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Northport High School

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By Steven Zaitz

If you weren’t sure if the summer was over on Long Island, all you needed to do was step outside your front door this past Saturday. 

Justin Macke (55) blocks Martin Pusey of Lindenhurst. Photo by Gina DeMarco

It was raw, damp, gray, windy and downright nasty, as our region dealt with the remnants of Hurricane Ian.

But for Head Coach Pat Campbell and his men, the Northport Football Tigers — it was one of the most unexpected days at the beach the team has ever had.

After sleepwalking through their first three games and somehow winning two of them, the Tigers faced arch-rival, previously undefeated, and consensus No. 1 team in Suffolk Conference II, Lindenhurst, and took them to the woodshed, blanking the Bulldogs 19-0; and if you can believe it, the game wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate.

The Tigers trounced the Bulldogs in all three phases of the football game, ripping off 287 yards rushing yards, dominating in the trenches on both sides of the ball, unleashing a relentless pass rush, and even winning on special teams. 

Considering that Northport has had lapses in concentration and execution for long stretches of games this year, and Lindenhurst came into the contest having outscored opponents 79-29 in their three wins, a Tiger victory would have been considered a mild to medium-sized surprise. What happened on Saturday however was shocking to everyone as the Tigers ran the ball at will, ringing up 21 first downs. Lindenhurst only had three.

“We hadn’t played well yet as a team,” Campbell said. “We’ve been getting beat on defense with people getting behind us and we’ve have given up too many long runs. Today we played up to our capabilities and played great complimentary football. Our offensive line was great, our D-Line was fantastic. I’m proud of our guys.”

Like every good upset, there is a backstory. The Tigers had a 20-6 lead with 10 minutes to play in last year’s Suffolk semi-final, high-stakes playoff game at Lindenhurst. But in the fourth quarter, the Tigers missed an extra point, committed 75 yards of penalties, and allowed the Bulldogs to score two late touchdowns in less than five minutes to win the game.

“We lost our composure in that game,” Campbell said. “The guys that were here learned a lot from it and the guys that weren’t here, have heard about it from those that were. We never want to have that feeling again.”

Northport Senior Quarterback and Captain Owen Johansen was there — and certainly did not forget.

“It was a big emphasis for me to beat this team,” Johansen said, who had his sixth rushing TD in three weeks and threw the ball beautifully despite the less-than-ideal conditions. “This wasn’t just another game for me, and I don’t want to speak for the rest of the boys, but that loss was in the back of my mind all week and when this game was over, it felt better than just a normal win.”

All of these pent-up thoughts and emotions seemed to come gushing out from every Northport player on Saturday.

Johansen, who has built a reputation as a hard-hitting, run-stuffing linebacker, looked even more ferocious than usual. On the very first play from scrimmage, Johansen knifed into the Bulldog backfield and splattered running back Brady Dolan for a three-yard loss. This play set the tone for the afternoon, as the Tigers would consistently have three, four or five blue helmets surrounding Lindy ball carriers before they even got to the line of scrimmage.

“Besides being a great quarterback, Owen is just a nasty, instinctive football player,” Campbell said.  “That play got us going right away and we were in attack mode — in their quarterback’s face all day and we shut down the running game.”

This gaggle of gang-tacklers, along with Johansen were Tim Cleary, Thomas Krause, Matt Diaz, Andrew Miller, Giancarlo Valenti and Christian Raio, who together made it seem like they stole a copy of Lindenhurst’s playbook, holding the Bulldogs minus seven yards rushing for the game. Lindenhurst’s All Long Island Wide Receiver Chris Carson caught two quasi-desperation bombs for 51 yards but if you remove those, the Bulldogs gained 18 yards on 35 offensive snaps. This is 0.5 yards per play.

Andrew DeMarco (25) and Tim Cleary. Photo by Gina DeMarco

“We knew they wanted revenge from last year but that is no excuse for the way we played” Carson said, who has been a star at Lindenhurst in baseball and football since his sophomore year. “It was just a rough game from top to bottom and our level of effort was not enough. Whatever the reason was, it will not happen again.”

As the defense enjoyed its finest game of the year, the Tiger offense was reluctant to play second fiddle, and it started with guys up front. 

On the nine-play drive which was their opening offensive series, the Tigers had runs of 18, 10 and 15, slashing and dashing behind blowout blocks of Cleary, newly inserted right guard Justin Macke, Mason Hecht, Conner Hennigman and Matt McGovern. It was both exhilarating and shocking a thing to see — a defense of Lindenhurst’s caliber getting carved up like a Thanksgiving Butterball. Johansen finished the opening drive with a 15-yard touchdown run, squeezing past All-County linebacker Nick Rose at the front left pylon.

Macke, who made a key block on Johansen’s score, was a junior fullback last year and used the heartbreak in Lindy as inspiration. 

“We haven’t beaten them in four years and this win was absolutely amazing,” Macke said. “They ended our season last year and we worked long and hard since then to get to today — and today we played Northport football and showed what we are capable of.”

A 98-yard drive is a pretty good indication of capable. That’s just what Northport did early in the second quarter. 

After losing a yard from their own two, Northport rammed the ball down the Bulldogs’ throat for a 99-yard touchdown march and a 14-point lead.  The highlights of the drive were a 39-yard run by Giancarlo Valenti off left tackle and a play-action pass to his brother Nick for 27 yards. Running back Michael Raio finished off the drive by flipping up and over the tackle attempt of Dolan and into the end zone for a five-yard score. Lindenhurst had no answers for any of this.

“Our offensive line was excellent today,” said Raio, who combined with Giancarlo for 177 rushing yards. “On the touchdown, He (Dolan) came in low, so I tried to jump over him. He got a piece of my foot and I went flying. I’m glad I came down in the end zone.”

After another three and out near their own goal line, Bulldog punter Ian Webb mishandled a snap that rolled through the back of the end zone for a safety, giving Northport a 16-0 lead that they took into the half.

The Tigers continued to dominate territorially after the break but were not able to put up any points in the third quarter.  Even with a 16-point lead, Campbell admits to having flashes of déjà vu of November’s playoff debacle as his teams’ penalties started to accumulate and it remained a two-score game.

 “Lindenhurst is ranked number one in the league for a reason,” Campbell said. “We bogged down a couple of times in the third quarter and we all know what happened last year, so yeah, it crossed my mind.”

Tiger Placekicker Billy Griffiths did his best to put Campbell’s mind at ease when he made a 33-yard field goal with 7:30 remaining in the game. It finally gave the Tigers the three-score lead they craved. 

“I was pretty confident that I’d make it,” said Griffiths, who played on the Tiger soccer team last year and has earned the nickname Billy the Boot. “The weather was a factor throughout the game, but for that kick I had the wind at my back, so I felt pretty good.”

As the soggy Northport crowd came to a crescendo, sensing a win, Chase Sasso, a senior running back, carried the ball for a couple of first downs and the game was officially sealed for Northport. He was thrilled to be on the field for such a big win.

“It was great to be out there and to finish the game,” Sasso. “I ran as hard as I could, making sure I held on to the ball with both hands.”

Northport is now tied with Lindenhurst for first in the Conference II and like Sasso, was not going to let this opportunity slip through its fingers.

By Steven Zaitz

Have you ever gotten gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe? 

It’s nearly impossible to get rid of.

The Smithtown West football team simply would not allow itself to be removed from its opening game against the Northport Tigers on Friday night, Sept. 9, as they battled back from multiple double-digit deficits against the heavily favored visitors.

However, the Bulls fell one bullet short, and Northport’s star quarterback, Owen Johansen, put the game away with a long run that gave the Tigers a first down in the final minute and allowed them to escape Smithtown with a 34-30 win.

The contest’s opening few possessions didn’t give off any signs it would be a close game. The Bulls went backwards on their first offensive possession and after a three and out, punted to Northport and their versatile weapon “Every-Down” Emmett Radziul, who took the kick 31 yards deep into Bulls territory. Radziul would also have an interception in the second half.

Three plays after Emmett’s punt return, Tiger tight end Andrew Miller pranced into the end zone with a 21-yard touchdown catch, one of Miller’s two touchdowns in the first quarter. When running back Andrew DeMarco plunged in from the two-yard line midway through the second quarter, Northport took a 20-3 lead.

“It felt amazing to score my first varsity touchdown,” Demarco said. “The offensive line definitely played great tonight.”

The Tigers rushed for 230 yards for the game and with five minutes to go in the half seemed to have complete control. But as they did in the 2021 regular season finale at Northport, West fought on.

A kickoff return to midfield by wide receiver Tim Vanderbink breathed some life into the Bulls. Their standout quarterback Brayden Stahl calmly hit wide receiver Jacque Lapraire, who got inside position on defense back Christian Raio, and made a toe-tapping, one-handed catch for a 22-yard touchdown and it was 20-9 with 2:30 left in the half. Raio had good coverage, but it was a perfect pass and a great play by Laprarie, capping a 50-yard drive in less than a minute.

After a Northport three and out, the Bulls got the ball back with under two minutes to play at their own 42. After two medium-sized completions, Stahl hit a wide open Jack Melore, who had gotten past everyone and had himself a 25-yard touchdown catch. It was now 20-16 and the home crowd, that up until that point had been reduced to a dull murmur, were shaking the bleachers with delight.

“We can’t let guys run free like that behind our defense,” said Northport Head Coach Pat Campbell.  “I think they have a very underrated team and (Stahl) is a very good quarterback, but defensive breakdowns like that is stuff that we are going to have to clean up. It can’t happen.”

All Suffolk Tiger linebacker and team captain Tim Cleary led the team with six tackles and along with Miller, defensive end Matt Diaz and defensive linemen  Justin Macke and Mason Hecht, put heavy pressure on Stahl from the opening whistle. The senior quarterback for West would finish with 19 for 32 with 267 yards passing and three touchdowns.

“We gave up a few long passes in the second half, but our run defense was great the whole game,” Cleary said. “We’ll polish our coverages in practice this week for sure.” 

The Tigers defense got a respite to start the second half and the offense did a great job in keeping the suddenly smoking hot Stahl seated firmly on the bench. Johansen engineered at 13 play, 64 yard drive which included four 3rd down conversions and was capped off by the first of running back Giancarlo Valenti’s two second half touchdown runs. It put the Tigers ahead 27-16 and chewed up the first six minutes of the third quarter. Northport fans could relax again with a two-score lead, right?

On Northport’s very next possession Johansen, who had 106 yards passing and 98 yards on the ground, had a pass deflect off of Miller’s hands and into the arms of Lapraire and the Bulls again took to the comeback trail. Stahl took over at his own 38, hit four completions in a row and gave the ball to tailback Brian Hope to close the deal, which he did with a four-yard touchdown run off right tackle. With 10:30 remaining it was 27-22 — again a one-score game.

Valenti would answer. After an electrifying quarterback draw by Johansen went for 38 yards, the junior tailback would dart up the middle for his second touchdown in less than 10 minutes. Valenti finished with 91 yards rushing, 22 receiving and 2 TDs. This one put the Tigers up 34-22 and the Bulls were finally toast.

Except they weren’t.

Stahl would hit on a 37-yard bomb that got the ball to the Tiger 12. On the next snap he rolled to his right and threw what looked like a damaging interception into traffic in the end zone. But it was deflected twice and somehow ended up in the belly of Bull running back Nick Briffa for an extremely serendipitous touchdown for Smithtown. It was now 34-30 Northport after Stahl converted a two point try. The pendulum had swung West once again.

But it was Johansen, who made the keynote to Miller on the opening drive, put the final imprint on it as well. On a waggle keeper right, O.J. rumbled down the Northport sidelines for a gain of 26, carrying half the Bull defense on his back for the last 10 yards. The Tigers ran out the clock and finally cleaned the gum off their cleats.

“We need to read our keys on defense a lot better going forward,” said the never-satisfied Campbell. “We can’t let people run down the middle of the field like that, but it’s the first game. We ran the ball for 230 yards, so obviously I’m happy with that, and Owen hit some big time passes early on to Andrew and I think that opened up our running game. We have some work to do for next week.”

Northport will host Half Hollow Hills East for its home opener on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Thunderbirds beat the Tigers last October, 35-21.

By Steven Zaitz
In a final tune-up before the regular season, the Northport Tigers football team defeated Commack, 20-10, at Commack Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Tiger senior quarterback and second year starter Owen Johansen threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Emmett Radziul in the second quarter  after Commack opened the scoring on a juggling TD catch by slot receiver Matt Rosenoff from Long Island QB Challenge winner Jeremy Weiss. Johansen hit senior tight end Andrew Miller with a perfectly placed 60-yard bomb down the right sideline for a touchdown to put an exclamation point on the first half for Northport. The Tigers would lead 13-7 at the break.
Most of the starters were rested for both teams in a second half that was dominated by Northport. Northport’s Matt Diaz, a senior who was on the Tiger soccer team in 2021, was very active on defense throughout the game as was 2021 All-division linebacker Tim Cleary. RB Giancarlo Valenti, a junior, capped the scoring with a one-yard TD plunge late in the game. Tiger back QB senior Macklin O’brien looked comfortable running the offense in the second half.
The season starts for both teams next weekend when Northport travels to Smithtown West on Friday, Sept. 9 and Commack hosts Sachem North on the afternoon of Sept 10.

Sophia Bica is Northport High School’s Female Athlete of the Year. Photo by Steven Zaitz

By Steven Zaitz

A cavalcade of stars – both athletic and academic – walked the blue and gold carpet of the Northport High School main auditorium on Friday night for the 2022 NESPY awards. 

The best and brightest senior Tiger athletes were recognized for their accomplishments on and off the field during 2021-22 – and in a year of great success for the Northport Athletic Program as a whole, there were almost too many to count. 

Sophia Bica and Dylan McNaughton were the biggest winners, each grabbing two individual awards and one team award, as well as Jason Ahlstrand, who won for best Male Athlete. Head baseball coach Sean Lynch and girls head soccer coach Aija Gipp presided over the ceremonies. 

Bica, who will attend the Stevens Institute of Technology in the fall, won for Best Female Athlete as well as Best Record-Breaking career. She led the Lady Tigers Field Hockey team to a New York State Championship last November and a Long Island Title in 2020, a year that had no State play. Bica, a starter on the field hockey team since the eighth grade, holds the Northport High School record for assists in a career.  

She was also a superstar point guard and four-year varsity player for Coach Castellano and his Lady Tigers basketball team. She led Northport to the Suffolk County AA Championships in three of those years and this past season, was the league’s Most Valuable Player. In addition to these individual awards, Bica’s Field Hockey squad won the 2022 NESPY statue for Best Female team. She will be playing both sports at Stevens. 

“I will cherish this recognition and will always remember the great feeling I got every time I went out there with my team and had a big win,” said Bica, who glowed in a pink and gray flowery chiffon gown. 

McNaughton, for as long as the people of Northport can remember, has never taken a day off. From the classroom to the gridiron over to the hardwood and the Lacrosse field, Big Dyl’s uniform was always dirty and there wasn’t a loose ball that he didn’t think was his. 

In his senior year he was All-Suffolk at linebacker for the football team, played for the county championship in basketball and was one win away from winning a New York State Title in lacrosse. In the classroom, he had a 104.9 weighted grade point average which made him a National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete. McNaughton, who is headed for the University of Indiana, won NESPYs for Best Male Student Athlete and Male Tiger Icon Athlete. The Lacrosse team, for whom he scored 14 goals in 2022, was awarded Male Team of the Year for their State Title game appearance. 

“Winning two NESPYs was a special way to end my Tiger career,” said McNaughton. “Ever since freshman year I wanted to win one and last night that dream came true, and it was awesome.” 

Jason Ahlstrand of Tiger Football and Basketball is the 2021-22 NESPY Male Athlete of the Year. Photo by Steven Zaitz

Ahlstrand, whose dazzling smile and flamboyant style of play made him a Tiger fan favorite, won for Best Male Athlete. 

From his crazy basketball dunks to his long touchdown catches, Ahlstrand was one of the most entertaining sports stars to grace Northport High School in recent years. He was also a deadly accurate field goal kicker and if he was defending you in basketball, you were in for a very long day. He was All-Suffolk County in football in 2021 and MVP of the team, recording seven touchdowns and 67 total points. He helped the Hoopin’ Tigers to a 50-6 record during his three-year career at guard and was a key member of the team that upset Brentwood for a Suffolk Title in 2020-21. He ended his career by taking home the NESPY for Best Male Athlete and will play football at SUNY Cortland in September. 

“I’m just so happy to receive this award,” said Ahlstrand. I’m glad that I’ll always have these memories to look back on.” 

Bica’s field hockey teammate and lacrosse star Angelina Longo was voted Iconic Female Athlete of the year. The future Arizona State Sun Devil and two-time all-New York State defender had 19 steals in the Field Hockey Championship game against Shenendehowa in the Lady Tigers breathtaking 1-0 victory at Centereach. She was also the all-state Sportsmanship Award recipient in 2022 and was the embodiment of #NotDoneYet nation during their undefeated 21-0 campaign. 

Lisa Kovacs, one of the most well-rounded people ever to grace the hallways of N.H.S., was awarded the Best Female Student-Athlete. Kovacs led the girls soccer team to a 14-3 record and a number one seed in the Suffolk County AA playoff bracket this past autumn.  This is a small blip on the radar screen of what Kovacs is all about. She qualified for National Honor Society and made the Honor Roll every quarter of her academic career, she’s been the Student Council Class President three years running, a volunteer Math Tutor, a Doctors of Tomorrow Program Award recipient, and she even works at the hotdog stand on Football Saturdays. Kovacs is as big a part of the fabric of the Northport High School student body as there is, and she’s also a tough-as-nails soccer player who battles deep in the dirt for every possession. She will be attending Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. 

Nick Watts isn’t your average basketball big man. Although he is 6’7”, he doesn’t just lurk around the paint and post up his man for easy layups. He does everything well, he’s a fiery competitor and a great and unselfish teammate. Watts was awarded the NESPY for Best Breakthrough Athlete and Best Individual Performance. He earned the latter for his 12 three pointers and 42 points in the first half against Connetquot – one of the most memorable Tiger feats in 2021-22, in a year filled with them. Watts is also a great rebounder, passer, shot blocker and overall defender.  He will attend the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. 

On a team of stars, future Duke Blue Devil Kaylie Mackiewicz snagged the Best Female Individual Performance NESPY for her unstoppable goal-scoring abilities in girls lacrosse. A five-year varsity starter, she scored the game-winning goal in double overtime to win the Long Island Championship just a few weeks ago.  It’s only one of a dizzying checklist of achievements for the All-American who scored 138 goals over the past two years, has a weighted GPA of over 100, and is an Academic All American. 

Other 2021-22 NESPY winners are Charlotte McGroarty for female Breakthrough Athlete of the Year. McGroarty was part of a State Championship field hockey team, a State finalist lacrosse team and Suffolk County finals-reaching basketball team. Chase Hendrickson, who ran track for the first time this year, qualified for States in the 400-meter sprint. He won the NESPY for male Breakthrough Athlete of the Year. Will Flynn was the winner of the Comeback Player of the Year NESPY, as he made it back on the football and lacrosse fields after suffering a torn labrum which required surgery and a grueling rehab. Aiden Stang won for Best Upset of the Year as he defeated the top ranked wrestler in his weight class in the League II tournament. Tom Izzo was awarded the NESPY for Courage as a member of the Tiger Unified basketball team, for whom he played all four years of his high school career. 

By Steven Zaitz

L.I.C. is not supposed to stand for Long Island Cakewalk, is it?

That’s exactly what it looked like in the first few moments of the Long Island Boys High School Lacrosse Championship game June 4, as the Northport Tigers raced out to a 3-0 lead in the opening 79 seconds against Nassau champ Port Washington.

With three easy wins at the dot by face-off specialist extraordinaire Tyler Kuprianchik, Tigers Jack Deliberti, Tim Kirchner and Will Murphy were able to slice through and plunder the Viking defense and score three quick ones on beleaguered Port Washington goalie Bradley Hamroff, not two minutes after the singing of the National Anthem. 

With a start like this, it appeared that it was safe for the Tigers to start packing up the team bus for the drive up to Albany for the New York State Championship semi-final.

Not so fast.

“We knew coming in it was going to be a whistle-to-whistle kind of game,” said Head Coach Larry Cerasi, now the proud owner of two consecutive Long Island Championships in his first two years as head man at Northport. “We got off to a fast start, but they are an extremely well-coached team, and we knew it was going to be an all-day battle.”

The Vikings did battle. But the strong opening, a dominating 4th quarter, and unlikely heroes stepping into the breach secured a 13-9 win for Cerasi’s men.

Hamroff would settle down and make several good saves in the first quarter including a straight-on rip from Tiger Midfielder Dylan McNaughton. When Henry Haberman, the Viking’s most lethal attacker, scored his second goal with less than a minute to go in the opening quarter, it was suddenly 4-3.

Put that cake back in the display case.

“We played from behind all season and came back to win a bunch of games, so we never panicked,” said Hamroff, who totaled 18 saves on this hot afternoon in Uniondale. “We knew that we were going to give up goals because the had a big advantage at the faceoff X, but we never once thought we were out of it.”

All year, that faceoff X has been where dreams go to die, and momentum snuffed for Tiger opponents. Kuprianchik won an incredible 80% of his previous faceoffs and would dominate Viking draw-man Alex Papagalis 21-4, good for 87.5%. What makes Kuprianchik’s feat of strength even more wondrous was the fact that he was playing on a sprained foot; an injury that forced him to miss a portion of the Suffolk County final game against Smithtown East.

“I love this team so much.  I would do anything for this team, so I went out there and gave the best performance that I could,” said Kuprianchik, who will be attending Penn State in the fall. “I was really feeling it today and was able to win a lot of them (faceoffs) clean.”

For his efforts, Kuprianchik was awarded the James C.  Metzger award for the second year in a row. This goes to the Most Valuable Player of the Long Island Championship game. Kuprianchik had a similar performance last year in the Tiger’s heart-pounding, 11-10 win over Syosset.

“It’s such an honor to win this award,” said Kuprianchik. “But we won this game as a team.”

The Tigers did get contributions from all positions, all over the field.  Kirchner led the Tigers with three goals and an assist and fellow midfielder Jack Helrigel had two goals, including one of the most important tallies of the afternoon.

After withstanding Northport’s initial blitzkrieg, Port Washington scratched and clawed their way into tying it at 7-7 with three straight goals towards the end of the third quarter. Port Washington Attacker Gavin Jacobsen would rifle one past Tiger Goalkeeper Luke Lamendola with 45 seconds left in the period to get the game even for the first time the since the opening whistle.

It wouldn’t stay even for long.

Helrigel would drive to the net, take a brilliant, lightning-quick centering feed from Murphy, and fling the ball past Hamroff from five feet away with 8.8 seconds to go in the third.  It was now 8-7 and the Tigers would never again relinquish the lead.

“That goal gave us the final push that we needed,” said the senior Helrigel. It gave us the lead back and also the confidence and momentum to put the game away.”

The Tigers won the fourth quarter 5-2 to do just that. Quinn Reynolds, who plays defense, midfield and attack, opened the final quarter by streaking up the center seam and firing it past Hamroff only 12 seconds in. It was 9-7 and Northport would trade a few goals with Port Washington and whittle down the clock to another championship.

“I’m so proud of guys, our coaches and everyone that supports us,” said Cerasi. “We pride ourselves on being well-balanced and today we got contributions from our attack, and we got contributions from our midfielders in the transition game. Also, our defense and goaltender played extremely well. Port Washington double-teamed Mike (Meyer) for much of the game, so our other guys, like Kirchner, Murphy and Helrigel stepped up.”

Meyer, who was second in Suffolk to Mt. Sinai’s Joey Spallina in total points and a shoo-in for All American, had a goal and 3 assists on the day.  It was up to guys like Kirchner, who is also a cross-country star, to find the twine. He was a marauder, with and without the ball, for the entire game; and perhaps the stamina he has honed as a long-distance runner paid dividends in the Hofstra Heat.

“I made good use of my endurance advantage to use today,” said Kirchner. “I love to run up on offense and back on defense and I’ve been playing with a lot of confidence as the season has gone along.”

Goalkeeper Lamendola has also played with confidence as the competition has gotten stiffer.

Port Washington launched assault after assault in a desperate attempt to slice off pieces of the Tiger lead. He made six saves in total and was effective in cutting down angles and standing tall in the face of the pressurized heat in the front of his net. Lamendola, who also starred on the Tiger football team and will study film and animation at The Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, was very animated when the final horn sounded, as he was at the epicenter of a hugging, jumping, glove-throwing and victorious pack of Tigers. 

“We have a lot of talent on this team,” said Lamendola. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates and my coaches and of course my dad. It’s more of a mental game more than a physical in the net and Coach (Dean) Spadaro has taught every aspect of being a goalie since I was 8 years old.”

Coach Spadaro, whose son Kieran registered an assist in the game, has been coaching many of these boys since kindergarten. He knew Lamendola, who follows in the footsteps of goaltending legend Andrew Tittmann, has what it takes to succeed at this level.

“Nobody will ever outwork Luke”, said Spadaro. “Ninety percent of goaltending is between the ears and Luke is smart goalie with great instincts and I’m so happy for him and this team.”

The Tigers, who have now won 19 straight games after an opening day loss to non-conference foe Mt. Sinai, can now move on and think about their semi-final game at SUNY Albany vs. the Scarsdale Raiders who have a record of 14-7 on the year. After last summer’s L.I.C., they did not get a chance to play for a New York State title, as that tournament was not played because of the pandemic.

“Last year was phenomenal, but after the Long Island Championship game against Syosset, we had sort of an empty feeling and we wanted more,” said Cerasi. “As a group we are extremely happy to get an opportunity to play for a state championship this year.”

Cerasi and the Tigers will get it and it is now safe to pack up that bus.

The Northport boys lacrosse team emerged the winners of the Long Island Boys Lacrosse Class A final.

The team beat Port Washington, 13-9, on Saturday, June 4 at Hofstra University.

By Steven Zaitz
Northport defeated Smithtown East, 16-13, in the Suffolk County Class A Boys Lacrosse Championship game in a game that took place over the course of two days.
After a flash lightning storm struck at East Islip on June 1, the game was delayed for 30 minutes with Northport leading, 6-5.  After the officials restarted the game, Northport would outscore the Bulls, 7-2, but the weather would force yet another stoppage.  The game resumed June 2 with seven and a half minutes remaining, and despite a furious flurry of goals by the Red Bulls, Northport would hang on to win their second consecutive Suffolk County title.
Marcus Wertheim scored four goals and Brandon Marz three goals for Smithtown East.  Michael Meyer and Jacob Starcke scored four each for the Tigers, and Jack Deliberti would net three. The Tigers take on Port Washington for the Class A title on Saturday at Hofstra.

Kings Park High School students walked out of school May 26 in response to the May 24 shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Photo from Isabella Lenarduzzi

Students are scared, and they’re not going to take it anymore.

Students Demand Action, an organization affiliated with Everytown/Moms Demand Action, planned a national school walkout for May 26 in response to the May 24 shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers lost their lives.

More than two dozen Kings Park High School students and over 200 Northport High School students joined in on the national event.

The local walkouts included speeches about the gun violence prevention movement, and the reading of the names of the Texas victims. A moment of silence followed the speeches.

The Kings Park students circulated a petition in 2018 when they were in William T. Rogers Middle School in response to the tragedy in Parkland, Florida, according to a statement from the group of students.

“We were angry that this didn’t end with Parkland,” the statement read. “That this didn’t end with Sandy Hook. That this didn’t end with Columbine. That children still have to fear going to school and that we still need to have national walkout events to protest the epidemic of gun violence in our country.”

Among the Kings Park students was senior Isabella Lenarduzzi. During a phone interview, she said she was angry after hearing about the Texas shooting and felt as if she needed to do something. When she saw the post from Students Demand Action, she reached out to her friend Jesse Gunnell, and they created a group chat with fellow students to come up with ideas about what they could do.

“People are really angry about it,” Lenarduzzi said, “Angry and passionate about it, too.”

She said parents, teachers and administrators were supportive of the students’ decisions, and they weren’t reprimanded by school personnel. She added that the teenagers stayed within the school’s courtyard to remain safe.

Hallie Schorr, a junior at Northport High School, said Northport parents, teachers and administrators were also supportive, and the students were outside for about 20 minutes.

She said she decided to participate because she’s scared for the country, herself and her father who works in a different school.

“It’s just terrifying,” she said. “I just wanted to be able to show my support and to let my school know that there are people in school who are really, really scared and want to make change.”

Schorr said she feels fortunate that she lives in a school district that is able to incorporate several security measures to protect students and staff members.

 

“I do feel safe in school, but it’s, I don’t know, it’s scary,” she said. “What if this happens?”

Senior Meyer, Freshman Deliberti combine for 7 goals, Lamendola and defense shut down Devils

By Steven Zaitz

The schools are separated by about six miles. Their boys lacrosse teams — by much more.

Andrew Miller scores the second of his two third quarter goals in Northport’s semi-final win over Huntington on May 26. Photo by Steven Zaitz

The top-seeded Northport Tigers showed why they are reigning Long Island champions, as they doubled up and dominated the number four-seeded Huntington Blue Devils 12-6 on Thursday, May 26. Northport advances to the Suffolk County Championship game against the Smithtown East Bulls.

After a sleepy and goal-less first eight minutes, Northport even spotted their arch-rivals to the west a one goal lead, as Huntington’s strategy of locking up Northport’s superstar Senior Attacker Michael Meyer seemed to work — initially. But Meyer would find the key.

He exploded for four goals, all of which came in the first half, including a buzzer-beating rocket with two seconds to go before the halftime buzzer. Meyer also had assists on four other goals — a standout performance in a huge playoff game.

Freshman attacker Jack Deliberti had three goals, Jacob Starcke two goals and roving long-stick Midfielder Andrew Miller scored two in less than a minute in the third quarter that restored a five goal Tiger lead and unofficially broke the Blue Devils’ back.

Northport played their usual brand of ferocious defense, forcing Huntington to the outside and lower percentage shots and Tiger Goalkeeper Luke Lamendola registered an eye-popping 16 saves.

It was a complete team effort if there ever was one, and it enables Northport to re-visit neutral site East Islip Middle School to play Smithtown East — the very field they beat Syosset 12-11 to capture the Long Island Title last summer.

“All week in practice, we went over situations where I, or someone else, is locked off and what we were going to do,” Meyer said, who now has 43 goals on the season. “So, we ran one of the plays we worked on, and I was able to get the ball with a short stick defending me.”

He made the short stick dearly pay.

From sharp angles and small windows at which to shoot, Meyer flung balls past Huntington Goalie SammyMac Arner with deadly accuracy over the course of the first 24 minutes.

“Michael is a special player,” said Head Coach Larry Cerasi. “He does everything a coach could ask for and then some. He’s not the most ‘rah rah’ type of guy, but he leads by example and has shown some of our younger guys the way to success.”

One of those younger guys is the ninth grader Deliberti, who like Meyer, has curly brown locks of hair sticking out of the back of his helmet. He scored the first goal of the second half off of a brilliant feed from Meyer,

“When I first came up to the varsity team, I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, being guarded by juniors and seniors,” Deliberti said. “But Mike has really took me under his wing and has showed me how to be a varsity player.”

Michael Meyer scored four goals and assisted on four others in Northport’s semi-final win over Huntington on May 26. Photo by Steven Zaitz

Meyer was also showing everybody in attendance why he is complete superstar package.  After Huntington staged a mini-uprising and cut the Tiger lead to 7-4 midway through the third period, Meyer found Tim Kirchner in the middle of the field, who shoveled it over to Miller on the right. The junior Army-commit beat Arner from 20 yards away.  Ten seconds later, Meyer hit Miller on a beautiful diagonal pass right in front of the Devil net. Miller faked high and went low to scoop it past Arner. It made the score 9-4 with the third quarter quickly melting away. The final horn was more than a quarter away, but the game was over.

“That was a big swing right there,” Miller said. “Huntington had just pulled within three and I think it stopped their momentum.”

With a suffocating second half defense and Lamendola snuffing out anything that leaked through, the Tigers ticket to East Islip was punched.

Senior Jacob Starcke scored two in the fourth quarter and Deliberti finished the scoring when he rattled the ball off both posts and behind Arner for Tiger goal number 12. Northport had effectively taken Huntington’s Big Four attackers of Aidan McNulty, Robbie Smith, Liam Lennon and Chris Maichin out of the game with constant defensive pressure. This quartet combined for 183 total point in 2022. Also, part of the winning formula, was Tyler Kuprianchik’s customary dominance at the ‘X’. The future Penn State Nittany Lion won 71% of his faceoffs against Yale commit Anthony Annunziata. Annunziata was second to Kupianchik in faceoff winning percentage in the regular season in Suffolk I.

“Our defense is not only incredibly strong and athletic, but we are also a cerebral bunch,” said Defensive Coach and Northport alum Billy Cordts. “Quinn Reynolds and Andrew Miller are incredibly dynamic. Jack Sandrib and Jack Breckling are experienced and very strong players. Will Flynn is not flashy but does it all, plus Pat Sweeney, who is an incredible athlete. All of these guys made it a very difficult day for their best players (Smith and McNulty).”

Cordts, class of 2003, had to manage some adversity through out the course of the season. But the Tigers have proven to be extraordinarily deep in 2022.

“We lost some starters to injury and didn’t miss a beat. Dan Eagers and Jon Alfiero went down, and they are damn good players. We are all about team and we play for each other and willing to do the dirty work. That’s what enables us to dominate.”

They’ll need to do so for one more game to repeat as Suffolk County Lacrosse League A Champions — against a school that also sits about six miles away, but to the east. Will this one be more competitive? Lacrosse fan across Suffolk County are about to find out.

It came down to the final possession in the Suffolk girl’s lacrosse Class A title game where the Northport Tigers clung to a one goal lead and was able to hold off a late game surge by the Patriots of Ward Melville for the 8-7 win at Newfield High School May 25.  

Northport seniors Isabella Germani led the Tigers with four goals, and Ella Cabrera scored twice with two assists. Teammates Kaylie Mackiewicz and Shannon Smith both scored while Meghan Morris had a quiet day in net with four saves. 

Grace Balocca topped the scoring chart for the Patriots with three goals and goalie Ava Carrillo stopped seven. 

The win sends Northport to the Long Island Championship round where they’ll face either Massapequa or Syosset at Lavalle Stadium in Stony Brook June 5. Game time is at high noon.