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.
Thanks Nachum!
The playoffs continue on as we March toward the championships. Straight ahead on the Tuesday Morning JM in the AM Sports Update, the first of our Winter championships are set, nail-biters across the board in basketball and DRS and SAR may as well just consider this a rivalry week. All that and more, straight ahead. Good morning, I’m Elliot Weiselberg.
The first championship games are set, as Girls Varsity Basketball will have an all-West affair this Sunday following two nail-biter semifinals. The defending champion Frisch Cougars will return to defend their crown following a 53-50 win over East top seed North Shore. Standing in their way, though, will be the only team to defeat them this year. The West top seed SAR Sting needed overtime to knock off the defending runner-ups SKA Sonics 58-56. SAR comes in with two wins over Frisch this season, but the Cougars have been to the big game before and that could be the great equalizer. In fact, the Cougars will hope for not one, but two wins on the day against teams who have handed them a loss as the Cougars JV squad will face the Ma’ayanot Rapids in the early game. The two teams split their season series, but the Cougars are looking to pen their 4th straight championship season. Ma’ayanot hopes to raise a banner for the first time in a decade.
Moving over to Boys Varsity where the quarterfinals were made complete following SAR’s 50-41 victory over Ramaz. After dropping both regular season games to the Rams, the Sting buzzed when it counted most and will now advance to take on East top seed DRS this Thursday night with the winner to take on the winner of tomorrow night’s contest between Magen David and West 2 seed MTA. On the other side of the bracket, a thriller in North Shore that went down to the final few seconds with the home team Lions pulling out the victory over West 3rd seed Hillel 58-56. North Shore wont get much of an advantage, though, as their opponent will be decided tomorrow night when Flatbush travels to TABC with a ticket to the semis on the line.
Meanwhile, JV Basketball is one step ahead of their varsity brothers as one half of the semifinal bracket was filled in. The first berth was earned by the East 1 seed Flatbush who withstood a good fight from the West 6 seed Hillel but downed the Heat 64-56. Their next opponent, the Frisch Cougars did not have any such scares as the 2nd half lead never really dropped below double-digits in their battle with East #3 HANC, knocking off the Hurricanes en route to a showdown with the Falcons with a spot in the finals on the line. On the other side of the bracket, Magen David will meet up with West #1 Ramaz tonight, while SAR and DRS will follow their varsity brethren and battle in the quarters this Thursday night.
Over in JV Hockey, yet another DRS- SAR matchup this postseason. In a rematch from an earlier contest this season where SAR went into the Greenhouse and knocked off DRS, the Wildcats gained a measure of revenge as Max Isaacs kept the Sting off the board in a 1-0 victory. Josh Steinman’s rebound goal late in the first, the only tally on the night for either team and it would stand, sending DRS back to their 4th straight finals where they will meet up with one member of the Route-4 Rivalry matchup as TABC and Frisch will battle this Thursday night with the ticket to the finals on the line. Frisch won both matchups by a combined 6-1 and the Western Champs will have a decided edge as they look to get back to the finals for the first time in just a bit over half a decade.
Finally, in Varsity Hockey, the semifinals are set. A trio of games on Wednesday night got things kicked off as two shutouts set up one half of the bracket. East top seed DRS disposed of Kushner 7-0 and will enjoy a semifinal home game against…who else…SAR! The Sting rode a Nate Zitter goal to a 1-0 win and a date with DRS, where two years ago, as a JV team, the Sting were 5 minutes from a Final berth. That game will take place tomorrow night. On the other side of the bracket, TABC put an end to Flatbush’s season with an 8-1 drubbing, closing out Joe Catton’s stellar season for the Falcons, the Senior putting an exclamation point on his career, putting up 54 goals including playoffs, setting the new regular season record at 46. The Storm will take on HANC, who knocked off Frisch 3-1 Saturday night. They’ll face off this coming Saturday night in Teaneck in a rematch of a contest from a few weeks ago in a 5-2 TABC win.
And that was your Tuesday Morning JM in the AM Sports Update, I’m Elliot Weiselberg