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Matt Dyroff

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School district staff fight for bragging rights while raising money for booster club

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Mount Sinai Middle School physical education teacher Tracy Carron shoots the ball between Mount Sinai High School science teacher Gina Sing and Director of Math, Science and Technology Andy Matthews. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai High School Assistant Principal and Director of Guidance, Matt Dyroff, grabs a rebound. Photo by Bill Landon
Brandon Loomis, a physical education substitute teach and track and field coach soars over Mount Sinai High School science teacher Gina Sing. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai varsity boys' basketball coach Ryan McNeely scores on a layup. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai Elementary School first grade teacher Eileen Poerio drives around Mount Sinai High School substitute physical education teach and track and field coach Brandon Loomis. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai students lines up to take a shot during the halftime shooting contest. Students paid $1 a shot, and earned $5 for every basket made. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai students lines up to take a shot during the halftime shooting contest. Students paid $1 a shot, and earned $5 for every basket made. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai students lines up to take a shot during the halftime shooting contest. Students paid $1 a shot, and earned $5 for every basket made. Photo by Bill Landon
Students line up for halftime snacks. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai students lines up to take a shot during the halftime shooting contest. Students paid $1 a shot, and earned $5 for every basket made. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai students lines up to take a shot during the halftime shooting contest. Students paid $1 a shot, and earned $5 for every basket made. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai Middle School physical education teacher Tracy Carron shoots from the free-throw line. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai High School substitute physical education teach and track and field coach Brandon Loomis places the ball in the basket. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai High School science teacher Gina Sing drives to the rime past Mount Sinai Elementary School fourth grade teacher Kevin Walsh. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai Elementary School kindergarten teacher Allison Maire looks to make a pass. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai Middle School's Melissa Drewisis shows her winning form. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai Elementary School fourth grade teacher Kate Conrad shoots. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai physical education teacher and varsity boys' soccer coach Dave Herrschaft drives the lane and scores. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai High School science teacher Gina Sing scores a field goal. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai's Suffolk County champion girls' basketball team comes out the watch faculty duke it out during the Battle of the Educators. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai's black and gray teams high five one another following the Battle of the Educators basketball game. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

Mount Sinai school district faculty members were pitted against each other March 3 in the Battle of the Educators. Teachers laced up their sneakers and grabbed a ball, donning black shirts on the middle school side, and gray on the elementary/high school team, for the 16th annual basketball game that raises money for the Mount Sinai Booster Club.

Mount Sinai High School Assistant Principal and Director of Guidance Matt Dyroff, who is the event’s organizer, said the week of practice each team had leading up to the game paid off. In the first quarter, each team traded points until the black team hit a triple to retake the lead, 28-27, before going on a scoring frenzy to take a 10-point lead, 37-27, into the halftime break.

“We do it for our booster club because they do so many things not only for our sports teams, but any other thing we ask their help with they’re more than willing to donate for the cause.”

—Matt Dyroff

“We’ve been practicing hard,” Dyroff said. “A couple of outdoor practices in the cold, but the teams got down to work — they buckled down and it was evident in the score tonight.”

Dyroff had a lot of help with the event from Mount Sinai Booster Club member Terese Lumley, the student council members who volunteered their time to help out, and Mount Sinai High School earth science teacher Roger Cardo, who took care of the play-by-play commentary.

With a $5 admission fee and $1 charge to compete in the halftime shooting contest, Dyroff said he hoped the event cold exceed last year’s $3,000 raised, and as students lined both sides of the court to take part in the shooting contest, it seemed the goal may very well be met.

“Each year we’re hoping to improve on the previous year, and preliminary amounts suggest that we’ve approached $4,000 tonight,” Dyroff said. “We do it for our booster club because they do so many things not only for our sports teams, but any other thing we ask their help with they’re more than willing to donate for the cause. No matter what it is.”

Celebrity spectators, in the form of the first-time county championship girls’ basketball team, had fun watching their teachers take the court.

“It’s a fun time, and everyone comes together to watch the game,” senior point guard Victoria Johnson. “Everyone can joke around take trick shots. It’s all for fun, and that’s the best part of it.”

“Everyone comes together to watch the game. … It’s all for fun, and that’s the best part of it.”

—Victoria Johnson

There were no trick shots down the stretch though, as both teams battled through the final 25 minutes of play. The gray team shook off the first-half jitters and chipped away at the deficit to retake the lead, 62-61, with less than two minutes left in the game. The black team battled back to take a three-point lead in the final 10 seconds of the game, but the gray team had one last possession.

With the ball in hand, Mount Sinai boys’ basketball head coach Ryan McNeely took matters into his own hands when Dyroff inbounded him the ball, and McNelly let a three-point shot fly with 2.3 seconds on the clock. The ball rimmed out as the buzzer sounded, and with that, the middle school held on for a 67-64 win, to claim the championship trophy for the second year in a row.

Senior center Veronica Venezia said the event was a much-needed respite while she and her Mustangs team prepares for the Long Island championship against Nassau County’s Elmont March 11 at SUNY Old Westbury.

“It’s definitely a fun night watching everyone come out and play — all of the teachers and their families and a lot of people coming out to join our community,” she said. “It’s a good breather — especially because it’s a basketball game — it’s a great night watching our coaches play against each other.”

After the game, Dyroff weighed in on the girls’ unprecedented success this season.

“Going to the Long Island championship is tremendous,” he said. “The district and the community have been so supportive of it. The girls have put in so much time and it’s come to fruition. The off-season workouts, the summer leagues, the spring leagues, getting out to play — this group has progressed each year and to see it culminate in a county championship is huge.”

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By Bill Landon

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The Mount Sinai crowd cheers from the bleachers during Mount Sinai's faculty basketball game. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai Elementary School kindergarten teacher Allison Maire, who is a 10-year veteran to the event, goes up to the rim. Photo by Bill Landon
Matt Dyroff, the assistant principal and director of guidance at Mount Sinai High School, is the founding member of the faculty game.
Gina Sing, a Chemistry teacher at Mount Sinai High School and seven-year veteran of the faculty basketball event, scores a basket. Photo by Bill Landon
John Mees, a Spanish teacher at Mount SInai High School, drives past Jamie Riegel, a Spanish teacher at the middles school. Photo by Bill Landon
Mount Sinai senior, Julia Pearl, President of the Mount Sinai Chapter of the Best Buddies program, Matt Dyroff, assistant principal and director of guidance, and high school senior, Anoo Yaramati, Secretary of the Best Buddies program, pose for a picture during the faculty game. Photo by Bill Landon
Mike Pappalardo, a special education teacher at Mount Sinai Middle School and 15-year veteran of the faculty basketball event, dribbles the ball downcourt. Photo by Bill Landon
Tom Walker, a sixth-grade teacher at Mount Sinai Middle School, shoots the ball while Dan Tappin, a technology teacher at Mount Sinai High School, reaches for the block. Walker retires this year after 39 years at Mount Sinai.
The Mount Sinai faculty wait for their turn to take the court during the district's 15th annual faculty game on March 4. Photo by Bill Landon
Matt Dyroff, the assistant principal and director of guidance at Mount Sinai High School, gives Tom Walker, a sixth-grade middle school teacher and fan favorite of the night, a hug after making the game's final basket. Photo by Bill Landon

Mount Sinai faculty took to the court in front of a capacity crowd for a basketball fundraising game with the proceeds benefiting the Mount Sinai Booster Club. With the silent auctions, tee shirt sales, raffles and the half-time shooting contest, the Friday night event, which was the 15th for the school, raised $3,000, according to event co-chair Kim Vengilio.

Tipoff came shortly after 7 p.m., and pitted the Red team against the Blue team with district-wide bragging rights up for grabs.

In a game that featured two 25-minute halves, the Red team, consisting of high school staff, got to work early, breaking out to a 12-7 lead nine minutes in.

Assistant principal and starting center Matt Dyroff made his presence known down low as he showcased his rebounding prowess — dominating the boards most of the night.

Trailing by nine with 10 minutes left, the Blue team, made up of middle school and elementary school staff, shook off the cobwebs and started to find the rim, led in part by Michael Pappalardo, the Mount Sinai girls’ varsity head coach, as the point guard found the open player time and time again with his no-look passes.

Blue team shooter Tom Walker, referred to as “the doctor” throughout the game, performed much like famed Utah Jazz player Pete “Pistol Pete” Maravich, as he put on a 3-point shooting clinic with a brilliant long distance performance to trim the deficit to four points with seven minutes left in the half.

The Red team rallied, and began to stretch its legs in the closing minutes of the half, featuring its superior ball handling skills and several fast breaks, to surge ahead 39-28 at the break.

All of the students rushed the court for the shooting competition that took place at both ends of the floor. At a dollar a shot, those who found the net received five dollars in return. With the odds clearly stacked in favor of the house, Chris Caputo was first to cash in as the sophomore found nothing but net to lead the way. Seventh-grader Anabella Cole struck next as her shot found its mark, as did Ryan Wilson’s ball as the freshman swished his for the five-dollar payout.

The student-athletes began to find their range, turning the odds against the house when Nicolas Arciello, a sophomore, nailed his shot. From there, the tables turned.

Dyroff, who played college basketball at SUNY Potsdam, got the idea for the halftime shooting contest from when the cheerleaders of his alma mater took to the court to raise money.

“I said I’ll organize it — I put it out to the staff and opened it up to everyone, so we do it in two groups. Because there are so many little kids, we [decided to] move it up much closer,” Dyroff said. “The booster club donates so much back to our district so this is just a great event. Best Buddies is a program that we run here in the high school where our students work with disabled kids, so it’s nice to be able to give back to those who’ve given us so much.”

Both teams began to loosen up in the opening minutes of the second half, trading points along the way until the Red team caught fire — finding its 3-point game to break out to a 66-43 advantage with 14 minutes left.

“It’s been 15 years that we’ve been doing this and Matt Dyroff gets all of the faculty together,” Vengilio said. Dyroff has been putting the event together for all 15 years it has been going on in the district.

“Joann Satori, a board member of our booster club, organizes all the tee shirts the tickets and she handles the publicity,” Vengilio added. “The community just loves to come out and watch the faculty play.”

Mount Sinai student Amanda Didonato said she’s attended the event many times and said it’s great watching the faculty play.

To arrest the scoring, the Blue team had to lean on the Pistol, and the doctor delivered. Draining treys, Walker carried the load in the final minutes, to help his team draw within four points as time ticked off the clock. But it was too little too late, as the Red team, with an 84-81 win, accepted the championship trophy and, with it, bragging rights for another year.

“Every year the Mount Sinai crowd comes out and does an amazing job — the booster club, the coaches, the parents, the teachers, it’s just an amazing event for the community,” Pappalardo said. “Look at the crowd participation, the turn out, all the hand-made signs; this is a great community to live in, work in and be in.”

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