Authors Posts by Steven Zaitz

Steven Zaitz

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The Northport Lady Tiger field hockey team members are the Suffolk County Class A Champions for the third year in a row.  

They beat the Ward Melville Patriots, 5-1, on Saturday at neutral site Newfield High School in Selden. It was the third time Northport has beaten Ward Melville to win the County Crown.  

Superstar Olivia McKenna scored four goals, and her twin sister Natalie McKenna made eight saves to lead the Northport, who will play for the Long Island championship against Massapequa on Nov. 2 against Massapequa in a rematch of the 2021 L.I.C. 

Charley Mason scored for the Patriots, who finished the season, 17-2 with both losses coming at the hands of Northport. The Lady Tigers remain undefeated in 2022 and have won 51 straight games, dating back to March 2021.

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This past week, the Northport High School football team showed the world that their credo — Class, Commitment, and Character — isn’t just a trio of noble-sounding words.

They embodied it.

Two Saturdays ago, the Tigers not only lost a game to top-ranked Bellport and a share of first place in Suffolk County Division II, but also the services of their all-star quarterback, linebacker, and field general on both sides of the ball, senior Owen Johansen. He is out for the season with a broken ankle.

Johansen was injured early in the game against the Clippers when their star player, Donte Phillips, ripped Johansen down by his facemask and the Northport quarterback got his ankle rolled over and broken by Phillips, who never let go of the mask throughout the course of the play. It was an over-the-top, dirty tackle. 

Phillips was called for unnecessary roughness, and Bellport lost 15 yards. But Northport lost its heart, soul and leader as Johansen’s brilliant high school football career was now over.

As the misery of that Saturday afternoon faded into the next week, there was not a single member of the Tiger football family that outwardly expressed any malice towards Phillips or Bellport.  There was no complaint filed with Section XI about the flagrancy of the foul or the severity of the injury. Instead, there was a lot of talk of ‘it’s football, injuries happen, and we have to move on.’

That’s class — and it starts from the top.

“Owen is a fantastic football player,” said Northport Head Coach Pat Campbell. “He’s a phenomenal quarterback, probably one of the best defensive players I have ever coached, and he’s a great teammate and leader. It [stinks] that he got hurt, but it’s a team game. Guys are going to have to step up.”

Senior Macklin O’Brien took over as quarterback in Bellport and showed flashes of competence. He directed a long, first-half drive that he finished himself with a 14-yard touchdown scramble. But the Tigers would lose, 21-7, and next up on their schedule on Oct. 22 were the always powerful and well-coached West Islip Lions, who like the Tigers have a record of 4-2.

“Mack has been taking snaps with the first team in practice since August and he works his butt off,” Campbell said. “Nobody on the outside has really ever gotten the chance to see it, but everybody in our locker room knows that he’s a great quarterback.”

It was now time for O’Brien to prove it in a game against a quality opponent.

He would start the day spectacularly, engineering a 75-yard touchdown drive that included two nice throws and an off-schedule scramble for 15 yards that was reminiscent of his fallen friend and teammate Johansen.

“I’ve been working hard in practice behind Owen all year,” said O’Brien. “It’s just my nature to compete and try hard for my teammates and myself. I thought I played okay today, but now I just have to get better.”

Christian Raio would finish the drive with a four-yard touchdown run on his only carry of the day, and Northport would lead 7-0 with six minutes left in the first quarter and would take 7-6 lead into halftime. Johansen was on the Tiger sideline in a boot and waved his crutches around whenever the Tigers and O’Brien did well. In turn, the team wore a #8 decal on their helmets, Johansen’s number, to honor him. This is Tiger class now blended with a commitment to one another.

Lest we forget, the West Islip football program is as successful as there is on Long Island. They are also mixed up in this Conference II dogfight and needed this game just as much as Northport.

To start the second half, they ripped off a 16 play, 85-yard drive for a touchdown. Bruising running back Chris Piropato had 29 of those 85 yards, and he capped it off with a two-yard blast up the middle. West Islip took the lead for the first time, burning most of the third quarter and wresting momentum in doing so.

On Senior Day for Northport, the stands were packed, the state champion field hockey team had won a playoff game earlier in the day, and the 300-piece marching band, sounded like it was 600 during their halftime performance. But the stadium was now stunned into silence.

With a Tiger loss, West Islip would leapfrog Northport and at 4-3, the Tigers would be scrambling just to make the playoffs with only a road game against West Babylon left on its schedule.  The Tigers would need to answer.

Tiger running back Michael Campoli would do just that. He ran off right tackle and followed a devastating lead block from fullback/linebacker Thomas Kraus. Fifty-seven yards later and 57 seconds after they lost the lead, Campoli gave it right back to them. It was now 14-13 Northport.

“I just try to help the team any way I can,” said the junior Campoli, who also contributes on defense and special team. “Kraus made a great block, and I saw a lot of green in front of me. He was the reason I scored on the play.”

“Lead blocking is always a fun time for me,” Kraus said. “I had a feeling we were going to get Campoli in the end zone on that play and we did.”

Michael Raio would get in the end zone again for the Tigers from four yards out with 5:29 left in the game. The senior halfback electrified the crowd with a 28-yard run and two plays later, would close the deal and give Northport a 20-13 lead. The party was on.

It was Raio’s third rushing TD of the year and after the Tigers got the ball back on downs, was looking for his fourth with the ball deep in West Islip territory.  He ran behind Tiger tight end Andrew Miller and had enough yardage for a first down to seal the win. But linebacker Jordan Fileti got a desperation right hand on the ball as Raio ran by him. Lion Safety Dan Klein fell on it at the West Islip 10-yard line and down by only seven points, the Lions had new life in a now dead-silent stadium.

“I was sick to my stomach when I lost that ball,” Raio said, “One guy (Fileti) grabbed my arm as he was falling, and it came out. I should have had both hands on it.”

All Raio could do now was watch and root for his teammates on defense, as West Islip was 90 yards from tying the game with 2:15 remaining. 

They would get a huge chunk of that 90 when Lion quarterback Patrick Keenan ran for 17 yards to start the drive and things started to get dicey for Northport. The Lions had all their timeouts remaining.

But Northport defensive lineman Justin Macke sacked Keenan on the next play and Tim Cleary, who is the de facto leader of the Tiger defense in Johansen’s absence, ended the threat with a leaping interception at the Tiger five-yard line. The Tigers had themselves an exhilarating and perhaps season-saving win, and they celebrated like it.

“That was a statement game,” said the senior linebacker Cleary, who had 13 tackles on the day. “We made some adjustments in the second half on defense, and we stopped them when we needed to.”

So, in the first game in the post-Johansen era, the Tigers rolled up 256 yards of offense, overcame a second half deficit — however brief — and withstood a late charge after a costly turnover to gut out a victory in a very important game.

This was a character win in the truest sense, and it was a great time for all three of Northport football’s principles to not just exist as painted words on a locker room wall, but really have them come to life.

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The team and their coaches, above, hold the New York State 9-11 Year Old Softball Champions banner at a recent practice. Photo by Steven Zaitz

In what could be a boon to both the St. James/Smithtown Little League and the Town of Smithtown, the New York State Softball Championship Tournament will be held here in July of 2023 and possibly beyond. 

Richard Tomitz, president of SJSLL, and Peter Russo, vice president, have been working closely with New York State little league officials, Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R)  and Little League District 35 (Western Suffolk) President Bill Sukow to make this possible.   

Girls in the 10 and Under, 11 and Under, and 12 and Under divisions will battle for NY state supremacy, and the games will be held at newly renovated facilities at Gaynor Park and Veterans Memorial Park, which are both in St. James, and Brady Park, which is in Smithtown.  

Tomitz and Russo, whose daughters Nadia and Isabella were on the winning 11 and Under team in 2022, are both excited to have this event come to town. It had been played in Rochester for the past several years. 

“This is a huge opportunity for Smithtown and our league to showcase where we live and our new fields,“ Tomitz said. “We plan to make it a great family weekend experience for not just the kids, but the adults, too, and I think it will be very beneficial for local businesses.” 

SJSLL is renowned for its gala opening and closing parades and ceremonies every spring,  and now that the deal has been signed off, Tomitz and the SJSLL board of directors will begin planning logistics, game schedules and events. 

“We are going to have Movie Night in the outfield, a carnival with bouncy houses, face painting — the whole nine yards,” Tomitz said.

This is a developing story. Look for more details on tbrnewsmedia.com and in The Times of Smithtown.

 

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The Northport Lady Tiger volleyball team dunked Huntington on Senior Night last Friday.

It was a straight set affair — 25-22, 25-23, 25-10.

Northport wore pink and blue face paint and streaked their hair pink, as the junior varsity Tigers wore different-colored shirts emblazoned with photos of their favorite seniors. Blue and gold balloons were festooned throughout the gymnasium.

Seniors Kaileigh Baudier, Delaney Karpf, Casey Koenig, Lauren Salmon, Tomi Sandin and Victoria Sheluk were honored, and underclassman Ava Olsen kicked off the festivities with a stirring rendition of the National Anthem.

Northport players from other teams who wrapped up their practices or games, trickled into the gym to see the Lady Tigers improve to 9-3 as they remain in second place behind Smithtown West in League II. Huntington falls to 5-7.

Emma Watts had 10 kills for the Lady Tigers and Olsen 8. Salmon and Sheluck combined for 26 assists.

Northport has one more game left on its regular season schedule. It is home against Whitman on Thursday, Oct. 20. The playoffs will begin the week of Oct. 24 with the Lady Tigers likely beginning the tournament with a home match against an opponent that is yet to be determined.

Huntington is now finished with their regular season schedule and will start the playoffs on the road, possibly against crosstown rival Walt Whitman.

The Northport boys golf team’s wildly successful regular season campaign came to a close on Thursday, Oct. 13, at Indian Hills, as they trounced Smithtown West, 9-0, and in doing so, took a share of the League III title.

Sophomores Brodie Douglas and Jack Trizzino led the Tigers with 2-over 38s as the Tigers shot a season-low of 210 on this particular course, despite misty and windy conditions.

“We are playing well as a team,” said Head Coach Brian Sundberg. “I hope it carries over to the Counties.”

Douglas, paired with his brother and team captain Paddy, made a spectacular chip on the undulating and difficult third hole that landed a foot away from the cup. He tapped in for par, as most of his fellow golfers were taking fives, sixes and sevens on this hole.

“I think that hole helped me settle into the round,” Brodie said. “It was definitely a great par.”

“It feels amazing to be league champs,” Brodie added. “We have worked so hard for it as a team this year and the work has paid off.”