By JIM MACLEAN
For most teams, homecoming was one game in front of the home crowd, but for the John Jay girls varsity volleyball team it was a marathon weekend.
John Jay started the weekend with a win Sept. 20, over Pelham, and the Wolves then got home late after attending the Hall of Fame ceremony at the high school.
The Wolves were back in the gym at 7 a.m. on Saturday to host the John Jay tournament against an impressive field of championship teams from New York and Connecticut.
In the end it was Somers winning the tournament title over Glastonbury, but John Jay coach Tom Rizzotti felt it was a great weekend overall for the Wolves.
“We started off strong, but as the day wore on we kind of slowed down, we had a pretty long week, were here till nine last night and being back here at seven this morning, by the end of the day they were pretty shot,” Rizzotti said.
“Everybody had a chance to play a lot of minutes, and in that way it was a gift to host and be a part of it. You just want to learn and the goal is to get better.”
John Jay has gotten off to a fast start overall as the Wolves are now 5-1 on the season. After advancing to the championship game last fall, the Wolves entered this season hoping to continue that success despite losing several key starters to graduation.
The Wolves’ only loss so far was to defending Section 1 champion Byram Hills in a rematch of last years’ title game. Seniors Ilirijana Ahmetaj, Jaime Bartley-Cohen, Riley Buckingham and Olivia Casabona, along with junior Hellen Dollar, all played in that championship game last year, and Rizzotti admits that experience has the veterans fired up and leading the way this year.
“We’re having a great season, our only loss was a tough match against Byram that could have gone either way,” said Rizzotti. “The girls are working really hard and I’m really happy with how they have played. Our outside hitters, Ilirijana Ahmetaj and Jaime Bartley-Cohen are really playing great. Hellen Dollar is running a 5-1 doing a great job setting. Olivia Casabona has picked up right where she was last year as our libero. They’ve been our linchpins, but all the girls have really stepped up taking on new roles and doing well and it’s fun to watch them grow.”
Nick Rinaldi tries to stiff-arm his way for a gain against Brewster. Tommy Machado leaps for an interception for the Wolves. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS
John Jay football suffers homecoming loss to Brewster
It was a big crowd on hand and the weather was perfect as the John Jay varsity football team came out fired up for homecoming Sept. 21, but it was visiting Brewster that came up with the big plays early and took control of the game.
The Bears jumped out to a 14-0 lead early in the first quarter on their first two possessions of the game and never looked back, finishing off a 21-0 victory over John Jay.
“Credit to Brewster, they came ready to play, came out with a good game plan and did an awesome job,” John Jay coach Joe Candarelli said. “The slow start didn’t help, but we definitely have to figure something out because we had no answer. We’re going to keep swinging and get back at it tomorrow.”
Brewster led 21-0 at the half behind three touchdowns from Tre Ficara, and the Bears were threatening again at the start of the second half after blocking a punt and taking over at the John Jay 21-yard line. Brewster drove down inside the John Jay 10-yard line, but Mathias Baez and Ryker McCarthy came up with a pair of sacks to stop the drive.
John Jay put together its best drive of the game in the fourth quarter as quarterback Brady Currid connected on first down passes to Manny Ruiz, Gavin Carvajal, and Patrick Ryan, but the drive stalled inside the Brewster 20-yard line and the Bears closed out the shutout victory.