The Matchups
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- June
- 12
Kevin Drew and John Jay shocked Huntington last year. Can John Jay return to Long Island and win again? (Dave Kennedy/Journal News file photo)
Hopefully I can provide some insights into today’s semifinal games considering I covered Long Island lacrosse the last few years. Below are some thoughts about these three monumental state semifinals. You can read my “Showtime” post in which I explore how important these games and this day is for Section 1 lacrosse by clicking here. id=”more-894″>I’ll spend most of the time here talking about the Long Island teams because we all are pretty familiar with the Westchester teams.
Today’s state semifinals
All games at Hofstra
Class A, Yorktown vs. Syosset, 3:30 p.m.
Class B, John Jay vs. Rocky Point, 5:30 p.m.
Class C, Rye vs. Mount Sinai, 8 p.m.
Saturday’s state finals
Also at Hofstra
Class A, Yorktown/Syosset winner vs. West Genesee/Canandaigua winner, 11 a.m.
Class B, John Jay/Rocky Point winner vs. Carthage/Hamburg winner, 1:30 p.m.
Class C, Rye/Mount Sinai winner vs. Corning East/Penn Yan winner, 4 p.m.
Class A: Yorktown (20-3) vs. Syosset (16-4), 3:30 p.m.
Can Yorktown slow down Harvard-bound Jeff Cohen? On the defensive end, that is what this game comes down to. Cohen has 257 career goals, the best in Long Island history. He’s a tremendous player who has 21 goals in four playoff games, including five in the LI championship.If you’re looking for someone to possibly compare him to, I’d say he’s a bit like Chris Bocklet, only lefty, with perhaps a bit more of an emphasis on scoring as opposed to dishing. He’s not a super-freak athlete like Huntington’s Shamel Bratton was last year, but he can definitely break down opponents with highlight-reel goals. He has a great feel for the game and is a deadly finisher.The one game I saw him struggle last year was against West Islip’s Ryan Flanagan, who was about 6-4, 220 pounds, and an all-American who went to UNC, in the Long Island championship.Other than that, he pretty much scored five goals in every game and did whatever he wanted.Syosset also has a solid goalie in Evan Cohen (no relation to Jeff Cohen).The Mike Bonitatibus-Evan Cohen matchup is very, very, interesting. Syosset, which won its first LI title this year, has an excellent coach in John Calabria. Master motivator.I think Yorktown, which has won 14 straight, has a few things going for it in this game. Syosset doesn’t have huge size, something Yorktown might be able to exploit, especially on its attack and midfield lines, where Yorktown is huuuuge. John Ranagan especially could have a monster game.I also think Syosset might suffer a letdown considering it just knocked off two-time defending state champion West Islip. I know, I know, you don’t get letdowns in state semis. Really? Does anyone think John Jay didn’t suffer one in last year’s state final after it beat Huntington? And that was two days later, unlike this round, which is only a day after the state quarterfinals. Beating West Islip is the biggest win Syosset has EVER had.There is no minimizing how big defeating West Islip is for a Long Island team. It’s like Rye’s upset of John Jay times 50, and then times another 5,000 since it was in the Long Island final. Syosset might start slow.
Class B: John Jay (18-5) vs. Rocky Point (19-1), 5:30 p.m.
Quite simply, it’s now or never for John Jay. The Bocklet-Drew-Granelli-Latino foursome is gone after this year. And there is no great team standing in its way of winning a state title.If John Jay had last year’s team in this year’s state tournament, it would unquestionably be a prohibitive favorite to win the state title. John Jay didn’t capitalize last year after beating Huntington. Now it has another chance.Is John Jay as good as it was last year? No. Does John Jay need to be as good as it was last year? No. Should it think that way? No.Similar to Syosset, Rocky Point has an absolutely amazing player in Tom Palasek, who is going to Johns Hopkins.Here’s a quick story about Palasek: I covered him in football last year in the first game of the season when he was playing against (yup….you guessed it) Huntington and the Bratton twins. Rocky Point lost the game by like 40 points but Palasek stayed in the game as a quarterback AND returned kicks.He got absolutely physically destroyed and would not come out of the game.Lacrosse is obviously by far and away his best sport and he’s going to be an absolutely brutal player for John Jay to try to slow down.He works in tandem with his younger brother Matt, a junior who has already committed to Johns Hopkins.Defenseman Justin Annunziato is a great player headed to Syracuse.Basically, John Jay and Rocky Point are in many ways similar teams. They both have superstars but questionable depth. Can John Jay get it done again at Hofstra?
Class C: Rye (22-2) vs. Mount Sinai (16-3), 8 p.m.
Mount Sinai might not have a superstar like Cohen or Palasek, but it does have the greatest high school lacrosse coach of all time in Joe Cuozzo. And that’s a fact, not an opinion.Career record: 5,248-22.(OK, his actual career record is 726-83. That’s not quite as high as my Tecmo Bowl winning percentage, but it’s close.)He has won seven state championships, all with Ward Melville, which he coached from 1969 through 2006 (the final year he was a co-coach) before unceremoniously leaving. The man is a legend and an absolute lacrosse genius. He’s in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and once had a 71-game winning streak.Anyway, this figures to be a low scoring game.Mount Sinai’s defenseman Connor Fitzgerald and Mike Sweeney are its two best players and it also gets consistent scoring from Mike Chapman.Rye, which has won 21 straight, has been to this game for three straight years and has lost all three times. It’s time to take the step and this is a beatable opponent.Rye has won 21 straight games, has a balanced and confident team, and should approach this game not as an underdog but as one every bit as capable as its opponent.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 12:26 am by Jeff Gold.
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JGold,
TREMENDOUS insight. Thank God someone over there actually pays you. What you did in the hour or so it took you to write this post is give 95 percent of us all the little tidbits we had no other way of getting.
I know Joe Cuozzo and, yes, he is the Bear Bryant of Long Island lacrosse. I'd even go as far as to say he's the Vince Lombardi of high school lax from Montauk to Albany, but I'd disagree that he's the best ever. To me, the conversation begins and ends with Mike Messere at West Genny, but I guess we can fight about that over a few beers some day after the season. I guess you were going with total wins, but its hard to argue against Messere's numbers:
685 wins, 45 losses, 28 Section III titles, 14 state championships (all in Class A or prior to classifications).
Again, I don't think anyone on this planet would ever question the greatness of Cuozzo, I just think he gets a lot of extra attention because Long Island is much more competitive than Syracuse as a whole.
As for Thursday, I agree with you. This is Rye's time, Cuozzo or no Cuozzo. Yorktown and John Jay have serious hurdles to surpass as you explained specifically. Rye, though, will win if its "team" outplays a Mt. Sinai "team" that relies on system and less on stars.
I'm not making any predictions because I'd look like a fool, but I will say my heart tells me, as it has all season and I've repeatedly stated, that now is the time for multiple Section I teams in the state finals. Like you, I would not be shocked if we won all three or lost all three, but I would be shocked if any of our teams got blindsided, day of preparation or not.
My head, on the other hand, says we lose two of three, but each team is in each game until late in the fourth.
Good work my friend. Good work. Good luck Section I.
One more thing. With its win Wednesday, Syosset became just the second Section 8 team to win the Class A Long Island crown in the last 20 years. Farmingdale in 2003 (Danowski and Co.) was the other. This class has been dominated by West Islip, Ward Melville and in earlier years Northport and Sachem, so what Syosset did is monumental. It adds to their legitimacy, so don't let the fact that the Braves got killed by Garden City early and have 4 losses fool you.
Yorktown will have to play easily its best game of the season to win, and a lot better than they did against Nisky.
I may have overlooked Messere, who is obviously amazing as well. I'm not quite sure if he has to deal with the same level of competition, however.
The respect that Messere garners though is certainly incredible. In last year's state final between West Genny and West Islip, which West Islip easily won 9-4, literally five camera crews and reporters from all around Syracuse crowded around Messere to get an explanation. It was a scene similar to a professional athlete being bombared by the press.
Basically, Syracuse reporters asked questions like this:
"Lacrosse god Messere, how could this have happened…?"
quick question…last year west islip had a CRAZY amount of fans in the semi finals against yorktown, made it a good atmosphere
does anyone know if syosset will have a big student fan section?? i know there on the island so theyll be closer but does anyone know if they have a big student fan section
Just for the record – I don't know what game this guy was covering last year but Rocky Point beat Huntington on an OT 2 point conversion in the 2008 football season. No team beat Rocky Point "by like 40 points".
I am very worried that Rye will not be able to score on Mt. Sinai. Rye was able to stop Shoreham last year, but they just couldn't score themselves. If it wasn't for Franny Archibald's 2 unassisted goals from midfield, Rye would have been shut out. Rye's attack is going to need to step up big time if they want to win this game.
Here are some highlights from Syosset's win yesterday. The Jeff Cohen show was mighty impressive.
JGold pointed out that he's primarily left-handed, but there's plenty of footage of him going right.
He has an explosive first step and looks to be lightning-quick on turf, like the surface was made specifically for his incredible abilities. Expect him to drive from X and roll under and back outside. He'll probably try to take poles 5 to 10 yards above the GLE and roll to his right and then scoop under back left.
He may be the best attackman Town will have seen all season. Hopefully, Marr and Co. have seen enough to gameplan something against him because he's a 5-year varsity player with more goals than Gretzky, with plenty coming against serious, serious competition.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/highschool/ny-skalax125724046jun12,0,1652314.story
Here are highlights from Rocky Point's win. The Palasek brothers are pretty amazing.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/highschool/lacrosse/ny-skblax125724045jun12,0,3617283.story
Rocky Point Fan:
Fall 2006, not 2007. Sorry, should have made that clear. I'm still thinking of the 2007 season as "this year" since there hasn't been another football season.
The reference to the Bratton twins however should have given some indication it was not the most recent football season.
Tip off should have been "the Bratton twins"
9/16/06Rocky Point@ Huntington (NY) ** L 18-49
JGold,
Fourteen state titles is 14 state titles, twice as many as Ward Melville. To win them Messere's team's had to beat the best Sections 1, 8 and 11 had to offer. It's safe to assume if Genny beat the best the other games during the season really don't matter, other than for overall win totals.
Yes, the level of competition may be less in Syracuse compared to L.I., but when you lose just 45 games in 32 or so years as a head coach, words simply cannot describe the dominance.
Plus, the man is credited with creating a culture of sportsmanship, community and winning that is unrivaled anywhere in the civilized world.
AMEN JEFF
EXCELENT
GOOD LUCK TO ALL 3 SECTION I TEAMS.
GO FOR THE GOLD !!!
Fine. You got me. But I'm telling Cuozzo on you.
I'm leaving for Long Island. Who else is going?
I'm stuck under my rock.
But if Town wins today I'm hunting you down Saturday at Hofstra.
Syracuse and JGold- I just called Coach Messere on the pay phone and tattled on you guys…..
Let's just say this, both Coach Messere and Uncle Joe are two of the greatest coaches in the history of the game.
That being said, who is going to be the next legend 20 years from now, Dave Marr, Al Meola, Roy Colsey, Kuz, who? We should talk best Section 1 coaches of all-time, Trunbul and my old coach Frankie V….who else, I am sure you'll tell me….and please don't say Coach Orlando from Suffern; when we used to be whoopin' them he would take a seat on the water cooler and yell at everyone, but the funny thing was I liked the guy!
Hey Joe- Do you have an old pic's of Coach Orlando on the water bucket?
I once saw Orlando launch sticks and equipment out bus windows as it was leaving Yorktown High. You could hear him at FDR Park …
Cohen may be another Tim Goldstein (Cornell 88). Coach Petromala probably remembers the Long Island star breaking Petro's ankles on the way to a 2G/6A game in Cornell's 12-11 loss to Hopkins in the '87 NCAA championship game. If Big Red could have won a face-off they would have won by 3 or 4.
Coach O was Rockland Coach of the half century for hockey/lax record, but his success did not translate across the river.
The reason Orlando sat on the watercooler was he could not listen to Ric B, talk trash as took the ball away from Rodriquez.
Joe L: Great Survey question:
Section 1 Whos the man:
J Turnbull, F Vitolo, G Walsh, T Georgalas, Orlando, B Ucci, D McNally, ????????? Let me know if I let antone out
I think you left out Lew Janevy and Al Meola!
what about Joe Corace??