East Hampton High’s football opener at Comsewogue Friday night turned out to be a defensive battle, and the fact that the Bonackers were edged 7-6 gave their coach, Joe McKee, reason to hope that his team, seeded 11th among the 12 entries in Division III while Comsewogue was fifth-ranked going into the season, may fare well this fall.
Each team scored a touchdown — East Hampton’s the result of a 40-yard carry by Henry Butler — in the third quarter, though East Hampton failed to add the extra point. In the game’s final seconds, East Hampton had a chance to win it, the coach said during the junior varsity’s 20-0 loss to their Comsewogue peers here Saturday morning, but a 30-yard field goal attempt was blocked. The Bonackers are to play at Rocky Point on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The girls swimming team likewise battled two mandatory nonleague opponents, Ward Melville and Half Hollow Hills, in early season meets, losing 86-84 here at the Y to Half Hollow Hills on Sept. 11, and winning 86-79 at Ward Melville in the season opener two days earlier.
Craig Brierley, East Hampton’s coach, said that at Ward Melville “we won eight out of the 12 events, which overcame Ward Melville’s 13 diving points, and we posted nine county meet-qualifying times on the way.”
East Hampton’s winners at Ward Melville were: the 200-yard medley relay team of Vanessa Rizzo, Lizzy Daniels, Ava Castillo, and Lily Griffin; Daniels in the 200 individual medley; Castillo in the 100 butterfly; Griffin in the 100 freestyle; Lylah Metz in the 500 freestyle; the 200 freestyle relay team of Daniels, Cybelle Curry, Castillo, and Griffin; Rizzo in the 100 backstroke, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Castillo, Metz, Lily Early, and Maya Dias.
Multiple two-three finishes almost put East Hampton over the top in the meet here with Half Hollow Hills. “It came down to the final event, the 400 free relay,” said Brierley, “with the score tied at 78-78. Hills out-touched us, and thus earned the win.”
East Hampton was to have vied with Connetquot, another mandatory nonleague opponent, Tuesday at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, and today Brierley’s talented crew is to swim at Hauppauge versus the combined Hauppauge-Smithtown team, its last mandatory nonleaguer before the league meets begin.
Pablo Montesi, East Hampton’s girls tennis coach, said on Sunday that he’s quite pleased with his charges’ results thus far. The team was 3-0 in league matches going into this week, having dropped mandatory nonleaguers to Sachem and Smithtown East.
East Hampton’s boys cross-country won its season opener, Kevin Barry, its coach, said, shutting out Amityville, the home team, 15-46 on Sept. 10.
Wyatt Smith edged his fellow senior teammate, Benson Edman, crossing the 2.4-mile course’s finish line in 14 minutes and 17 seconds, one second ahead of Edman. Liam Knight, recently returned from the world lifesaving championships in Australia, was third in 14:26. Jasper Samuelson, a freshman, was fourth in 14:57. A fellow freshman, Watts Comey, was fifth in 15:02. Rounding out the top seven were Max Bellenoue in 15:35 and Cory Peters in 16:04.
Kevin Barry’s charges were to have contended with “our league rivals, Westhampton Beach,” at Red Creek Park in Hampton Bays on Tuesday.
The field hockey team was 2-2 as of Monday, having lost to Shoreham-Wading River by a score of 3-0 and to Eastport-South Manor by 1-0. East Hampton’s wins, over Greenport-Southold and West Babylon, have been romps.
The boys volleyball team was 1-2 going into the week, and while “very young,” according to its coach, Josh Brussell, who’s starting four sophomores, the team’s spirited play has already caught the eyes of referees and fellow coaches. “We’ve got a rough road in front of us, matched up as we are with some of the top big schools — we’re a small one — through September and into early October. After that, we’ll be playing schools our size.”
Brussell’s roster comprises Ben Kastrati, Cole Baumrind, Cristian Sigua Pinato, Wyatt Zeledon, Thomas Cardenas, Marcus Oransky, Nicolas Serrano, Diego Pinto, Alan Rodriguez, James Perez, Ryder Christiansen, Samuel Vargas, Danny Pedro, Adrian Bello, Marco Guazhambo, Aaron Torres, Patrick Conlon, and R.J. Hernandez.
While the girls soccer team was 0-2 as of Monday, it has been bolstered by the addition of some good young players, Amy Torres, Elle Reidlinger, and Shayla Buestan among them, and is moving the ball.
