Mariners Give Up Hampton Cup at Bonac Homecoming

In their first matchup in six years, the East Hampton Bonackers defeated the Southampton Mariners 42-7 on Saturday and took back the Hampton Cup.

The Cup, a longstanding prize and tradition between East Hampton and Southampton, is up for grabs any time the two teams play each other, but it had been some time since East Hampton had an opportunity to win it back. Southampton successfully defended ownership in 2006, but since then the teams played in separate divisions. That is, until Bonac moved back to Division IV after choosing not to include players from Pierson High School in Sag Harbor this season.

Bonac came out on fire and owned the field, scoring 7 on the first possession and basically never letting up until the final whistle. The win was East Hampton’s first, putting the team at 1-2 after a winless season last year and two painful losses to Babylon and Stony Brook this fall.

“When you work hard… good things are going to happen,” Bonackers head coach Bill Barbour Jr. said to his team after earning what he called possibly his best victory since becoming a coach. “It was really special.”

A former center, linebacker and defensive end for Bonac from 1985 to 1988, Barbour explained that reclaiming the Hampton Cup was especially important to him since his team lost it to the Mariners during his senior year, and it had remained in Southampton until Saturday. “I can’t tell you how emotional this is for me,” Barbour told his team after the game. “I was the captain who had to give it back in 1988.”

Barbour said his opponent this time, Mariners head coach Edgar “Hikey” Franklin, had never lost the Cup, as a player or a coach, before Saturday’s game.

Southampton earned its only touchdown when senior quarterback Tyler Alvarado completed a pass to junior halfback Shaundell Fishburne.