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Warriors

By Bill Landon

The Rocky Point Eagles went into the halftime break protecting a one-point lead in a home game against Comsewogue, trailed by two at the end of three quarters of play but were able to rally in the final eight minutes, to win the game 62-52 in the League IV matchup Jan. 25.

Rocky Point junior Casmere Morrow was the spark for the Eagles hitting a pair of 3-pointers, six field goals and eight from the charity stripe for 26 points, and senior Liam Conlan banked 17. 

Chris Beverly netted 15 points for the Warriors, Joey Santoro notched 12 points and Dale Allison added 11.

The win lifted the Eagles to 5-6 in league while the loss dropped the Warriors to 4-6.

Comsewogue senior Hayden Morris Gray drives the lane in a league IV home game against West Babylon Jan 22. Bill Landon photo

It was a battle right to the final buzzer at Comsewogue high school when the Warriors hosted West Babylon in a game separated by less than three points in the final minutes of play. 

Comsewogue trailed by one with :05.3 seconds left in regulation, but the clock wouldn’t wait as the Warriors fell 59-57 in the league IV matchup Jan. 22. 

Senior Hayden Morris Gray topped the scoring chart for Comsewogue draining 5 treys a field goal and a free throw for 18 points. 

Colin Strohm had 3 triples and a pair of field goals for 13 and teammate Matt Walsh banked 11. The loss drops the Warriors to 3-5 in league 7-6 overall.

Photos by Bill Landon 

 

The Eagles of Rocky Point faced a formidable Comsewogue squad in the opening week of League IV bowling action at Port Jeff Bowl Jan 14. Despite falling to the Warriors 29.5 — 3.5, Eagles head coach Anthony Vertuccio, who fields a young roster, said a bright spot on the day was senior Sean Vogel. Sean has tremendous potential this season but was also impressed by his 8th grader along with three 10th graders.

Comsewogue retakes the lanes Jan 21 on the road against Middle Country at AMF Centereach Lanes at 3:30 p.m.

The Eagles were back in action Jan. 19 where they hit the road against East Hampton at The All Star lanes in Riverhead. Results were not available as of press time.

Above photo of Comsewogue junior Steven Orland; bottom photo of Comsewogue senior Joshua Rivera.

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Comsewogue’s football team was relentless in a game at home against Hauppauge Sept. 21, scoring early and not letting up. While the Eagles put in a touchdown in the second quarter and two more in the third, the Warriors kept a consistent tally all the way through the game to finally end it 47-20.

Senior Anthony Cambria had seven receptions, breaking a Long Island record 318 yards, along withfour touchdowns for Comsewogue. Cambria broke the record of 309 set last year by Oceanside’s Jake Lazzaro.

Brady Shannon, a sophomore completed 12 of 16 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns for the Warriors. Senior Jaden Martinez had 12 carries for 207 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He opened the scoring with an 88-yard touchdown run in the first. Junior Ryan Minaugh made six tackles, including one sack, for the Warriors.

The win puts Comsewogue 1-1 in league, and the team is set to retake the field against Harborfields Sept. 28. Game time is 1:30 p.m.

All photos by Rudy Gray

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Comsewogue’s girls soccer team scored in first 10 minutes into the second half, but the Warrior’s lead proved short-lived Sept. 16. The West Islip Lions answered back with a pair of goal two minutes apart and tacked on an insurance goal late in the final period. With the loss the Warriors slip to 1-3 in the early season.

The Warriors will look to put another game in the win column when they travel to Half Hollow Hills East Sept. 20. Game time is set for 4 p.m.

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Comsewogue junior Kayla Goncalves takes a pitch at the plate against visiting West Islip April 16. Photo by Bill Landon

Comsewogue’s girls softball team stayed within striking distance through six innings of play, trailing West Islip by one run through the first five. But the Lions’ bats came alive in the top of the 7th, scoring four unanswered runs to put the game away 8-2. The Warriors scored both of their runs in the bottom of the first but struggled offensively the rest of the way in a League III matchup at home April 16.

The loss drops the Warriors to 2-5 in the league and 2-6 overall at the midway point of the season, with ten games remaining before post-season play begins. Comsewogue is back in action April 23 when they’ll take their bats on the road to face Huntington at 11 a.m.

By Bill Landon

Near the close of the regular season, Comsewogue’s boys basketball team was already secure in the post-season berth being 8-7 in league, but they needed a win at home for a higher seed in the playoff brackets. They got that victory handily against Huntington, notching a 72-44 win on senior night Feb. 7.

Comsewogue junior forward Jaden Martinez led the Warriors in scoring with six field goals, a triple and two from the free throw line for a total of 17 points. In addition, Martinez was just as effective under the boards as he ended the game with 17 rebounds. Junior Mike McGuire followed up with four triples and three from the charity stripe for 15 points while senior guard Devin Rooney netted 11 and junior Nick Stiles banked 10.

Juniors Daniel Danziger and Lex Colato topped the scoring chart for Blue Devils with 15 and 12 respectively while freshman Max Rentsch followed up by netting 11. This game conclude their season at 2-15 in league.

With the win Comsewogue improves to 9-7 in league which makes them the 16th seed
in class AA and will face Longwood, the No. one seed, Feb. 13 at Longwood High School in the opening round of the playoffs. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m.

By Bill Landon

The Comsewogue Warriors girls basketball team came out strong for the first three quarters Jan. 31, but visiting Smithtown East Bulls put their foot on the gas in the final 8 minutes of play outscoring Comsewogue, 19 to 13, to snatch a 40-33 victory.

Smithtown East junior Brianna Durland led the Bulls in scoring with 12 points. She was followed by junior Katie Bigliani and sophomore Katie Illari who banked seven each.

On the Comsewogue side, sophomores Samantha Andresen, Annalise Russo and eighth-grader Danielle McGuire all notched seven points apiece.

With the win, Smithtown East improves to 6-7 in league with three games remaining before the postseason. The Bulls are set to take on the undefeated North Babylon Feb. 5 at 5:45 p.m.

The loss drops Comsewogue to 3-10 in league with three games remaining in the regular season, the last game of which is on the road against Huntington Feb. 7. Tipoff is at 5:45 p.m.

By Bill Landon

Centereach trailed Comsewogue’s boys basketball team from the opening tip off and closed within 4 points late in the game, but the Warriors defense was up to the task, holding off the late surging Cougars for a 71-65 victory on the road Jan. 17. 

Comsewogue junior Michael McGuire seemingly couldn’t miss from long range as the young man nailed seven triples and a free throw for a team high of 22 points. Teammate Milan Johnson netted a pair of treys, 4 field goals and 4 from the line putting up a total of 18; and teammate Liam Gray tacked on 17. Centereach junior forward Matt Robbert topped the scoring chart for the Cougars throwing down 9 field goals and netting 4 from the line.

With their third win in a row, Comsewogue improves to 5-3 in league and 7-5 overall. The Warriors continued their road tour against Deer Park Jan. 21 and were back on their home turf Jan. 23 hosting Bellport at 5:45 p.m. With the loss, Centereach dropped to 4-5 in league 7-5 overall, and were back in action at home Jan. 23.

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Port Jefferson Superintendent Paul Casciano addresses the Class of 2018 during graduation June 22. File photo by Alex Petroski

Port Jefferson School District has a lot on its plate, and whoever ends up sitting in the captain’s chair is going to need a strong character to deal with it all.

In August Paul Casciano, the district’s current superintendent, announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2018-19 school year. By July 1, 2019, a new superintendent will have to fill the position.

“The most important decision a school board makes is who they hire as a superintendent, because that’s basically your CEO,” Casciano said. 

While the board still has to interview candidates in January and February of next year, come May 2019, board President Kathleen Brennan said she expects the board will make its final choice.

“Different people interact with the superintendent differently.”

—Kathleen Brennan

In the meantime, the Port Jefferson school board is looking for community feedback on what they would most like from a superintendent. Working with Eastern Suffolk BOCES, the board released an online survey to community members asking them to judge what best qualities they wanted from the head of their school district. Some of the questions ask residents to rate how important a prospective superintendent’s knowledge of finance and business is or how important is their background in education.

While a superhuman superintendent would exhibit five stars in all these qualities, Brennan said the questions are there to gauge how important one quality is compared to another. She added people who work in education might place a greater emphasis on the new superintendent’s educational knowledge versus a local business owner placing more significance on the financial health of the district.

“Different people interact with the superintendent differently,” Brennan said.

A superintendent makes the day-to-day decisions for the entire school district, often trying to keep to the vision of the school board, including spending, staffing, facilities and school programs. 

However, the next superintendent of Port Jeff will have to find ways to handle the situation involving the local National Grid-owned power plant. LIPA has alleged the plants in both Port Jefferson and Northport have been overassessed in its payment of millions of dollars in annual property taxes, though Dec. 14 the Town of Brookhaven announced it had reached a settlement with LIPA, promising to reduce the Port Jeff plant’s assessments by around 50 percent over nine years.

The fallout of whatever ends up happening with LIPA has the possibility of directly impacting residents property taxes as well as school funding. Casciano said it will be important in the future to make sure the fallout of LIPA does not fall too much on either the district’s head or on residents.

“The next superintendent is going to need to take a balanced approach,” Casciano said. “We don’t just represent the residents who have children, it affects their taxes and we’re cognizant of that. … On the other hand, our core mission is teaching and learning — our real clients are children — we can’t turn our back on that and call ourselves educators.”

The Port Jeff school district is of much smaller size compared to neighboring districts, though the current superintendent said they enjoy small class sizes and specialized programs. Should a final LIPA decision impact the district negatively, the next superintendent would have to make hard choices on which specialized education programs to prioritize if the economic situation gets any more complicated.

Based on that looming potential crisis, Casciano said a new superintendent is going to need a strong backbone.

“No matter which way you go, you never satisfy everyone with a decision,” he said. “When it comes to schools which has taxes and kids involved with it, there is a lot greater passion attached to those voices.”

“No matter which way you go, you never satisfy everyone with a decision.”

—Paul Casciano

Brennan said she expects the incoming superintendent should use the current district administration, which has been cultivated to provide a good support structure to whoever steps into the position.

“We’re not overstaffed administratively, by any means,” the board president said. 

Casciano said while he expects a new superintendent to bring their own ideas and creative solutions to problems, he doesn’t expect them to overhaul on current staff.

“It’s a successful school district, and to come in and think there’s major changes to be made says you don’t really know the district,” he said.

The school board will be hosting a public meeting Jan 3. with Julie Davis Lutz, COO of Eastern Suffolk BOCES, to allow residents to express their thoughts on the necessary skills for the next superintendent. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.