Hampton Bays Football Falls To Greenport

The stage was set for the Hampton Bays football team on Friday night.

Hosting Greenport/Southold/Mattituck, a team that has returned to the varsity ranks for the first time since 2019, the Baymen had an opportunity to get back on track themselves, pining for their first victory of the 2021 season following losses to East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton/Ross and Elwood/John Glenn.

The district invited both cheerleader and football alumni to the game with the hope that would stoke some fire underneath the team.

It was apparent from the opening whistle, though, that things weren’t going to go the Baymen’s way. Ev Corwin took the game’s opening kickoff on Friday night 79 yards for a touchdown, then, after Hampton Bays was stopped on its opening drive, he took the very first handoff he saw 65 yards for another score.

Less than four minutes into the game, Corwin and the Porters held a commanding 12-0 lead, and they went on to a lopsided 39-12 victory, improving to 2-1 on the season. Greenport’s victory over Wyandanch in its season opener was its first since 2018.

Hampton Bays showed some signs of life late in the first quarter when quarterback Kazmin Pensa-Johnson connected with receiver Patrick Donahue on a few deep passes, the last of which, from 20 yards out, resulted in a touchdown to make it a 12-6 game.

But Corwin struck again in the second quarter. The Baymen seemed to have the run play covered on third down, but Corwin, who finished with 129 rushing yards in the game, avoided one tackle, then switched direction and ran down the right sideline 20 yards for his third score of the game.

Early in the third quarter, Donahue was back to punt but an errant snap went over his head. Jay Tramontana hopped on the loose ball in the end zone for another Porters touchdown, and after Danny Breen’s extra point, Greenport led 26-6.

Pensa-Johnson and Donahue connected for another 20-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter, but by that point Greenport had already built a sizable lead, and the Baymen fell to 0-3 on the season.

The Baymen were not very talkative following the loss. First-year head coach Sean Gil said his players were not available for comment and he was a man of few words himself.

“We didn’t give good effort,” he said. “We got to play hard and get better.”

Hampton Bays has played relatively even with its first three opponents this season for the first portion of its games, trailing both East Hampton and Glenn by a touchdown or less through the first half of those games. But things seem to get away from the Baymen in the second half.

Gil didn’t really have an answer as to why that has become a recurring theme early in the season and only offered similar words: “We got to get better, we got to be focused and work hard.”

Hampton Bays hosts Port Jefferson as part of its homecoming weekend this Saturday, October 2, at 4 p.m.