With fall sports tapering off and the winter season cycling into gear at St. Ed’s, some unfinished business remains before a slew of athletes can transition over to a second – or even a third – sports team with the school year barely two months old.
Sean Kenney and Brian Carter are prime examples of how harried the life of a multi-sport high school athlete can be. The football season was extended into mid-November when the Pirates qualified for the playoffs. The basketball season will be well underway before Carter and several teammates can trade in their cleats for sneakers. Kenney’s cross-country season has already encroached on the early stages of basketball practice.
Some winter teams will not be at full strength for a brief period, but that’s the downside of fall teams stretching their seasons into district and regional tournaments.
Head Coach Bill Motta’s football team drew a familiar regional playoff opponent in Victory Christian Academy, the team that knocked the Pirates out of the postseason in 2013 and won a regular season rematch in September. St. Ed’s (4-5) defeated Ransom-Everglades 28-10 last Friday at home. Roles were blurred somewhat as Johnny Schwerer and Austin Strazzulla did the rushing while CJ Hadnot tossed two touchdown passes. The regular season ends on the road this week at Jupiter Christian.
“We are going to keep doing what we do,” Motta said shortly after the playoff clincher. “We are not going to change anything. We go to work every week emphasizing blocking and tackling, the fundamentals of football. We’re not in the NFL so we’ve got things to sharpen up every week.”
Acclaim has already started to roll in for deserving players. Carter was declared 2014 District Player of the Year. Carter and running back Ian Leveton made First Team All-District. Honorable Mentions went to Carter and Mason Heim for offense; Strazzulla and Javan Crosdale for defense.
Heim, Leveton, Schwerer and Peyton Klein earned Academic All-State honors.
Andrew Brown and Spencer Greaves stole the show at the district swimming tournament last week. Brown claimed first in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Greaves won the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley. The pair combined with Ben Weeks and Coleman Kramer to win the 200 freestyle relay, and again with Kramer and Tomas Botero to win the 400 freestyle relay.
All qualified for the regionals in those events. Also regional-eligible with second place finishes were James McGuire in the 100 breaststroke and Kramer in the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
Mia Festagallo scored three times and Carter Cooper added the other two in a 5-0 victory over Master’s Academy last week in the debut of Jaclyn Pancotti as Head Coach of the varsity girls soccer team. She takes over after Jeff Lamscha amassed 306 wins over 25 years.
“I’m looking forward to the soccer season, even though I’m not coaching,” says Director of Athletics Lamscha. “I coached those girls, especially the seniors who were with me since they were freshmen. I think Jaclyn is going to do a great job. They have a real good chance of being successful. I’m looking forward to seeing them play, but it’s a little weird right now not being out there with them.”
Varsity boys basketball starts in earnest with a preseason classic at home next week. The Pirates are coming off a banner 21-5 season a year ago. They should be able to produce a nice outside-inside balance on offense, but several key contributors from 2013 graduated or transferred. They will be difficult to replace.
Everyone has circled December 23 on the calendar. American Airlines Arena on Biscayne Bay will be the venue for an afternoon game against Community Christian. A ticket for that game will also cover the Miami Heat matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers that evening.
The boys and girls golf seasons are over, but not before both teams qualified for their respective regional tournaments. Blake Schmalenberger equaled Fahad Ahmed’s 78 to pace the boys at districts. Schmalenberger then carded a 75 to lead the team at regionals. Allison Brown’s 101was among the top six individual scores at districts. However, the girls decided not to compete at regionals.
The volleyball team was ousted in the first round at districts. The girls never quite hit the stride that was expected and finished with a disappointing sub-.500 record.
Girls basketball starts in two weeks. Right now the roster stands at seven. A few recruits between now and then would be welcomed with open arms by Head Coach Paula Robinson.
No such problems with boys soccer. The season opener was on Election Day with Head Coach Bill Keating awaiting the conclusion of football, swimming and cross-country before his roster of 25 becomes fully staffed.
The boys cross-country team finished third overall at the district meet last Saturday and automatically qualified for the regional tournament on Nov. 8. Allan Ross (17:58) and Sean Kenney (18:43) placed 5th and 15th respectively in the 5K race to qualify as individuals. Josh Hurwitz, Zach Alerte, Ben Oakes, Daniel Johansen and Peter Zheng will join them to represent St. Ed’s as a team.
