Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch Weekly Sports Report

After an exhausting four-overtime 7-6 victory in the opening round of the Section 1 Division 1 tournament against No. 7 Clarkstown (10-10-1), the No. 10 Lakeland/Panas Rebels (8-12-2) had to come right back two days later and play against No. 2 White Plains (18-4) in the quarterfinals.

After a slow start, the Rebels were able to play even with the Tigers but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 5-3 White Plains’ win, which ended Lakeland/Panas’ season on Feb. 22.

“The kids played real hard but we had a couple of breakdowns in the first period and that led to us getting down two goals and to overcome that is tough to do against a good team,” Rebels coach Bart Mucci said. “After that, we basically played them even, we traded goals. We tightened up and played a much better game.”

“We just couldn’t get our offense going the way we normally do,” Mucci continued. “We came up with the three goals instead of the usual four or five.”

After a White Plains’ score started the game’s scoring, the Rebels tied the game on a goal by Connor Bubolo, with the assists coming from Christian Gjelaj and Robert Caffrey.

“Connor missed time, with a broken foot and has come back now and started to get his feet under him,” Mucci said. “He also had two against Clarkstown. It’s something for us to grow on for next year. Those two guys (Bubolo and Ryan Lynagh) can really contribute something on the scoring end. We have been top heavy on the scoring end with the seniors. We have some fire power coming up behind them.”

White Plains registered the next two goals after Bubolo’s score to take a 3-1 lead.

The Rebels then cut the Tigers’ lead to one in the second period on a goal by Caffrey, with Frank Celentano assisting.

“It’s just Rob being Rob, a lot of finesse down low, getting the puck on net,” Mucci said. “There was a rebound that Frank threw across the crease and he basically slammed across the pass home.”

White Plains then took a stranglehold on the game with one goal in the second and another in the third to go up 5-2.

Lakeland/Panas though kept fighting and a goal by Lynagh, with the assist coming from Pat McKiernan, gave the Rebels their third goal with six minutes left in the third stanza.

“It’s big for him (Ryan),” Mucci said. “He started on injured reserve, he’s only a sophomore. It’s his third goal of the season. He made a nice play, set something nice up off a faceoff and he finished. In a sectional game as a 10th grader, that’s a good thing.”

What was also good for the Rebels was the play of goalie Nick Chiapparino, who made 35 saves.

“He’s been great all year,” Mucci said. “He makes a lot of big saves. We had a couple of bad reads that put him in tough spots for most of their goals that got them ahead. It might have been a different game otherwise. He’s been an awesome two-year starter. His career may have ended on a loss but every playoff team except for one team ends on a loss. He’s played well and had a good game on Tuesday.”

PHS looks to make history

When No. 1 Peekskill (19-1) travels to the Westchester County Center in White Plains to play in the Section 1 Class A Final Four against No. 4 Rye (17-3) at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, March 3, the Red Devils will be looking to garner a win that puts it in the championship game.

That game is 5 p.m. Sunday, March 6, also at the county center. If Peekskill beats Rye, it would play the winner of the other semifinal pitting No. 2 Pearl River (19-1) against No. 3 Albertus Magnus (19-1) in the title game.

Should Peekskill come home with the title, not only would it be the  first sectional girls hoop championship in PHS history, it would be the first sectional title in any girls sport at PHS since 1978.

That is when the PHS volleyball squad took home the Class A title and Class A-B open championship. The team, coached by Kathy Aloia Hanly, consisted of captain Dory DiMichele, Jody Apolinario, Marilyn English, Charlotte Godbee, Jeanette Krabichler, Tina Martin, Felicia Moseley, Gloria Torres and Patty Zubradt.

DiRenno headed to states

Walter Panas will have a participant in the bowling state championships at Strike’n Spare Lanes in Syracuse Saturday and Sunday, March 5 and 6.

The Panther bowler that will be competing in the states will be Frank DiRenno. DiRenno placed fifth in the sectional tournament, which enabled him to land a spot on the Section 1 All-Star team and compete in the states.