Tags Posts tagged with "Bulls"

Bulls

Smithtown West’s Necco Cottage battles Nick Palhares at face off in a Div-II matchup Apr. 6. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

After narrowly winning their season opener, Comsewogue Warriors dropped their next two in a row and looked to get back to winning ways with a home game against Smithtown West, Saturday, April 6. 

Fresh off their win against Westhampton, the Bulls led 5-2 at the halftime break on a cold and windy morning in the Division II matchup. After a scoreless 3rd quarter Comsewogue managed a pair of goals in the final 12 minutes of play as Smithtown West notched an insurance goal to hold on to a 6-4 victory.

Smithtown West senior John Savino had two goals and one assist as did teammate Liam Byrne. Dylan Bonasera had nine stops in net for the Bulls.

Connor Rocchio topped the scoring chart for the Warriors with an assist and two goals, Ryan Meyers and Hunter Marquardt both scored, and goalie Adam Wacholder had 13 saves between the pipes.

In their next games, April 8, both teams had crushing victories, with Comsewogue beating Center Moriches 17-4 and Smithtown West defeating West Babylon 21-4.

by -
0 998

The Patriots of Ward Melville edged ahead of Smithtown East from the opening tip-off and never took their foot off the gas to keep the Bulls at bay to ink a 67-54 win at home Dec. 17.  

Ben Haug led the Bulls with six field goals, a triple and four from the line for 19 points, teammates Dominic Galati netted 10 and Niko Skartsiaris banked 8. 

Ward Melville senior Dylan Moore shared the top of the scoring chart with Devin Lynch, both scoring 12 points apiece followed by junior Tyler Jean-Noel who scored 11 with Lorenzo Beaton netting 10 along with 13 rebounds in the Division II contest.

The win lifts the Patriots to 4-1, and the Bulls, suffering their first loss of this early season, drop to 5-1.  

Both teams retake the court with home games Dec. 20, where Smithtown East hosts Newfield at 5:15 p.m. and the Patriots take on Bellport at 4:15 p.m.

The Bulls of Smithtown West were able to hold off Newfield despite a late game surge by the Wolverines, to cap a 55-45 road victory Feb. 20. The win lifts Smithtown West to 3-0, 4-0 overall for second place, one game behind Hills East for the League III title chase. Newfield falls to 0-3 in league in this COVID-19 shorted season.

Tyler Anderson topped the scoring chart for the Bulls with five field goals, a triple and three from the line for a team high 16 points followed by teammate Patrick Burke who banked 9 to go along with 9 rebounds.

Newfield senior Ziggy Hoe stood atop the leaderboard for the Wolverines with 12 points, Michael Agostino netted 9 and Jordan DeJesus tacked on 7. Teammates Isiah Brown the senior and junior Hamza Yousef banked 6 points apiece.

Both teams have three games left that they’ll play in five days-time before post season play gets underway Feb. 26.

by -
0 1125

By Steven Zaitz

It has been almost a full 12 months since Tristan Davis, and the Smithtown East boys varsity basketball team, have taken to the hardwood in a game that actually counted.

Despite the layoff, Davis showed not one bit of rust.

The 6’5” junior forward led all scorers with 16 points in the Red Bulls 49-43 victory over the Huntington High School Blue Devils on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at home. He also dominated on the glass and around the rim with 12 rebounds and 7 blocked shots.

“It feels great to be out here again,” Davis said. “It was great to start the season with a win.”

Two of his points came on a monster slam dunk in the second quarter.

“That dunk was fun,” Davis said. “I hope it’s the first of many.”

Smithtown East Coach Al Chandler was pleased with Davis’ offensive output. But he was even more impressed with how active he was in disrupting Huntington’s attack.

“Tristan has worked really hard to get where he is,” said Coach Chandler, who has been part of the Smithtown East program for close to three decades. “His timing is great when it comes to blocking shots. He took them (Huntington) out of what they wanted to do on offense, and he stayed out of foul trouble. I was really happy with how he played today.”

Senior Forward Tom Berdon chipped in 12 points, shooting 55% from the field and guards Ethan Cain and Jack Melore each sunk a pair of three pointers, both finishing with 6 points. Melore is a freshman. The Bulls opened up a double-digit lead early in the second half and held that lead until the final two minutes. The Blue Devils made a late run by forcing turnovers to cut the lead to six but got no closer.

“We need to protect the ball better there and finish,” Chandler said. “We have some work to do, but we’ll get there.”

Kevin Drake led Huntington with 14 points and was 3 for 5 from three-point range. Point guard Adrian Brooks had 13.

The Bulls go on the road to take on Copiague Friday, Feb 12, then play host to William Floyd Feb 14 and rival Smithtown West Feb 16. Unfortunately, no fans are allowed to attend games at this time.

As per the Section XI website, “Due to safety concerns outlined by the Suffolk County Department of Health and physicians on our safety committee, having no spectators at contests will give us the best chance for schools to complete their upcoming seasons,” said Tom Combs, executive director of Section XI. “The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and support staff are paramount in this endeavor of returning to play.”

by -
0 1618

Smithtown East’s softball team broke out to a two-run lead in the top of the first inning and West Islip answered back in the bottom of the inning in a Suffolk Class AA quarterfinal round May 22, but from there the Bulls bats went silent. West Islip crept ahead scoring a run in the third, fourth and sixth inning to win the game 5-2. In double elimination play the Bulls, the No. 5 seed, went to the loser bracket where they hosted No. 11 seed Lindenhurst the following day in a must win game to stay alive in the postseason.

The Bulls won out against Lindenhurst, and will face Bellport May 25 to see if they will move on in the bracket May 25 with start at 2 p.m.

by -
0 1864

Smithtown East managed a one-run lead after the opening inning, but the North Babylon bats came alive in the top of the second, scoring three and from there the Bulls’ bats went silent. North Babylon plated two in the top of the fifth as Smithtown East scored a run in the bottom of the second, but it was too little too late as the Bull’s fell 6-3 in a home game May 14.

The bright spot for the Bulls was Sammi Swenson, who ripped a homer over the centerfield fence driving in a run. With the win North Babylon stays atop the League III leaderboard with West Islip in second place and at 11-4 the Bulls are third, two games back.

Smithtown East plays its final game of the regular season May 16 where they’ll host Newfield before they ready their bats for postseason play. Game time is set for 4 p.m.

By Bill Landon

Smithtown West’s girls lacrosse had the upper hand in the first half March 21 as Huntington was unable to overcome a deficit in the final 25 minutes of play. The Bulls notched their first league victory of the early season downing the Blue Devils 10-4 on the road. 

Senior Regan Kielmeyer led the way in scoring for Smithtown West with a pair of goals and five assists with teammates and fellow seniors Lauren Coletti and Taylor Mennella netting three goals each.

On the Blue Devils’ side, junior Abby Malchin, senior Maire Brown, senior Paige Lennon and sophomore Charlotte Maggio each scored a goal apiece for Huntington.

The Huntington girls lacrosse team is took the ield again at home against Farmingdale March 25, and will soon take be taking the long road to Riverhead March 29. Game time is set for 4 p.m.

by -
0 1768
President of Strong Island Rescue Frankie Floridia stands with the Bakewicz family after delivering the calves to the farm Feb. 13. Photo from Frankie Floridia

A North Shore-based animal rescue group has managed to save two young calves before they were slaughtered at a New Jersey farm, and now the animals have found sanctuary with a Wading River farm.

The young Calves Woody (green) and Buzz (blue). Photo from Justin Bakewicz

Frankie Floridia, president of the nonprofit animal rescue group Strong Island Rescue, said he learned about one of the animals from being tagged in a Facebook post. The four-day-old calf was born in Amish country in New Jersey, but was to be sent off to slaughter to not waste the mother’s milk production. Floridia drove up there and learned there was another calf, roughly the same age, that they could also save from the slaughterhouse.

“The Amish had taken [it] away from its mother because it was a male, and they don’t need the calves — they don’t want to waste the milk they’re selling.,” he said.

Back on Long Island, Justin Bakewicz, a member of the family-owned Bakewicz farm in Wading River, had recently experienced a terrible loss. Bakewicz had purchased two, four-month-old calves in January. The health of one of them, named Bo Duke, started to fail. The family brought the calf to Jefferson Animal Hospital in Port Jefferson, and then brought him home and kept it in their kitchen while theyconnected him with an IV and gave him constant shots. Unfortunately, the calf passed away Feb. 8.

“It was a real big disappointment to me, my family and the community — everyone was a big part of it,” Bakewicz said.

Only a few days later, people started to tag the farm owner on the Facebook post about the calves Strong Island Rescue had saved. Bakewicz said his mother, Marianne, thought it might be too soon for new calves, but once he saw the scampering young Jersey bull calves he knew they were right for him.

“We heard that Bakewicz had a calf that passed away a couple days ago, and [Justin] was saying ‘it was like fate,’” Floridia said.

Justin Bakewicz, left, helps feed the calves Woody (green) and Buzz (blue). Photo from Justin Bakewicz

Bakewicz said the two young animals are full of energy.

“The two babies — they’re like puppies,” he said. “One is one week old he’s so full of Vitamin D and I turned around, and there was the other one. I said, ‘well I can’t say no. I got to take them both.’”

The farm owner has taken to raising the calves in his own house where he feeds them from large milk bottles three times a day. Bakewicz has even taken them out for walks.

“I’m walking these things like dogs,” Bakewicz said. “I walked them around my block today and every neighbor was sticking their heads outside going ‘what the hell is that I thought it was a Great Dane.’ Everybody in the neighborhood is excited to watch them grow.”

It will be another week or two of watching the young bulls grow large enough they can move out to the farm.

The farmer asked the community for suggestions of names, and it has settled on Buzz and Woody, after the movie “Toy Story.” The names were suggested by Christin Paparelli Santillo who will receive a free t-shirt.

By Bill Landon

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

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

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

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

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

by -
0 121

By Bill Landon

Smithtown West’s boys lacrosse team found itself in an unfamiliar position this season.

Down four goals in the third quarter, the Bulls bounced back to tie the game 7-7 and eventually take a 10-9 lead, but a last-minute goal forced overtime, where the No. 2-seeded boys lacrosse team fell to No. 3 Half Hollow Hills East in the Class A semifinals May 24.

With Smithtown West down four goals, seniors Kyle Zaradski and Andrew Arce each scored twice, and junior Matt Caddigan made the go-ahead goal to give the Bulls their first lead of the game with six seconds left in the third quarter.

Half Hollow Hills East’s Mike Gomez found the net four minutes into the final quarter, but Arce stretched the net three minutes later to retake the lead, 9-8. The Colts countered again, but Arce continued to have an answer, scoring his fourth goal of the game for a 10-9 Bulls lead with 3:22 left to play.

With a minute left, Half Hollow Hills East forces overtime, and held the ball for one shot in the final seconds of a four-minute overtime period, which gave the Colts a sudden-death victory.

Smithtown West, which had outscored its opponents 202-82 this season, ended the year with a 14-2 record.