Party for P.A.L. Traveling Teams

    The East Hampton Police Athletic League football program, now in its fourth year, will hold a fund-raiser tomorrow at the Beachhouse restaurant on Route 27 from 6 to 9 p.m.

    There will be food, drinks, a D.J., raffles, and a silent auction of more than 100 donated items.

    Money raised will go toward new equipment, said Don Reese, who heads the program and coaches its 11-year-old traveling team, which is ranked among the Island’s top 20.

    “We’re 3-1, though we should be 4-0,” Reese said Tuesday. “If East Hampton is to have a future in football, these kids, if they stay together, are it. Last year, as 10-year-olds, they only lost one game. There are 20 kids on this team who can play.”

    Reese said East Hampton’s program comprises five age-group traveling teams at present — the 11s, 10s, 9s, 7 and 8s, and 5 and 6s — and is looking to have eight teams next year, with the addition of separate seventh and eighth-grade teams and 5 and 6-year-old teams.

    Practice sessions for all the P.A.L. squads are held Tuesday and Thursday evenings at East Hampton High School from 5 to 6:30, and on Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. Games are usually played Sundays. Most of the teams, with the exception of Reese’s 11-year-olds, are to play at home on Oct. 23.

    Besides Reese, the other coaches are Joe Hren, whose 9-year-olds are undefeated, at 5-0; Ron White, whose 10-year-olds have yet to win; Bill Gardiner, whose 7 and 8s won their first game Monday, and Joe Pannasch, whose 5 and 6s, who play eight on a side, are to play their first game in the coming week.

    “Over all, I’d say the program is really moving along,” said Reese.