NCN LAX/BASKETBALL BLOG

Bang it at our Twitter feed for updates on all three of the Section 1 championship games at White Plains High School.

1) Briarcliff (9-1) – The loss to AA powerhouse Lourdes at the County Center is nothing to hang your head over. The Bears played hard and rallied back in the fourth quarter and a loss like this is sometimes the best medicine for a team because it shows them they have to work even harder to reach their ultimate goal of a Class B section title. Come February I think all of the County Center jitters will be gone.

The Bears got back to form in crushing Class B teams by beating Westlake 57-20 this week.

2) Mahopac (6-0) – After seeing Lourdes defeat Briarcliff in fairly decisive fashion, it’s obvious that Mahopac has their work cut out for them, but I definitely wouldn’t count this team out of any game after the start they have been off to. It should be clear right away how they will fair in a very tough league.

3) Ossining (7-4) – Ossining and Coach Ricci were down in Florida this past week, soaking in the sun, chillin’ with Mickey, and coming together as a team. I had to double check the score when I saw they defeated Osceola 62-6. It’s perfect timing for the team to be coming together as they get right back into league play when they return.

They dropped the next two in Florida, but had a nice win over Poughkeepsie to start the new year. Monster game from Alex Venuto with 22 points.

4) John Jay (4-2) – Anxious to see John Jay play soon, which probably will be against Yorktown on January 7. Should be interesting to see how they match-up with the likes of Lakeland and other teams in their league.

Knocked off Brewster in a tight one, 58-54. Emily Sanders continues her impressive play with 23 points.

5) Lakeland (2-5) – Had to bump the Hornets back into the top five after their convincing dominance of the Yorktown Tournament for the third straight year. The return of sophomore guard Kristen Pappalardo was the spark the team needed, and the defense, which is anchored by Tori Jarosz and Kerry Johnson in the middle, made life difficult for PV and Somers who were held to 33 and 28 points respectively in Lakeland’s two wins.

Lakeland is back on the rise and with the whole team back together they could be climbing the rankings quickly.

PV 50, JFK 40 - This game definitely surprised me. It was like watching a completely different JFK team. They just looked out of sync, could not knock down free throws (5-of-16 through 3 quarters, but went 7-for-10 in the 4th),didn’t get good looks at the basket, and turned the ball over way too much. With Briarcliff looming on Tuesday, they better get their act together asap.

Putnam Valley, on the other hand, has definitely gotten better as the season has gone on. They were not intimidated by JFK’s physicality and broke their press with ease. Lauren Minnerly had a solid game stepping into a starting role with 10 points and she played solid defense. They held JFK to four third quarter points. Amanda DeChent shot lights out knocking down four from beyond the arc. She finished the game with 14 points. Katie Geyer, who is becoming a formidable inside presence, added eight and Jackie Gallagher played a strong game at both ends of the court. She has a versatile game as she handles the ball well and can bang with the bigs down low.

 (left) PV’s Lauren Minnerly goes up for two of her 10 points.

  (right) JFK’s Amanda Vitteretti splits the Tigers defense.      

Junior guard Jamol Johnney led the United with 23 points — including five 3-pointers — to lift Lincoln Hall to a 57-49 victory over Pelham in the first round of the Dave Kintzing tournament at Edgemont High School.

The United pulled away in a decisive fourth quarter, outscoring the Pelicans 23-10.

Notes on the game

• Johnney has stepped into the role of go-to-guy for the United, hitting clutch shots from beyond the arc. It is a role that Johnney explained he “loves.” In addition to his hot shooting, Johnney has also matured into a veteran leader for the youthful Lincoln Hall squad, which is composed of nine freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors.
• Sir Aaron Taylor, playing with a deep thigh bruise that he suffered during football season, turned in a gutsy effort. Despite the injury, he was still banging under the boards and snagged more than his fair share of loose balls. If Sir can just master his free-throw shooting — 1-for-6 against Pelham — then he will be an automatic double-double a night in the mold of David Lee. Once healthy, Taylor will most likely find his legs on the court and his midrange shooting will improve.
• Taylor and Johnney — the elder statesmen as juniors — will pace Lincoln Hall this season and hope to carry on the proud tradition that has developed under Head Coach Taylor’s reign.
• Sophomore point guard Laquan Simpson, a main component to Lincoln Hall’s football team this season, showed potential and poise by running the team’s offense and applying suffocating pressure on the defensive end. He saved his best for the game breaking fourth quarter, hustling like a mad man and coming up with steals to ignite fast break after fast break. Simpson, an extremely physically strong player at the guard position, finished the quarter with five of his 10 points. With his wide body, Laquan has the ability to back smaller guards down in the half court set and find his shot, but didn’t really exploit it tonight. However, he did look up to the task in transition, which is clearly where the United will find their points and success this season.
• As I said, Lincoln Hall is at its best when they are running the floor and creating transition off a swarming defense. Each and every player can run and finish on the break. Coincidentally, Coach Taylor cited that the team played its best basketball of the season in the fourth quarter, which is when they excelled in the run and gun and racked up points in bunches.
• The United are now 2-1 on the season and will play the winner of Tuckahoe vs. Edgemont in the finals on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

Feel free to drop a line on any other game that went down this evening.

Honorable Mention Top Moments: Putnam Valley reaching sectional final in field hockey with rookie coach Cortina, Matt Semenza first Lakeland football player to rush for 1000 yards, Croton-Harmon Volleyball reaching Sectional Final, Mahopac volleyball’s turn-around season, Croton Football upsetting Albertus in playoffs, Yorktown Field Hockey escapes the first round - reaches the second round for the first time in school history

10. Somers Cross Country Qualifying for States as a team: This team is what a true Cross Country squad is all about because there really was no weak link and they all finished with times fairly close to each other. Apgar, Porteus, Hashmall led the way and Turro came on strong when he returned from injury. Coach Fulton does a tremendous job getting these kids ready.

 9. Lakeland Field Hockey reaches state final: After losing such a strong senior cast, the five seniors this year in Collins, Robinson, McGovern, O’Mara, and DiSisto took the team on their shoulders and carried them all the way back to Syracuse. This team was something to watch as they were so intense and they clicked so well together. A true class act on and off the field. A lot of credit has to go to coach Sharon Sarsen for bringing them back that far as well.

 8. Kreamer to Drinks to defeat Somers: Two minutes remaining: Somers up 13-7 and Ossining takes over. Before you could blink Drinks was gone down the sideline on a 70 yard bomb, beautifully orchestrated play by Coach Ricci. Then Drinks takes over right where he left off in the semifinal win: taking the opening kickoff back for a TD for Ossining’s only touchdown of the game. Can we name him the Somers killer or what? Does Ossining play Somers in basketball? I hope not for the Tuskers sake.

 7.  Rob Lombardo running people over: Lombardo is an absolute beast, and he’s only a junior. Scary! The NCN player of the year rushed for over 1200 yards for the Tuskers and 19 TD’s. As Jack Parkman of Major League 2 would say: “Get off the tracks when the trains comin’ through!” No reason why Somers can’t get it done next season with all of the skill players back.

 6. Yorktown Football turns it around: After a 3-7 campaign last season, the Huskers of Corn flipped their record to 7-3 and capped the season off with a dramatic comeback victory over a strong Mount Vernon team on a last second FG from Zack Curtin. They also had other big victories over White Plains and JJ-East Fishkill. They bring almost everyone back next year and rumors have been swirling that they may play in Class A. Watch out.

 5. John Jay vs. New Rochelle football: Although I didn’t see these games live, I viewed them on the blog and they sure looked like classics to me. John Jay really hung in there with an amazing team. Bocklet and company really took it took the next level against New Ro’. Paris Walker is something else.

4. Mahopac’s first home game since the passing of Justin Wagner: Again, I wasn’t at this game but I saw the video on the blog and I could imagine how emotional it would have been to be there and experience it with the #45 on the field and the speech made following the convincing victory over Ketcham.

3. Hen Hud volleyball goes back to back: The Sailors did it again, winning two straight state titles. Amazing achievement with Nicole Tamburri leading the show. Coach Swertfager deserves a lot of credit

2. Ossining Football wins sectionals and goes deep into the post-season: Ossining absolutely spanked Fox Lane 41-0 in the sectional final. Remarkably, Fox Lane beat Ossining 35-6 earlier in the season. Shows how much things can change over a months time or so. Ossining came to play and Fox Lane left their game on the bus. The “O” or whatever you want to call them (you guys really need a nickname) then took down undefeated Cornwall before falling to Lansinburgh and Kenny Youngs in the semi’s. The defense was outstanding all year: where is Jajuan Perez headed to play college ball? Anybody know?

1. Briarcliff Girls Soccer, led by freshman and sophomores, win a state title: Hands down the top fall moment. A team that’s leading scorers are freshman and sophomores in Savina Reid, Danielle Christiano, Liana Cornacchio , Jane Wallis, etc. This team showed maturity and experience beyond their age. It’s going to be scary to see what they do in the next 3 years. Back to back shall we?

~ Feel free to rip this apart or add any other moments I may have left out ~

I apologize for the site being down for a good portion of Thursday.

We were having issues with our server.

Everything looks to be in order now.

Check out the new Gridiron Stars: Yorktown vs. Greeley.

Again, sorry for the glitch.

Thanks for checking out the blog.

-Isaac

Similar to the Bruney piece — who, by the way, threw a chair after word of his demotion down to Triple-A Scranton — this article is also a change of pace.

Thanks again to Will Leitch for taking the time out of his day to participate.

Enjoy.

Catch it before it passes you by

As many of our local high school athletes are poised to head off to college – whether they are playing sports or not – they will be coming face-to-face with the realization that succeeding in the classroom will require an exorbitant amount of heavy lifting – brain lifting.

So, I’m writing this as a precursor for those athletes who may or may not be up to the task—because, in my case, I know the 100-page psychology reading assignment on the inner workings of Sicko Freud strained my cortex a lot more than 100 pushups burned my pectorals.
With this in mind, as is the case whenever an individual is preparing for a grueling task, be it football or essay writing, it is pertinent to properly train and warm up.
The best way to do this? Just read a book.

Yes, since the time we all learned to read, we were forced to do summer reading. And, yes, there was clearly a reason behind the seemingly nonsensical madness.
Don’t fret, because I am not going to bombard you with classically stale selections such as John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. Instead, I have plucked a book that anyone in your shoes can relate to and which, if all goes well, will help turn your brain into the sponge it is destined to be.

Catch, a novel by Will Leitch, diagrams the journey of a small town kid, Tim Temples, during his last summer at home up to the very cusp of his leaving for college. Tim is a cookie cutter jock: he plays catcher for the high school baseball team, he drinks in parking lots with his buddies on the weekend, he has an in with ladies. In short, as Will Ferrell asserts in Wedding Crashers, he is “living the dream, man.”

However, as the summer enters its twilight, Tim falls for an older, sophisticated woman who completely jolts him off his all-too-familiar axis. This aberration forces him to question his very nature as a person in the scheme of his life. What ensues is an action-packed coming-of-age story about an ordinary American teen hurdling, sidestepping and finally bulldozing head-on, the reality of moving on to a place where everybody doesn’t know your name.

Leitch, the cheeky editor of the famous counterculture sports site Deadspin.com and author of the soon-to-be released book, God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Soulless Leagues, and Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (And How We Can Get It Back), was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book and about his own experiences shipping off to college.

NCN: How difficult an adjustment do you think the college life is for a local HS star athlete, especially one from a small town? What, in your opinion, allows some of these individuals to crack the mold and expand themselves, as opposed to remaining stuck in a rut and eventually returning home, i.e. Doug Temples in Catch?

Leitch: I think the key is that Tim from the book is aware, on some subconscious level, that life in his hometown is ultimately limiting. One of the things I wanted to get across in the book is that sometimes to really appreciate a place, you have to leave it. Tim loves Mattoon [his home town] and doesn’t want to leave it, but feels, vaguely, that there’s more out there for him somewhere. The old adage isn’t true: you really can go home again. And you’ll love it more if you’ve experienced some of the other pleasures the outside planet has to offer.

NCN: Do you think a novel like Catch is a must-read for a soon-to-be college freshman? What do you hope someone gains from reading it? What did you read before entering your freshman year of college?

Leitch: Well, I do hope people will enjoy it, first off. It’s supposed to be fun. But, the transition from home to college is a terrifying one. I was terrified at the time and, in retrospect, I realize I wasn’t scared enough. It’s a massive uprooting of everything you’ve ever known, and then they add all those classes just to raise the degree of difficulty. All I read before entering was the college newspaper, repeatedly. I wanted to get some notion of what the heck I was in for. And I had no idea.

NCN: In the end, based on Tim Temples’ experiences and your own, how large a part does your upbringing in a small town matter, especially when college life offers vast avenues of change and exploration to discover oneself?

Leitch: I think it gives Tim a solid foundation. I know it did for me. I felt like it set out a core set of values, some of which I accepted and some of which I did not. But I had a real choice. Not everyone has that, and I think small towns and close communities provide that excellently.

NCN: Based on your writing of the book and your own life, what advice would you give for a soon-to-be college freshman on July 24th—exactly one month before the first day of college? What should he or she do, see, read, listen to, ingest, and so forth?

Leitch: You should read, listen to and ingest anything that you come across. You’re about to be overwhelmed with new information, and you should take all of it in, absorb it and then make your own decisions. Have faith in yourself. It’s all going to seem confusing at first, but once you’ve been able to process it, you’ll know what to believe and how to live your life. As much as any of us do, anyway.

Here is a column written about the Empire State Games highs and lows — By Sports Editor Jim MacLean … CLICK!

Here is a column written about boxing at the Empire State Games — By yours truly … CLICK! 

Summer Trails Day Camp, located in Granite Springs, has had a bevy of standout Major League baseball players visit since its inception in 1974.

During the mid 1970s players such as Graig Nettles, Lou Piniella, Catfish Hunter, Jim Spencer, Chris Chambliss, Gene Michael and Willie Randolph graced the camp.

“Over the years we’ve literally had an all-star team of Yankees. Really all the front line players,” said Camp Director David Silverstein.

He recalls the time when Piniella showed up and they put a banner at the front entrance to welcome him. Although the idea was a kind gesture toward Piniella, it also acted as an advertisement for adoring fans, as throngs of people flooded the gate, hoping to meet Sweet Lou.

Silverstein explained that their ability to get the top-of-the-line players was due to the fact that the head baseball coach at the time had a direct contact with Michael, then a Yankee shortstop, who later became a coach and general manager.

“We would call Gene and he was able to get his players here,” said Silverstein. “That was beautiful, because we didn’t have to deal through the front office or anything. As times change, you can’t get those guys. They cost a fortune and they just don’t want to do it.”

According to Silverstein, the birth of free agency, which began with the Collective Bargaining Agreement of 1976, took away the option of getting all-star caliber players.

“Years ago, most baseball players had off-season jobs,” he explained. “They were making a nice living, but not like they are today. A lot of these guys had winter jobs. Even back in the 1970s when we started, guys were willing to come up for $600 to $800 to spend a couple of hours talking to kids, teaching them baseball and signing some autographs. Now, you can’t touch anybody for that kind of money. You are paying four to five times that amount for players that are still great instructors, but they don’t have the name recognition of Piniella, Nettles or Catfish.”

Although Summer Trails may not get, say, Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez to come in to speak to the campers, they are still able to obtain younger players like 25-year-old flame throwing relief pitcher Brian Bruney, who came by to visit the camp on July 3.

Despite the lack of brand name superstars, the current guests still do a masterful job giving their campers the best possible experience at camp. Yankees players Andy Philips and Kevin Thompson are also slated to appear at Summer Trails later this season along Ruben Gotay of the Mets and possibly other players as well.

“The main reason we bring in the players is that it creates excitement within the program,” Silverstein said. “Also, when they are teaching baseball to the kids, they are reinforcing what our coaches have already taught them. It is very meaningful for a child to hear it from a Yankee or a Met as opposed to one of the coaches.”

Bruney, whose 6-foot-3-inch, 250-pound frame casts an even larger shadow when crowds of seven- to 13-year-old campers surround him, was more than gracious in answering countless questions from the youngsters.

One question, which drew a chuckle from onlookers, was whether or not Hideki Matsui could speak English.

Bruney responded, “Kind of, but not really. He is able to understand what is spoken to him more than he can speak to others. It’s kind of like me with Spanish.”

The hulking right-hander, with a black and red Maltese cross tattoo inked on the underneath side of his right forearm, which according to Bruney stands for strength, honor and integrity, are three things that he believes very strongly. He explained why his visit to speak with the campers was important to the game of baseball.

“Well, it prepares the game to last and keep on and be successful,” he said. “You know, nowadays you see the game changing a lot from what it used to be. I saw the All-Star lineup and there isn’t one American player starting. But not that it matters, you get the best talent out of wherever, but it’s good for American kids to come out and get places to go to like this camp. It’s just good, hopefully one, two, three or four kids will become Major Leaguers.”

Bruney, who never attended summer camp, instead honed his talents at a local sports complex in his native Astoria, Oregon, where he played baseball, football and basketball.

Seeing that this was the first time many of the campers had come in contact with a Major League ball player, Bruney shared his first time experience as well.

“I believe it was Kenny Rogers,” he said. “He’s my brother-in-law’s first cousin. He took us up to a game in Seattle. I actually got to meet the entire team. It was real fun.”

Fellow bullpen mate, Scott Proctor, who visited Summer Trails last summer, is Bruney’s closest friend on the team. When questioned what he thought of the whole spectacle of Proctor burning his equipment following a rough outing, Bruney responded, “You gotta do what you gotta do. If that’s going to help you, do it. I’ve never burned anything myself.”

Speaking in a relaxed Oregon drawl, Bruney responded to another question from a camper about whether he gets “angry” like fellow Yankee Kyle Farnsworth.

“No. I’ve got a pretty long fuse,” he said.

Following the gossipy questions from the curious campers, the Summer Trails baseball coaches got down to business, questioning him about baseball technique, including how to grip a fastball. Bruney, showing the two-seam grip, said, “When I was younger I could hit 102 miles per hour on the radar gun. Nowadays I can only get it up to about 96 miles per hour.”

After the question period, Bruney, who was clothed in a Carolina blue Summer Trails staff shirt and wearing brown work boots, trudged over to a bench beneath a canopy from where he signed handfuls of autographs.

Seeing Bruney taking time to address each and every camper, while those in line bounced from their spots with excitement, it didn’t appear to matter that it wasn’t Jeter signing the pamphlets of paper. It was a little known relief pitcher, who has been used sparingly in 39 games this year. But, after all, he still dons the pinstripes and, more importantly, had taken the time to be there that day.

There won’t be many updates coming through this blog in the coming days and weeks.

I’ll be back around time for the Empire Games refreshed and ready to go.

We will have a whole slew of coverage, ranging from analysis to various forms of multimedia.

My bet is that I’ll be concentrating on roundball and lax.

In the meantime, feel free to discuss ANY of the scholastic squads competing in this year’s Empire State Games.

Until then, enjoy yourself.