Boys Lax Notebook
All-American Debate: Obvious Choices Leaves Morsels for Rest
There should be little to no political correctness when it comes to naming the 10 Section 1 All-American this season, so, please, spare us all the nonsensical notion that we should spread the wealth this season and consider guys who are playing cupcake schedules because they put up big numbers in those games. There’s not a team in Class A or Class C that can hang with the Class B powers that be – Yorktown and John Jay – and the next best team in Section 1, Pleasantville, hails from Class D. Everyone else is on tier three or below.
That said, we like state-ranked (No.2) Yorktown to get at least three, possibly four, All-Americans: previous honoree D Brett (#BeastMode) Makar, the Maryland-bound senior, is a shoe-in; Marist-bound seniors M Hunter Embury (64 points) and A Jamison Embury (91 points) are clear-cut, bona fide A-A choices; and D Brandon Meyreles is as good as any pole not named Makar but getting four players from one team is difficult these days, no matter how worthy those players are. Trust me, they are worthy.
State-ranked (No.4) John Jay deserves at least two: So, I’d give Colgate-bound senior D Thor Adamec and junior M Bryce Ford, the Fairfield commit, the nod for sure. That makes five or six (depending on if you like Meyreles like I do) from the top two programs in the section. I’d say Pleasantville gets two as well, including Georgetown-bound Declan McDermott (59 points) and previous A-A honoree Brian Reda (67 points), soon bound for Fairfield. That makes seven or eight.
The last two or three could be determined by whoever wins in Class A and Class C, but Bucknell-bound Alston Tarry (76 points) at Bronxville is legit, Westlake’s Rob DiNota (57 points) is bucking for a second A-A nod and Fox Lane’s Matt Magnan (44 points) is a special talent, though none will likely sip from the cup of champions in my estimation. Based on his body of work and the efforting he has put in this year, Magnan would be on my list of Section 1 All-Americans. If he played at Yorktown, he might be a three-time All-American, so send the Syracuse-bound Fox off with a bang. Billy Chabot of Rye is in the mix.
Other locals in the conversation: State-ranked (No.5) Class C power Hen Hud has a couple of interesting option in senior G Vinny Bell and Villanova-bound senior M Austin Fraser (38 points), but the Sailors may have to win the section to get a nod. I love the way Fraser has sacrificed personal digits for the good of his team by moving to D-mid, but if they need one guy to make one play, Coach Lepore turns to Fraser when all is said and done… Somers senior Vincent Cartelli (64 points) is having a wonderful statistical season, and Lakeland/Panas senior A JoJo Janavey has a body of work (over 200 career points) that certainly merits mention… Can we please bring back power leagues? I know, I know, the Section 1 A.D.’s think power leagues are too subjective, but there is something to be said for subjective when put side by side objective, and I object to the Yorktown’s current league, which includes Fox Lane, Greeley and Ossining. That’s just as bad as a hackneyed Michelle Wolf joke, man, nothing remotely funny about it. Nobody benefits from the current system, so fix it.
NWE/Putnam Fab Five Lax Poll
No.1 YORKTOWN – Class B Huskers (12-3) will enter the tourney as the favorites, what with Yorktown finding another gear and John Jay dealing with internal issues surrounding the Indians’ netminding situation, but, that said, Duke-bound senior Braden Burke was cleared for contact this week and should return to the post-season lineup in time to seriously bolster the back line.
No.2 HEN HUD – Class C Sailors (14-1) might have benefitted from a tougher regular-season schedule, which state-ranked (No.9) Rye certainly has. That’s the thing that scare me most about the title-starved Sailors. They haven’t faced, much less beaten, an upper echelon foe. Rye (11-4) has faced L/P, P’Ville, IP, Mamo’ and John Jay, so the Garnets are battle tested and been-there-done-that when it comes to winning and challenging for sectional titles (4-2 since 2005).
No.3 LAKELAND/PANAS – Class A Rebels (5-10) are said to have a healthy TJ Bryan back and this junior middie won 60% of his draws against Yorktown, which means his impact will be vast when the Rebels, the current No.8 seed, potentially face No.1 Mamaroneck early in the watered-down Class A playoffs. If Coach Lindsay can get this unit on the same page, we still think they can bust up a bracket and make a run, considering the Rebels lost by just a goal, 9-8, in overtime to state-ranked (No.14) Mamaroneck, the once-prohibitive favorites, last week. Sean Laukaitis and Mason Nocito each bagged a hat trick for the Rebels #DontSnooze.
No.4 MAHOPAC – We mentioned last week that the Class A Indians (10-5) had best go 3-0 against Wappingers, Arlington and Carmel to conclude regular season, and chances are they will do so by wiping up Carmel in the season finale last night. And it looks like the Indians may draw the No.2 seed as a result, poised to make a run at a wide-open Class A tourney field. Something tells us the trail to the finals could be bumpy for every team in the field, but Mahopac has as good a chance as any to ride it out and win its first title since 2011 or at least compete for one for the first time since 2015.
No.5 SOMERS – Class B Tuskers (7-8) have suffered three-straight losses and enter the tournament on a down note, which set the back to No.7 among the current seeds, which isn’t a good thing when Yorktown is No.2. The road to the Final 4 just got a whole lot tougher.
HM PUTNAM VALLEY – Class D Tigers (8-7) are looking at a potential 5 vs. 4 matchup with No.4 Westlake as a Final 4 obstacle. A win over Westlake would likely produce a matchup with No.1 Pleasantville, thus likely ending the campaign with an eye toward a potentially bright future
Ray has 33 years experience covering and photographing local sports in Westchester and Putnam counties, including everything from Little League/Travel Baseball to varsity high school prep sports and collegiate coverage. He has been a sports editor at Examiner Media since its inception in 2007.
Visit Ray’s author bio page for more details. Also read Ray’s archived work here and his Direct Rays column here.
