Johns Hopkins-bound Jameson Pickel and John Jay will be
hosting defending FCIAC champion Ridgefield next season.
(File photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)
There has been a lot of talk here as to why John Jay and Ridgefield don’t meet on a regular basis.
Well, wait no more, gang.
Ridgefield coach Roy Colsey informed me that his Tigers and John Jay will meet next season.
And the game will be under the lights on Saturday, May 15 at 7 p.m. Mark your calendar.
That will be a great game, Colsey said. Its the battle of the border.
Any early predictions?
Reach Joe Lombardi at joe@laxlessons.com.
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Posted In: Fairfield lacrosse
I doubt it…Ridgefield is going to have trouble reloading from last year while JJ will be much improved.
Funny how Jay is playing them this year but not last when Ridge was loaded
Excellent point. I know for a fact Coach Colsey reached out to John Jay to try to set up a game but John Jay declined, yet was able to go 14 hours round trip to play Corning East. Just amazing to me. They will get their comeuppance on May 15, 2010.
FYI – colsey even said it himself when he reached out to JJ they already had their non league games scheduled – so now they can play this year – why start the hate this early?
Copps Hill,
Jay may have declined because they had already scheduled their games for the season. They didn’t avoid Ridgefield and then just randomly drive to Corning East after the fact.
Not to get off point but, since when is it a bad thing to take your team on a trip out of the region to play another very good team?
Ridgefield was very good last year. So good in fact that I can confidently say that they underachieved. Maybe the Jay game will act as a tune-up for the state play-offs. I hear Fairfield Prep has got a lot coming back.
Remember those non league games are usually a two year commitment. John Jay has relations with Manhasset, Corning, St A, etc. Also remember they got cut from 18 games to 16. Look for JJ to dominate this year. JJ will have its best team in 6 or 7 years.
Back down to earth for Ridgefield this year. Last years team is gone. FCIAC is up for grabs with everyone reloading. NC, Wilton, Greenwich, Darien are all going to be solid again. It should be another fun year in CT. Q and Keeler, better hold the comments until they see how things shape up…
John Jay might have it’s best team in 6 or 7 yrs? They will be very good, but I am not sure they will be better than 07 or 08..I think they will give Yorktown problems this yr, and will win againts Ridgefield..
When jj football does bad not good for JJ lax
John Jay’s schedule was probably already set when Colsey wanted to schedule a game. JJ has played Corning the last few years and they must have already agreed to go to Corning in 2009 after Corning went to JJ in 2008, it wouldn’t be very nice if they played Ridgefield instead. If you’re inferring that JJ was afraid to lose, then that’s just ridiculous. In a “rebuilding” year they weren’t afraid to play some of the best teams in the country.
I think JJ will be very good this year, they will probably be the best in the section, but I don’t think they will totally dominate. Somers, who could also be the best in the section, will be very tough for them and Yorktown, L/P, and Rye will also be very good of course. They will not be better than the 07 team and I don’t think the 08 team either, but that’s not too bad to hear as those two teams were both extremely close to winning state championships. JJ will still I think be an excellent team though with a shot at a state title this year and the year afterwards they will be even better, perhaps totally dominate.
JJ football isn’t doing very good this year, they’re still actually a good team just not compared to the team when Rhyder was on it. Plus they’re playing some of the best teams in the section in class AA when they are really a class A team. It’s true that good football teams often lead to good lax teams. JJ this year though doesn’t have a bunch of football players with lacrosse sticks. Some of their best athletes (Daniello, Walter, Pray, Caviola, Lanza, Merlino, Winter, Lupinacci, Franklin, Chen) are not on the football team and lacrosse is their main sport, pretty rare for high school athletes.
Ridgefield/Jay should be on the calendar every year. Two strong teams just miles apart. Ridgefield rebuilding for sure but they always have lots of athletes. Jay will be a different team in 2010 with loads of talent. I see Jay having the upper hand here for a couple of years then the tide potentially shifting to the Tigers. Both Jay and Ridgefield have talented freshman classes. I like the sound of Battle of the Border, t-shirts anyone?
Absolutely especially now with the rule that if you’re a NY team and lose to a NY team outside the section it hurts your sectional seeding. That’s why JJ was seeded BELOW Greeley last year – because they lost to Corning and St. A’s. If they had played and LOST to Ridgefield it would not have affected their seeding at all. So you have to ask – what were the Sav’s thinking? Probably what they were thinking when they did not nominate Mike Daniello for all section – a Top 10 junior in the nation. Go figure.
Here’s what they were thinking. Corning East has an unbelievably long and rich tradition. Its a program that all programs in NYS can model themselves after. Ridgefield is a developing program that had a fantastic team last year. Jay had already developed a relationship with Corning East and owed them that visit. They already owed it to them. They did not owe Ridgefield. The Savs had a relationship with a previous Ridgefield coach who was knocked out by parents and so Colsey needed to reestablish a Jay game. That’s another ironic possibility. The very same parents who chased the last coach out may be the ones complaining that the former coaches relationships had been undone.
As for the Savs not “nominating” Daniello for All-Section. Were you there? At the Section One meeting were all the coaches put names on the board and vote for who gets what? Were you present when the Savs “didn’t” put his name on the board? How did Daniello receive All Section Honorable Mention as a sophomore if his coaches “Did not nominate him” ?
With all the Seniors and Juniors (In section one) who were also deserving it is not so unfair for a sophomore to get a mini-snub. He’s got two years to get any awards he wants and he will. All the other coaches know that too. Its done through voting.
Keep in mind, a medicore Ridgefield team (led by a Freshman Matt White) in ’06 beat a very good J.J. team that year. I do, however, think J.J. will be slightly better than Ridgefield in ’10. Regardless, it should be a very good game. Look for a deep midfield for Ridgefield in ’10 and for Mike Galione to have a huge season…
Sec 1
Absolutely no way that J ’10 team is EVEN CLOSE to J ‘7. J ‘8 much stronger as well with Bocklett, Granelli, Drew, Latino, etc.
Yes J should beat Town handily this yr as well as beat Ridgefield.
Somers and J should compete for # 1 with Town, LP, Rye and Put V (no order) in a tight group below (White Plains maybe close as well as Greeley).
Mike Daniello was not nominated because JJ only got 5 spots (including their AA selection Will Stewart). The Sav brothers didn’t want to leave out any of JJ’s 4 senior captains or Jameson Pickel. Daniello was just a sophomore, it’s not too surprising that he wasn’t picked over the senior captains and Pickel who were all defensive players except Stewart. In my opinion though Daniello was the offensive MVP of the team last year and should be a lock to get 2x AA. Him and fellow sophomore Walter were JJ’s two HM, I believe the only two sophomores to actually get all-section were Schurr (Somers-Hopkins) and Near (Bronxville).
Being at jj you have to wait your turn. Good things happen to those who wait. Who cares Daniello was only HM he doest. he is now going to go to hopkins and will be a two time AA.. No one is bigger than the program and the program will set you up for life if you work hard. I know as a JJ alumni that the name JJ can bring good thing for you.
first comes a state title, then comes respect. get some hardware in the trophy case JJ’ers
Jalepeno is right. State title is what Jay needs to do next. I think they have respect though- just not as much as the programs who have been doing it for longer.
hard to win a state title, first you have to be good , second you have to be lucky, third you need to stay healthy, fourth you need to get by long island and fifth you have to be lucky.. The measure of a good program is the teams that are always in contention not your flash in the pan programs.
wow, west islip sure has been lucky!
old timer
Agree that measure of “good” program which IS entitled to garner respect is one that’s always in contention.
For a Section 1 team to be “great” in a more permanent way they must be GOOD ENOUGH to go thru LI and win a State Title–more then once!! Yeah luck sometimes plays a role but I’ll take GOOD as the key!!
Daniello will get AA and who cares about what he got last yr. Granelli went from an all-league selection as a junior no all-section or anything to and AA his senior year, JJ takes care of their players if they deserve it. MIke Congrats brother rip it up.
Slacrosse
I was answering Old Timer saying they are not going to be as good as 07 or 08 and certainly not there best in 6 or 7yrs. But should be very good, beat Town handily? Not sure about that Towns problem will be on D this yr, should have enough O…
Slacrosse – JJ will be good this year as will Somers, but I agree with you the 07 team is and will be the “TEAM” at JJ until another JJ team beats a 63-0 LI team in the Semis and goes the the Finals. All 3 starting ’07 defenders are seeing lots of playing time at great Lax colleges. Based on last years games and the football teams and who is and is not palying on them (though not the only indicator) my concern with JJ is its Physicality on defense. Somers hurts you going across the middle, JJ not so much. JJ-Somers game should be great in 2010. JJ should beat Town but in this game “should” doesn’t matter. JJ should schedule all the good Conn teams and play some NY patsies to try to get home field advantage in playoffs (How stupid is this rule?) .
Old Rugger,
Yeah that ”07 J team was special!
This season I think J just has far too much for Town and will (not should) dominate. Jay’s ’11 team will even be better.
But ’11 still wont approach ’07 who had so many really strong D1 players all over the field.
JJ’s ’07 team was one of the very best in the country, would have definitely been ranked top 2 or 3 in the nation had they won in the state chamionship game against Jamesville-DeWitt. It’s not too far of a stretch to say that that was a game they should’ve won and would’ve won had they played up to their potential for at least most of the game. Not only was this team stacked on defense, but they had the three BEST attackmen in the section who were all AAs.
JJ’s 08 team was not as good but we’re still talking top 25 in the country. Even though they were not as good as the ’07 team, they had a just as good if not better chance of winning the state championship that year as they didn’t have to beat the #1 team in the country like they did the year before. Rocky Point ended up winning it though, dominating in the state championship game after beating JJ in a one-goal game in which JJ was winning by 2 goals heading into the 4th quarter.
In ’09 the sectional title streak ended, credit to how good Somers was. JJ had no more Bocklet boys, no more Kevin Drew, no more Rhyder Bohlander, 1st time in years they didn’t have the Journal News Player of the Year. But JJ still surprised people. A team in which most of the goals were scored by sophomores, they beat teams such as Rye and Syosset and lost a surprisingly close game to Yorktown.
John Jay is overdue for a state championship but there’s a very good chance they will win one in the next two years. Those who say that JJ will have no more opportunities to win the championship are mistaken. This year will be very good for them and in 2011 they will dominate, as for what happens afterwards I’m not sure, anyone know how good their underclassmen are?
The only problem is Garden City will also have there best team this year and next
laxman,
Good post as usual and and agree for most part. But as I said above and as “old timer” alluded to with GC, I think you need a J ’07 (maybe ’08) or Town ’09 caliber team to get thru LI and win the States.
Even Y Towns Best team in a long time could not get past LI
GC is due for a state title, not sure if they get it this year (perhaps JJ does), but next year they should be a top 5 team in the country
Could be tough sledding for John Jay having to play Town in first week of season according to the schedule Joe reported and then Ridgefield under the lights not to mention the LI teams. Can we all agree Somers is a solid favorite now in Class B?
Definitely gonna catch this one!
Ridgefield fans have been kinda quiet the last few weeks. How do we think we’ll do vs. not only JJ but Somers and Yorktown as well? Those are the big games on our schedule since Darien is no longer playing us.
Copps,
I’ll let someone else explain to you that, just like last year, in the FCIAC not all the teams play each other every season, and due to some quirk in 2010 Ridgefield is not scheduled to play either Darien or New Canaan, which is good news for the Tigers. Your only two league games of note will be those against Wilton and Greenwich, and you can very well win both of those and run the table in the FCIAC regular season. Then you will very likely run into at least two of these four teams in the league playoff. So you’ll get your chance to play the elite teams in late May and early June.
Speaking of true elite teams, Darien will be playing another long-established program in Niskayuna on April 9th. This game, like their long-standing series with Yorktown and Manhasset, are the sort of matchups that lax fans are anxious to see. Once Ridgefield establishes itself as an annual contender for league and state championships in a few years, you’ll be able to interest programs like Darien’s into the same sort of games. In the meanwhile, playing Yorktown, John Jay and Somers in the same year is terrific, great competition and close enough to home for everyone to see in person. Of those three, I’m liking the Tigers to beat John Jay, at least.
Lax Novice
Not a supporter of either team but Jay should be heavily favored to beat Rfi. RF net, net, loses big w/o White and other key losses. On the other hand Jay returns all its core players (Daniello inc.).
RF is a good team but this season not in Jay’s category in terms of depth of top/elite players.
Somers will beat them for the same reason.
The Town game should be close “for the same reason” that applies to BOTH teams.
slac,
I took the position that by the time Ridgefield and JJ meet late in the season that the Indians will be more focused on their upcoming Section 1 playoffs while Ridgefield will be looking to make a statement against them, while peaking for their own league tournament. That game is much more important to an up-and-coming program like the Tigers than the established power on Route 121. My preseason view is that Ridgefield will beat JJ and lose to Somers (in large part due the head start NY teams have over CT teams, who begin official practices this coming Monday) and drop the initial game wth Yorktown. I have the Tigers at 12-4 or 13-3, depending on how the Wilton game goes. And I do think they have a lot of very good players no one’s heard of that will be contributors on the varsity level this year. That’s the key to having a winning program year-in and year-out.
John Jay’s propects would be pure guessing on my part, although they’ll surely be competitive in every match on their schedule. Those games against Somers will be wars, no doubt a treat for any lax fan to witness.
Lax Novice,
Appreciate your further points.
Last season RF was one of “the teams to beat” with high expectations. Maybe it will be to their advantage not to have to carry that hype into the season and just get the job done with the solid group of players that mention they have.