After a Successful JV Season, Southampton Mulls Its Return to the Varsity Football Ranks

During the summer, it looked like interest was expected to be high enough, and the stage was set for Southampton’s junior varsity football team to return after not playing last year, which was a big disappointment for the program and the school district in general at the time. But as the days crept closer to the start of the season, things began to look pretty grim.

The coach who was expected to lead the team stepped away, leaving the team without a head coach, and on the first official day of practice, only 12 players showed up — 16 are required to make up a team. Eventually, Edgar “Hikey” Franklin, the program’s former varsity head coach, agreed to step up to coach the team, and on the following day of practice, 20 players showed up.

All of a sudden, the Mariners were back playing football. And not only did they field a team, it went 5-2 overall with some exciting wins over some typically bigger and more successful programs, leading some to wonder if the program is closer than expected to returning to the varsity ranks.

“I thought it went really well, finishing the season and doing well, as far as wins and losses are concerned,” Southampton Athletic Director Darren Phillips said. “Going into the season, seeing how some of these kids haven’t played P.A.L. or junior high football, they’d be lucky to win one game. But I give a lot of credit to Hikey and the coaches for what they did with the kids. After the first game, even more kids came out, which was good to see. And after two years of not having anything, you could see the excitement of the kids. Even at our home games, crowds were good and excited to see football back. Again, I credit Hikey and the staff and parents who were very supportive throughout the season. It was just a great experience and I hope the kids feel that way, too.”

Southampton played its first game the day after Labor Day at a rain-soaked field at Elwood-John Glenn with a bare-bones roster and actually gave the perennially strong Knights a run for their money. They ultimately lost. The Mariners, though, following that season-opening loss, went on a winning streak that included a big win over another typical strong program in Miller Place.

Franklin said the offense was led by Naevon Jenkins, a running back who he said “can turn nothing into something in a heartbeat.” If teams started to hone in on Jenkins, then the Mariners turned to Alex Franklin, the coach’s son. Hikey Franklin likened his son to Calvin “Megatron” Johnson, the former Detroit Lions wide receiver who could go up and grab passes with the best of them. Alex Franklin was also a leader on defense, along with Liam Squires, and that pair, Hikey Franklin said, was one of the reasons why he decided to coach the team. He used to play football with Gene Squires, Liam’s father, and “it was really great to see that tradition carrying on.”

“Of course, I wanted to see my own son play, but there is a strong connection and bond to a lot of these players,” he said. “Some are nephews and cousins, and so I raised a lot of these boys in so many ways and it would have been unfair for them had they not had a season. So there was a little pride factor, also. I didn’t want to see it go down the way it was, and no one else was going to do it. So to have the success that we had, I think it was a great decision to coach, looking back at it. But the boys are the reason why they went 5-2. They played, not me.”

After its unexpected success, the question now, is what’s next? Should the Mariners return to varsity next year? About a year ahead of Phillips’s original schedule? Can they return to varsity next year?

The options — and there are a multitude of them — are wide-ranging and the answers aren’t so clear cut.

Franklin and Phillips were basically in lockstep in that for as much talent as they have on the field, they lack in numbers. As Franklin put it, “We were holding onto those 16 kids and were a Band-Aid injury away from crumbling.”

There are options, though, Phillips said. The state has been successful in implementing 8 v. 8 football, to the point where it now holds legitimate championships for it every year. The only thing is that 8 v. 8 football has yet to catch on on Long Island, which is stuck in its 11 v. 11 traditional football ways.

Another option is creating a fifth division on Long Island where the smaller, less successful programs that are trying to build their programs can do so in such a setup. It could even include, Phillips said, smaller Nassau County teams to fill out the division.

One of the last options that could be explored is possibly combining with neighboring district Hampton Bays, which dropped its long running varsity program this fall. Combining with the rival Baymen would also mean combining enrollment numbers, and after a two-year grace period in which the team would most likely be allowed to compete in the county’s smallest Division IV, it would have to move up to its properly placed Division II, again based on that combined enrollment.

“I don’t think it’s off the table. All the options are there,” Phillips said.

As they’ve done in the past, Phillips and Franklin will take the next few weeks to get a sense of what the players themselves would like to do in the future and get a more solid idea of what numbers will actually look like a year from now. If both were hard-pressed this week to give an answer, they say the most logical one would be to go forward with the original plan, which was to have another JV-only season and then reevaluate again.

Phillips said he is willing to wait until June 1 to get a final answer so as to not disrupt rankings for next fall.

“It’s almost like we’re back to starting over if we were to have varsity without a JV program,” he said. “A lot of the freshman kids won’t stick it out because some of them won’t get the playing time up on varsity. Realistically, you need at least 40 kids who are committed, combined varsity and JV. Hikey and I will meet and develop a plan and vision going forward, whether it’s an offseason weight room program, or going into the cafeteria and hallways and seeing who may have an interest in playing.

“It’s all going to depend on the numbers,” Franklin reiterated. “Talent-wise, we could play, without a doubt. I just don’t know if varsity is the answer right now. I do plan on having a heart-to-heart with the players to see how they feel, but if you’re asking me right now, I would say it’s probably looking like more of a JV schedule next season. Things could change. If the kids really want to play varsity like they say right now, then no question we’ll be there, but the parents have to buy in as well and help hold the kids accountable. They can’t say my son is going to play and then not have him show up.”