Sports
Pelham Daily Sports Digest: Rugby Has Big Weekend, Baseball Beats Eastchester
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The Top Spot:
The Pelham seventh-eighth grade tackle rugby team Saturday beat Union, the reigning New Jersey state champs and considered the best u-15 team in the northeast, while the sixth-seventh graders lost to Lycée Francais.
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The seventh-eighth grade squad played a fantastic game to avenge a 40-0 loss from last spring. Pelham was led by co-captains Kees Huisman and Matt Biskup. Right off the opening whistle, Pelham jumped to an early 5-0 lead on a strong run by Xavier Worsley followed by Whit Johnson. The team then went ahead 10-0 on strong defense by Dan Biskup, Matt Biskup and North Westall. The entire team played stellar defense the entire game to shut down Union and not allow attacks by the opposition.
Eventually, Union scored off a lineout on the Pelham five-meter line. Looking to score again, Union’s gigantic No. 8 picked up from the side of a ruck and started running down the sideline with just Matt Rabinowitz between him and the goal line. The No. 8 had a support player on his outside, but in a move he would come to regret, he tried to run over Rabinowitz, who stood his ground and tackled the much bigger player to the ground and then stole the ball. Pelham capitalized on the ensuing scrum down to have Matt Biskup pick the ball up at the back and dart down the field. He was caught, but Pelham supported and eventually scored, going up 15-5, the score at half time.
Showing why he was appointed co-captain, Huisman made three game saving tackles on Union’s fastest player. Each time, Union got the ball to their winger, who streaked to the outside trying to get around the Pelham defense. But as he came around the corner and turned up field, Kees streaked after him, and in brilliant open-field tackling, hauled down the Union speedster. Showing some resilience, Pelham scored again early in the second half to go up 20-10. Eventually, Union tallied on a penalty play to set up a very exciting climax. Thanks to the stellar defense of Pelham, the game ended with Pelham up 20-15. Playing for both the sixth-seventh and the seventh-eighth teams were Quinn Scanlon, Alex Calder and Jack Weyndling. Despite having already played a game, those three players stepped right into the game and showed no let down, tackling and running as if they just arrived. No “Man of the Match” was awarded because every player contributed to the win.
Roster: Quinn Scanlon, Xavier Worsely, Jack Weyndling, Alex Calder, Nick Roll, Matt Biskup (c), Dan Biskup, Matt Rabinowitz, Jake Soifer, North Westall, James Cahill, Kees Huisman (c) and Whit Johnson.
The sixth-seventh graders had a tough time with Lycee. They started the game disorganized and reluctant to tackle. After a brief discussion at half time, they came out and played considerably better. The team is inching closer and closer to being a good team. They just need some time to practice more basics. Most of the teams they have played have been playing tackle for some time. The team was lead by strong tackling from Scanlon, Tamio Shibasaki and Jack Fronce. On the offensive side, the team was helped by strong runs from Luke Persanis, Jean Vigroux, Sofia Imperato and Weyndling. The team faces a strong Rockaway side this coming weekend on Long Island.
Roster: Sofia Imperato, Jack Fronce, Luke Persanis, Jack Weyndling, Quinn Scanlon, Quinn Jenkins, Duffy Doyle, Jean Vigroux, Alex Calder, Chris Davis, Alejandro Kahaner, Coner McNulty, Tamio Shibasaki, Aiden Sisk, Cameron Ward and Woods Johnson.
Yesterday’s Results:
Sport: Baseball
Game: Pelham vs. Eastchester
Score: Pelham Won 9-3
Highlights: Gjon Ljucovic picked up his fourth win of the season as he pitched 5.2 innings and struck out seven. Dylan Tuttle led the Pelican offense as he belted a home run and went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Ben Schwartz and Spike Manning also scored two runs each in the win.
Sport: Girls Lacrosse
Game: Byram Hills vs. Pelham
Score: Byram Hills Won 14-5
Sport: Golf
Game: Scarsdale vs. Pelham
Score: Scarsdale Won 200-209
Sport: Softball
Game: Saunders vs. Pelham
Score: Pelham Won 13-4
Today’s Schedule:
In baseball, Pelham heads to Saunders at 4:30 p.m.
In boys lacrosse, New Rochelle heads to Pelham at 4:30 p.m.
In boys tennis, Pelham heads to Mamaroneck at 4:15 p.m.
In girls lacrosse, Eastchester heads to Pelham at 4:30 p.m.
In softball, Edgemont heads to Pelham at 4:30 p.m.
College Sports Notebook:
Spartans go into tournament as top seed
Top-seeded after completing an outstanding 33-16 regular season following a split with Queens College, the St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team begins its quest for the East Coast Conference title on Thursday at Provident Bank Park in Pomona.
The ECC champion receives a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Thursday’s lineup kicks off with the No. 1 Spartans meeting No. 4 Bridgeport at 1 p.m., followed at 4 p.m. with second-seeded Dowling taking on No. 3 C.W. Post. Competition continues at PBP on Friday with games at 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m., with the finals shifting to St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens on Saturday when the ECC championship plaque will be awarded.
STAC beat Queens College, 12-1, after losing the opener, 11-1, to cap an 18-6 conference mark while Queens fell to 13-27 overall, 7-17 in ECC action.
In the nightcap, freshman left-hander Nick May of Middletown, senior righty Ken Frawley of White Plains and junior right-hander Joe DePool of New City combined to a six-hitter, while hot-hitting junior Frank Salerno, also of New City, had three hits including a home run to lead off the game.
The Spartans unleashed a 15-hit attack in support of starter May, who improved to 4-1.
Mortarboard musings
- Jason Crafton, a 2003 Nyack College graduate, has been appointed as the Warriors’ head men’s basketball coach. Crafton previously served as an assistant coach for seven years at the United States Naval Academy.
- Junior Jesse Drinks of Ossining placed sixth in the 100-meter dash at the Big East Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Tampa, FL, as the University of Connecticut placed fourth, just three points behind third-place Pittsburgh. Drinks set a UConn record with a time of 10.47 in his specialty, and is also part of the Huskies’ record-setting 4x100 relay team.
- Nyack College baseball skipper Matt Cornacchione was chosen as the Central Atlantic Athletic Conference (CACC) coach of the year by his peers. Cornacchione led Nyack to a 23-22 overall mark (11-9 in CACC) and a No. 5 seed in the CACC Baseball Championship. The Warriors won 20 more games than they did in 2011, when they posted a 3-35 overall record.
- The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference honored 17 members of the Iona College men’s and women’s outdoor track and field programs on the MAAC All-Academic teams after picking up a 3.20 grade point average or higher. The announcement was made at this weekend’s MAAC Championships.
Weekly Sports Poll:
Yesterday the Yankees beat the Rays 5-3 but New York made it interesting in the late innings. The late innings may get scary without Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera in there but yesterday Rafael Soriano picked up his third hold of the year and David Robertson got his first save.
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