Scholastic Roundup: The Stars are out at Xaverian

January 12, 2024 Andy Furman

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Six Xaverian High School football Clippers were named to the Brooklyn-Queens Catholic High School Football League All-Star team.

Players were selected from Christ the King High School, Holy Cross H.S. and St. Francis Prep as well as Xaverian.

Clippers named to the squad were:

Owen Conti: Junior Wide Receiver/Tight End; 27 catches, 357 receiving yards; All-League
Spiros Drossos: Senior Wide Receiver/Tight End; 24 catches, 320 receiving yards; three TDs; CHSFL All-League; played in the Senior Bowl

Offensive Line:

Matt Ferris: Senior

Linebackers:

Tommy McMorrow: Senior; 69 tackles, CHSFL All-League; played in the Senior Bowl; won Vincent O’Connor Award as CHSFL AAII All Defensive Player of the Year
Timothy Hayes: Senior; 40 tackles, three interceptions; selected CHSFL All-League
Andrew Owens: Senior; 37 tackles

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Ten girls from Xaverian were named to All-League teams, followed by St. Edmund Prep (5) and Fontbonne Hall Academy and Nazareth Regional High School with three each.

The winners were:

Soccer Tier 1:

Xaverian: Chloe Brown, Ella Kushnick, Julianna Javier, Kyra Sienkiewicz

Soccer Tier 2:

Fontbonne Hall Academy: Leeann Ryan, Lily Keane

Soccer Tier 3:

St. Edmund Prep: Kiersten Sorrentino, Kenzie Palisi, Shae Frank, Brikena Kukaj
St. Saviour High School: Maribel Dixon

Volleyball Tier 1:

Xaverian: Julia Turchiano, Cassie McDade, Sophia Mandredi

Volleyball Tier 2:

St. Edmund Prep: Grace Gillen

Volleyball Tier 3:

Nazareth High School: Makylah Moore, Tierra Hendricks, Joanna Gomez
Bishop Loughlin High School: Jessica Toussaint, Abria Ashton
Cristo Rey High School: Kaelin Harriott
St. Saviour High School: Rosemary McCollum

Cross-Country:

Xaverian: Grace Lanier, Emily Arteaga, Marietta Ayala-Dominguez

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The Brooklyn Tech basketball Engineers pushed their score all the way to 70 last week, but it wasn’t enough to win, losing 84-70 against Transit Tech. Chadwyck Beckford had 30 points and nine rebounds for the Engineers — a new season high. Troy Hornbeck added 18 points.

Transit Tech pushed their record to 7-1 last week, and coach Warren Nga reports his 6-3 senior, Ashton Reynolds, is leading the club with a 28-points-per-game average. “He has offers to about 20- D-1 schools,” Nga says, “including Temple, Iona, Fairfield and Rider.”

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Richard Collins, the self-proclaimed St. Francis College, Brooklyn sports historian has tracked the whereabouts of staff and athletes after the Terriers’ demise of their athletic department on March 20.

Irma Garcia, former athletic director at St. Francis is now in the same role at Manhattan College
Glenn Braica, former basketball coach, is now an assistant at Fairfield (Conn.) University
Linda Cimino, head women’s basketball coach at Dartmouth College; was formerly head coach for the Terriers
Tom Giovato, assistant soccer coach at Fordham, served at SFC
Illja Duretic, now assistant men‘s water polo coach at Fordham. The Rams lost to Cal in the first-round of the 2023 NCAA tournament

Former Men’s Basketball Players:

Rob Higgins is averaging 10.6 points per game for Elon (NC) University
Trey Quartlebaum is averaging 12.4 ppg for Northwestern State (Okla.)
Tedrick Wilcox is averaging 13.9 ppg for Hampton University, Va.
Josiah Harris is at Radford University, Va.
Zion Bethea is at the University of Delaware
D’Andre Howell-South is averaging 4.1 ppg for Wagner College
Roy Clarke is averaging 5.1 ppg for St. Peter’s University (NJ)
Syrus Grisby, 8.4 minutes per game for Prairie View A&M
Elijah Hardison is 2.8 ppg for Oswego State (NY)
Nuha Sangia is averaging 7.2 ppg for the College of St. Rose (NY)

Larry Moreno and team manager Joe Macino returned to SFC to complete their degrees. Team manager Tom Malone transferred to Hofstra.

For the women:

Jaila Lee is averaging 8.3 ppg at University of North Carolina (Asheville)
Alyssa Fisher is averaging 13.6 ppg at Loyola, Chicago
Angena Beloso is averaging 6.9 ppg at Florida International University
Eszter Varga is on the LIU roster
Tyra Myers is averaging 4.6 ppg at Stetson University (Fla.)
Paige Martin is averaging 3.9 ppg at Stonehill, Mass.
Sheridan Kavanagh is averaging 9.9 ppg at St. Mary’s U of San Antonio
Sarah Bandoma is averaging 3.8 ppg at Providence College
Zharia Hutchinson and Anna Altmann returned to SFC to complete their degrees.
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Earning their first win of 2024, the Brooklyn College women’s basketball team rolled to a 65-27 conference win at home over Lehman last Friday.

Sarah James led the way with a game-high 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds; sister Ericka added 11 points and had six rebounds.

Swimming in their first meet in over a month, Brooklyn College’s men’s Swimming and Diving pulled out a key conference win over Lehman, 84-83, last week. Brooklyn improves to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in CUNYAC.

Michael Kravets won the 200-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly; Nicholai Krylyuk won the 50 and 100 freestyle.

The women also won their first meet of the year, topping Lehman 112-64 in a conference test. Elizabeth Bailey and Christine Bailey took first and second respectively in the 200 freestyle, earning the Bulldogs 13 points; Anastasia Kutuzov won the 200 IM, 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke; Julie Huang won the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly.

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Patrick O’Gorman and Cameron Windt combined for 30 points as the Pratt Institute men’s basketball team opened the new year with an 87-61 road win over St. Joseph’s University (L.I.) last Friday.

O’Gorman shared game-high honors with 18 points, also pulling down four rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists. Windy netted 12 points.

St. Joseph’s placed four players in double figures, led by Xavier Allen ‘s 18-point, 14-rebound double-double and Terrin Roy also scored 18 points.

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Tai Strickland, with a clutch three-pointer and 23 points, led the LIU men’s basketball team to their first win of the year, a 69-67 NEC defeat of Wagner College last week in Brooklyn

Eric Acker scored 14, and Tana Kopa added 13 for the Sharks.

The Lady Sharks opened their conference schedule with a 54-52-win Saturday at the Steinberg Wellness Center. Ashley Austin had a team-high 18 points and seven assists.

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The new year didn’t prove kindly for the Cougars of Medgar-Evers College as they fell to Hunter in CUNYAC action, 82-68, last week. Medgar-Evers was led by Joshua Jean Pierre with a career-and game-high 27 points and his team-best 11 rebounds.

The Medgar-Evers women’s basketball team dropped their first game of the calendar year, suffering a 76-40 defeat to CUNYAC foe Hunter last week. Sophomore standout Sheily Quezada registered her sixth double-double of the season, scoring a team-high 19 points and team-best 12 rebounds., Sophomore point guard Jennifer Metra scored nine and grabbed 11 rebounds.

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Midfielder Joshua Saavedra produced an immediate impact with the LIU men’s soccer team this past season en route to becoming the NEC Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-NEC selection.

Saavedra now is being recognized nationally for his first collegiate season, too. Top Drawer Soccer has named Saavedra to its Freshman Best XI first team. He tallied seven goals and five assists while appearing in 18 matches for the NEC champion Sharks this past season. The 19 points rank fourth nationally among Division I freshmen.

He became LIU’s fourth NEC Rookie of the Year in the past six seasons, joining Emil Jaaskelainen (2020-21), Papa Ndoye (2019) and Sam Ilin (2018).

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LIU’s football tight-end Leak Bryant, wide receiver Kyren Petteway and defensive back Jai Roe will participate in the Tropical Bowl, Jan. 18-20 in Orlando, Fla.

The Tropical Bowl showcases the top college football seniors to NFL scouts and GMs who travel from around the country to the event. The weekend is focused on scouting, teaching and football.

Devin Matthews and John Dusza led the way for the LIU wrestling team at the David H. Lehman F&M Open, Friday.

Matthews won three matched at 141 pounds to reach the quarterfinals, and Dusza won a pair of matches at 197 pounds to also reach the quarters. Rhyse Royster enjoyed success for the Sharks at 157 pounds to reach the Round of 16.

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