Every Tuesday morning at 7:20 ET Nachum Segal presents Elliot Weiselberg on JM in the AM to deliver the Yeshiva League Sports (YLS) Update. Tune in for the latest Yeshiva League Sports information, as well as, the occasional update on other sports happenings in the Jewish world. The transcription for this morning’s update is below.
Good morning and welcome back to the stretch run of the 2024-2025 Winter Sports Season. Straight ahead on this edition of the JM in the AM Sports Update, a ton of movement in the postseason brackets. We’ll let you know who is in, who is out, and what to look for in the upcoming last week of all regular seasons. All that and more, good Morning, I’m Elliot Weiselberg.
We’ll start in Varsity Basketball where HAFTR after going 2-5 in the first half of the season has worked their way back to clinch a playoff spot after a 22 point mashing of Rambam last night. The Rambam loss eliminates the Ravens and sets up the bottom of the East bracket as #6 HAFTR and #5 YDE will go on the road. DRS will earn the #1 seed with North Shore as the front-runner in the 2 spot and Magen David and Flatbush hosting first round contests after their losses last night, seeding to be determined. Out West, TABC and MTA are virtual locks for the byes while SAR and Hillel will host first round contests against either Ramaz who has an edge following their win over SAR while we were all away and Frisch and Heschel who will be facing each other to end the regular season, with 1 of those 3 not making the postseason.
JV Basketball had one contest thus far, a major one in the West as SAR upset Frisch 66-53 Monday night behind a brilliant 40-point, 10-rebound night from Max Weiss. Frisch has now lost their last 2 contests and potentially fallen out of a first-round bye. The Cougars now 7-3 will need to wait and see whether Ramaz or TABC, both at 7-2, slip up against MTA and JEC respectively. Wins by both will relegate Frisch to the 3 seed where their opponent will be #6 Hillel. On the other end of that contest, SAR now jumps from the 6 spot into a first-round matchup with JEC in the 4-5 contest. The host will be determined by JEC’s contest with TABC tomorrow night. In the East, no results so far, but by this time next week, we will know which of DRS, HANC and Magen David, all at 7-2 will join Flatbush with a first-round bye and which will be hosting first round home games against #5 YDE and #6 North Shore.
Action has already started in varsity hockey where SAR barely outlasted Kushner 6-5 Monday night. The win gives SAR the advantage in the race for the West #2 seed with only a game against Ramaz up ahead. Frisch has the tiebreaker with SAR, but to get there, will need to face HAFTR and DRS. Kushner needed last night to hope to keep ahead of MTA to host a first-round contest, but, MTA is 2 points behind Kushner with only Ohr Yisroel and Hillel to go, while Kushner will need to beat TABC to maintain their advantage. Regardless, Kushner-MTA will be the West 4-5 contest, while Ramaz will be the 6 seed and take on the loser of the Frisch-SAR race for the 2 seed. Meanwhile, out East, behind DRS, it’s a mad scramble for the 2nd seed involving HAFTR, HANC and Flatbush. Right now, the HAFTR has the edge with 18 points, but right with them is Flatbush who defeated Rambam last night to move into a tie with HAFTR at 18 points and a contest with YDE remaining tomorrow night. A Flatbush win would put the pressure on HANC and HAFTR. HAFTR would need a win over either HANC or Frisch to end the season in order to overtake the Falcons while HANC would need wins over both HAFTR and TABC to do the same.
Three games remain in the JV Hockey season, with only two making a difference. Frisch and DRS have won their divisions but will do battle on Saturday night to see which team will get the #1 seed going into the postseason. The loser of the contest will host #3 SAR while the winner will find out Monday night whether they play HAFTR or TABC. The Storm can clinch a playoff berth with a win over winless Rambam in Teaneck. Otherwise, the 4th spot will go to HAFTR.
And that was your JM in the AM Sports Update, I’m Elliot Weiselberg