22 Class of '24 student-athlete sports highlights from the Port Chester/Blind Brook best of bests
June 27, 2024 at 12:12 a.m.
Graduation has come and gone for the Port Chester and Blind Brook Class of 2024, but the memories linger on after a scholastic sports year to remember because it was like no other year in the storied athletic history of both schools.
It was the year when the Blind Brook Trojans dropped football, the Port Chester Rams came a step closer to adding lacrosse as a varsity sport, and both schools placed a combined record number (95) of their best student-athletes on various All-Section, All-Conference and All-League teams in 12 different varsity sports.
Following is a condensed list of the area’s most shining athletic moments, 22 of the best sports highlights of the past high school year, a thanks for the memories tribute to the calendar year that was.
1. NUMERO UNO: The Rams Dominican Republic transfer Guillermo (Memo) Zabala became the first Port Chester male basketball player to score more than 1,000 points during his two-year varsity career, set the school single game scoring record (60 points) in a home loss to Lincoln, scored 49 in a return match loss to Lincoln away, averaged 33 points per game to lead Section 1 in scoring and was named to the All-Section, All-Conference and All-League team while receiving Honorable Mention on the All-Westchester and Lower Hudson Valley team. He was named the school's most outstanding male athlete. But while he let the ball speak for him on the court, one of the accomplishments he is most proud of is the fact that he learned how to speak English here after not knowing how when he first arrived to live in the projects with his father and his new family. And he made the honor roll before he graduated. He will be going to Arizona Western College, the same school pro great Nate (Tiny) Archibald went to when he graduated from De Witt Clinton High School in the Bronx.
Star pitcher Andrew Rogovic was selected as League Player of the Year and was chosen as Blind Brook’s 2024 best senior male athlete. He also won a full athletic scholarship to Northeastern.By File Photo
2. THE ALL-AMERICAN: The Lady Rams former hoop ace Kayleigh Heckel, who transferred to prep school powerhouse Long Island Lutheran to enhance her college athletic scholarship possibilities, also scored more than 1,000 points and led Section 1 in scoring by averaging more than 30 points per game during her two years at Port Chester High School. She was named to the McDonald's All America team as a point guard, played in the McDonald's High School All-America Game in Houston, Texas, and won a hoops scholarship to the University of Southern California.
3. PITCHING GOAT?: Blind Brook's pitching stud Andrew (The Arm) Rogovic Jr., arguably the greatest pitcher in school history, recorded 19 of the 21 outs by strikeouts in a 2-0 playoff win over Croton-Harmon, throws 90 miles per hour heat, was named League, Conference and Section 1 Pitcher of the Year last year while being named to the Westchester-Lower Hudson Valley Team and was on his way to doing it all again when a blister on his pitching hand cost him most of his senior year season but didn't stop him from winning two playoff games and leading the team in hitting (.330) as a shortstop. He was also selected as League Player of the Year and has a full athletic scholarship to Northeastern. And his name may well be called in the upcoming Major League Baseball draft. And by any other name, GOAT stands for greatest of all time.
4. BUTTERFLY SPLASH: Lady Trojans swimming sensation Sydney Goldberg made the All-Section and All-League team in the butterfly event and made it to the States as an intermediate relay swimmer even though Blind Brook doesn't have it own swim team. She was part of the Rye/Rye Neck/Blind Brook combined team. And has been training with the elite Empire Swimming Club since she was 8.
5. THE BIG 5: Port Chester Wrestling's Big 5 became part of the first wave of local grapplers to compete in the first Sectional Wrestling Championships to be staged at the County Center in White Plains, Westchester's Madison Square Garden-like mecca of scholastic sports. Laila Builes (101 pounds), All-League grappler Eric Coyt (108), Eduar Polanco (124), Nick Pereira (138) and Jaden Barbour (215). They had to wrestle their way through the various weight class trials in the Divisionals to get there—and if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Rams like Franklin Cabrera, Lucas Cepeda, Chris Gonzalez, Kevin Lorenzana, Christopher Ochoa, Giovanni Oliveros, Taby Sanchez and Alejandro Velasquez came close.
6. VB MILESTONES: The Lady Trojans volleyball team soared to new heights when Fernanda Julian racked up her 1,000th career assist against Sleepy Hollow while Oriah Rosenfeld hit her 500-kill milestone during the Pelham Tournament. Both made the All-Section and All-League teams. Oriah was voted League Player of the Year. And twin sister Ella Rosenfeld also made the All-League team while Kyra Mak and Marissa Savner received Honorable Mention. Julian was the League Player of the Year in 2022 when the Lady Trojans won the school's first VB conference title, beating powerhouse Albertus Magnus for the championship. And in a rare career daily double, Blind Brook coach Gina Carlone, a former Clarkstown All-League vballer, was named League Coach of the Year in two sports: VB and softball.
Samantha (Sam) Munoz, All-League Lady Rams basketball player and All-League Honorable Mention for soccer, was selected as Port Chester High School's 2024 outstanding female athlete.By File Photo
7. MELODY, SAM, ALEE: Lady Rams swimmer Melody Sapione was named winner of the school's most outstanding female scholar athlete award and is headed for Yale. Samantha (Sam) Munoz, All-League Lady Rams basketball player and Honorable Mention All-League for soccer, was selected as Port Chester's outstanding female athlete; she also played softball and ran track in previous years. And Alexandra (Alee) Cruz, who had a 98.2 GPA and worked 40 hours a week in a supermarket bakery to help support her family, was also an outstanding middle distance runner in Track & Field and played flute in the nationally-ranked school marching band. She was the first recipient of the Dr. Joseph Durney Athletic Director's Award.
8. HEADS UP PLAY: Trojans soccer ace Martin Otero sent a free kick almost 35 yards into the box directly in front of the goal line in the playoff opener, Nico Palacios soared into the air for a perfectly timed header that netted the winning the goal. Palacios made the All-Section and All-League team while Otero made All-League. Joaquin Otero and Eli Zimmerman also made All-League. And Hudson McRedmond, Ethan Leland, Seth Low, Michael Berman Annunziato and Tomo Yamano probably should have for the 10-5-2 team that was captained by the Otero bros and Yamano. The Lady Trojans suffered through a double overtime soccer playoff loss to Bronxville, but their heads up play resulted in League Honorable Mention recognition for co-captain Kayleigh Curran and defensive ace Veronica Pallotta as well as Alexandra Maniscalco and Anna Vnenchak. Ava Shaw captained the team for the third year in a row.
9. RAM HIGH KICKERS: The Rams soccer high kickers included Ramaul Morgan Jr. (also one of the Rams’ best sprinters) who was named to the All-Section and All-League soccer team and won a soccer scholarship to American International University while his sidekick Nick Tellez made All-League, received All-Section Honorable Mention and will play college ball for Iona. Jonathan Bautista, Julian Lopez and Christopher Antunez also made the All-League team for the star-studded Rams squad. And roster depth came from Bayron Aguire, Joseph Alvarez, Aidan Espinoza, Pedro Goncalvez and Kevin Pintado while head coach John Cafaldo's team also included such honor roll students as Jason and Johaan Espinal, Brendon Lalvay, Jorge and Juan Lopez, Andrew Palacios and Matias Vasquez.
10. HIS & HERS HISTORY: Blind Brook made His and Hers Track & Field History racing to a second place finish in a mixed mile relay staged for the first time at the Loucks Games in White Plains, one of the most prestigious T&F meets in the Northeast. Sena Tarnoff, Kayleigh Curran, Will Jafee and Danny Keilman were runners-up in the rare event. And the Lady Trojans came back to run the second fastest time in the 4x400-meter relay in the 56th running of "The Loucks" racing with a team revolving around Tarnoff, Ella Rosenfeld, Curran and Oriah Rosenfeld.
11. ON THE MARK: Rams Venezuelan import Santiago Marquez, a triathlon athlete, mountain biker and ocean swimmer, broke the school record for the 500 meters by more than 40 seconds in the first swim meet of the winter season; the record was originally set by Mario Flores (6:53.10) in 2018. Marquez, a sophomore, also made the All-League cross-country team and was the school's best middle distance runner during the indoor and outdoor T&F seasons. His big sister Chenoa is also making waves—she's one of the Lady Rams’ best swimmers and distance runners. And Rams swim team co-captains Miguel Infante-Rojas and Matt Palma deserve a lot of credit for helping keep the team alive by drumming up support via Spanish language pitches at the high school to help enlist recruits. Ditto co-captains Madeline Saunders and Jaina Gonzalez for the Lady Rams swim team.
Swimming sensation Sydney Goldberg made the All-Section and All-League teams in the butterfly event and made it to the States as an intermediate relay swimmer was part of the Rye/Rye Neck/Blind Brook combined team. She was named Blind Brook High School’s 2024 best senior female athlete.By File Photo
12. CHAMPS ON ICE: The League champion Rye Town/Harrison Titans ice hockey season may have ended with a loss to Clarkstown in the playoff semi-finals at the Playland Ice Casino, but they couldn't have gotten there without a strong assist from some very good Port Chester and Blind Brook players headed by standout junior goalie CJ Stumpf, the Blind Brook goalie who had a season high 40 saves against New Rochelle. Other key local contributors included Blind Brook's Nico Corvalan, Jackson Scala and Jared Rosen and Port Chester's Billy and Nick Villanova and Messier Mollica, named after the all-time great for the Rangers and Oilers. Blind Brook freshman defensive standout Rebecca Newman received All-League Honorable Mention as well as the distinction of being the only Lady Trojan on the East Green Wave Team in the Section 1 all-girl ice hockey league.
13. THE SMARTEST RAM: Orhan Eski, a solid Ram cross-country runner, basketball player and member of Port Chester's nationally-ranked marching band, led Port Chester in scoring on the SATs and was the Rams’ outstanding male scholar-athlete. Fellow cross-country runners Jonathan Abraham, Nicholas Bedoya and Juan Mejia were also honor roll students and Alejandro Salinas just missed. Abraham, Mejia and Salinas crossed over to become the hardest working and most improved Ram distance runners during the indoor and outdoor seasons along with Lady Rams Abigail Pesantez and Alexa Aguiriano, who also ran cross-country.
14. THE SADDEST WORDS: Section 1 denied the proposed football merger between Blind Brook and Hastings-on-Hudson. So did Port Chester. When only 8 to 12 Blind Brook football wannabes turned out for the first Blind Brook varsity practices last Aug. 21, that wasn't enough to safely field a team. So Athletic Director Kimberly Saxton tried to save the season by proposing a merger with one of the neighboring schools: Hastings-on-Hudson, Putnam Valley and Port Chester among them. Hastings was game. But Section 1 turned the proposed merger down. "The merger didn't pass," Saxton said then. But she hasn't given up. Alas, nearby Port Chester also turned the proposed merger down because of what was described as overwhelmingly negative community feedback rooted in historic tension. That leaves Edgemont, Hastings and PV as remaining possible merger contenders. Whatever happens, it will be too late for talented running back Robby Carey, the just graduated senior who tried to keep the skeleton grid team practicing, but returning players like Carmine Casino, Matt Rigano, Matt and Charley Hammer and John Marino still have a shot.
15. GRID UPS, DOWNS: The football Rams bounced back from an opening 41-8 loss to Tuckahoe by beating Walter Panas 21-12 under the Friday night lights with power back John Pauletti, quarterback Alexis Morel and running back Scott Sullivan scoring touchdowns, Jaden Barbour and Alejandro Velasquez emerging as the top defensive and offensive linemen, Brian Aguilera kicking three extra points and the team hoisting one of their captains, running and defensive back John Delcid, on their shoulders after the game. Before the season ended, Delcid was nominated for the Heart of a Giant award for overcoming adversity and was elected homecoming king with cheerleader Mayelin Gonzalez the homecoming queen. The Rams sported new black/brown uniforms at that homecoming game. Their spiffy, surprise new look gave them the extra motivation that helped them beat Poughkeepsie in a game they had to win to make the playoffs. Pauletti and Morel, both also JV LAX players who figure to be on the lacrosse varsity as well should Port Chester decide to go that route in 2024-25, loom as the top one-two punch for Rams football during the upcoming season.
16. ALL IN THE FAMILY: Lady Trojans hoops sensation Kendall Konigsberg made the All-Section and All-League teams as a sophomore and was also named a Lower Hudson Valley Player of the Week, making her grandparents extra proud. Especially after Kendall stepped up and scored 28 points and had 10 rebounds during the 58-35 Homecoming win over Pleasantville in a showcase event that celebrated 50 years of Blind Brook basketball while also honoring her grandparents, Danny and Jenny, for being longtime Blind Brook fans. Kyra Mak and Bailey Estep also received All-League Honorable Mention.
Diehard Blind Brook High School football players who continued to practice even though their season had been canceled and the proposed merger with Hastings denied were, back row, from left: Chris Persuad, Eduardo Almeida, Robby Carey, Daniel Glantz, John Marino. Front row, from left: Matthew Rigano, Bennet Cuesta, Matthew Hammer, Charlie Hammer. Missing: Carmine Casino.By File Photo
17. FALLING UP: Coach Sean Burke's baseball Rams won the school's first Greater Hudson Valley Fall Baseball League Championship with a last inning walk on the wild side, the rally starting with a base hit by Bryan Sachs, a double by John (Tommy) Tomassetti, and an intentional walk by Josh Virella that led to a couple of unintentional walks by Scott Sullivan and a walk-off walk by Adam Castaneda, the first eighth grader to be called up to the varsity by Burke. Other baseball highlights included Tomassetti hitting a game tying 390-foot home run blast off the Mamaroneck High School building with two outs in the last inning against a league powerhouse that won a state championship while Virella homered over the left centerfield fence at Pergamo Field to help beat Blind Brook in the finals of the annual Port Chester-sponsored Anthony Foust Memorial Tournament championship game. Zach Schneider talked softly but carried a big stick as the Blind Brook baseball player who made All-League and played almost everywhere—second base, centerfield, pitcher—as needed to help fill the void when Rogovic's blister on his pitching hand sidelined him for a good part of the season.
18. GOING, GOING, GONE: In a softball slugfest for the ages, the Lady Rams beat the Lady Trojans by a football-like score of 31-21 with pitcher Fiona Lovallo getting the complete game win by facing 51 batters, allowing 17 hits, walking six and hitting a batter while Taby Sanchez led the hit parade by going 4 for 6 with eight RBIs. Sanchez, also a wrestler and soccer All-League Honorable Mention, made the All-League softball team, hitting .473 on the season as an outstanding centerfielder bound for Delhi University. But there is no way to overlook Blind Brook's sophomore sensation Isabella Montesano who hit two grand slam home runs and a three-run homer in the Lady Trojans’ first few games and wound up making the All-Conference and All-League teams. Charlotte Florin also made All-League for Blind Brook.
19. NEAR PERFECTION: Rams Dominican Republic transfer Jordany German struck out 20 of 21 batters in a win over Ramapo, giving up just one hit, a two-out, last inning infield bleeder with the batter barely beating the throw to first base. German, a junior, is called Port Chester's King of the Hill, made the All-Section and All-League teams and is seen as the successor to Blind Brook's Rogovic and Fox Lane' Tyler Renz as the best pitcher in Section 1.
20. LAX HOT SHOTS: Michael Berman Annunziata scored his 100th career goal in Blind Brook's 14-5 win over New Rochelle while Tyler Taerstein notched his 200th career point in that same game. Taerstein made the All-Section and All-League teams and Annunziata, who won a lacrosse athletic scholarship to Clark University, made the All-League team as did Chase Katz, Daniel McRedmond, Ethan Leland, Tomakazu Yamano, Chris Stumpf, Madeline Campbell, Tatum Korpi, Eliza Barnett, Kyra Fischer, Alexa Muoio and defensive long stick midfielder Seth Low who has an LAX scholarship to Muhlenberg and also won Blind Brook's outstanding sportsperson award as did Kyra Mak who made the All-League team as a basketball point guard and LAX standout. Low, whose mother died when he was 8, will always be remembered as the player who taped an adhesive strip to his helmet before every game with the words “I love you, Mom” inscribed on it. His dad, David, played for Boston University and was instrumental in bringing the BU LAX team up from the club ranks to become a varsity sport.
21. HOOP-DI-DO: Blind Brook basketball stalwarts Noah Brookman and Eli Zimmerman made the All-Conference and All-League hoops squads and were the sharpshooters who helped the Trojans win early season tournaments like Port Chester's annual Louis Larizza Jr. Memorial Tournament and the North Salem Tourney. Both made the All-Tournament teams. And while she didn't get All-Star recognition, Lady Rams basketball and volleyball player Nataly Garcia emerged as one of the school's most underappreciated student-athletes. Especially after she virtually carried the Lady Rams softball pitching responsibilities last year when the team badly needed a pitcher. Also in the easy-to-overlook category: Blind Brook's All-League golfers Tyler Gold and Max and Jacob Kulekofsky and their All-League tennis counterparts Carly Heinberg and Zoey Possick. Ditto Lady Ram tennis players Natalie Barrera (All-League), Fatima Coyt, Alexandra Espinosa, Yazorah Handal, Kimberly Maldonado (All-League), Kayley Martinez and Melany Monroy as well as the returning doubles team of Casey Schultz and Juliana Castillo, who also were among the fastest sprinters on the T&F team. Also returning: Brooke Federice, who co-captained the team with Barrera and Coyt and won the pivotal singles match against Woodlands that helped nail down the league championship in the final match of the season for retiring head coach Manny Martinez. It was a fitting last hurrah for Manny, the man who helped turn around the losing Blind Brook Trojans basketball culture and has been trying to do the same thing for Port Chester's hoop Rams.
The Port Chester High School football team celebrates their 21-12 win over Walter Panas in their second game of the 2023-24 football season under the Friday night lights by lifting their running back John Delcid on Sept. 8.By File Photo
22. HIP, HIP, HOORAY: What better way to end a salute to the best of the '24 sports accomplishments than with a cheer for the cheerleaders because head coach John Gonzalez helped rebuild Port Chester's cheerleading squad to the point where they were the 12th ranked team in the nation after winning sectional and regional titles that earned them a spot in the National High School Cheerleaders Association Championships in Orlando, Fla. The team revolved around seniors Allegra Burke, Veleryn Doras, Angela Esquivel, Christian Flores, Mariana Gomez, Mayelin Gonzalez, Alison Recinos, Olivia Tejada and Adrian Osorio, the first male cheerleader in Port Chester history and the first to win a college cheerleading scholarship. The Lady Trojans also had a special cheerleading duo in Hailey Mallah and Jordana Esterow who won Blind Brook's Dedication Award for cheerleaders at the annual sports award banquet at the Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich, Conn.
It was a special year like no other on the local high school sports calendar. So, thanks for the memories. And may the best always be yet to come including Blind Brook's hardworking AD getting that football merger passed by Section 1 and seeing the school's problems with its playing fields resolved so the involved Trojan and Lady Trojan teams don't have to play elsewhere—including Port Chester's Rec Field—as was the case during the past spring season.
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