High School Sports

Ellie Connell in center. Photo courtesy Jim Connell

By Richard Acritelli

Ellie Connell is a 10th-grade student-athlete from Shoreham-Wading River High School who is always armed with a brilliant smile and a can-do attitude. In June, this three-sport varsity athlete earned an amazing accomplishment at the New York State Track and Field Championships in Middletown. 

Ellie Connell. Photo courtesy Jim Connell

For only her fifth time competing within the steeplechase event, Connell placed sixth in Class B and 16th overall in the state. Going into this event, she paid attention to the rival times and was only a few seconds behind the main runners. Running hard over the final 500 meters, Connell passed seven opposing girls to secure a 7:19.21 time, her new personal best. Being inexperienced at the sport, Connell is still learning the best way to land after conducting the water jump. Looking forward to next season, she is determined to lower her times below 7 minutes and would like to possibly train at her school on “steeping training hurdles” to better prepare for future races.

A humble, energetic athlete, Connell was one of the finest cross-country runners in Suffolk County. She was picked as a first-team, all-league division and county runner and plans to train this summer at the upstate running school camp. 

During the spring, Connell is a two-sport athlete and plays lacrosse as a fierce midfielder.

Always watching the growth of this special athlete is her long-time neighbor, Nancy Hancock, who marvels at the abilities of this young lady. Hancock has watched many of her own daughters running races at the high school and college level and she observes something unique in Connell. Hancock believes “no matter whether it be academics, athletics or any other activity, she always gives 110%. We have had the good fortune to have Ellie live across the street for over 10 years and she continues to impress us with her many accomplishments.”

Connell is a devoted student who has been placed on the principal’s list, holds a commanding 4.0 grade point average and enjoys taking Spanish, business and chemistry courses. When she is not earning outstanding grades, Connell is a member of the journalism, business, world language, mindfulness and students against destructive decisions clubs. 

Outside of school, Connell is a lifeguard for the Town of Riverhead beaches where she tends to the safety of local swimmers. She aspires to attend college in Hawaii or in the warmer weather of the south, where she would like to either run or play lacrosse. You can bet that Connell will shine as a capable student-athlete and will continue achieving her goals with a smile on her face. 

For more information visit the school website: www.swrschools.org

Football star from East Northport Preston Carey chooses the University of Georgia Bulldogs at gala media event in Oheka Castle

By Steven Zaitz

Preston Carey, a high school football star who grew up in East Northport, turned stately Oheka Castle into his own personal ‘Dawg Pound’, announcing his commitment to play for the University of Georgia this past Monday.

In a setting fit for a fairy tale, this press conference/red carpet celebration brought to a close the much publicized selection process, which led to over 50 Division I scholarship offers for Carey. These offers started coming to Carey as early as 2022 when he was just a freshman.

But now with half the crowd holding microphones and video equipment and the other half in black tie and ball gowns holding champagne, all were waiting breathlessly for his decision. The 6’5”, 305 pound defensive lineman sat at the dais inside the wood-paneled library of the historic 127-room estate in Huntington on June 30.  

As 300 of his friends and ex-teammates partied in an adjacent banquet hall, Carey’s family, along with a phalanx of media squeezed into the small room to witness Carey lift up one of four shiny silver cloches that were spread out on the table in front of him. His dad and youth football coach, Benjamin Carey, sat with him at the table, as the decision reveal was imminent.

Under those cloches were four baseball caps representing the University of Florida, Rutgers University, Auburn University and the University of Georgia. 

Along with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, the crowd in the library was treated to a brief video that highlighted his rise from a youth football player in the 495 Long Island Elite program that his father founded, to scenes of his exhaustive underwater workouts and grueling agility drills. 

The stylized video also showed clips of his games at St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington and his current school, the prestigious IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where he has blossomed into a 4-star college recruit. As the video faded to black, Preston thanked everyone for coming and his last words were ‘for the next few years I’ll be going to-’. 

The screen went dark.

The library now swelled with anticipation and the lights around the dais shimmered around Carey and his dad. All four hats were now uncovered and everyone in the room knew the time had come.  

Carey thanked everyone for coming, then stood and said, “I know why you are all here tonight – to find out where I’ll be going to college; it’s the University of Georgia. Go Dawgs!”

He pumped his fist a few times, put on the red and black Georgia hat that lay in front of him, and hugged his father as the room exploded with applause.

Benjamin Carey, who along with Half Hollow Hills West coach Gerald Filardi, runs the 495 Elite Football Academy, was brimming with pride for his son.

“It has been such a long journey and sometimes very difficult and this night was just bittersweet,” said Benjamin Carey, who is renowned for his ‘no participation trophies’ approach to football. “It was a celebration of winning. We overcame the odds and built something special and all these people here tonight are in some way part of it.”

Preston Carey started playing youth football around the age of five.  He started as a quarterback, but as he grew, switched over to lineman. His academic journey started at Fifth Avenue Elementary School in East Northport and went to Long Island Lutheran Middle School before joining the St. Anthony Friars as a freshman in 2022. He was 6’3” and 280 pounds as a ninth-grader and that year, he and his Friars won the Catholic League State championship over St. Francis Prep on Thanksgiving weekend in Buffalo, NY.

Soon after, college offers started to roll in. The first one was from LSU,then Western Illinois, and Penn State, Michigan and many other schools of this ilk over the past three years. In that time, Carey has grown not only in size and strength, but as a person, a student, a teammate and a man.

In an interview with Varsity Media, just moments after the announcement, he was already thinking about what he has to do next.

“This feels really good, but there is still a lot of work to be done and I’m excited to get back in the gym,” he said as waves of media and well-wishers brushed past him. “That’s why I’m where I am today.”

Carey will play for IMG Academy for one more season and matriculate to UGA, which is in the city of Athens and has produced household football names such as Fran Tarkenton, Herschel Walker, Matthew Stafford, Roquan Smith and Richard Seymour. Seymour was a dominant defensive lineman for the Patriots in the early 2000s, winning three Super Bowls. D-Liners Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis both of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Devonte Wyatt, a Green Bay Packer, are also UGA Alum.

“Georgia is ‘Defensive Line University,” Carey said. “They came up to see me as a freshman when I couldn’t make it down there. They have shown me love since they offered me a scholarship when I was in eighth grade and have always believed in my talent, all the way up to now.”

So now, the castle portion of Preston Carey’s fairy tale is complete. However, his dream of being a Bulldog, and playing on one of college football’s biggest stages, and perhaps beyond, has just begun.

By Bill Landon

Having finished the regular season atop the league VI leaderboard at 17-2, the Miller Place Panthers returned to familiar territory, landing in the post season as the No. 1 seed in the Suffolk County Class A playoff bracket. 

A year ago, Miller Place battled their way to the New York State Class A championship but fell in the final round to claim the runner up position. The Panthers, a young team that lost no seniors to graduation last season, returned determined to capture the NYS championship title.

That road began with a shutout win to Islip in the quarterfinal round, then defeating Bayport Blue Point in the semifinal round. Followed by a victory over Kings Park for the county title, they punched  their ticket to the Long Island Championship round where they blanked Mineola 3-0.

Miller Place advanced to the southeast regional final against Marlboro Central, the very team the Panthers lost to in last years’ final round. Avenging their previous loss, they charted a 6-5 victory on June 6. Finally, the  state semifinal round at Greenlight Networks Grand Slam Park in Binghamton took place on June 13, where they would face section IV champion Maine-Endwell. 

Miller Place did not allow a single run in their march to the championship title, blanking Maine-Endwell 4-0 then Williamsville South the section VI champion 3-0, capturing the very first NYS championship title in Panther history.

The Panthers triumphantly returned to the High School Saturday night to a hero’s welcome when they were met by the Miller Place community, well-wishers and fellow students. 

Photos by Bill Landon

The first-place winning photo by Steven Zaitz at the Press Club of Long Island Awards.

By TBR staff

TBR News Media won its first two Press Club of Long Island awards in the history of the organization on June 5, as photographer and sportswriter Steven Zaitz won both first and second place for Best Sports Photography.

Steven Zaitz at the Press Club of Long Island awards ceremony. Photo courtesy Steven Zaitz

Competing with Long Island multimedia behemoth and 10th largest paper in the U.S., Newsday, Zaitz’s two photos, named “Laxing Gravity” and “Loose Ball Blues”, took gold and silver in the category. A winner of 15 New York Press Association awards, 13 for photography and two for Sportswriter of the Year since 2020, Zaitz was ecstatic to have been able to not only win against the stiff competition, but win twice.

“I was shocked because Newsday has so many talented photographers and their high school sports coverage is so good and voluminous,” Zaitz said. “Plus, there are so many quality papers and photographers in addition to Newsday that win consistently at NYPA, so I’m honored to have won both of these prizes. I am also thrilled for our organization and hope that this is just the first two of many for TBR News Media.”

The contest was judged by the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists and took place at The Fox Hollow country club in Woodbury. Many recognizable Long Island media stars were on hand, as Antoinette Biordi and Shari Einhorn, both of News12 Long Island, hosted and took turns calling out the winners. National baseball writer and Newsday-based David Lennon won first place for Best Sport Feature about a Hofstra alumna and professional baseball umpire Jen Pawol, and Newsday TV reporter Virginia Huie won nine awards in total, including top prize for the prestigious Video Reporter of the Year award.

John Hildebrand, senior education writer for Newsday; Ellen Mitchell, a reporter for WCBS Newsradio; and Timothy Bolger, the editor-in-chief of both the Long Island Press and Dan’s Papers, were inducted into the Long Island Journalism Hall of Fame during this year’s ceremony.

The second-place winning photo by Steven Zaitz at the Press Club of Long Island Awards.

Held since 1982, the PCLI awards ceremony has recognized excellence in Long Island journalism for over 40 years and they hand out several scholarships to high school content creators. The Stony Brook Statesman won gold for Best College Newspaper and The Stony Brook Press won top prize for Best Magazine — an award that is open to all Long Island publications, professional as well as student-run entities. Overall, Stony Brook University won 17 PCLI awards.

Zaitz’s top two photos ran on the front page of The Times of Huntington on April 18, 2024, and Feb. 8, 2024 respectively. Laxing Gravity depicts Northport High School boys lacrosse player Logan Cash lifted out of the air and sandwiched belligerently by two opposing Ward Melville High School players. Loose Ball Blues was taken at the Commack High School gym during the fourth quarter of an intense boys basketball game. Evan Kay of Commack, currently a pitcher on the Stony Brook University baseball team, and Northport’s Brendan Fenlon, who starred for the Tigers hoops and volleyball teams, are at each other’s throats to corral a loose ball. The judges commented only on Zaitz’s first-place winner:

“In an extremely competitive category, the winner had it all: artful composition, color, and focus, resulting in a photo that captured the movement and physical, as well as sporting and visual impact of the moment.”

Zaitz’s approach has stayed consistent over his career, always searching for angles that offer a fresh perspective.

“My process during a game shoot is to look for a vantage point that is not often seen,” said Zaitz, who has been a freelancer for TBR for five years. “I make educated guesses on where I think the highest drama is likely to take place and I am constantly moving around, searching for the best light, or background, or emotion.”

TBR News Media Publisher and Editor in Chief Leah S. Dunaief is proud that the paper now has Long Island recognition to go along with its long history of success at the New York State level.

“Steven Zaitz makes us proud to feature his photography, both for its action and professionalism,” Dunaief said. “He not only captures the right moment but also the human striving that makes his pictures glow.”

Jillian Scully with Bill Hiney (left) and Miller Place head track coach Brian Manghan (right) at Comsewogue High School after she set a discus record with a throw of 184 feet and 2 inches. Photo courtesy Despina Scully

By Daniel Dunaief

At competitions in which she sets new marks for excellence, Jillian Scully surpasses everything but her own expectations.

In the last few weeks of her senior year of high school in Miller Place, Scully, 18, has bested the previous state record for throws in the discus, which held for 33 years, no fewer than three times, and hopes to do so again in her few remaining meets.

On June 5 at Comsewogue High School in the state qualifiers, Scully defied gravity and distance yet again, propelling the discus 10 feet further than her record-shattering throw from just a few weeks earlier. Scully now owns the top three longest throws in the state and has the current top rank in the country in high school discus.

Bill Hiney, who has been working with Scully for four years, recognized that her effort last week had the potential to set another record “as soon as I saw the height and as soon as I saw how fast it came out of her hand.”

Indeed, Hiney shot his arms up in the air while officials scampered to measure the distance.

Officials were “running backwards to put the mark down,” said Hiney, who is the Assistant Track and Field Coach during the winter and spring season at Southold High School.

“I’m thinking, ‘Oh, this is big,’” Hiney said. Hiney yelled to make sure they used steel rather than cloth tape to ensure that they captured the distance accurately. “Steel tape will give you a straighter line.”

So, what does someone who has set a new state record that had stood for over three decades and then reset it twice in the following few weeks do?

Goes back to practicing, as she spent the first weekend after throwing the eighth furthest American high school throw in history working with Hiney.

“I love throwing,” said Scully. “It’s something I excel at. Everyone is so nice. It’s helped me so much to become the person I am.”

An emotional hurdle

Indeed, track and field and, in particular, the discus and the shot put has helped her overcome a generalized anxiety disorder that she’s battled since she was five years old.

“I’ve had difficulty socializing,” said Scully, who recalled the early years when she “kept to myself and was nervous to speak to people or meet new people.”

Scully suggested that her struggles with anxiety peaked during Covid, which added to her desire to self isolate and remove herself from some of her friendships.

Competing in track helped her emerge from a self-imposed social shell.

While larger groups gathered to speak with each other before relays or other events, throwers like Scully were often on their own.

“I thought, ‘Alright, I’m not going to sit in a corner and get on my phone. I’m going to get to know people.’ Throwers are very welcoming and friendly,” she said.

In the past year, Scully has probably only had one moment when she felt her anxiety climb to a level that might affect her performance.

“Once you find peace in yourself and you’re comfortable with who you are, your anxiety practically disintegrates,” she said.

Scully, who plans to join the track team at LSU this fall, is open to new experiences, new food and new opportunities.

When she sees people who are anxious and struggling, she goes up to them to offer encouragement and support.

“With throwers, everyone is checking on each other,” said Scully.

Support system

In addition to her parents James and Despina “Debbie” Scully, Jillian receives ongoing support from her maternal grandparents Helen and Emerson Vidal, who live a few doors away.

Every time she runs over to her support system after she sets a new personal record, which these days is also a state record, Scully receives different types of positive responses from her family members.

Her father, mother, and grandmother are the hugger, kisser and cryer, respectively.

“Dad won’t stop smiling,” Scully said.

Scully has three more competitions in which she can continue to surpass her high school record-breaking throws.

This coming weekend, she is participating in the state finals, while she also has under-20s and nationals.

Scully has set her sights on the US high school record of over 198 feet.

In practice, she’s thrown in the 190s and believes she might be able to hit that target before ending her high school career.

“After she blows us away with a throw, it takes a while to sink in,” said Debbie Scully. “Then, by the next day, it’s, ‘Okay, what’s next?’”

While college awaits in a few months, Scully’s support system recognizes she could represent the country at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028.

“We don’t put the pressure of the Olympics on her,” said James Scully. “We think about it and are excited about it, but we don’t want her to feel that we’re putting that on her. The next step is college and we’ll see where it goes.”

Everything Scully has done to this point has been amazing” and where she goes next is up to her, he added.

Andy Kokhanovsky, the throwing coach at LSU, has been tracking his future team member’s work and is pleased with her progress.

“She is doing a very, very good job,” said Kokhanovsky. “She’s very gifted. Her family did a great job raising her well. She works very hard and will achieve whatever she wants to achieve.”

Kokhanovsky is looking forward to working with Scully, who plans to major in engineering, on the throwing team. He suggested that she doesn’t have competition right now in the state, as she is outdistancing other competitors by as much as 50 feet or more.

“She’s very talented,” he added. “We want to have people like this.”

He believes her high level of organization will ensure a smooth transition to college. He’s encouraged to see this Long Island athlete sporting a cowboy hat in some of her social media posts, as she transitions to life in Louisiana.

Kokhanovsky, who competed in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, suggested that the athletes who participated in the sport do it for passion and pride, as the work opens doors to other opportunities

Jillian Scully, at a glance

• Number of times she’s broken the 

  state discus record: 3

• Number of remaining competitions: 3

• National High School Discus Rank: 1

• Rank for furthest high school discus

  throw: 8

• Age: 18

• Height: 6’1”

• Weight: 185

• College choice: LSU

• Favorite food: blackened chicken 

  with rice

• Favorite book: “Hidden Pictures” 

  by Jason Rekulak

• Favorite saying: Help yourself

• Favorite indulgence: Trolli gummy   

  worms

• Favorite color: Burgundy

 

By Bill Landon

The Miller Place Panthers softball team made it look easy with a 3-0 shutout win over Nassau champion Mineola at Farmingdale State College to capture their second consecutive Long Island Class A championship on June 5.

Whether it was Breya Kesler’s two-out double to drive in two runs in the top of the third or Sadie Bryant’s RBI in the top of the sixth, the Panthers executed both on the field and behind the plate to hold Mineola scoreless. Pitching ace Ave Zicchinelli allowed just one hit. 

Zicchinelli, a senior, fanned eight batters to propel the Panthers for the second year in a row to the New York State regional final against Marlboro Central (section IX), on Sunday June 8 at the Martha Ave sports complex in Bellport. The win advanced the Panthers to the semi-final round on Tuesday where they made short work of Bayport-Blue Point with a 7-1 victory behind another stellar performance from Zicchinelli, who pitched a no hitter and fanned 13 batters.

The win propels the Panthers to the Suffolk Class A championship game on June 14 where they will face either Kings Park or a Bayport-Blue Point. First pitch is slated for 10:00 a.m.

–Photos by Bill Landon

By  Steven Zaitz

The Smithtown West girls lacrosse team won its first Suffolk County Class B championship in program history on May 31, beating Harborfields 12-9.

In  the entire slate of final games hosted  at home by Smithtown West High School, senior Kate Theofield scored five goals to lead the top-seeded Bulls, who burst out to 4-0 lead within the first seven minutes of the game.  Theofield had the first three of these and sophomore attacker Kaitlyn Mennella added another. 

Despite the early hole, the third-seeded Tornados did not let this one spin out of control.

Freshman midfielder Nora Ruddy took advantage of a free position opportunity and got Harborfields on the board with four minutes left in the opening quarter. 

Two Harborfields goals apiece by freshman Jamie Medico and senior Bella Monteleone made the score 6-5 in favor of West with a little more than four minutes remaining in the half.  At the break, Harborfields had made this title game a competitive one.

With Smithtown West leading 7-6 midway through the third quarter, Harborfields Goalkeeper Olivia Eusanio robbed Vanessa Pollina from directly in front of the goal mouth and  again on a free position shot, keeping the Tornado deficit at a skinny goal and giving the team in green from Greenlawn possession of the ball. 

But after some sloppy play, West goalkeeper Maribella Marciano picked up a ground ball behind her net and started a breakout. Kaitlyn Mennella’s sister, junior Ashley Mennella, finished it with her second goal of the game. Kaitlyn would score less than a minute later to make it 9-6 with 4:05 remaining in the third period. But Smithtown West, especially  Theofield, was not done.

She scored two goals to close out the quarter, one via free position and the other off a nifty diagonal pass from Ashely Mennella. The pair of third period tallies were Theofield’s fourth and fifth of the game, made the score 11-6, and effectively sealed the game – and the Suffolk crown – for the Bulls. After her fifth goal, she leaped high in the air behind the net and let out a joyful, primal scream, stoked that she put her team up by five.

Smithtown West (16-2), after losing in this Suffolk title game the previous in 2023 and 2024, finally knocked down the county’s championship door. They played Garden City (17-2), Nassau’s Class B champion on Tuesday, June 3 for the Long Island Championship at Adelphi University, which just so happens to be in Garden City.

Ruddy and Medico scored three goals apiece for Harborfields, who failed to make the playoffs in 2024, before reaching the finals. They finish the year at 11-7.

–Photos By Steven Zaitz

By Steven Zaitz

The hunt for a title is over. Huntington Union Free School District senior Jenna Italiano capped off a thrilling 8-7 sudden-death overtime win for the girls lacrosse team, defeating the defending champion Ward Melville High School Patriots. The win on May 31 gave the Lady Blue Devils their first Suffolk County crown in 30 years.

In a back-and-forth game under extremely windy conditions, Ward Melville raced out to a 3-1 lead when they scored a trio of goals in a 92-second span in the middle of the first quarter. But Huntington senior midfielder, and Italiano’s teammate on the Blue Devils basketball team, Sabrina Boyle beat the shot clock for a goal to close out the quarter and tighten the score at 3-2. Boyle cut from the far-right sideline across the field, ducked and spun away from multiple Patriots defenders and put the ball past Ward Melville freshman goalkeeper Sydney Millett as Boyle was being knocked to the ground.

The next three quarters would be a similar trade of haymakers.

Attacker Grace Gordon and Boyle would score early in the second quarter to flip the lead back to Huntington 4-3. This pair of markers for the Blue Devils represented the third lead change of the game. 

There would be more lead changes to come. 

Patriots defender Nori Korzenko created a turnover and flung a pass to midfielder Mia Modica racing through the center. On the dead run, Modica threw it to senior field hockey and lacrosse star Olivia Zummo at the right goal post. Zummo centered a pass across the circle to Nicole Manolakes. Manolakes, only in the eighth grade, whipped it past Huntington goalkeeper Juliet Johnson to tie the score at 5 with 5:18 left in the third quarter.

Patriots attacker Keira Pirozzi was checked in the head with 3:41 left in the period and scored the second free-position goal of the game to give Ward Melville a 6-5 lead. It would stay that way until 6:20 remained in the game when junior Gordon tied it at 6 for Huntington after she was fouled.

Aliya Leonard did the same for Ward Melville with 1:43 remaining, tying the game at 7 with a free-position goal. It was Leonard’s third goal of the game and it would be the last goal of regulation for either side.

Boyle, who injured her leg and briefly left the game in the first half, was quiet for a long stretch of the game thereafter. Ward Melville employed the defensive tactic known as the face guard on her, which puts a defender never more than a few inches away, stick waving in her face. 

This did not prevent Boyle from creating defense of her own — defense that would lead to the final scoring attack of the game.

After a timeout in the overtime session, Boyle intercepted a long, diagonal and ill-advised pass by Ward Melville defender Quinlan Heilbron and was then fouled by Pirozzi along the left sideline.

Pirozzi was sent off because she whacked Boyle around the head area, and when play resumed, Boyle lofted a cross-field pass to senior Devon St. John, who raced to her right about 20 yards away from the net. St. John spotted Italiano curling in front and snapped a perfect pass to her. Italiano caught the ball and, after a few quick dodges to her right, whistled it past Millett for the golden, game-winning, championship-clinching goal and an 8-7 win for Huntington. It was Italiano’s first shot attempt of the afternoon.

The Lady Blue Devils, who last won a county title in 1995, played Massapequa High School on Tuesday, June 3, at Adelphi University in Garden City. Huntington beat Northport High School in overtime on May 29 in the semifinal game, and in beating Ward Melville in the finals, the Blue Devils defeated the last two Suffolk County champions from 2023 and 2024. Massapequa has won the past two Long Island Class A championships.

— Photos by Steven Zaitz

The Rocky Point Unified Basketball team. Photo courtesy Richard V. Acritelli

By Richard V. Acritelli 

Smiles, hustling and hard work are the best ways to describe what Rocky Point High School teacher Jessica Gentile has experienced and how she is motivated in her classes. In the transitional support skills course, Gentile and her devoted aides and students carry out an incredibly busy schedule.

Many of these students are almost finished with their second Unified Basketball season that began in late spring. The Unified Basketball team includes athletes with and without disabilities. With an eight-game schedule that features four games at home and four away, the eight-player team and eighteen partners, who assist the players, work together dribbling up the court, shooting and playing defense. Last game alone, Nick Argentieri acted as the “secret weapon” for this squad, as he shot four 3-pointers against the most recent opponent. Bryanna Estevez is legally blind, and she is moved up and down the court by her partner and placed in front of the net, where she has scored many points to help her team during the heat of these games. 

Every game, fans intently observe the drive of these players to represent their school through the new seasons for unified athletics. Only within their second season, there is much jubilation on and off the court. Compared to last year’s slow start, they have already won three games, and they will complete their season this week.  There are many moving parts in the coordination of the team, uniforms, transportation, student partners and aides who contribute to the course. Gentile appreciates all the care that is provided to her athletes, and they enjoy hearing English teacher James Parker announce this unique competition. She is also thankful to athletic director Jonathan Rufa’s unyielding efforts toward her team and players, calling him “absolutely awesome.” 

Gentile stresses the need for comradery between the unified student-athletes and their partners. I Brennan Protosow, Kougar Buehler and Jackson Marte are partners in the program, and frequently visit their disabled teammates in the classroom as they are working on different tasks. Much of their conversation focuses on their upcoming games, basketball strategies and being together as a team. Rufa is excited about the future of unified athletics, and he observed, “Now in its second year under the dedicated leadership of coach Gentile, the Unified Basketball team stands as a testament to the profound impact of inclusion, teamwork and the continuous support of our town and school.” Gentile has had measurable help from teachers Danielle Sohngen and Andy Cooper and aides Deidre Carroll, Deanine DeRosa and Marlo Frascella-Iacona. 

Graduating from Rocky Point High School in 1979, Bob Szymanski held various management positions at Cablevision and is currently a permanent substitute teacher. He has watched every game this season with a big smile. He said, “It warms the heart to see the joy in the faces of the players when they make a basket. It is equally heartwarming to see the athletic students assisting the players, demonstrating wonderful patience in helping carry out this outstanding game.”

Not only playing hard during basketball games and bowling in the winter, outside of the athletic lines, this wonderful group serves the high school and middle school community through Rocky Perk. Over the last couple of years, Gentile and her helpers deliver cups of coffee, tea, lemonade, iced tea and Arnold Palmers. They most recently added gourmet tacos to their menu that are prepared by Gentile and students in the classroom. Gentile stresses the need to create these meals from scratch and has established a growing cookbook. At their last taco lunch, over 50 meals were served in the high school and middle school. There were chicken and veggie tacos, chips, salsa, buffalo chicken and red pepper and mozzarella pennies. On June 5 there will be a celebration for the supporters of the Unified Basketball team that will start off with raspberry crumb cake and chocolate chip muffins for breakfast and a taco lunch with all the trimmings.

Next year, Gentile will be working with the gym teachers for unified physical education, with the hopeful future sports of  top golf and volleyball. Some of the students will be attending the Chief Executive Officer Program, which offers real-life job experiences/skills in places like Walgreens, Ace Hardware and Outback Steakhouse. Through all these endeavors, Gentile and her future classes, helping staff and student partners are all looking to the future of all these amazing educational and athletic activities. Summing up the strength of these programs, which are guided by Gentile and her support staff, Rufa said,  “In just two years under coach Jessica Gentile’s guidance, our Unified Basketball team has grown into a family — where every basket, every cheer and every high five and fist-pound is a reminder of the power of necessary educational and athletic programs that make our school shine.”

For more information visit the school website: www.rockypointufsd.org

By Steven Zaitz

There has been quite a lot to cheer about at Ward Melville High School so far this school year.

Unless you live under a giant, three-cornered hat within the Three Village Central School District, you are probably at least somewhat aware of the ever-lengthening list of athletic achievements Patriots nation has cobbled together so far in 2024-2025.

A third straight New York State title in girls soccer, Long Island championships in both girls and boys volleyball, league titles in cross country, fencing, winter track, girls golf, along with the football team playing for a county chip at Stony Brook, are just some of the headliners for which the green and gold have hoisted up banners in the gym the past few months. With the spring playoffs underway, Ward Melville is looking to add to the list. 

Another team — the one that flips and shouts the loudest in support of their fellow champions — that also deserves three cheers for its own success is the Ward Melville cheerleading squad. 

Competing across multiple seasons and disciplines, the cheerleading team has earned as much fame and glory as any of these green and gold greats. They have won the last two New York State winter titles for competitive cheerleading, which emphasizes high-skill routines with complex stunting, tumbling and jumping.

They also won the state title in the Game Day Cheer category in the fall of 2024. Game Day Cheer can best be described as what would be performed at a football game, requiring less choreography and acrobatics than Competitive Cheer, but more in the way of crowd engagement. In being the best in New York in both categories, they of course had to first get through the grueling death struggle that is the Long Island high school cheering multiverse.

Not satisfied with local victories, the squad journeyed to the Mecca of competitive cheerleading — the Universal Cheerleaders Association national championships in Orlando, Florida. About 1,000 teams from all over the country swarm Disney every February, and this year the Patriots made it all the way to the finals of the Division I Small School Coed event. 

They were edged out for the national title by a fraction of a point by a team from Colorado, and while it was excruciating not to finish at the top of the pyramid, it was still a wildly successful trip and season for the team.

Junior Ian Licavoli is a pillar of the Ward Melville varsity squad in many ways. So much a foundation of the Flying Patriots’ success, Licavoli’s position in cheerleading parlance is called “base.” And what a base he is. 

For his efforts and contributions to the team, he was named Newsday’s first team All-Long Island last month. He was the only male cheerleader on that list.

“I started to fall in love with cheerleading around seventh grade and started to really take it seriously in ninth grade,” said Licavoli, who just completed his third year on varsity. “I played Three Village lacrosse and football as a kid but when I started going to open gyms for cheer and I learned how to tumble on my own, everything fell into place. I’m so grateful that it did because cheerleading is such a special sport.”

Ward Melville varsity coach and 2024-2025 Suffolk County Coach of the Year Georgia Curtis is able to harness Licavoli’s talent and thus inject more diversity and excitement into the team’s routine.

“Ian is an amazing athlete,” Curtis said. “Some of the boys on Long Island are able to do one or two of the things that Ian does, but Ian is elite at everything we ask of him and we are so lucky to have him on this team.”

This past year, eight schools on the island participated in coed cheer, a four-fold increase from just two years ago.

In a typical Patriots game day routine, 20 girls will dance, tumble and leap with precise orchestration to the sounds of a recorded marching band as Licavoli weaves between them, shouting “Go Pats, Go” through an oversized bullhorn. Midway through the performance, the music stops and he moves to the center of the formation to meet his longtime friend and flyer, senior Emma Miller.

Effortlessly, Licavoli raises Miller to the sky as if they were both in a zero-gravity chamber, cupping the bottom of her shoes in the palms of his hands as she waves her pom-poms, flashes a touchdown sign and kicks like a Radio City Rockette, just as if she were standing on flat ground. Other formations of flyers flank Licavoli and Miller in groups of two or four, while the shouting and smiling group urges an imaginary football team to score a touchdown. 

Curtis and assistant coach and former Patriots cheerleader Maggie Hurley are stationed in front of the mat, beating it with their hands in rhythm with the music, enthusiastically urging the squad as they complete their stunts.

“When this team competes, it is just special,” said Curtis. “People outside the program pull me aside and tell me that, and it really makes me feel good as a coach. But what is also great is how these kids act when they are off the mat. The sportsmanship they have for other teams and the support they have for each other are things you don’t see every day. As a coach, it’s amazing to be a part of.”

Miller, who will cheer at the next level at the University of Delaware, was also named by Newsday as one of the top flyers on the Island. Despite a routine being roughly three minutes on the mat, the hours and hours of practice over many years have helped her and Licavoli to form a bond for success.

“From August to March, we practice six days a week, about three hours a day,” Miller said. “We work really hard to get the chemistry and the trust aspect down pat and I’m super confident in the air and that’s what makes people want to look at you. The confidence I have in myself all comes from my confidence in Ian.”

Traditionally an all-girls sport, especially in the northeast, Licavoli doesn’t consider himself a pioneer or a rebel, despite the potentially divergent perceptions of a boy on the same team as 20 girls, as is the case with the Ward Melville team. 

“In the beginning, I suppose being the first boy cheerleader was a little difficult, because our school is so focused on football and lacrosse,” Licavoli said. “It took a little time to get used to, but I just stuck with it because it really is what I love to do and the amount of respect I think I’ve gained from it, the people I have met and the bonds with my teammates — I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

His teammates are thankful that Licavoli feels this way and rely on him as a pillar of strength on and off the mat.

“Ian just brings so many positive assets to the team with his humor and encouragement,” said teammate Emma Jackson, who is responsible for the important cheer position of back spot. “After a hard practice, he is always going to be there just to lighten everyone’s mood. Everybody on this team is just one big family and Ian meshes into that family very naturally because we all love what we do and love doing it together.”

A member of Licavoli’s other family, his mom Melanie, is proud of how he has pursued the sport that he loves and how it has brought out the best in him.

“I love watching him and what he’s been able to achieve,” Mrs. Licavoli said. “In cheer, you have 2 minutes and 30 seconds to show what you can do and that’s the only chance you get. To watch them as a team deliver great performances consistently, and with Ian being such a leader on the team, it’s amazing and I’m so proud.”

Licavoli, an excellent student who has an eye perhaps toward the medical profession, would love to continue his cheer career at the next level, just as his friend Miller will do.

“I’d love to go to school in Florida to pursue my athletic and academic career,” he said. “There are a lot of schools down there with great cheer programs.”

First, Licavoli has one more year at Ward Melville as a senior, and before he becomes a college student in Florida, he’ll want to make one final business trip to Orlando for nationals in 2026 — and this time finish on top of that pyramid.