By Benito Vila
To coaches, “Can we scrimmage?” starts to sound like “Are we there yet?” on a long family car ride. While parents are often left with having to say “no”, coaches can usually come up with some way to get their teams to compete while developing skills.
Pierson varsity boys’ coach Christian Johns has his eager team set to play and, after two weeks of battling each other, they get to put on uniforms and turn on the scoreboard. The first test for this year’s Whalers came last night in Islip, the boys traveling there to meet the Class A Buccaneers.
On Friday, the team goes back to Islip to play either West Babylon or Patchogue-Medford, two AA schools, to close out a two-game tournament. Coach Johns expects his team to see “big and physical” competition.
In preparing for those contests, Coach Johns has had the Whalers “work on our team defense, team offense and communication system.” He sees the team’s strength so far is “the intensity displayed in practice and how they are beginning to come together as a unit.”
On Tuesday, the boys are at East Hampton, facing another Class A opponent. Tip-off is set for 6:15 p.m. on Long Lane. After all that big school competition, the Whalers open league play December 15 on Shelter Island, one of five Class D schools in League VIII this year.
The home opener comes Friday, December 18, Class C Southold in for a 6:15 p.m. start.
JV Goes At It
The Pierson JV boys opened their pre-season Monday, hosting Southampton. Whaler coach John Tortorella was “pretty happy with our effort throughout the game. I was not expecting everything to be where it should be after only two weeks of practice, but I was impressed with our guys taking charges, diving on the floor and playing hard until the end.”
“Going in we discussed three things: work harder than they do; play smart and play together; be under control, but relentless. We could have played a little smarter at times, especially on offense, but overall, we did what we expected to do for our first scrimmage.”
Coach Tortorella praised his half-court defense, but added, “We still need to work a little harder on helping, closing out and being in our spots. Rebounding will be a priority for us in practice. We need to work harder and be smarter to get some rebounds.”
In citing individual contributions, Coach Tortorella noted, “the effort and attitude that Patrick Sloane and Jake Bennett brought to every possession. They worked hard on defense and attacked on offense. Jackson Marienfeld did a great job running the point and guarding their point guard all game; he gave everything he had out there. I was also impressed with Raleigh Gordley; he has really improved over the last two weeks and has stepped up to be a vocal leader as well.”
The Whaler JV is also cutting its teeth in Islip this week before matching up with the Bonacker JV on Tuesday. That East Hampton game goes off at 5 p.m.
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