NCN LAX/BASKETBALL BLOG

Yorktown’s John Ranagan, seen here against Guilderland, will look to lead the Huskers over West Islip in the Class A state semis tomorrow at Middletown High School. 

Here are the vitals of Yorktown’s Class A state semifinal matchup against Section 11’s West Islip.

Who: Yorktown Huskers (Section 1, 18-2) vs. West Islip Lions (Section 11, 20-1)
Where: Middletown High School
When: June 11 at 5:30 PM
What: Class A NYS semifinals
Why: To be crowned the best lax team in NYS (and let’s be serious, the country)

History lesson

Overall, Yorktown has won six state titles. But the Huskers have yet to win one in Class A. West Islip — still a newcomer onto the national scene — has captured two state titles (’06 and ’07). The Lions beat the Huskers in the state semis in 2007, 12-7.

John Fennessy vs. Nicky Galasso

WI junior Nicky Galasso, who is touted as the best attackman in the country, tore the Huskers up in 2007. The UNC-bound star ripped four goals and dished out three assists, which was the difference in the Lions coming out with a closer-than-expected win.

Yorktown All-American John Fennessy, who was still relatively new to the game at the time, matched up against Galasso a few times during the loss.

Suffice it to say, Fennessy isn’t exactly the same player as he was back then.

“I guarded [Galasso] for a couple plays as a sophomore,” Fennessy said. “He’s very talented. People say he’s the best in the nation.

“Well, that’s all talk. That’s just a name. It depends if you come out and play. If you don’t come out and play . . .  we will just see what he does.”

This matchup within the matchup is reason enough to cruise up I-87 tomorrow.

Yorktown Head Coach Dave Marr sums it up

“From the end of last year to this point — this is where we wanted to be. I’m hoping the kids just come and lay it on the line. There’s no tomorrow. You can’t hold back now.”

Are you ready?

With about eight minutes left in Yorktown’s 16-4 blowout win over Guilderland in the state quarterfinals, the Yorktown cheering section started chanting, “We want Islip! We want Islip!”

Following the game, the announcement was made over the loudspeakers: “West Islip 14, Hicksville 7”

Yorktown captain John Ranagan pumped his helmet in the air and hollered.

“We are excited,” Ranagan said in the understatement of the century. “They ended our season two years ago. We wanted to get back obviously from last season. We are really excited and hopefully have an effort like tonight.”

Parting quotes

Prior to the Guilderland game, the coaches and players gathered for a pregame speech. Fennessy broke it down.

“We said that it’s win or go home,” he said. “If you aren’t winning, you shouldn’t be on this field. We came together and showed that we want to be here and win. We are good enough to get to the next level and that’s exactly what we are going to do.”

“Hopefully we have two more games left because that’s what we are going for,” Ranagan said.

“Everyone knows they don’t want the season to end on a bad note — and the only good note would be winning a state championship,” Fennessy said.

I’ll see everyone up at the game. Outside of being in labor, there really isn’t a conceivable excuse for missing this potential all-time classic.

And if you aren’t juiced up enough, here’s a slide show of the 2007 game: