Basketball Boys

The EH Bonackers are Undefeated and at 15-0 Heading for Glory

By David Lion Rattiner

Nothing gives a high school more school spirit than a winning sports team and the East Hampton Bonackers basketball program is doing just that. It has been thirty years since Bonac has seen a team like this. Sixteen straight wins under the watchful eye of Coach Ed Petrie, a coach whose experience and background elevates him and his team into another dimension. He picks apart his opponents in every way. They are out-coached and out-played game after game and the season is getting closer and closer to being completely undefeated in regulation games. Coach Petrie told me over the telephone, “So far it has been a great season. No matter how it winds down now, it will still be great season.”

Petrie, at 74 years old, has fifty years of basketball coaching under his belt, and has a heck of a good group of kids. His basketball expertise and experience speaks for itself. He grew up in Westchester County, but moved out to the East End to teach in Sag Harbor in 1959, and made a career of teaching. In 1988, he retired as the Physical Education teacher at East Hampton High School; however, he never gave up basketball coaching and has been doing it ever since. This was a good thing for Bonac. For each game, Coach Petrie has a different strategy and game plan. He faces and trains his athletes for games against specific opponents, not just any team. “Each game and each team is different,” he says in a controlled and strong voice.

Coach Petrie is also getting to watch something wonderful and that is watching his grandson Mikey Russell, excel during this season as one of the teams’ stars. This season is special in more ways than one, as a generation of family sits on the bench watching this team play.

But the coaching is not the only thing that is keeping this team so strong and so focused. They are one talented group, with many exceptional young men.

The star of this team is no doubt Mikey Russell, who leads in baskets every game. But is it Mikey Russell that makes Bonac so good this year? Mikey stands at just 5’10, but he is unbelievably quick and strong and is a great shot maker. However, it is not just a one-man show and that is really what sets this team apart. The entire team, including many of the sub players, have excellent stats and are excellent ball players. The varsity boys are not built around just one super-star, the team itself is a super-star. Nearly every starter has been on the varsity team for more than two years, having begun their varsity careers as just freshman or sophomores. Marcus Edwards, who stands at 6’2, makes key three-point shots and all around player Zach Brenneman, a senior forward who is heading to Notre Dame on a full scholarship, is a great leader and playmaker. Hayden Ward, the sophomore center, who plays smart and smooth, simply dazzles on the court, and the school is cheering for them.

Every game they are playing this year is packed and the crowd has the energy that a NBA crowd has. This only excites the Bonackers, who as of press time, will have played against Comsewogue. With just two games left in the regular season, one against Rocky Point and the other against Huntington, there is still a ways to go.

But now that East Hampton has managed to be the last team on Long Island to go undefeated this year, the excitement seems to feed through the gymnasium like electricity. The community is benefiting from this basketball team, the school is benefiting from this team and so are the players.

Coach Petrie truly is living an amazing story like one movies are made of. His grandson has never lost a home game since he was a freshman player back in 2004 and he has overall, experienced a winning coaching average of .742.

Soak it all in, because this is a very special basketball season for East Hampton and you can bet they’ll be writing about this one another thirty years from now.