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high school sports

By Bill Landon

It was a twist of fate that the Thomas Cutinella Memorial Field was selected as the venue for the girls soccer finals before the season began. As a result, the Shoreham-Wading River girls soccer team had a home field advantage in the Suffolk County Class A soccer final Tuesday night, Nov. 5. 

Mia Mangano had a shot on goal that just missed eight minutes into the second half, but the Shoreham-Wading River junior capitalized on the rebound courtesy of an assist from sophomore Stamatia Almiroudis to put the Wildcats ahead 1-0 against Sayville.

It would be all the Wildcats needed to punch their ticket to the Long Island championship round Sunday, Nov. 10, at Farmingdale State College.

It was the Wildcats third straight county championship and their goal is to return to the New York State finals. 

Shoreham-Wading River will face the Nassau winner of the North Shore vs. Wantagh final. 

— Photos by Bill Landon 

By Bill Landon

The Port Jefferson girls volleyball team began their 2024 campaign back on Sept. 4 with a 3-0 shutout over Mattituck and never looked back, finishing their regular season at 16-0-0 in League VII. But the Royals record doesn’t tell the whole story. Not only did they go undefeated, but in all 16 of those victories they did so by sweeping their opponents 3-0, not having lost a single set all season.

The Lady Royals would square off again against Mattituck in the Suffolk County Class C championship game Tuesday, Nov. 4, in what would be their third meeting of the season.

The Royals did what they’ve done all season beating the Tuckers convincingly in the opening set 25-10, putting the second set away 25-12 seemingly not having broken a sweat. The third set would be different when Mattituck gave the Royals a run for their money and tied the score at 23-23 forcing a timeout. With the perfect season in jeopardy Port Jeff won the next point and Mattituck miscued on the following volley to give the Royals another 3-0 sweep.

Port Jefferson’s Ava Reilly, a sophomore, reached a career milestone notching her 1,000th assist, recording 36 on the day. McKayla Pollard, a junior, was in top form at the net with 22 kill shots. 

The win propels the Lady Royals to the Long Island championship game Wednesday, Nov. 13, at Hauppauge High School, where they take on either Evergreen Charter or Carle Place. First service is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

— Photos by Bill Landon 

Comsewogue football vs. Amityville Oct. 26. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

It was all Comsewogue football on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 26, when the Warriors hosted Amityville on senior recognition day. Peter Castaldo, a senior, was the backbone of the Warrior offense as the running back notched four touchdowns and rushed for 117 yards in the 42-6 victory in the Division III matchup. 

Comsewogue defensive back Jack Campagna stripped the ball from an Amityville running back and went the distance for a touchdown late in the second quarter. Comsewogue senior running back Shane Grant found the end zone on short yardage, and place-kicker Gavin Dandrea’s foot was perfect on the day where the senior split the uprights six times.

Amityville’s lone score came in the final minutes of play to take the goose egg off the board.

The win lifts the Warriors to 4-3 on the season and they retake the field Saturday, Nov. 2, with a road game against Hills West. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

— Photos by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

It would be the foot of Dan Jurgens, the place-kicker for Center Moriches, that would decide the game when Shoreham-Wading River came calling, snatching victory from the Wildcats to win 17-14 Friday afternoon, Oct. 11.

Deadlocked at 14-14 from the middle of the third quarter, Shoreham-Wading River mounted a late-game surge only to be stopped 2 yards from the end zone where the Red Devils took over on downs. Center Moriches, with a ground-and-pound offensive running game, mounted an eight-minute drive moving the chains bleeding out the clock, and called time-out at the 19-yard line with two seconds left in regulation. Jurgens split the uprights for the 29-yard field goal for the Red Devils win as time expired.

The victory lifts Center Moriches to 3-2 in Division IV, while the Wildcats drop to 3-2.

— Photos by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

The undefeated Patriots of Ward Melville’s girls volleyball team at (11-0) did something they’ve only done once this season. They didn’t sweep their opponent 3-0 in the best of five sets for the second time this year. The visiting Patriots remain atop League I, having dispatched the Raiders of Patchogue-Medford, 25-12, 25-21, 23-25, 25-14, on Oct. 10.

The only other time the Patriots didn’t make a short day of it was when they dropped their very first set of the season in another road game, against William Floyd, Sept. 27, but still won 3-1.

After the Patriots handily won the first two sets, the Raiders countered in the third, edging their rival 25-23 and forcing a game four. Ward Melville wasn’t about to let the match go to five games as they downed the Raiders by 11 points to take the match.

Seniors Emma Bradshaw and Alexa Gandolfo proved to be a potent combination in the Patriot attack notching 31 kills, while juniors Chloe Borch and Jaclyn Engel recorded 32 digs between them.

The Patriots at 12-0 retain first place with four games left before postseason play begins.

— Photos by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

It was a battle of the unbeatens Thursday afternoon, Sept. 19, between defending Long Island champions Port Jefferson Royals and Center Moriches Red Devils.

Although losing several key seniors to graduation from their 2023 Long Island championship season, it didn’t seem to matter when the Royals attacked with vicious serves and several monster digs. There were 34 kills at the net to sweep the match, 25-19, 25-18, 25-14. 

Sophomore Ava Reilly was the cornerstone of the offense with 28 assists, nine digs a kill and an ace. McKayla Pollard notched 15 kills to go with six digs, along with sophomores Thea Mangels who killed six, had a dig and a service ace and Lina DeLeo who had seven digs, two aces and five kills at the net. The quartet was a potent combination throughout in dominating the play at the net. 

The win lifted the Royals to the top of the League VII leaderboard. 

The team continued its impressive form with 3-0 victories over Greenport/Southold, Sept. 21, and Shelter Island, Sept. 23, for a 7-0 record to date. 

— Photos by Bill Landon 

By Steve Zaitz

Northport running back Luke Loiacono rushed for all four Tiger touchdowns — one in each quarter — Northport’s 28-14 win at West Islip, on Friday Night.

The junior Loiacono, who is also a prolific scorer for the Tiger lacrosse team, finished with 168 yards on only 13 carries, as Northport improved to 2-0. West Islip falls to 0-2.

On the Tigers’ second offensive possession, Loiacono ran around left end for a 20-yard score that gave Northport a 7-0 lead. Loiacono and the Tiger rushing attack continued to exploit left-side runs for the entire game, amassing 314 yards on the ground. Senior Asher Levine had 92 yards on 8 carries, as Northport averaged 8.3 yards per rushing attempt.

Loiacono’s second touchdown was a 12-yarder in which he broke a tackle at the five-yard line, ran to the right sideline, and waltzed into the end zone with just under two minutes to go in the first half.

Northport’s defense also had a strong game as they limited the Lions to 194 yards of total offense. Eighty-one of those yards came in semi-garbage time when West Islip wide receiver Nils Haugen caught a short pass from quarterback T.J. Sonnenberg in the right flat, spun out of a tackle and raced 82 yards to make the score 28-14 with ten minutes remaining in the game.

The Lions recovered a Loiacono fumble with six minutes left, but the Tiger defense got a turnover on downs when Sonnenberg threw an incompletion on 4th down and 5 with four minutes remaining.  The Lions never possessed the ball again.

Northport meets their old friend, Bellport, next Saturday, September 28. The Clippers are 1-1 after their 20-15 loss to highly-ranked North Babylon. Northport and Bellport met at Stony Brook in the 2022 Suffolk County Championship, with Bellport winning 35-14.

— Photos by Steve Zaitz

By Bill Landon

With both teams with three games under their belt, the Bulls of Smithtown West hosted the Centereach Cougars Thursday afternoon, Sept. 12, in a league matchup where a single goal would be the difference.

With three minutes left in the opening half, Smithtown West senior Jake Hutter dished off the ball to sophomore Tony Garcia who drilled the ball into the back of the net to edge ahead 1-0, a score that would make the final buzzer. 

Both goalies Jerry Nagosky (Bulls) and Thomas Zwirblis (Cougars) had two saves apiece.

The Bulls had another 1-0 victory — at East Islip — Monday, Sept. 16, taking them to 5-0 atop League V. On the same day, the Cougars won 3-1 at West Islip for a 2-1-2 league start.

— Photos by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

The Comsewogue girls soccer squad, having won their last three games, looked to make it four in a row Saturday morning, Sept. 14, when the Warriors hosted Amityville, and did just that, by trouncing their opponents in an 8-0 blowout.

It was a team effort, with seven different players finding the net in the League VI contest. Mikaela Knot found the back of the net twice, and teammates Emma Cross, Kaiya Dent, Madison Maher, Kailey Wiggins, Madison Moccio and Jayla Callender each scored a goal apiece.

Goalies Lila Capra and Payton Coyle each had two stops.

The Warriors attempted to make it five in a row, with a road game against Harborfields, on Tuesday, but fell 3-1.

— Photos by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

For the Miller Place softball team, the road to the NYS Class A championship title game involved consistent winning play that led them to their second-ever Suffolk County title with a 4-1 victory over Islip, May 25. Facing Seaford a week later in the Long Island championship round, Miller Place defeated the Nassau County title holder 7-4 to capture their first LIC title in program history. 

Pitching ace Ava Zicchinelli, who was an eighth grader when the Panthers won their last county title back in 2021, was lights out from the circle. With the bat of Emily Lopez, they made for a potent combination. Both are juniors.

The NYS softball championship finals were held June 7-8 in North Bellport at the Martha Avenue Recreation Park sports complex. On the Friday, the Panthers defeated Section V finalist Pittsford Sutherland 4-1 to punch their ticket to the final round the following day.

On the Saturday, Section IX finalist Marlboro jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Miller Place freshman Delaney Schleider drove in sophomore Laney Vomero on a standup double to trail 2-1 bottom of the third.

The Marlboro team stretched their legs in scoring two more runs in the fourth inning to which the Panthers had no answer. 

Miller Place without a single senior on its roster finished their 2024 campaign with an impressive 21-5 record and will likely return with its starting lineup intact for next season.