On a day in which the new Meadowlands Stadium makes its debut with a lax — not football — event, the Big City Classic men’s tripleheader, it’s a busy day of high school action.
Among the games on tap — one of the most tradition-rich rivalries in the nation.
But it’s also been pretty one-sided.
Ward Melville has pretty much dominated the all-time series against Yorktown both historically and recently. In fact, the ‘Huskers haven’t beaten the Patriots since 2001.
The teams renew their rivalry today at 12:30 p.m. in a game you can catch next week on MSG Varsity, Channel 14 (Optimum).
In another MSG Varsity contest, Iona Prep and Chaminade are set for a clash in the newly aligned so-called CHSAA “Super League.”
In a nutshell, the New York Archdiocese instituted a merger to form a 16-team league with those teams now in the Long Island Archdiocese.
There is now be an eight-team Super Division that will include such teams as St. Anthonys, Chaminade, Iona Prep and Fordham Prep, with all those teams eventually playing one another home-and-home during the regular season.
The combined New York Catholic League will include two divisions, with the most competitive teams in Division AA, which is where Chaminade and Iona Prep are playing.
Iona Prep, of course, is coming off its first state title. But the Gaels lost five standouts now playing on college teams: Nick Trizano (Drexel), Gus Guido (Hartford), Michael O’Hagan (Marist), Chris Jackson (Bentley) and Myles Gillespie (Holy Cross).
You can also catch this game next week on MSG Varsity.
In an intriguing Connecticut vs. Long Island battle, Fairfield Prep hosts St. Anthony’s. Keep an eye on a possible matchup between Virginia-bound defenseman Greg Danseglio of St. Anthony’s on Dartmouth-bound attackman Brendan Rotanz of Fairfield Prep.
If you can’t make it out to Lessing Field on the campus of Fairfield University, you can catch the game on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. on the MSG Network.
In a Long Island vs. Westchester matchup, Rye hosts North Shore on its turf field at 4 p.m.
In the Section 1 game of the day, defending Class B champion Somers hosts Mahopac at 7 p.m. Other than Yorktown, Mahopac is the lone Section 1 team to ever win a state title.
Also under the lights at 7, Hen Hud hosts Lakeland/Panas and Clarkstown North visits Nyack.
Elsewhere, it will be a clash of first-year coaches when Arlington and Donny Connolly host John F. Kennedy Catholic and its new co-head coaches Nick and Vinny Savastano at 2:30 p.m.
Defending Class C sectional champion Putnam Valley visits 2009 Class C semifinalist Bronxville at 2:30 p.m.
Byram Hills visits Scarsdale at 3:30 p.m.
The day’s action in Section 1 begins with Mamaroneck visiting Brewster at 11 a.m.
Elsewhere on Long Island, Cold Spring Harbor visits Huntington, Port Washington visits Farmingdale and Lynbrook visits Wantagh at 3 p.m.
In 7 p.m. action, South Side plays at Long Beach and Oceanside hosts Massapequa.
At 11 a.m. East Meadow visits Baldwin and Freeport hosts Plainview.
In Connecticut, Staples, fresh off a season-opening overtime win over defending FCIAC champion Ridgefield, hosts 2009 Class B Section 1 finalist Horace Greeley at 3 p.m.
In other games, Trumbull hosts Danbury and Cheshire visits Glastonbury at 11 a.m.
As always, be sure to post your thoughts on these matchups as well as any info on the scores and game details.
MSGVarsity.com coverage
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* Hudson Valley/Connecticut Top 10 rankings
* Lombardi: Uncertainty lingers after Week 1 in Section 1
* John Jay-Yorktown game video
* Jared Greenberg’s Beyond the Boxscore: Lax Lives up to the Hype
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Posted In: Scoreboard Central
arlington jfk at 230…looks like itll be a good one
Joe is Towns game at 12:30 as it says here, or 1:00 as it says on MSG Varsity or 12:00 as it says on Melvilles site?
Arlington VS. Kennedy Start time is @ 2:30 at Arlington…..
Sec1 –
Yorktown-Ward Melville is a doubleheader with the schools’ girls teams, who play at 3 p.m. The boys game was originally listed at 1 p.m., but it is now a 12:30 p.m. start to allow for time between games.
Looking forward to checking out everyone’s score updates/insights on all of the action today.
Pac / somers is gonna be a good one. I got pac winning 13-11
Somers 13 Pac6
St. Paul’s and Garden City are tied 3-3 with 5 minutes remaining in the first half
3-3 at halftime
SP scoring: Powderly, Carlson, Michel
GC scoring: Gordon x2, Berkery
Somers wins easily, 12-5… Somers may underratedly be the best team in Section 1, ahead of Yorktown and John Jay. Look for them to make a statement to the section as well as the state today.
As bias as my predictions may be for the Huskers, the advantage goes to the Patriots of WM. In a year that has been coined “their year” when referring to WM, the WM just brings too much to the table for the Huskers to handle. Look for KI to be doubled but also look for Yorktown to make the most out of every posession they get. The game will be close, but WM wins 11-9.
Yorktown does have a slight chance at victory though, if they win faceoffs and take care of the ball, a team of Yorktown’s caliber will be in it.
3-3 at half SP and GC
SP: Powderly, Michel, Carlson
GC: Gordon x2, Berkery
No way Yorktown will score nine goals against Ward Melville
9-3 WM wins
Also- look for Melville’s “Lucky Field” to play a factor- creating the dust bowl atmosphere. It may be a tough day in the cage for Derek Koelsch. The Yorktown defense needs to come up huge
WM plays on turf now…the days of Guam are over
LI Lax
Thanx. Go GC!! Let’s get a victory for NY!!
3-3 SP/GC at halftime
Goals: SP- Powderly, Michel, Carlson..GC- Gordon x2, Berkery
sorry for the multiple posts, my computer sucks so they aren’t going through the first time
John FANagan,
Want Town to win but this “expectation” is kind of like Jay/Sett again.
WM brings back lots of people and Town loses BIG in terms of key people and you think its gonna be a 2 goal game!!
I hope you’re correct (how bout a win for Town) and I’m wrong but I see a dominating 11-5 WM win.
GC 5 SP 5 after three quarters…
GC: Gordon x2, Berkery x2, Dwyer
SP: Carlson, Powderly, Linkous, Michel, Parks
John FANagan
Agree on Somers. I believe they have the experienced, high quality players at all key positions to be a legit elite team. I was very impressed by their 7-10 showing vs St A (ahead 8-7 at half).
Pac has good players for sure.
But I’m picking somers to begin fitting this “elite” status by winning by at least 5+ goals,
6-5 SP, Carlson, with 10:30 left
6 all with 9 minutes left, Gordon gets his third
I’m glad we have a new thread going. Yesterday’s thread fell into parents and players hating each other! What?! This is high school lacrosse. Everybody have a sense of humor…the kids do.
They all know each other and play together during the summer, plus the facebook and text each other year round.
slacrosse, say something humorous today. Somlax, try to not be so serious. You guys will thank me for this someday. lol.
Okay, yesterday, if you took Eastchester and gave the 1.5, you lost! Eagles pull it out by 1.
but you brought home the bacon with Bronxville and Arlington!
If you took John Jay and gave the points, you lost! Who made that stupid spread?! Ha!
Today:
Mahopac at Somers. Showdown between two towns that are heavily linked thorugh the Westrock program. The players know and respect each other. Hell, they even like each other (parents can feel good about this.)
Mahopac comes in with some mo having beaten Greeley. They also scored 13 against Garden City AND LOST! I’ll bet they were grumbling after that one. Oh well, on to the next.
Somers played a close one against St. Anthony’s and are expected by many to be the top dog of section one in the end this year. Could happen. Ain’t it funny how Coach Lew is “such a bad coach” but his teams always compete.
The weather will not be a factor, but defense will! Give the nod to Somers! Offense will be at a premium. Give the nod to the Indians!
Somers gets -1.5 for being at home, plus a couple for being rested and rehearsed. Total
Somers -3.5 at home over Mahopac.
Take the Tuskers and give the 3.5! Enjoy the game everybody!
7-6 SP, Powderly scores with 3:40 remaining
SP wins 7-6, yet another one goal game between these teams
I am really looking forward to seeing what Arlington and Kennedy have to offer. Coach Connolly is definitely the right guy for the job, my bias as a friend of his aside. Donnie is a very knowledgable offensive mind as most anyone who has ever played with or coached with him before will attest.
I knew Nick Sav back in high school and he’s always been a class guy, so seeing how he takes a neophyte program and builds it in his image will be fascinating.
No predictions because this is not what a game like this is about. Who knows? We may be looking at two programs that may one day be legitimate contenders in their respective classes. Arlington has astounding numbers of young players at all levels and a coach with a plan, while Kennedy has the premier coach in the section and a serious buzz engulfing its program.
Should be great stuff today. I’ll try to post scores during the game and will later break down what I saw in detail.
I’m with pretty much everyone else on the Yorktown-Melville game. History has shown it’s just a terrible matchup for the Huskers on many levels, with this year being especially bad because the Patriots brought back a lot and Town lost a ton, primarily on D.
Bad things seem to happen to Town when they go down there. Compound that with the fact that WM is generally simply better in most facets and it’s a recipe for big problems.
Melville 11, Yorktown 5
Somers-Mahopac is also interesting in that the Tuskers may be the class of Section 1 and the Indians are a team that’s always hanging around. I expect big offense in this game, but ultimately Somers’ superiority with depth, athleticism and in net will be the deciding factor.
Somers 13, Mahopac 8
Enjoy the games today everyone. Keep posting scores!
Yorktown score?
Town 1-1 after 1. Nick Mariano
2-1 Ward
4-2 Ward half, mistakes are the Diff, so far very even. Town can win this game, without mistakes
4-2 ward end of 1/2
5-4 Ward mabus to Mariano
Ward Melville leads 5-4 midway through the third.
7-4 end of 3
College update: loyola 5 Fairfield 2. 1 min left in 2nd
After a tough loss for my boys from Jay, got to shout out to the boys from my new hometown, Highland Park. Played the first game this morning at the “Swamp Stadium to be named later but not Giants Stadium”, and beat Lawrenceville for the second year 12-8. If you saw them this morning, you’d realize that they play some pretty good lacrosse in Texas. Well, actually, in Highland Park, the rest of Texas is very average/ below average.
Predict-O-Tron, I may rename you Perpective-o-tron. Nice work, we needed some of that around here.
Mamaroneck 8 Brewster 4
Ward Melville has stretched the lead to 9-4 midway through the fourth.
Final: 9-4
9-4 Ward much closer than score
Joe-
Any stats on the Town-WM game? how did KI do?
Arlington-Kennedy about to start. Beautiful facility with wooded backdrop at Arlington
Arlington has legit skills at attack. Sunday, Basso and Boyle are equally adept with both hands. They aren’t too big but have great feet and can finish.
Arlington up 3-0 after 1.
Kennedy is a serious work in progress. Gaels just don’t have the offensive players to compete yet but they are very physical. It looks like the Savs ate are using same blueprint.
Teams just traded goals so its 4-1 early in the second.
Doid23
That’s a great win for HP. Two yrs in a row!
Thank you Dooid. Shout out to Highland Park, TX, SMU territory!
Okay, the stage is set for tonight’s showdown in circustown, Somers, NY!
Meanwhile…back on the farm…there’s another big game in the minds of many as The Rye Garnets (the yams or the gem stones?) host Section 8 North Shore Vikings in the game of the century!
Rye comes in ranked #6 on the heels of their opening day win over now 2-5 Dulaney…what?!
North Shore brings a 1-4 record averaging just 2.5 goals per game on offense, including a shutout at the hands of Cold Spring Harbor.
Long Island dominates Section One, but this one does not compute. The Garnets have a much tougher time within their section with two each against JJ, Somers and Greeley.
But is this game a trap for Rye? Are they looking past this one to their tilt against JJ on Tuesday?
No way! O’Callahan, McReddie and the boys get it done!
Rye -6 at home over the Vikes! Give the points take the Garnets at home in a section one win against section 8!
Lakeland -6.5 on the road at Hen Hud; L/P is the real deal! HH has tough kids, but not the horsepower. Give the points, take the Rebs!
Town WM game will be on MSG varsity on Monday. Good hard game. Town can play with the big boys. Joey P did not play, don’t know why. Other than that WM is very good but Town hung close and may have outshot the Patriots. Long possesions and good D kept game real tight till last couple minutes. I think Town walks away with many positives and ontop GC next weekend. Hardest schedule in nation?
Chaminade leads Iona Prep 12-3 midway through the fourth. Chaminade, which led 7-3 at the half, has outscored Iona 5-0 in the second half.
Arlington leads Kennedy 13-2 after three.
PV 8 B’Ville 3..and the game wasn’t that close. B’ville much bigger than PV, and I thought at the beginning of the game they would just pound away at the much smaller PV team. Boy, was I wrong. B’ville has a few things to worry about, not the least of which is they look to only have 18 kids on the team. They had plenty of shots, but simply did not hit the cage enough. And the two man-ups they had..well..not good..too much iso. Hats off to PV, they played very well in transition, they were tenacious on D, and the goalie played well too.
Staples leads Greeley 7-4 late in the first half.
Farfield Prep getting destoyed by St. Ant’s 11-0 at the half.
Byram Hills over Scarsdale 9-7
St. Ant’s 14 Fairfield Prep 1 final
Cold Spring Harbor 6, Huntington 5
Arlington dominated the field today with a 16-2 win over JFK. The Connolly approach is starting to show in these kids.
Zach Basso , Connor Lindsay and midfielder Alex Doherty made a big showing out there today for Arlington. Defenseman Dan Jeanotte also scored an early goal for the Admirals.
9-6 Staples over Greeley.
Mahopac has come back from an early 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead over Somers after one.
Somers leads 5-3 at HT. Erik Pfiffner has three goals. Petre and Donohue have also scored. Mahopac goals by Brandofino, Bernardis and Carey. McGuigan has seven saves. Longo has six saves.
Somers and Mahopac are now tied 6-6 midway through the third.
Brandofino scores an EMO goal to give Pac a 7-6 lead with 4:40 left in the third.
Rye defeated North Shore 9-8.
Sophomore lefty attackman Kevin Cousin ties it. It’s 7-7 after three.
Hen Hud vs. Panas score?
Man-up goal by Chase Thompson ties it for Mahopac at 8-8. Nine minutes left in regulation.
T.J. Foley scores from Brandofino. Mahopac leads 9-8 with 5:40 left.
also want to acknowledge Mike Grundig the F/O middie for AHS great job..
Bernabo scores. Mahopac is up 10-8.
Pfiffner gets his fourth It’s 10-9 with just over a minute to go.
Mahopac wins 11-9.
Wow… Joe i would love to hear your thoughts and commentary on this one. Seems like its was a great game…Mahopac is for real..
How is Fairfield Prep so bad?
Congrats Pac! Biggest win in years and the Section 1 game of the season so far!!
Was Fairfield supposed to be good?
Today was St. Anthony’s first game at full strength. Some top players have been dealing with injuries and have missed games or had limited playing time.
Mahopac offense went off, Petre was well guarded. mguigan played solid. props to the pac
First off….
Congrats to Mahopac – I was wrong in my prediction.
So what do we know now? Somers not as good as some thought? Mahopac better than some thought? All I know is I have more repect from that team from Washington that came in and beat both Mahopac and L/P.
Wow, talk about a huge win for Mamaroneck. I feel like they’re the real deal.
Brutal day for the Tron!
Rye wins, but doesn’t cover, Somers doesn’t cover and they don”t even win!
Hats off gang to Mahopac on nice road win!
I think what we know now is, well, that we don’t know. Which I would expect this early in the season. Good win for Pac, though, over a tough Somers squad. Maybe the 4 horse race for Sec 1 supremacy just added a 5th horse. While we may not be holding our own out of Section, in section we should have some interesting games.
Oh, and Pac’s 1 goal loss to East Islip doesn’t look bad considering what kind of team EI may be, and second on the Washington team comment.
Hey, a Lew Janavey team just beat another Lew Janavey team! There was a lot of Westrocking going on in a physical affair.
Both teams play with tempo.
Both teams get part time middie play on defense.
Mahopac has a solid defense and are much better when their middies participate. When they don’t they give up goals. No surprise there.
They have a lot of weapons on offense and did a great job of possessing the ball in the second half. They are very patient and originate plays from anywhere.
Somers offense killed their defense in the second half with quick shots, fast possessions and turnovers. Every time I blinked it seemed like Mahopac was running it back at the Somers D.
Entertaining game.
Some thoughts on Arlington-Kennedy:
I had terrible BlackBerry service up in LaGrange so here we go:
First off, throw this 16-2 score out because these two teams are in different places in their lacrosse development. Arlington looks like it could soon be a top 4 or 5 team in Class A, maybe as early as this season. Coach Connolly has the Admirals doing a lot of smart things out there, especially on the offensive end.
The attack unit of Zack Basso, Pat Boyle and Brandon Opitz, while smallish, is highly skilled. More important than that they look like they have played together for years. This is a unit that I believe can do nice things even against some of the better defenses in Section 1 and on man-up they look like a lot like some of the better offensive units in Section 1.
The midfield as some serious athletes, but depth is a question. I like what I saw from Dan Arket and Diamonte Jackson. Arket is more of a bull who has a nose for the net off sweeps, while Jackson is more of an end to end player with a nice set of wheels. Again, it was hard to really judge what the middies can do against better defenses because Kennedy struggled due to skill mismatches.
Defensively, the Admirals have two poles that I believe could start for the elite teams in the section. Jesse Troy and Pat Sunday are the real deal in every respect. Both have great size, with Sunday more the free-wheeler and Troy the shutdown option. Keep an eye out for both of these guys as the season progresses.
Connolly was blessed with a nice feeder program and commitment. It’s a perfect situation for him to excel. You can see his imprint on the offense almost immediately, while Steve Settembrino has some toys to play with on defense.
In my opinion, this is a program that will make quantum leap this season. However, breaking into the upper echelon in future seasons will be the biggest challenge obviously, with teams like Yorktown, Lakeland/Panas and Mahopac as the established forces.
Think Arlington 2010 and you may come up with White Plains 2009 as an obvious soul mate, but my guess is the Admirals will have more staying power as the years progress.
Arlington plays three out of Section games worth marking on your calendars — Albany Academy of Section 2, Don Bosco Prep of N.J. and Copiague of Long Island. There’s no reason why the Admirals can’t be very competitive, if not win, all three.
Kennedy will be built from the ground up. I saw a lot of heart and determination from the Gaels on Saturday, but they simply have to emphasize the basics for the time being. They are not ready to be looked at as anything more than a fledgeling program. Nick and Vinny Savastano don’t have a lot of players to work with right now and that’s understandable considering the circumstances that brought everyone together.
Many of their players run double duty. Some play attack and D-middie. Some run regular middie shifts and D-midde. It’s ironman lax right now because the roster is small. I was impressed with their goalie, Anthony Masso, all things considered. He made several nice saves on Saturday.
This team will have to follow the lead of co-captains Tyler Trodden (M, DM), Dylan Rooney (A, M), Sean Esposito (A) and Tom Angelilli (D).
The one thing I did like about JFK was their tenacity and physicality. They may have problems scoring goals all season, but every one of their opponents will know they were in a game because the Gaels will hit you, early and often.
Like Arlington, due to the relative lack of depth team-wise in Class A, Kennedy could turn things around quickly, maybe in a few years, in Class C. I’m not saying they will be challenging for a title any time soon, but with the right coaches in place and a buzz surrounding the program it’s just a matter of time before they get more athletes. The Savs’ biggest dilemma going forward is building a feeder program, but we all know what those two are capable of.
So, that’s what I got. Arlington ran a first-class show up there Saturday. Be sure to check the Admirals out and monitor what the Savs are up to. We have to figure they are building Kennedy their way, which, history shows, works.
AJ-Lakeland/Panas won 14-6. L/P’s Robert Caffrey was the high scorer for the Rebels with five goals, Matt McDermott led HH with four.
4-1 greeley after the first quarter, it was 5-4 greeley at the half
final score 9-6 staples. greeley put up quite the compitition
I have to disagree with Syracuses observation on the midfield line. While I agree that Arkett does very well, Grundig and Doherty dominated the ground balls and fed their attacks effortlessly, also both are strong on defense. Doherty also added 2 goals to the offense. Jackson may be fast and does add to the middie line but his stick skills and ball handling are weaker. Brian Carroll(D) and Dan Jeanotte (LPM) did an outstanding job defensively with Jeanotte picking up and gb and scoring. Connor Lindsay who played middie yesterday is the most versatile kid on the team, I think he could play goalie if needed.
Byram win 9-7 over Scarsdale was a furious up and down the field game, both teams pushed hard on transition. Really exciting to watch. 4-4 at half. Byram pulled away and then Scarsdale rallied, but fell short.
Staples is fresh off an OT upset of Ridgefield, so a hard fought loss to this legit team is no disgrace at all for Greeley.
I agree that Greeley has the potential to “sting” someone big this season.
Seen arlington play, decent skills, but they have to pick up the level of teams they are playing. weak schedule and i don’t know how anyone can measure their playing ability against kennedy, despite who the first year coach is. they should be playing, bigger more established teams
Good win by PV. Seems as expected that they’ve got another very solid ,well coached team.
BVille’s struggle to beat Scdale (a decent team) and now a pretty convincing loss?
Good job PV. The Bxville hype pre-season may have been a bit more premature –they are going to have to prove themselves vs some good teams before they can be considered a Class C contender (Roosevelt doesn’t count!!) so I will reserve judgment. At this point, I woud guess Byram (who looks like that have also beaten Scarsdale and is usually in the C final 4) and Pleasantville, who has a D-I bound goalie final 4 of Class C, have as much right to be considered contenders in C aas Bxville–along with the obvious Rye and PV. Interesting to see if Bxville can get on track as they have some talent.
I think the most impressive win of the weekend was Mamaroneck over Brewster. Mamaroneck doubled up on Brewster, while missing 7 kids. Watch out for Mamaroneck to make a lot of noise this year.
They were missing 2/3’s of their first midfield, and their defensive captain.
Syracuse—thanks for the kind words.We all looking forward to the future. Clearly a new era has begun.
ahslax—very transparent! Sounds like someone’s mom is bummed her sons name didn’t get a mention
NO ONE–good observation, their schedule picks up around game number 8 .
Brewster was missing all those players? Or Mamaroneck?
arlington looked extremly solid in there first 3 showings and with the win after kennedy advance to 3 and 0
Maroon and Gold I think you should read the post again nothing transparent at all as a matter of fact I mentioned a lot of kids who did well……..not just the Superstar kids…Good to know that parents are going to start with negativity already.. sad very sad.
missing, it was Mamaroneck missing all those players, making the win that much more impressive.
calling it like i see it
as was I calling it like I see it…….that is what a forum is about calling it like you see it and your welcome to disagree but discuss it with me personally rather than trying to call me out when you sit behind your computer in anominity very brave. My intention was to give some credit to others who weren’t mentioned and I mentioned many and should have mentioned more. I agree with Syracuse maybe I should have also said that I agreed that Jesse Troy and Pat Sunday did a great job as well as Jeff Smalley and that Dan Benson did a great job in goal, our attack did a great job and are working well together. Enough said we should as parents or a team we should all be working together for the betterment of the team, whether we agree or not. Don’t want to revert back to the old days Go AHS Lax!!
Hey guys,
Just to chime in on again on my Arlington observations. Saturday was the first time I’ve ever seen Arlington play. I took a real casual approach to making notes and obviously left a lot of kids out who put up great numbers against Kennedy. But truth be told I wasnt looking to write a game story. My days of doing that are over. I just go to games now, when I can, and highlight some of the things that strike me.
Don’t criticize Arlington’s schedule just yet. Coach Connolly is just getting his feet wet. Believe me when I say he’s connected all over the place, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to take a young program and immediately throw its feet to the fire. He’s trying to raise the lacrosse IQ at Arlington and when he gets it to the point where he feels comfortable he’ll have no problem scheduling better teams from Long Island, Section 2, N.J. and/or Connecticut.
Clearly Arlington is a program on the rise, but let’s not put crazy demands on them just yet.
One game at a time, A win againts any of the big boys in section 1 would be
a great place to start! Rough road ahead.
Since we’re discussing Arlington at length, my main observation is that the off-season activity at both Arlington and John Jay were exactly the same, with one significant difference in perception. At both schools, parents of players who felt their kids were not getting the opportunities they deserved complained at length to school authorities who evenutally made the decision not to bring back the incumbent coaching staffs, choosing to replace them with men who are well-respected and had been successful coaches at other schools. Both programs seem to be on track to win more games than last season with a renewed vigor and sense of purpose.
The difference it seems to me is that in the case of John Jay and the Savastano’s, over 300 posts were made in a single thread, most of which were pointedly bitter toward the notion of replacing the coaches. Parents in Lewisboro who drove the process that lead to the Sav’s dismissal were derided as overbearing helicopter types who were simply rich people jealous of the kids who were playing ahead of their kids, who were similarly criticized for being lazy slackers who were not working hard, jealous of their obviously superior underclassmen teammates and simply not moving on to the realization that they were not worthy of being part of the John Jay program.
Having knowledge of one family who was part of the Arlington program last season, I became aware that the exact same scenario was being played out there, absent the undercurrent of charges of abuse of school children that was present in the John Jay matter. People who were used to having their way in the youth program that were not happy about the playing time afforded to their obviously superior underclassmen lobbied successfully to have the coach there replaced, even though the program had just completed their most successful season, including qualifying for the Sec 1 Class A playoffs. Yet we have heard nothing about the evils of parental interference there, no viritrol expended towards the school admiinistration bowing to the pressures of influential residents and a lack of transparency in the decision process.
So the question seems to be, when is parental involvement/meddling in sports programs on the school board level a good thing (Arlington) or a bad thing (John Jay)? The answer seems to be it depends on where your kid is and who your friends are.
yeh i think so
Lax Novice
Love the comparison (don’t know any details, but love it)
ahslax—agreed.
Lax Novice: Didn’t know much about the Arlington situation you detailed, but thanks for some interesting perspective.
My buddy’s son graduated, so I wasn’t really interested in the coaching change until I asked him about it when it was announced. I was wondering why that happened after they had won their first ever Sec 1 playoff game against Wappingers, I think it was, and he said, “it’s the parents”. That tells you all you need to know. Obviously the previous Arlington coach didn’t have the success in his tenure that the Sav’s had at John Jay, but my point is that parents always seem to be involved in these otherwise inexplicable coaching changes, but one’s view of whether that’s right or not seems to depend more on one’s opinion on where the program is headed or whose son is playing or not playing than on whether it’s appropriate for parents to be involved in the first place.
Arlington needed a change, many of us put ourselves out there on the proverbial chopping block and did get our heads chopped off for the betterment of lax. We now have a coaches who are working hard to discipline the kids, work them hard and yes who don’t listen to parents like myself, the kids are doing well, and that is the main goal. Go lax….
I do want to say sometimes you do have to stand up and maybe be critisized for what you believe is right….
Just a comment on the Arlingon North
Arlington looks good under Coach Connolly and Settembrino. A good win versus North Salem. These two coaches are doing a great job. The offense looked good and the defense was good. The goalie play was excellent.Who is that little Goalie he looked clearing the ball This team will do good this year. The schedule is soft up front but gets tougher as the season goes on. As far as the Kennedy game, some of the fans up North thing the game was great. I do think they played good but great is going to far. Kennedy is a second year team.Usung the word great is not exactly the right word to be used. Althoug I hear there are some really good youn players in the program which can always be good. Good luck coaches.
Some good outstanding young talent on ARLINGTON . Three young kids a Goalie who looks to be excellent at clearing and one stud midfielder and a good solid freshman defensemen. but good freshman and two sophmores.
Should be good