* i- j'Syjacuse Herald-Journal, Friday, December 1, 1989

WlN'TEK SCHOLASTIC SFUKTS '89-90

A-P-W, Pulaski to contend

Devils called hard to predict
i By Michael Flam
;

Leader won't be lonely at the top

Several teams primed for title run
By Andrew J.Milner

Contributing Writer According to Chittenango coach Phil Gordon, the TriValley League-"may be one of the better leagues'in Central New York In our league, you don't have any softies." Last year's champion, TJtica Notre Dame, finished in a tie for second in a poll of league
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CaitMtotr Five members of last year's Red Raiders team (7-9,11-10) graduated, but coach Steve Tornatore is impressed with the returning players. Coming back are senior center Rick Setticase (second-team all league) and senior guards Eric Dimao and Matt Lavonas (honorable mention). "We're going to be a lot quicker outside this year," said year at the Canastota helm. "Lavonas and Dimao give us experience so we can play outside more." New Hartford The varsity Spartans went 3-13 in league play and 4-14 overall last year, while the junior varsity had the' opposite record, 14-4, overall. Second-year coach Michael Adey hopes the JV's results rub off on the varsity this season. Nine piayers from last year's JV squad are now on the SparTri-Valley poll
Ranking Team Pis

Although Pulaski lost three returning starters from last season's 22-3 squad, coach Winfield Jones' team looks like the team to beat in the OHSL South A Division. Starters Ray Sliwoski and Julius Hefti and four other key players have been lost to graduation, but the division's coaches believe Jones has the talent to get back on top. Jones isn't too sure, though. "\Ve need 10 do a lot of work 10 be very competitive," he said. "We have quite a void to fill from last year's squad." Junior guard-forward Mark Sliwoski and senior forward Chris Watson return to the
South A poll
Ranting Team 1. Pulaski 2. Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 3. Hannibal (TIE) Bishop Cunningham 5. Cato-Meridian (Note: League poll results were determined by a vote of the league coaches, with coaches not allowed to vote for their own teams. Firstplace votes in parentheses.)

Pit
14(2) 12(2) 10(1)

10

Devils' starting lineup and should be joined there by senior center Chris Mattison,: forward Greg Quartz and guard George. Stewart.
"It's hard to predict just how the team will fare," Jones said. "I think we'll be good and solid, but only time will teil." H Altmar-Parish-WilHamstown The Rebels went 6-14 last season, but four returning starters should make life much easier for coach Grant Decker. "Our record was a little misleading," Decker said. "We were in many games, but we were too young and too small. This year, we'll still be small but a little more experienced." Junior forward Troy Updyke, a secondteam all-league pick last season, and senior guard Tom Nash, who made third team, will be joined in the starting lineup by senior guard Scott Stanard and senior center Scott Paternoster. "I'm hoping our strength will be our depth," Decker said. "The junior varsity was 17-3 last year, and I'm hoping some of those people will give us some bona fide off-thebench time." Hannibal Coach Ken Sturges lost four players to graduation and two more to football injuries, but he is still confident about the 1989-90 season. "We have good size and pretty good guards," he said. "I feel like we have, very good depth depite the injuries. We'll be' very competitve." Senior forward Ed Bartoszewski and senior guard Brian Griffin started last season

File phoio

TROY UPDYKE trades his football gear to lead Altmar-Parish-Williamstown on the court,

where the Rebels should greatly improve on last year's 6-14 record.

for the 12-10 Warriors and could be joined in the lineup by senior center Matt Wheeler, senior guard Tim Hubbard and junior guard Matt Skipworth, who started occasionally last season. Bishop Cunningham This team went 13-1 in league play in 1988-89, but don't expect a repeat performance this season. Coach Chuck Bisesi lost all five starters and seven players in all from last year's team. "We'll TDB very inexperienced," Bisesi said. "We lost everybody." Senior guard Joby Barry and senior forward Andy Dowdle are the only two returning players. Caio-Meridian Mark Van Vliet could be excused for feeling a bit discouraged entering his first year of coaching the var-

sity at Cato-Meridian. He inherits a team that has gone winless in the previous two plus years. But Van Vliet refuses to be anything but optimistic. "There's no place to go but up," he said. "We're gone 0-57 over the last 2Vz years and we're going to be better than that." C-M returns only one starter from last year junior guard Alex Krakuszeski and two other players who received limited playing time last year, senior guard-forward Lee Cordway and senior forward Clark Jillson. "It's going to be an uphill battle, but we're going to get. there," Van Vliet said. "Our strength is our attitude. The majority of the kids have worked together for at least two seasons, and I see us getting better as we go along."

the poll were separated by only six points. Perhaps the only thing to expect in the upcoming Tri-Valley season is the unexpected. Vernon-Verona-Sherrill The Red Devils (14-2 in the league, 17-4 overall) finished second behind Utica Notre Dame. New coach Andy Cossette believes V-V-S can have another good season despite the loss of three starters from last year's team. Senior off-guard Sean Kimball, also quarterback of the Red Devils football team, injured his knee in a game in late October and will undergo arthroscopic surgery; Cossette could not say when Kimball could return. "We'll still run our motion offense,". Cossette said. "We'll utilize a man-to-man defense. We've got good ballhandling." Chittenango Coach Phil Gordon, who has been with the Bears for 30 years, calls this year's squad "one of my better teams." This is despite losing five graduating players, including Rob Beach, who set a school record by scoring 517 points in 21 games. The Bears (11-5, 13-8) retain senior forwards Jeff Leahy and Jim Landers, who averaged in double figures last season, as well as senior point guard Ronnie Martin and junior center Jamie Krahl. With seven players over 6 feet tall, Gordon says, "We're going to be a heck of a lot bigger than last year. We're going to' rebound better, be more of a defensive team____I'm very optimistic about this year. The kids are hungry." Utica Notre Dame Last season, the Jugglers went undefeated in Tri-Valley action, winning 16 straight and going 18-3 overall. But all five of their starters graduated. According to coach Joseph T. White, "How well we do depends on how good the players come together. How good they can play defense will determine whether we're successful or not" Gone from last year's team are forward and Tri-Valley Most Valuable Player Scott ,,_ Dough_. _,_.) -n^.j ,,-ci tj , guoiu ijoiji ^lcucv aiiu

\. Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 56 (2) 2. Chittenango 51(5) (TIE) Utica Notre Dame 4. Holland Patent 5. Canastota 6. New Hartford 7. Oneida 51 (2)

50
29

26 25 8. Clinton _20 9. Camden 12 (Note: League poll results were determined by a vote of the league coaches, with coaches not allowed to vote for their own teams. First-place votes in parentheses.)

Champ Onondaga expected to fall

' By Michael Flam : Contributing Writer Onondaga won the OHSL South B Division championship

last year and would seem to

_ have a good chance of repeating that feat. However, the league's coaches don't agree. According to a Herald-Journal poll of the South B ' coaches. Onondaga is picked to . finished tied for last with Tully. It might be because of the . team's lack of experienced depth. "Our bench is untested with five or six kids up from the : junior varsity," said coach Larry ' Behm.

with the kids to help them realize it" Senior guard George Welitschinsky started last year, and he should be joined by senior forward Dave Olson, the only other returning player. "George is a solid player, but
South B poll
Ranking Team 1. Fabius-Pompey 2. LaFayelle 3. Port Byron 4. Weedsport 5. Tully (TIE) Onondaga (Note: League poll results were determined by a vote of the league coaches, with coaches not allowed to vote for their own teams. Tully's coach declined to participate in the poll, citing lack of familiarity with the teams. First-place votes in parentheses.)

Pit
18(2) 17(2)

12 11

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But he has three starters and his top reserve back from last year's 14-6 club. Senior center Jason Kelly, senior forward Calvin Jones and senior guard Hayward Alfred return to the starting lineup and senior guard Brian Kelly and junior Bruce Cowing likely will fill the other two starting spots. As a result, Behm remains optimistic. "Our defense and rebounding will be real good. With three starters back we have a good chance of repeating," he said. Fabius-Pompey If hard work were to guarantee !=ucces?. then Fabius-Pompey coach Larry Carr would be a very successful basketball coach. Even though he has one returning starter from last season's 13-8 team, Carr is comfortable with his present squad. "They are a hard-working, good-attitude group," he said. "There are no superstars. There issomeootential.and itismviob

he can't carry the load," Carr said. "Other players will have to share the load for us to be competitive. We're going to have to work hard to be in the middle of the pack." LaFayette This team didn't have any difficulty shooting the basketball last year. But ;. ,4:J V,-.-.^ l:*i, ...... . u * ^ ...^i.
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ing the shots fall. "We outshot everybody last year," said coach Jerry Vredenburg. "We averaged about 20 more shots per game than our opponents. Our problem wasn't getting up and down the court, but putting it in the hoop." Vredenburg loses two starters from last year's 5-15 club, but he
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players back for their last year. Forward Larry Page, guard Erik Heyer and guard-forward Otis Case all had spots in the starting lineup last season, and they should be joined by forward Paul Spukus and center Tom Kuryla. "If we can improve our shooting percentage, we will improve our win-loss record," Vredenburg said. Port Byron Even though coach Mike Broderick lost all five starters from last year's team to graduation, he still believes that his Panthers can win the league title. He anticipates having six juniors who played on the junior varsity last year to contribute at the varsity level in 1989-90, but he is concerned about the team's cohesiveness. "We have the potential to finish in the top, but we're also capable of finishing last," Broderick said. "This group has a lot of talent, but over the years they've had difficulty putting things together." Senior center Mike Hermann, who saw a great deal of playing time last season, and senior guard Mark Helmer, who is being counted on to make a significant contribution this year, are expected to start for a team that went 8-13 in 1988-89. "If they decide to work together and toward a common goal, then you could see us in first," Broderick said. "If they continue to play apart, we could be battling for last." Weedsporl Like Vredenburg, Weedsport coach Steve Nealer is fortunate enough to *' - - ? - * . - / .

ers from last year return. But he has a big hole to fill with the loss of leading scorer and h o n o r a b l e rriention all-league player Marty Passmore. Senior guards Scott Newton and Bob Hawkins and junior second-team all-league forward Matt Stowell will be counted on by Nealer to display leadership from their starting positions. Senior guard Mike Nevidomsky and senior forward Don Wetmore should fill the other starting vacancies as the Warriors hope to improve on last year's 712 mark. "I think we'll finish around the middle," Nealer said. "There's a question mark because we lost one key player, but we're hoping to take a step up." Tully The Black Knights are going to be inexperienced this season from both a playing and a coaching perspective. Larry Hart is expanding his duties as school athletic director to coach the basketball team, which returns five players from last year, only one of whom saw much playing time. Honorable mention all-league senior forward Mike Porter is the lone returning sutrlei from last year's 12-9 team. Porter should receive help from members of a junior varsity team that went 18-2 in 1988-89. "We'll be inexperienced from a coaching and playing standpoint," Hart said. "But I do think that we'll improve as we go along. We have a good JV group, but it's a big jump to the var-

ter Brendan Chudy. Holland Patent - Mark Frye, the new coach of the Golden Knights (8-6, 11-11), predicts a stronger year from a squad that last year sent one Tri-Valley player to the Big East, point guard Darryl Crist, now with Seton Hall. "We should be a lot deeper," Frye said. "We should go nine or 10 players deep." He intends to press and run, and employ a man-to-man defense. Returning starters include junior guard Barry Ouimette (10 ppg), senior guard Tim Broadbent (8 ppg) and 6-foot-5 senior center Chris Mucica, last season's leading H-P rebounder. "For the first time in years, there are no real stars," Frye said. "It's really more of a team effort."

tans squad, giving the varsity five players taller than 6-4. "Last year was our first in the Tri-Valley League," Adey said. "It was a learning experience for everybody. This year, we had 32 kids out for the team, and that's a healthy sign." Oneida According to Terry Goodfellow, coach of the Indians (5-11, 7-13) for seven years, Oneida's strength "isgoing to be our quickness, shooting and rebounding." Losing three of last year's players to graduation, the Indians retain senior small forward Reid Jacobs (10 ppg) and senior guard Bob Sayles (7 ppg). Clinton Coach Bob Pultorak, following a solid season that culminated in regional postseason competition, expects another good campaign from the Warriors (8-6,15-8). "Our strength is our decent three-point shooters," Pultorak said. "We've got returning players who've had playing time. We intend to press and run the whole game." The three returning starters are junior forward Tom Bierworth, senior forward Louis Montalvo and senior point guard Marc Simon. Camden "The good news is that everyone is back," Blue Devils coach Larry Ethington said about this season. "The bad news is that we went 1-19 " Camden (0-16, 1-19) has retained most of last year's squad, including senior guard Eddie Gay. However, junior point guard Eddie Dickson broke his hand in a football game and is expected to miss two weeks of practice. Despite last year's disappointing record, Ethington has optimism about improvement. "They've got a lot of experience," Ethington said. "These kids played most of the time last season. ... I'd like to think that it'll be an advantage."

FHe photo

THERE MAY NOT be any softies in the OHSL Tri-Valley, where 30-year coach Phil Gordon has one of his better Ohitionanon