After months of anxiously waiting, the TABC community is gearing up for the start of the fall sports season! Our basketball and hockey teams, both JV and Varsity, will all be looking to bring home the championship and raise banners this season.
During the 2018-19 season, all of the fall sports teams came close to winning their respective championships but unfortunately did not bring home the trophies. Nevertheless, TABC Athletic Director Rav Yitz Rabovsky sees last year’s season as a success, despite the lack of championships.
“I don’t view a successful season as just raising a banner,” said Rabovsky. “Our teams put in a lot of work [last year] and will come back hungrier this season.”
Rabovsky believes that every team has a chance to make a deep run into the playoffs this season, so let’s analyze each team individually and examine what it will take for them to raise a banner.
First, the JV basketball team will be looking to avenge last year’s championship loss to Magen David. That championship game was a heartbreaker, as the team was leading for most of the game, but due to some clutch plays by Magen David,our guys could not put the game away and ended up losing by two points.
Coach Oswald Cross says that he and the team have not focused too much on last year’s loss.
“It would’ve been nice to win [the championship], but it hasn’t gotten us down,” said Cross. “This year we have a great group of kids and will be working even harder to win the championship.”
Sophomore Yis Kaminetzky, one of the leaders of the team, stated that Cross has been preparing the team thoroughly for all in-game circumstances: “Oz says you have to be ready for all situations in order to execute,” said Kaminetzy. “Whether up or down 20, we need to know how to react to any situation thrown at us.”
The team will be led by Kaminetzy as well as fellow sophomores Eli Saks, Harry Orlinsky, Matti Cohen, and Shmuel Yablok. They will also be bringing in new, exciting freshmen like Netanel Benlolou, Raphe Suss, and Benny Neuwirth, all of whom will be looking to make contributions to the team right away.
Their main competition will be SAR and Frisch, who will be looking to stop the JV Storm from winning its second championship in three seasons.
Next, the JV hockey team will try to bounce back from a shocking loss to Kushner in last year’s championship game. TABC was the heavy favorite to win that year, but our team stalled in the final game, losing a 2-1 heartbreaker in triple overtime.
A sophomore on the team (who preferred not to be named for this article) said that the team has not done anything differently to respond to last year’s loss, choosing instead to stay the course and not fix something that isn’t broken: “Consistency is key. We’ve been working hard every practice, and will be taking the season one game at a time.”
The team will be led by numerous returning Sophomores, including Tzvi Naor, Yehuda Weiner, Ezra Becker, Zachary Gibber and AJ Seplowitz. Frisch, SAR, and Kushner (who will look to repeat as champions) will be their main competition this season.
Freshmen on the team will be looking to contribute right away. Given that many of them were part of the YNJ middle school hockey team that won two straight championships, this contribution should be substantial.
Sariel Rotblat, a Freshman who was a captain for YNJ hockey, will be welcoming the challenges of High School. “High school hockey is intense and we will be facing tough competition this season, but the Freshmen won’t let that get to us,” said Rotblat. “We hope to contribute to the team and add on to TABC’s storied past of hockey championships.”
The Varsity basketball team is also seeking to improve upon last year, where they lost to DRS at home in the quarterfinals. The group of players on this year’s team won the JV basketball championship two years ago and will be looking to repeat that success. With luck, they will win TABC the school’s first Varsity basketball championship.
Coach Cross (the coach for both JV and Varsity) says that the prospect of such a victory inspires the team: “The kids want it; I want it. To be the first to raise the banner would be an amazing accomplishment.”
TABC’s main competition this season is Frisch, Magen David and Heschel. Frisch has arguably the most talented team in the league, led by Max Zackheim and Shmuly Coates. Two years ago, Coates did not play for Frisch and Zackheim missed the playoffs due to injury, making them significantly weaker and causing a semi-final loss. Now that both of them are presumably going to play for Frisch the whole season, the road to the championship is much tougher for the Varsity Storm.
Magen David and Heschel, who were mostly non-factors in JV basketball two seasons ago, have vastly improved since then. Magen David lost in the Varsity basketball championship last year, and will be entering this season with a team stacked with size, talent, and experience.
Heschel, who defeated Magen David last season to win their school’s first Yeshiva League basketball championship, will be returning star player Ricky Sutton, who is possibly the best player in the league. Both teams present a great challenge for TABC this season.
Senior Yitzi Weiss, a key player on our team, believes that this year’s team has a championship mentality and will not be intimidated by anyone: “We don’t like to lose and know how to win,” said Weiss. “The league is tougher now [than two years ago], but it is not something we can’t handle.”
TABC will be led by Weiss, as well as fellow Seniors Yoni Mann, Ari Kaminetzky, Yehuda Mirwis, and Yonatan Kaye. Juniors on the team will not get as much playing time as they did as Sophomores on the JV team, but they will certainly look to contribute in any way they can.
Ezra Baron, a Junior on the team, believes that Juniors can provide value, regardless of their time on the court: “We need to do our best to make the Seniors play hard during practice. Cheering on the bench helps pump the team up [as well]; you have to come into practice and games with a good attitude and play your role.”
Finally, the Varsity hockey team will be trying to rebound after losing to DRS in the semifinals last season. Just like the Varsity basketball team, this group of players won the JV hockey championship two seasons ago and is working hard to emerge as champions once again.
Senior Natan Rifkind, one of the captains of that championship-winning JV team, says that the prospect of graduating as champions drives the Seniors on the team: “We really want to end on a high,” said Rifkind. “We know we can succeed if we work as hard as we can.”
The team is led by Rifkind and fellow Seniors Ezra Seplowitz, Shlomo Gellman, Charles Gibber, Shlomo Pasternak, Jake Rothenberg and Ben Englander. They will also be looking for key contributions from Juniors Zach Levy, Baruch Shmuckler-Karpov, Eli Blumenfeld, and Jonah Gerson.
Their main competition will be Frisch and DRS, but Rifkind says that the team has not circled any games on their schedule and “will take [the season] one game at a time.”
An exciting season awaits the TABC basketball and hockey teams. Good luck and go Storm!