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By Elana Glowatz

A hall-of-fame coach will step in as the Port Jefferson school athletic director when longtime leader Deb Ferry leaves in the new year.

Debra Ferry helped establish the lacrosse program at Port Jefferson and has led its other teams to success. File photo
Debra Ferry helped establish the lacrosse program at Port Jefferson and has led its other teams to success. File photo

The board of education appointed Ed Cinelli as interim director of health, physical education and athletics on Dec. 8, about a month after accepting Ferry’s resignation. Cinelli, who was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame in 2014 for his work as an educator and a coach, will fill her spot and help the school district find a permanent replacement.

The incoming director spent 30 years in the Patchogue-Medford school district, serving as the athletic director for more than half of that time. Before taking on that administrative role, while still teaching physical education there, he coached football and track — including a 1982 spring track team that, according to the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame, “was recognized at that time as one of the best track teams in the history of New York.”

He has also served as the executive director of Section XI, the regional organization under the umbrella of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.

“We are very excited to have Mr. Cinelli serve in this position while the search for a new director commences,” Superintendent Ken Bossert said in a statement after the Dec. 8 board meeting. “His vast experience and wealth of knowledge within the areas of health, physical education and athletics will be a great asset to our students, staff and district.”

Until Port Jefferson has a long-term replacement, Cinelli will have a substantial pair of cleats to fill. Ferry, who has been athletic director for nine years, has been credited with establishing the boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams and is known for being anywhere and everywhere the students are playing.

“The kids are sometimes surprised to see her at games, especially making the hike all the way upstate for big playoff competitions, but she was there,” said Rod Cawley, the boys’ cross country and track and field coach. “In my 32 years at Port Jefferson, she’s been our best athletic director. She’s very honest, she’s supportive and she’s fair.”

Cawley said in a previous interview that when the girls’ soccer team won the state title this year for the first time in program history, Ferry was at the final game upstate — and also went to a cross country competition that same weekend.

“I kept busting her chops, telling her I’m not letting her go,” he said with a laugh.

Another coach, Mike Maletta, who heads the wrestling team and has taught in Port Jefferson for 23 years, said that Ferry was always at his squad’s state tournaments.

“You could see her walking around with a camera around her neck, taking pictures,” he said in an earlier interview. “A lot of those pictures make it to the end-of-the-year senior awards banquet and it went above and beyond what a lot of athletic directors do. She was always there supporting our program and those pictures meant a lot.”

Ferry will remain in her role as the Section XI first vice president when she takes the helm of the Half Hollow Hills athletic program, but her other roles within the organization will change because her new, larger district is in a different conference. She said in a previous interview that she will miss the people and the atmosphere at Port Jefferson.

“The intimacy of a small school district and knowing the kids is definitely a benefit,” she said. “The coaches and players make you feel like you’re part of the team.”

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Junior Taylor Tripptree tallies 18 points in win

Ward Melville junior Taylor Tripptree moves through traffic in the Patriots' 55-49 nonleague home win over Islip on Dec. 12. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Behind junior Taylor Tripptree’s 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, the Ward Melville girls’ basketball team was able to edge ahead of nonleague competitor Islip Saturday and maintain its advantage after the first quarter to earn a 55-49 victory.

“I think we honestly played a very, very good game,” Tripptree said. “They’re a very good team and we did what we had to do to do against two Division I and two Division II girls. We played as a team and I think that’s what won us the game.”

Ward Melville junior Brook Pikiell dribbles the ball up the court in the Patriots' 55-49 nonleague win over Islip on Dec. 12. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Ward Melville junior Brook Pikiell dribbles the ball up the court in the Patriots’ 55-49 nonleague win over Islip on Dec. 12. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Islip got on the board first with two free throws, but a free throw by junior Julia Coletti and a layup by Tripptree put the team out in front, 3-2. The two teams continued to trade scores, with junior guard Brooke Pikiell scoring a three-pointer and a layup and Tripptree adding another field goal, but at the end of the first, the teams were in a stalemate at 10-10.

“We really need to work on our second-shot opportunities and staying in [to] help against a big girl,” Tripptree said.

Ward Melville had trouble sinking its shots, but during the second stanza, the Patriots began to find their rhythm. Islip scored first, again, and made another field goal to jump out in front, 14-10, but the lead didn’t last for long.

With 5:12 left in the half, Tripptree tacked on a three-pointer of her own to pull within one, 14-13, and senior Heidi Scarth scored two field goals, the first off an assist from Pikiell, to give the Patriots the lead for good.

Ward Melville rounded out the scoring for the first half with a three-pointer to bring the score to 22-18.

Junior Kiera Ramaliu opened the third with a long field goal, and Islip edged close after a field goal and two free-throw points, but the Patriots wouldn’t let the Buccaneers stay close for long.

Tripptree began a six-point scoring run with a field goal, and Pikiell scored twice in a row to put the Patriots up 30-22.

Ward Melville junior Kiera Ramaliu maintains possession while looking for the open lane to move the ball in the Patriots' Dec. 12 55-49 nonleague win over Islip. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Ward Melville junior Kiera Ramaliu maintains possession while looking for the open lane to move the ball in the Patriots’ Dec. 12 55-49 nonleague win over Islip. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Tripptree assisted on her team’s next points, and followed it up with another layup, and at the end of three quarters Ward Melville was ahead 40-29.

“You’ve gotta run and you’ve gotta pressure,” Ward Melville head coach Bruce Haller told his girls on the sidelines before the start of the final stanza.

And the girls raced across the court and pressured the ball, converting turnovers and forcing steals to trip up Islip.

“We prepared for this a lot,” Pikiell said. “We made sure we knew their zone and we knew who their good kids were and we just made sure we had a body on them at all times. I think we ran and tired them out a lot, and I think we really worked together on defense, which helped against their bigger girls.”

The teams continued to trade points, but Ward Melville managed to maintain its advantage to pull away with the win.

Behind Tripptree was Pikiell with nine points, and Scarth with eight, but five other girls also scored.

“Everyone contributed to this,” Pikiell said. “We’ve come together very well. We only lost one player last year and a couple of players came up, but we were all already very close beforehand, so I think we’re playing great together.”

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Port Jefferson junior Courtney Lewis scores a game-high 23 points in the Royals' 61-55 win

Miller Place's Milan Hatcher knocks down a layup in the Panthers' 61-55 nonleague loss to Port Jefferson. Photo by Bill Landon
Port Jefferson's Courtney Lewis drives the baseline in the Royals' 61-55 nonleague win over Miller Place on Dec. 12. Photo by Bill Landon
Port Jefferson’s Courtney Lewis drives the baseline in the Royals’ 61-55 nonleague win over Miller Place on Dec. 12. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

Behind junior Courtney Lewis’ game-high 23 points, Port Jefferson led most of the way, until late in the third quarter when Miller Place rallied back to take a three-point lead, but the Royals bounced back midway through the fourth, defeating their nonleague challenger on the road Saturday morning, 61-55.

With a roster void of seniors, the Royals played beyond their years as they controlled the tempo of the game, leading 19-10 after the first quarter, and took a 31-25 advantage into the halftime break.

The Panthers closed the gap with two minutes left in the third quarter, when sophomore Ally Tarantino scored a put-back off a rebound to tie the game at 37-37, and senior Milan Hatcher answered next, driving the lane and muscling her way to the rim for the score to put her team out front for the first time in the game, 39-37. Hatcher had a hot hand in the third, scoring 11 of her total 15 points, including a pair of three-pointers. At the end of the stanza, Miller Place held a 40-39 lead.

“I told my players to keep running plays; keep calm, and we had to play good defense because [Port Jefferson has] good shooters,” Hatcher said. “They like to drive and kick out. They’re a good team.”

With 4:09 left in the game, the Panthers clung to a three-point lead, out in front 49-46.

Miller Place's Milan Hatcher knocks down a layup in the Panthers' 61-55 nonleague loss to Port Jefferson. Photo by Bill Landon
Miller Place’s Milan Hatcher knocks down a layup in the Panthers’ 61-55 nonleague loss to Port Jefferson. Photo by Bill Landon

The free-throw performance was bleak, as both teams left points on the table. With her team leading 50-49, Hatcher went to the stripe shooting two, and missed both.

With just over two minutes left in the contest, still trailing by one, Port Jefferson junior Siobhan Petracca went to the line shooting two, and she too came away empty.

“It was a disappointing loss,” Miller Place senior Jessica Powers said. “We knew exactly what they had. We came up short, which hurt us, and we didn’t play as a team.”

Port Jefferson junior Gillian Kenah, who scored 16 points in the game behind Lewis’ 23, said she was impressed with the Panthers’ offensive effort.

“We played a really solid game — we came out pressing immediately and I think that worked really well for us,” Kenah said. “But they came back at us even after our press, so I applaud them for that.”

Both teams traded baskets, and Lewis went to the line shooting two, hitting the front end but missing the back, to help her team edge ahead 53-51.

Miller Place's Danielle Bamnola goes to the rim in a Dec. 12 nonleague home loss to Port Jefferson, 61-55. Photo by Bill Landon
Miller Place’s Danielle Bamnola goes to the rim in a Dec. 12 nonleague home loss to Port Jefferson, 61-55. Photo by Bill Landon

“We knew they had some good players, so we had to adjust our defense, but we did well rebounding, which is something we don’t usually do,” Lewis said. “They had two players guarding our best players in a triangle, so we had to adjust to it, to try and break that up.”

At the 1:36 mark, Tarantino, with a dominant performance on the boards, scored on another put-back to tie the game again.

“We expected them to come out strong and they did,” Tarantino said. “We came out a little flat in the first half. Coach told us after the game to keep going up strong [to the rim] and don’t fade away.”

From the 53-53 tie, the game was decided at the foul line, as both teams lost players due to foul trouble.

Port Jefferson freshman Jocelyn Lebron was fouled as she drove the lane with just over a minute left, and scored on her first free-throw attempt. Although she missed the second, Lewis grabbed the rebound for the score to give her team a 56-53 advantage.

“I thought we did very well in handling the pressure from their defense,” Lebron said. “They were what we expected, but we did well on our rebounding and our defensive pressure.”

Lewis tacked on another field goal to help push her team further ahead, 58-53. The junior scored 12 points in the final quarter.

“We missed a lot of foul shots today — we’re much better at the foul line,” Port Jefferson head coach Ed Duddy said.

Port Jefferson's Jocelyn Lebron drives to the basket and scores in the Royals' Dec. 12 61-55 victory over Miller Place. Photo by Bill Landon
Port Jefferson’s Jocelyn Lebron drives to the basket and scores in the Royals’ Dec. 12 61-55 victory over Miller Place. Photo by Bill Landon

Miller Place senior Danielle Bamnola cut the Panthers’ deficit to four with her foul-line appearance with 28 seconds left, but Port Jefferson’s soccer sensation, junior Jillian Colucci, went to the line shooting two and nailed both to maintain the six-point lead, 60-54.

Bamnola and Petracca traded points at the foul line next, to bring the final score to 61-55.

“They’re very talented with a good fast break, and that group has been together since the eighth grade,” Miller Place head coach Joe Read said. “We’ve held our opponent to 30 points a game this season and today we gave up 50, and that goes to the team aspect of it. We’re playing like individuals, especially defensively.”

Read added that despite the loss, he was happy with his team’s skill level against his opponent.

“I’m not upset with how my girls played today, other than they didn’t play as a team, and that to me was the difference,” he said. “If they can play together, they’re capable of great things.”

Miller Place will host League VI challenger Hampton Bays on Tuesday at 4 p.m., while Port Jefferson will host Mount Sinai on Thursday, in a nonleague game scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

This version corrects the class level of Siobhan Petracca, the total point count of Gillian Kenah, and the date of Port Jefferson’s next game.

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Nick Piccininni, a four-time state champion, will be tough to replace this season. File photo

With four impact-players returning, the Ward Melville wrestling team is hopeful it can rebuild after losing half of the starting squad to graduation.

“It’s hard to project what they’re going to do, but some of the wrestlers did a lot of offseason work and came back much improved from last year,” Ward Melville head coach Bill DeSario said.

The biggest loss from last season is four-time state champion Nick Piccininni.

“It’s impossible to replace Nick,” DeSario said. “But we do have some young guys that are coming up that have impressed me in the first meet that we had. We wrestled Commack on Saturday, and they seem to be learning.”

The Patriots topped Commack, 51-21, and junior 113-pounder Kenny Cracchiola, who was ranked third in the league last season, said his team performed well.

“We won most of our matches,” he said. “We still have a lot of things to work on and improve before our next meet on Friday, but I think, for the first match of the season, it was a pretty good test.”

It was a test to see where the team is, and it’s coming along.

Senior Matt O’Brien, an all-county wrestler — ranked sixth — who will be competing at 160, said he told the underclassmen from last season how he put in the work during the offseason after his sophomore year, and saw how much it paid off.

“I realized I should tell them and pass on how important it is to put in the work in the offseason so they could really impact the team well,” he said. “Me and Christian [Araneo], we’ve been trying to help the other kids with moves and teaching them different things and add on to what the coaches are saying. We’re trying to help the kids learn everything they need to, so I think we have a good up-and-coming team.”

Araneo, a senior 220-pounder who will eventually wrestle at 195 this season, is a retuning New York State champion.

“He’s just a force,” DeSario said. “He’s a monster. He’s our top gun.”

DeSario said the team is missing three wrestlers to injury, and said once they return, it will solidify the lineup. He will also be looking forward to seeing the progression of sophomore Rafael Lievano, who will be taking Piccininni’s spot at 126; classmate Chris Stellwagen, who will be competing at 106; and Tom Fitzsimons, a freshman who will be competing at 99. The head coach will also be looking for solid seasons from juniors Jake Weizenecker at 120, Sean Fitzsimons, Tyler Lynde at 170, Aaron Rettig at 182 and Nadlher Jules at 285.

“I really think we just need to train the freshmen and sophomores more so that we can have a lot of good guys ranked,” O’Brien said of the team this year as he looks even further to next. “We have coaches who have been coaching for a long time, so they have a lot of experience, which I think is our strength. Also, we have a state champ on the team, which really helps out, because he’s also second in the nation, so he can teach us a lot of things.”

While DeSario and coach Kurt Ferraro are retiring at the end of this season, DeSario said they’re hoping to set up an assistant coach to be ready to take over the team, but he also wants to make sure the team is set up for the following year.

“The main goal is to try to develop one of our assistants who we hope will take over the program,” he said. “But with that, our goal is to not only make sure we help him, but to also help the wrestlers to leave him with a good nucleus for next year. I don’t know where we’ll end up in League I this season, because it’s one of the toughest in the state, but I think we’ll do very well outside our league, in tournaments, and we’ll see what happens. We’re also looking this season to send more than one guy up to the state tournament.”

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Hanae Wada clashes with her foil opponent. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

The Brentwood fencing team was too much for the Huntington Blue Devils to handle, as the boys fell 15-12, and the girls lost 18-9, Monday night.

On the boys’ side, Brentwood dominated Huntington in epée, winning seven of nine bouts, which set the tone for the rest of the match. Notching victory for the Blue Devils in epée was Finn Tucker, who managed to take two out of three, defeating his opponents 5-3 and 5-4 before dropping his third by a single point.

On the girls’ strip, Huntington struggled to fill the card, and forfeited three matches as a result of fencers being ineligible due to practice issues, which, according to Huntington head coach Jillian Melnick, is not uncommon this early in the season.

“We were fencing their best of their best, but unfortunately, not all of our fencers were eligible,” Melnick said, adding that each fencer needs a certain number of practices to qualify for the first meet.

Senior Elisa Medina-Jaudes took two out of three in epée, defeating her opponents 5-3 and 5-4 before she too dropped her third match by a single point.

Jack O’Heir, right, battles his epée opponent. Photo by Bill Landon
Jack O’Heir, right, battles his epée opponent. Photo by Bill Landon

“Brentwood has always been an equal match for us,” Medina-Jaudes said. “We were missing some of our best players, but I think we did well overall. We were able to hold our own, but we struggled without those players.”

Melnick said she is always pleased with her senior’s performance.

“Elisa performed well, as she stayed cool under pressure,” she said. “She’s a leader out there on the strip, where she kept her entire team rooting for one another.”

The boys took foil with a dominant performance by Dylan Collier, who won all three of his bouts 5-2, 5-0 and 5-3. Huntington took the foil card 5-4.

The girls struggled in foil, and managed only three wins to Brentwood’s six. Leading the card for Huntington was Hanae Wada, with two victories, defeating her opponents 5-2 and 5-4, while Sabrina Floro won her match 5-1.

“We did really well considering we didn’t have all of our varsity starters, so we saw new people step up,” Wada said. “We’ve got to work on being more aggressive, but we got a lot of touches today.”

Huntington’s Zach McGinniss won two out of three in sabre, besting his opponents 5-1 and 5-3, dropping his third match 3-5. Brentwood took the boys’ sabre card 5-4.

“Brentwood’s a good team; they’re consistent every year — they have good fencers, and I expected them to bring what they did today,” Huntington senior epéeist Jack O’Heir said. “We didn’t have our full varsity team, but I think each of us performed to our potential.”

Kelly Tenbus won two of her sabre matches, 5-1 and 5-3, and Adina Kirkland won her bout 5-2. But again, Brentwood bested the card, taking sabre 6-3.

“[Brentwood] showed superior technique today,” Melnick said. “We’ll practice in specific bouts where they’ll have to be aggressive in order to get the touch. Some of the kids were nervous and fell back on defense instead of pushing their own offense.”

Senior epéeist Stefano Ornato echoed O’Heir’s sentiment.

“They’re a solid team,” he said of Brentwood. “But missing as many players as we did, I thought we did pretty well with what we had.”

The Blue Devils hit the road for their next match, where they will take on Newfield on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 5 p.m.

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Kevin Keese reaches for the layup for Smithtown East. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Smithtown East’s comeback effort, despite a 24-point showing from senior forward Kevin Keese, may have fallen short Tuesday with a 59-54 nonleague loss to Sachem North, but the team is optimistic about its chances moving forward.

“I thought we played really hard and that’s our hallmark,” Smithtown East head coach Keith Reyling said. “We have to be a team that outworks other teams. I think at times today we got outworked, and that was disappointing, but we never gave up. It’s going to be like this every night. We’re going to work hard like this every night and work on our identity by defending better.”

Sachem knocked down the first three points, but Smithtown countered when junior small forward Sam Wahba made two free throws.

“I thought we could have played a lot better,” he said. “Staying in it speaks of our heart and how hard we wanted it, but at the end of the day we just got to play better defense.”

After forcing a turnover that led to a three-pointer by senior guard Conor Wooley, Keese snatched the ball out of midair and converted the turnover into points of his own when he scored a layup that gave his team its first and only lead of the game, 7-5.

Keese said he agreed with Wahba though, about the lack of defense.

“We all could’ve stepped up on defense,” he said. “We had too many gaps in our defense, and I don’t think we should have lost to this team. We definitely have the skill level there, but tonight we missed a couple odd shots and the defense hurt, too.”

Smithtown East's Connor DeSimone dribbles across the court. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Smithtown East’s Connor DeSimone dribbles across the court. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Sachem scored the next seven points to pull out in front 11-7 before Smithtown sophomore forward Brian Cosgrove tacked on a layup. Sachem closed out the scoring in the first stanza with a free-throw point to maintain the lead heading into the second.

This was where Keese got down to business.

After opening the scoring with a layup, Sachem countered with a layup and free throw, and two more free throws, for a 17-11 lead, before Keese added two field goals. Keese had a counter for everything, and answered Sachem’s ensuing three-pointer with one of his own. Sachem scored another two points, but Keese drew a foul and missed on the tail end.

“I’m so happy that he’s on our side,” the coach said, laughing. “He’s an outstanding player. No one works harder than him. He gives us everything he’s got.”

Wahba scored a layup with 4:28 remaining until the halftime break, and helped the team close the gap to one point, 22-21. The gap didn’t stay closed for long, though. After Sachem North scored the next six points, Smithtown junior guard Connor DeSimone scored a field goal, but Sachem countered with two of their own to jump out in front, 32-23. By halftime, the Bulls edged closer, but trailed 34-28.

The two teams traded scores in the third, and by the end of the next eight minutes, Sachem re-extended its lead, 45-36.

Fouls continued to plague Smithtown, as the opening foul led to another Sachem point, but Keese continued to rack up the points with two free throws and a field goal that sandwiched a Sachem two-point shot.

Smithtown tacked on four more points before Sachem scored, and with 2:08 left to play, DeSimone scored a layup to make it a three-point game, 53-50,

“They fought to the very end,” Reyling said. “The game looked like it could have been over a couple of times. We made some shots and fought back and forced some turnovers. We gave ourselves the chance to tie the game, having the ball down by three twice, the shots just didn’t fall for us.”

Fourteen seconds later, DeSimone scored a long two-point shot to again make it a one-point game. Sachem was able to tack on six points off of foul shots, though, and Smithtown missed two free throws and several three-point attempts. Keese scored the final two points for Smithtown with 16 seconds left on the clock.

“We started off hot and then we kind of lost it in the middle, but we definitely didn’t fold at the end, so it showed some good signs for us,” Keese said. “It’s huge for a young team like us. We’re finding out our strengths and weaknesses, and to keep up the intensity was huge. I think we’re starting to mesh as a team better, so it looks promising.”

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Comsewogue sophomore Victoria Blaney shoots while Rocky Point's Madison Hrysko defends. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

Comsewogue sophomore Nora Gabel makes a play. Photo by Bill Landon
Comsewogue sophomore Nora Gabel makes a play. Photo by Bill Landon

Behind Nora Gabel’s 23 points and eight steals, the Comsewogue girls’ basketball team led coast to coast in Tuesday’s League V opener on the road at Rocky Point, turning a 9-4 lead after one quarter to a 43-22 victory.

Comsewogue controlled the tempo from tipoff, dominated the time of possession and hit the scoreboard over and over.

By halftime, the Warriors battled their way up to a 20-8 lead, but Comsewogue head coach Joe Caltagirone said he knew Rocky Point would be athletic, despite not knowing how they’d be offensively.

“They put a little ball pressure on us and they contested all of our shots,” Caltagirone said of Rocky Point, adding he was pleased with how his team played defensive. “Offensively, I think we have a little ways to go to get to where I want to be this season.”

Despite several turnovers in the first half, the Warriors got their rhythm in the second as the team found the rim. Gabel, a sophomore guard, lit up the scoreboard for Comsewogue with 11 points, which included a pair of three-pointers. Rocky Point senior forward Julia Jauhiainen scored all of her five points in the third quarter, as her team trailed 33-13.

With 5:52 left in the game, Comsewogue worked to unwind the clock, and the teams traded points as time expired.

Gabel, who nailed three treys on the evening, said that she was surprised by the margin of victory.

Comsewogue freshman Julianna Watson goes up for a layup. Photo by Bill Landon
Comsewogue freshman Julianna Watson goes up for a layup. Photo by Bill Landon

“In the huddle before the game, I said we have to be hungrier than they were,” Gabel said. “So we went out there and played our hardest and we left it all out on the court.”

Following Gabel for the Warriors was junior guard Megan Turner with seven points, and forwards Sam Collins, a junior, and Victoria Blaney, a sophomore, chipped in four points apiece.

“They’re a strong team, but I don’t think we played up to our standards,” Turner said. “Defensively we’re strong, but our offense needs a little work.”

Rocky Point senior guard Michaela Peacock and junior center Allyson Greenstein matched Jauhiainen with five points each.

Rocky Point head coach Scott Lindsay said Comsewogue is always a tough team to play because they’re physical and have two strong guards.

“They play a strong defense up top, which caused a little problem when they started pressing,” Lindsay said. “With our second group, I was really impressed with how they were moving the ball. We’re improving from game to game — they played hard the whole way and I think we’re building on something here.”

Comsewogue will host Harborfields in its first home game of the season on Thursday. A 5:45 p.m. tipoff is scheduled.

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Centereach senior co-captain Lauren Meigel reaches for the ball in a game last season. File photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

The 2015-16 season holds promise for the Centereach girl’s basketball team as most of last years starters return to vie for a playoff appearance in League III action with a distinct advantage — having lost just one senior to graduation from last years’ squad.

Unlike last years’ team, which went 4-11, the Cougars lineup features six seniors, three juniors and three sophomores, with 10 returning players.

Head coach James Steigele Jr. said there is no one player who has emerged as a dominant leader this year, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Center each junior Cassidy Treanor shoots the ball in a game last season. File photo by Bill Landon
Center each junior Cassidy Treanor shoots the ball in a game last season. File photo by Bill Landon

“With so many returning players they have all stepped up into a leadership role, especially at their position,” he said, adding that he’ll still rely on seasoned senior co-captains Lauren Meigel, Nicole Fellone, Katrina Gangji, Erica Medina and Alyssa Sokolowski.

To make the post season, the coach told his team that the keys to success are communication, offensive ball control and holding their opponents to as few points as possible.

“Communication might sound vague, but it touches on multiple facets of success,” Steigele said. “We’ll have to move the ball offensively and play a tough, hard-nose defense.”

The Cougars opened their season defeating League I challenger Patchogue-Medford, 48-41, in the coaches for cancer game, and then fell to Elwood-John Glenn and Mount Sinai — all nonleague challengers.

The head coach said he feels positive just three games into the season.

“We were leading Glenn 19-3 after the first quarter,” he said. “They’re very competitive, well-coached and they are a consistent postseason team.”

After the final game of last season, the lone departing senior, Alicia Indence, who plays women’s basketball at Mount Saint Mary’s College, predicted good things for this years’ team.

“With the talent this team has I know they’ll do very well next season,” Indence said.

Centereach will open regular season play on December 15 on the road against Smithtown East with tipoff slated for 4 p.m. According to the coach, Riverhead will be one of the team’s toughest opponents this year. He said he believes that the Blue Waves’ starting five is one of the best in the county.

“You can’t take any team lightly in this league, “ Steigele said. “We need to get past every team in order to clinch a playoff berth.”

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Sean Ferguson crosses the finish line of the NEC Cross Country Championship. Photo by Bernadette Boyle

By Mary DeMaio

It’s a crisp Friday afternoon in mid-autumn at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn. The clock reads 4 p.m. The weekend has finally arrived; an opportunity to take it easy. The cross-country team is off from practice, but the faint whispers of heavy breathing can still be heard from the track. The shadow of only one athlete is present.

Even on his off days, 21-year-old senior Sean Ferguson can be found going that extra mile.

It’s that work ethic which has enabled him to come back from what doctors labeled a career-ending injury two years ago, to becoming one of the top Division 1 runners in the nation this year.

At the end of his winter-season sophomore year, the Smithtown native ran at a championship conference meet and suffered detrimental complications to his heel. He had to stop running altogether and was sidelined for a year, causing him to miss one cross-country and two track seasons.

During his layoff, he visited four doctors, some of whom predicted he would never be able to run again. But Ferguson refused to give up. Finally, in October 2014, after receiving seven injections in his hobbled foot and getting lots of rest, the pain started to subside and he began rehabbing.

Sean Ferguson smiles for his Sacred Heart University head shot. Photo by Bernadette Boyle
Sean Ferguson smiles for his Sacred Heart University head shot. Photo by Bernadette Boyle

He spent a year working with athletic trainers, strengthening the muscles in his heel through rigid resistance exercises every day before he was able to start running competitively again.

“Finding the motivation to keep working despite not knowing if I would ever be able to return again was extremely difficult,” Ferguson said.

But thanks to his mental fortitude, Ferguson overcame his injury and is now better than ever. Most recently, on Oct. 31, Ferguson won the Northeast Conference championship 8,000-meter race, beating out 70 runners.

“Sean is determined, focused and is so humble,” said teammate Trevor Guerrera. “He has broken multiple meet records and still is the most down-to-earth person I know.”

Christian Morrison, Ferguson’s cross-country coach at Sacred Heart said, “Sean has progressed tremendously because he is single-minded about being the best runner he can possibly be, and he’s coachable and easy to work with. He’s tough and isn’t afraid to suffer and push himself during a race to run as fast as possible.”

When Ferguson steps on the line, he said he has four goals: to race well, to run fast, to be competitive and, most importantly, to have fun.

“I just really try to take in the moment and enjoy what I’m doing while I’m still able to do it,” he said.

Ferguson said his mental approach is what gives him an edge on other runners. Fixating on time tends to trip up many runners, he said. They are, what he calls, “slaves to the watch.” Ferguson, however, said he pays more attention to how his body is feeling and focusing on putting his best effort forward.

“Running is mostly a mental sport, you can train as well as anyone but if you don’t truly believe you are the best, you won’t be,” said David Wood, Ferguson’s cross-country coach at St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip. “By senior year, Sean believed he could run with anyone even if in reality he couldn’t.”

What Ferguson has long believed has finally become reality.

At the start of his season on Sept. 5, he defeated 60 runners at the Stony Brook University Invitational en route to a first-place finish. He also set his school’s record for the 6K with a time of 18 minutes, 35 seconds; the previous school record was 18:52. It was the fastest that anyone has ever run on that course.

A week later, at the Rhode Island Invitational, he came in first place out of 100 runners, crushing his school’s 5K record, setting a course record and beating every runner on Providence College, highly ranked in the country. Ferguson finished the race in 14:50; the previous school record was 15:28.

Sean Ferguson rounds a corner. Photo by Bernadette Boyle
Sean Ferguson rounds a corner. Photo by Bernadette Boyle

The wins and records kept piling up. All together during this year’s cross-country season, Ferguson ran six races, won five of them and set four course records. At the New England championship in Boston he was injured during the middle of the race, but he pulled himself together and just focused on finishing, coming in 23rd place.

Unfortunately, Ferguson was not able to run in the trial race to qualify for the National Championships in Louisville, Ky., because he hurt his calf at practice.

But there’s always next season.

Although slated to graduate this May from Sacred Heart, where he’s studying history and maintains a 3.87 GPA during his first six semesters, finishing with a 4.0 in three of them, Ferguson has one year of college athletic eligibility remaining. Due to his heel injury, Ferguson received a medical waiver from the NCAA that allows him to compete if he chooses to enroll in graduate school. His decision to stay at Sacred Heart or go elsewhere is still up in the air.

For now, he’s focused on training for winter track when the season begins Saturday. He’s expected to be a top competitor in both the 3K and 5K races.

“I have high expectations for myself because I got hurt,” said Ferguson. “The cross-country season didn’t end the way I had hoped and that is something I want to rectify.”

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Ward Melville junior Michael Jaklitsch battles a Huntington opponent in a match last season. File photo by Bill Landon

In February of this year, the Ward Melville girls’ and boys’ fencing team swept the Suffolk County championships for the ninth straight season. The boys extended their match streak to 124 with the win, and although the girls had their 195-game streak snapped last year, will look to start a new one as the girls begin the road to what could be their 14th straight Suffolk County crown.

Five senior fencers were sent off to college last year, with Carly Weber-Levine competing at Stanford University, Ilana Solomon playing for Columbia University, Michael Antipas competing at University of Notre Dame, and Angela Zhang and Michael Skolnick fencing for Cornell University and Vassar College, respectively.

Ward Melville junior Lara Obedin fences against a Huntington opponent in a match last season. File photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville junior Lara Obedin fences against a Huntington opponent in a match last season. File photo by Bill Landon

While the girls lost Solomon, the boys team returns her younger brother, Danny, who is a sophomore this year.

The loss of Antipas will be felt heavily, along with Marc Dalrymple and two other seniors, but the Patriots return a slew of underclassmen looking to fill the shoes of those lost.

Antipas was the last of three family members to fence at the school, and his presence will be missed. He, along with his sisters, Demi and Alexa, combined for a 346-2 varsity record.

The girls lost three other seniors along with Weber-Levine to graduation, but this Patriots team also returns a ton of sophomores and a handful of juniors to the lineup.

The season will test what those underclassmen have learned from some of the greats before them, and the teams will be tested when they travel to Newfield on Wednesday, for the first meet of the season, at 5 p.m.

The teams will host Commack the following day, Dec. 10, at 5 p.m., before competing in a tournament at Brentwood on Dec. 12. The tournament is set to begin at 9 a.m.

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