By: Joe Nolan ’20

Wrestling

This past Tuesday, February 4th, Chaminade’s varsity wrestling team hosted Staten Island’s St. Joseph by the Sea in the team’s final dual match of the season. The Flyers absolutely dominated St. Joseph, with their grapplers winning nearly every match and shutting down their opponents out by a final score of 82 to 6.

The Flyers look to keep the fierce momentum rolling this Sunday, when they will venture to Kellenberg Memorial High School to partake in the Nassau-Suffolk Catholic High School Athletic Association (NSCHSAA) League Championship Tournament.

“This is now or never for our seniors,” explained Davis Luckner ’20. “We’ve had an up and down season, but our coaching staff has been preparing us to peak now, and we are feeling confident going into the league tournament. We are all excited for the postseason, and we have high expectations for one another. No one is going easy on each other, as we know what’s at stake over the next two weekends.”

Hockey

In their final regular season game of the season, the varsity hockey team clashed with the Gaels of Iona Prep at Northwell Health Ice Arena at Eisenhower Park. In a very strong showing to conclude their regular season, the Flyers vanquished Iona Prep by a final score of 2-1. Despite the relatively low-scoring nature of the game, the Flyers garnered nearly twice more shots on net than their counterpart.

The team’s playoff run will commence this Tuesday when the Flyers, entering the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the league, host the Lions of Monsignor Farrell High School at Northwell Health Ice Arena.

Basketball

On Tuesday, February 4th, the varsity basketball team traveled to Holy Trinity High School to take on the reigning league champions. The Flyers looked to gain revenge after the Titans squeaked out a win in the AAC in early January.

This wasn’t the case, however, as the Flyers fell short, losing by a final score of 61-44. Now sitting at a league of record of 5-5 and 4th place in the league standings, the Flyers are looking to finish the season strong with their last four games against Kellenberg, St. Mary’s, St. John the Baptist, and St. Anthony’s.

Bowling

Early this season, Chaminade’s varsity bowling team surrendered its first loss in seventy games to the Cougars of St. John the Baptist. Thus, the stakes were never higher this past Thursday, February 6th, when the keglers ventured to Wantagh Lanes to rematch the Cougars with hopes of both enacting revenge and securing a ninth-straight league championship.

Team A got off to a very fast start, taking a 126-pin lead in the Game 1 of the three game set. Team B, on the other hand, fell behind by 47 pins, despite posting some of their best scores of the season. In Game 2, Team A took an even greater lead, propelled by junior Thomas Gallant’s 219-pin performance. However, Team B fell even further behind, surrendering 65 more pins to the Cougars.

The Flyers were aware of the gravity of Game 3; it was anybody’s game. Team A, despite only winning by six pins, ensured a critical point in the series. After a maintenance delay, Team B resumed play. Ultimately, Paul LoGrippo ’20 threw a strike in the final frame of the game, thereby securing the victory and a ninth-straight league championship for the keglers!

Christian Freel ’20, who finished the night with a 625-pin series, was named MVP of the playoffs. In addition, he, Gallant, and Marcus Alaimo ’20 were selected to compete in the NSCHSAA Individual Championship next Thursday, February 13th.

“It feels great,” expressed Freel. “We went into that match as the underdogs, and we knew that we needed to bowl our best to come out with the win. Everyone put up their best effort, and in the end, we did what was needed to win.”

Go Flyers!