane before being stripped of the ball, but it was ruled a fumble recovery.

    Mount Sinai took over at its 4-yard line, and on the next play Michael Cortese took off up the middle, on the way to what seemed would be yet another Mustang touchdown. But Lerner brought him down at midfield, jarring the ball loose, and Danny McKee, who was subbing at linebacker, recovered the ball at Mount Sinai’s 42, giving Bonac fans a chance to cheer loudly again.

    They were to groan, however, just a moment later, when Cherrington, after bulling his way to the 25, was stripped of the ball as he was tackled. On the next play, Donadio said “adios” again. His 75-yard TD effectively clinched it for Mount Sinai.

    With many subs playing, each team scored once in the fourth. East Hampton’s score was the result of a 26-yard keeper by Heneveld, capping a 72-yard drive.

    During the postgame huddle, Bill Barbour Jr., who, as aforesaid, was upbeat, told his players that the Port Jefferson game (here on Saturday) “is huge for us — we need all hands on deck. Mount Sinai is arguably the best team in the league. I’m proud of you guys. We made some mistakes today, but we can learn from them.”

    Fishing under sail requires a great deal of forehandedness and attention to detail, disciplines not in evidence on Saturday when the sloop Leilani headed east out of Montauk Harbor bound for the fields of fish on the north side of Montauk Point and trolling a silver spoon.

    Obviously, wind speed and direction are the first considerations. The state of the tide, which all fishermen know in order to decide on the most likely places to find hungry fish, takes on more importance under sail.

    On Saturday, the wind backed slowly from northwest to southwest as the day wore on. By late afternoon, the wind was predicted to increase to 15 knots, and the tide would be near full ebb. Once combined, wind and tide would make for a formidable force to sail against — something to keep in mind.

    But, with only eight knots of wind at the start of the ebb, Leilani approached the mosquito fleet of fly-fishing boats spread out from North Bar west to Shagwong Point along the diminishing tide line.

    The sloop was trolling the spoon on a starboard tack under full sail when the rod bent nearly double. The fish dragged line screaming from the spool as the unprepared fish-sailor attempted to reel while at the same time putting Leilani into the wind to slow her down. Too much attention to the fish, and not enough to the helm, resulted in excess pressure on what had to be a big bass. It broke free.

    Leilani came about, now trolling the silver spoon heading northwest against the tide. Hot sun, emerald green water, the boat with a kindly heel and with the first mate basking in the sun forward keeping her eye peeled under the jib for small boats.

    This time when the rod bent, it was left in its holder until Leilani hove to. A green bonito was brought over the port rail, praised for its electric colors, and set free at the mate’s insistence. Fishing under sail offers the best of both worlds, especially with such kindliness aforethought.

    Surfcasters were lined up along the beach on the north side of Montauk Point, but much of the action on Saturday took place along south-facing beaches from downtown Montauk past Gurney’s Inn, along Napeague and Amagansett to Georgica Beach in East Hampton. Casters marveled at the diversity of prey species either chased up onto the beach or disgorged from striped bass that had been landed. The prey has included “snapper bluefish” as well as “croakers, spot — stuff you never see up here,” Paul Apostolides of Paulie’s Tackle in Montauk said on Monday, referring to more southern species.

    A tournament sponsored by Paulie’s Tackle was won over the weekend by John Bruno, who hooked a 39.34-pound striper. Mike Coppola finished second with a 34.14-pounder, and Rob Santise followed up with a 28-pound striper.

    Paulie’s is now home base for the Montauk Local’s fall tournament that started on Oct. 1. Dennis Gaviola put a 21-pound striped bass on the board to lead the pack in that surfcasting tourney.

    In the Montauk SurfMasters tournament, Gary Krist, Klever Oleas, and Atilla Ozturk hold first, second, and third places with 29.15, 25, and 20-pound bass in the wader division. John Bruno continues to hold the top spot among wetsuiters. Christine Schnell, Mary Ellen Kane, and Cheryl Lackner landed 18.8, 14, and 11.8-pound stripers.

    In the youth division for 12 to 17-year-olds, Dylan Lackner is in first place with a 13.5-pound bass. James Kim Jr. is tied for first with a fish of the same size, and Phillip Schnell caught a 13-pounder for a third-place standing. Among the kids, casters 7 to 11, Brian Damm caught a 14.6-pound bass (a big fish). Witt Holmes is in second with a 13.8-pounder, and Brian Damm again holds third with a 10.2-pound striped bass.

    Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett reports increased action in the surf along the south-facing Amagansett beaches up to Two Mile Hollow. And, he reports that very big porgies are still schooling in Gardiner’s Bay. This is the time of year Bennett heads out on his cast-and-blast trips, casting for striped bass and bluefish while waiting for scoters to join his string of decoys. “The coot shooting is excellent. Lots of birds around.”

Thursday, October 18

BOYS SOCCER, East Hampton at Elwood-John Glenn, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, October 19

FIELD HOCKEY, East Hampton at Rocky Point, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER, Westhampton at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, Westhampton at East Hampton, 5 p.m.

Saturday, October 20

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Long Beach, scrimmage, 9 a.m.

GOLF, East Hampton at tournament, Rock Hill Golf and Country Club, Manorville, 12:30 p.m.

RUGBY,  Bayonne (N.J.) Rugby Club vs. Montauk R.C., Herrick Park, East Hampton, 1 p.m.

BOYS SOCCER, Amityville at East Hampton, 2 p.m.

FOOTBALL, East Hampton at Elwood-John Glenn, 2 p.m.

Monday, October 22

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Westhampton Beach, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton at Sayville, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS SWIMMING, Harborfields vs. East Hampton, Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, October 23

CROSS-COUNTRY, East Hampton boys and girls at division meet, Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park, 1 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY, Southampton at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS SOCCER, East Hampton at Bayport-Blue Point, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Eastport-South Manor, 6 p.m.

Wednesday, October 24

GIRLS SOCCER, Islip at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

    While perhaps not a joy forever, Saturday’s high school football game here was, for Bonac fans, a thing of beauty.

    On that beautiful day, the Bonackers, playing on all cylinders, routed Port Jefferson 28-6, with all of the scoring occurring in the first half.

    The win improved East Hampton to 2-4 in the Conference IV standings. As of Monday, Bill Barbour’s team was in seventh place among the conference’s 14 teams, with 103.320 power points. The top eight are to go to the playoffs.

    East Hampton is to play on Saturday at eighth-place Elwood-John Glenn, which is also 2-4. Glenn lost 28-14 this past Saturday to 5-1 Mount Sinai.

    At halftime in Saturday’s game here the mood was light as the Bonackers rested in the shade of the adjacent soccer field. Certainly there was every reason to be sanguine, for they’d had their way pretty much throughout the first half, to the delight of themselves and their fans.

    When a bystander said to the head coach, “So far, so good,” Barbour reminded him — and moments later his players — that there was “still a half to go.”

    As it turned out, however, most everything of note had already taken place. The home team pounced from the get-go as Danny Barros recovered a Port Jefferson fumble around the visitors’ 20-yard line, and soon after the junior quarterback, Cort Heneveld, ran the ball from there into the end zone after faking a handoff. Max Lerner’s kick was good for a 7-0 lead.

    Port Jeff replied with a touchdown of its own after Pete Vaziri missed making an interception at East Hampton’s 10. On third-and-goal from the 4, a tall receiver, who’d been hit by Lerner, twisted over the line. The kick failed, however.

    From the 34, following the kickoff, Pizzo rushed 20 yards to the Royals’ 46, after which the fullback, Andre Cherrington, made his way to the 39. Vaziri then took off for the goal line spurred on by cheers from the stands. Hearts stopped when he lost control of the ball at the 5, but Vaziri recovered his fumble, giving East Hampton a first-and-goal there. Barros carried the ball in on the next play, to be followed by another successful point-after kick by Lerner.

    A fumble recovery by Cherrington at East Hampton’s 45 stifled the visitors’ subsequent drive. After gaining 2, Pizzo zipped to the Royals’ 31, after which Cherrington bulled his way to the 24. With second-and-3 there, Vaziri cut back over the middle to the 16. Two plays later, Heneveld hit Vaziri with a pass at the 3. Cherrington scored on the next play. Lerner’s kick made it 21-6 East Hampton, a margin that while not insurmountable appeared ample.

    But just to make sure the visitors didn’t get any ideas, the Bonackers followed up the ensuing kickoff with yet another interception, this one by Chris Milia, who’d slid over from his outside linebacker position, at the Port Jeff 38. Pizzo was dropped behind the line on first down, but with third-and-12 from the 40, Heneveld hit Pizzo with a pass at the 15. Cherrington then carried to the 11, after which Heneveld rolled out and threw a perfect spiral that Thomas Nelson grabbed in the right corner of the end zone.

    That evening, during a phone conversation, Barbour said, “Yes, it was a good win. I told the kids afterward that I was proud of them, but that we still had a lot of work to do.” As for the playoffs, nothing was guaranteed, he said, “though this win keeps us in the hunt.”

    “The atmosphere was more like a playoff game” that day, he added, because both teams were playing for a possible playoff spot.

    Defensively, Barbour couldn’t complain. “Our O-line played well, especially Bryan Gamble, and we made one . . . two . . . three . . . four interceptions. Juan Agudelo made one toward the end. . . .”

    While he knew quarterbacks didn’t ordinarily play on both sides of the ball, as Heneveld, a linebacker when he wasn’t quarterbacking, did earlier that day, Barbour said, by way of explanation, “He’s a unique character.”

    Barbour said, when questioned, he thought both Glenn and Mercy (in the regular-season finale) were within reach. “Last year, we had no meaningful games. This year, every game has been meaningful, which is great. We’re excited.”

   Two platform tennis courts were officially opened at the East Hampton Indoor-Outdoor Tennis Club this past weekend with well-attended clinics put on by Marco Grangeiro, the New York Athletic Club’s paddle director in Pelham, and Marie Minnick of East Hampton, who teaches the increasingly popular racket sport at four clubs on the South Fork.

    Platform tennis, or “paddle,” as it is known  colloquially, was last written about on the sports pages of this newspaper in March of 1978. That story, by Steve Bromley Jr., this writer’s predecessor as The Star’s sportswriter, was headlined “The Winter Game.”

    “It remains a winter game basically,” said Scott Rubenstein, E.H.I.T.’s managing partner. “For paddle it’s better if it’s 25 degrees out than 50.” Though, since the courts (which have lights) were finished a month or two ago, they’ve been getting quite a bit of play no matter what the weather.

    “I got the idea,” said Rubenstein, when questioned following Sunday morning’s clinic, “when I heard our members were no longer able to play at the clubs here that had courts. Seven years ago, things opened up and everybody was playing. Then, about three years ago, our members, who had been playing as guests, were asked to leave. That’s when I thought it would be nice to have our own courts and to open them up to the public. . . . I’m a strong believer that there should be more recreation here for everyone of all ages.”

    Paddle is a doubles serve-and-volley game, though the lob, Grangeiro stressed, is “the most aggressive stroke.”

    “Ninety-five percent of the time,” said Minnick, who is the fourth-ranked mixed over-60s player in the country and the reigning over-50 Long Island champion, “the last one to hit the ball loses the point.”

    The point being that in paddle, finesse and strategy trump power. As in squash, the court (four of them can fit into one tennis court, but are otherwise the same save that the net is two inches shorter) is bounded on all four sides — by chicken wire in platform tennis’s case, rather than laminated wood as is the case with squash. Which means that theoretically, a player skilled at playing the spongy ball off the wires can send up lobs all day.

    While the lob is paddle’s most aggressive shot, the first volley, the clinic-givers said, is the most important. That volley, Grangeiro and Minnick said, ought to be hit with the paddle squarely in front of one’s chest with knees bent  and with the feet square to the net. No lunging, no stabbing. Simply block it back.

    Servers in paddle get only one chance, which concentrates the mind. Just get the ball in, Minnick and Grangeiro said, and follow the ball to the net as quickly as you can, taking up a position straddling the T with your partner closer to the net at your left or right, depending on the court — ad or deuce — into which you served.

    This writer, a doubles tennis player these days who last picked up a platform tennis racket 30 or so years ago, was reminded during the clinic that the two games are, indeed, somewhat different. One needs to be more patient in paddle, for one thing, for it’s likely the rallies — assuming everyone can play the ball off the wires pretty well — will be longer. Aside from the first volley, all drives, lobs, overheads, and wire shots are to be hit from a sideways position. Backhand overheads are to be eschewed: only forehand overheads should be hit. Serve returners should favor their stronger stroke, and thus should, facing sideways and with their back toward a side screen, await the serve with one foot in the alley and one foot just beyond the baseline.

    Moreover, in paddle you can’t get away with wristy shots, and, because the court is so much narrower, there are fewer angles to be exploited. In fact, partners can pretty much control the net, the clinic-givers said, by leaving the third of it diagonally opposite the striker open.

    When lobbing, Minnick asked us to think that we were holding a frying pan in front of us, and to follow through smoothly into a Statue of Liberty pose — again, standing sideways, with the lead shoulder pointing toward where one wants the ball to go. “If I have a 6-4 partner,” the 5-foot-3 Minnick said, “you’ll want to lob over me.”

    Rubenstein said that the club’s tennis members can play paddle for $300 seven days a week year-round, until 11 or so at night. For non-members that fee will be $500. 

    “There will be no court fees,” he said, “and we’ll help set up games, the same way we do in tennis.”

    Moreover, there will be weekday paddle memberships costing $250 for E.H.I.T. members and $350 for non-members.

    A warming hut between the courts, under which there are heaters to melt ice and snow, will have a microwave, toaster, refrigerator, hot chocolate, and coffee.

    “It looks like there’s a lot of interest — it’s exciting,” said Rubenstein, who added that “the last time I played paddle was in 1978 with the late Sandy Ingraham. We played at the East Hampton Tennis Club. I was pretty confident, for I was good at tennis, table tennis, and racquetball.  He trounced me — I didn’t win a point.”

    “That was the last time I played,” he said with a smile, “though I may do it again.”