East Hampton High's golf team, which was young in 2019 and is still young now, what with two sophomores and two juniors comprising its top four, began the season at the Rock Hill Country Club in Manorville Friday with two wins: a narrow one over Southampton, a perennial foe, and an easy one over William Floyd.
With James Brady, a freshman, at one, Trevor Stachecki, a sophomore, at two, J.P. Amaden, a sophomore, at three, Nico Horan-Puglia, a freshman, at four, and Aiden Cooper, a senior, and Juan Palacios, a freshman, at five and six, Rich King's team defeated the Mariners 6.5-2.5, thanks to garnering 3 all-important points as the result of carding the lower aggregate score, 213 shots vis- a-vis Southampton's 215.
East Hampton bageled Floyd's golfers 9-0. Low man for the Bonackers that day, with a 38, was Stachecki. Then came Bradley, at 41, Amaden, at 42, Horan-Puglia, at 44, and Cooper and Palacios, each at 48.
East Hampton is to go up against Center Moriches and Southampton again at Rock Hill on Tuesday.
Turning to football, Joe McKee, Bonac's head coach, said Monday that his team had not played well in a 39-14 loss at Center Moriches Friday.
Topher Cullen, the quarterback, passed for two touchdowns that day, though, when it came to rushing, Bonac didn't make much headway. However, the Red Devils did: Judah Williams, a fleet back, gained 202 yards that afternoon, including touchdown runs of 57 and 41 yards.
"Their offensive line was big and strong," McKee said by way of explanation.
Still, it was only 6-2 after the first quarter, East Hampton's points having come as the result of a safety that followed a bad snap into the end zone. In the second quarter, Center Moriches outscored East Hampton three touchdowns to one -- a 37-yard pass from Cullen to Bryan Pannasch -- putting the home team up 27-8 going into the break.
Another Cullen-Pannasch touchdown narrowed Center Moriches's lead to 27-14 early in the third, at which point, said McKee, "it looked like we were coming back, but, with third-and-20, they threw a long touchdown pass that pretty much did us in."
As for East Hampton's running offense, "we moved the ball," said McKee, "but we kept making crucial mistakes that interrupted drives." As for the passing game, "we're still struggling to provide Topher with the protection he needs," the coach added.
Richard Barranco, who had led the team in tackles before suffering a season-ending ankle injury in the game on March 17 with Elwood-John Glenn, was definitely missed, said McKee. Hudson Brindle, a linebacker, was East Hampton's leading tackler Friday, with 13.
East Hampton, 0-3 thus far, is to play at Port Jefferson on Saturday, at noon.
Of all of East Hampton's teams, the most affected by the pandemic has been boys volleyball, whose coach, Josh Brussell, said in an email this week, regarding a scheduled game with Eastport-Manor here last Thursday, "We were out of quarantine, but E.S.M. was quarantined the day of our game. We have yet to get our starting lineup on the floor, nor have I had a full roster for a game yet."
The team lost in three at Northport Saturday. Walt Whitman was to have played here Monday, but that match was postponed "because their varsity was quarantined. We have been trying to reschedule a game with Lindenhurst that was to have been played here on March 19, but they've been quarantined as well. Both Sachem schools as well as Bay Shore are quarantined. It's been an interesting season."