Scholastic Roundup: Homecoming Saturday for the Fort Hamilton Tigers

September 29, 2023 Andy Furman

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Fort Hamilton is known as the “jewel in the crown” of Bay Ridge community, and Fort Hamilton High School is a highly-regarded large comprehensive New York City public high school.

And Saturday (Sept. 30) the football Tigers of Fort Hamilton High School will celebrate their Homecoming when they host DeWitt Clinton High School from The Bronx.

“We’re planning a number of special events for the game,” Coach Daniel Perez told Scholastic Roundup. “And our band will be playing before as well as during the game.”

Kickoff is set for noon.

The Tigers are coming off a 30-16 loss to Boys and Girls High School. “It was a tough loss,” Perez said, “But we’re learning from our mistakes and we’re focused on improving.”

Fort Hamilton junior quarterback Aiden Farley was nine for 20 for 88 passing yards in the loss. He also rushed for a touchdown.

Emanuel King III, a sophomore rusher, totaled 96 yards on seven carries, and freshman Harold Marshall III picked up 59 yards on seven attempts and a touchdown.

King also had two receptions for 46 yards. Senior wide receiver Jawad Fares had three catches for 20 yards and sophomore Ismail Haider had two receptions for 14 yards.

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New Utrecht High School’s Football Alumni Day is set for Saturday, Oct. 14, and according to Sal Scibilia — a member of the Alumni Club (’67-’70) — the club has more than 800 members on social media; and the Utes’ Football Alumni Roster has 190 members.

“Our annual Utes Football Alumni Day (in October) draws 100-plus Ute Football Alumni coming together from all over the country,” he writes on social media.

The Alumni Club, he says, is there to give a financial boost to those unpaid coaches who put in endless hours molding the future Sons of Utrecht stars.

Utrecht football coach Alan Balkan tells Scholastic Roundup, “We’re a team of young men that have been working really hard since December to achieve our goals of being competitive this season and winning football games.

“We are led by a number of returning seniors from last year’s team. Our entire offensive and defensive lines returned and are getting better every day. Tyler and Dylan Honan are very tough two-way players. Akil Cameron will carry the load running the ball this season after graduating Zenobi Brown. Being in the 4AAA division poses a tough test, week in and week out, for us and our kids are loving the challenge.”

The Green and White will host James Madison on Oct. 7 and New Dorp for Alumni Day on the 14th.

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For some 47 years, Sheepshead Bay High grad Howard Kellman sat behind a microphone and called play by play for minor-league baseball’s Indianapolis Indians. The Brooklyn College grad started calling play by play for Brooklyn College, and later St. John’s University basketball, while still a college student.

On Friday, Sept. 29, Kellman will call play-by-play for the Yankees when they travel to Kansas City to play the Royals.

It’s not the first major league game for Kellman.

“I called the Yankee game in Tampa last season,” he said, “And I called three Mets’ games in 2014.”

Kellman has the distinction of being the only person to do radio play-by-play for both the Yankees and the Mets. “I called three White Sox games in 1984,” he added, “and called 20 Cleveland Cavaliers games in 1988-89. All those games were radio broadcasts, and I announced the Triple A World Series on ESPN from 2006-08.”

Kellman’s Yankee-Royals broadcast can be heard 8:10 EDT on WFAN Radio (660 AM, 101.9 FM) and WADO (1280 AM)

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A story from the ages, from former Thomas Jeferson basketball coach Jeff Schrier:

“We were playing Eastern District High School on its home court, which was in Manhattan. The referees were Lenny Tucker and Donnie Altman. There was a held ball under the Jefferson basket. Phil Sellers was jumping for Jefferson. Lenny was to toss the ball up, and Donnie was at the side near the scorer’s table with his arm stretched out ready to drop it to signal the clock to start.

“Lenny tosses the ball up and Phil taps the ball directly into the basketball for two points. Donnie, instead of dropping his arm to start the clock, was so amazed that he slapped himself on the side of the head as if to say, ‘I don’t believe what I just saw!’”

That was Phil Sellers.

Sellers passed at the too-young age of 69 last week. He led a high-octane Rutgers basketball team to unprecedented heights when it reached the 1976 Final Four.

He had a number of medical setbacks this year, including an intestinal perforation and a build-up of fluid in his lungs, that required multiple surgeries and left him in a rehabilitation center. He suffered a stroke earlier this month, said a family member, and he did not recover.

Sellers still leads Rutgers in several statistical categories, including points (2,399) and rebounds (1,115), which are records that may never be broken. The Detroit Pistons selected him in the third round of the 1976 NBA Draft, but he averaged 4.5 points in 44 games. He briefly played professionally in the Netherlands before retiring.

“Phil Sellers was Rutgers basketball royalty,” current Rutgers basketball coach Steve Pikiell told NJ.com. “He was the greatest player on the greatest team in our program’s history. He was the ultimate role model for our current Scarlet Knights.”

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Senior Christina Sancho-Spore finished in fourth place as three members of the Pratt Institute women’s cross-country team placed in the Top 10 to lead the Cannoneers to the team-title at the 2023 Mount Saint Mary Knight Invitational, Sunday at the Hudson Valley Sports dome. Sophomore Ian Chen led the men to 10th place in the men’s competition.

Sancho-Spore posted a time of 26:37.3 on the 6K course. Junior Giovanna Lisa and first-year Finn Powell finished in eighth and ninth overall in 29:49.2 and 29:52.7 respectively. Junior Sarah Cawley crossed the finish line in 32:10.6 in 19th overall, and Kathleen Chen completed the scoring five with a time of 35:09.7 to secure a three-point victory over World of Life in second place.

Out of the 15 scoring teams, the Cannoneers also bested Division II Queens College and Dominican University in third and fourth place.

Chen clocked in at 33:27.4 on the 8K track. Senior Nikolas Protopappas was second for the gold-and-black in 34:37.5 and Andrew Langpap posted a 35:41.2 for third. Daniel Bhopaul was fourth in 39:05.2 with Andrew Weiss finishing in the top 100 in 42:05.7.

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In that same Mount Saint Knight Invite meet, back-to-back Skyline Conference Rookie of the Week, Brooklyn’s Jennifer Sarji (Fontbonne Hall) — competing for Brooklyn’s St. Joseph’s University — placed 48th completing the women’s 6K course in 35:22; and Brooklyn teammate – Shoshana Providence finished inside the top 100 with a 12th-place finish out of 15 teams.

On the men’s 8K course, junior Tariq Belma — a Bishop Loughlin grad —– in his second meet, completed the race in 44:49.

The St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn women’s volleyball; team earned their first win at The Hill Center this season defeating York College (NY) last week. James Madison High grad Rachel Meltsin dished out 18 assists to go with a trio of digs.

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Running in their second meet of the season, the Brooklyn College men’s cross-country team finished 11th overall out of 21 teams that ran in the 15th Annual MSDMC Knight Invitational, Sunday. Brooklyn finished second in a pack of six four-year CUNYAC schools that competed.

The LIU women’s golf team set as program record for lowest round while finishing in the top tier at the Hornet Classic.

Competing at Kings Creek Country Club last week, the Sharks shot a 308-302-314-924 to finish in a tie for fourth among the 14 teams. The middle round of 302 represented the lowest in program history.

Individually, Emily Byrne was LIU’s top finisher — tying for sixth with an eight-over 73-70-78-221.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected]. Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR