NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - It’s a new year in Tiger town! North Salem’s student-athletes wasted no time in getting down to business, with boys basketball notching a statement win and the winter track relay teams already providing highlights in 2025.
Winter Track
Section 1 Meet
Sunday, Dec. 15
Bringing their talents to The Nike Armory in Manhattan, the Tigers ran well against tough competition with standout performances from Zoe Elias, Emma Gautier, and Drew Karam.
The girls 4x400M relay team consisting of Gautier, Elias, Jackie Moore and Jaella Henry provided the highlight of the day, medaling with a 4th place finish.
Other results included Jaela Henry (23rd, 55M and 32nd, 300M), Jackie Moore (25th, 55M and 43rd, 300M), Sydney Merriman (82nd, 55M and 44th, 300M), Emma Gautier (11th, 1000M), Zoe Elias (13th, 600M), Jonathan Alves (28th, 600M), Dean Ellicott (35th, 600M and 68th, 300M), Dylan Sheridan (43rd, 600M), Drew Karam (12th, 1600M) and Kiley Dell (92nd, 300M).
The boys 4x400M relay (Alves, Ellicott, Sheridan, and Karam) finished in 9th place.
League Championship Meet
Monday, Jan. 6
The Tigers were back in familiar territory at the Armory, with highlights including juniors Emma Gautier and Zoe Elias nabbing a pair of silver medals in the 1000M and 600M races, respectively.
However, the exclamation point on the day was added by the 4x400 relay teams, with the boys (Jonathan Alves, Dean Elliott, Drew Karam, and Dylan Sheridan) taking bronze and the girls (Elias, Gautier, Jaela Henry, and Sydney Merriman) bringing home gold and capturing the league championship.
Section 1 Dendy Meet #3
Wednesday, Jan. 8
Later that week, the Tigers were back in action at Rockland Community College. The squad once again ran well, with Karam (600M) and Kylie Dell (55M, 300M) both achieving personal best times.
The squad will now prepare to head back to the Armory for the Steve Borbet Invitation on Friday, Jan. 17.
Boys Basketball
Croton Harmon 57, North Salem 55
Friday, Dec. 13
The Tigers took a tough loss in the opening round of the Croton Harmon tournament. Juniors Aidan Santis and Max Cotrone led the charge with 21 points and 12 points, respectively.
North Salem 58, Sleepy Hollow 36
Saturday, Dec. 14
The squad handled the Horsemen the following day in the tournament consolation game, with Cotrone once again powering the offense with 22 points. Sophomore Lucas Virzi added 14 points in the win.
North Salem 54, Brewster 53
Monday, Dec. 16
North Salem kept things rolling on the road, edging out the Bears behind standout performances from Cotrone (24 points) and Virzi (12 points).
Leffell School 81, North Salem 36
Wednesday, Dec. 18
The Tigers hit a roadblock at home to end 2024. Junior Jameson Juan led the scoring with 13 points.
North Salem 51, Valhalla 32
Tuesday, Jan. 7
The squad opened the new year with a big win over the Vikings on the road. Juan (15 points), Cotrone (13 points), and junior Connor Meehan (11 points) all turned in strong performances for North Salem.
Pawling 50, North Salem 45
Thursday, Jan. 9
North Salem came up short in a Tiger tussle in the opening round of the Booster Club Tournament. Cotrone did the heavy lifting for the offense with 22 points, with Meehan chipping in 12 in the effort.
Girls Basketball
Somers 46, North Salem 32
Thursday, Dec. 19
The squad took a tough loss at home to close out 2024. However, they refused to go quietly, outscoring Somers 16-6 in the 4th quarter behind strong performances from junior Noemi Torres (15 points, 4 steals, 4 blocks) and 8th grader Kerri Nemeth (11 points, 5 steals).
Rye Neck 30, North Salem 29
Friday, Jan. 3
The Tigers came up just short on the road to open the new year, carrying a 16-9 lead into the half before foul trouble turned the tables in the latter stages of the game. Nemeth, Torres, and sophomore Emma Greenburgh powered the North Salem defense, combining for 13 steals on the day.
BYSNS Ice Hockey
BYSNS 8, ETBE 7
Saturday, Jan. 4, Ice Hutch, Mount Vernon
BYSNS (Brewster/Yorktown/Somers/North Salem) knew it was important to kick off the new year off with a solid performance, especially after losing its last game before the holiday break, 7-5 to rival Mahopac on Dec. 22.
The Bisons did just that with an 8-7 triumph against ETBE (Eastchester/Tuckahoe/Bronxville/Edgemont).
“Starting the year off with a big win was great, especially since we were not satisfied losing our game before the break,” said BYSNS coach Ryan Langkafel. “It was great to bounce back with that response.”
BYSNS bounced back by overcoming some early-game adversity.
“We were losing 4-2 after the first period, but we knew we could play better, and were confident in ourselves,” Langkafel said. “One goal at a time and tightening up our defensive end was the key. We chipped away at their lead.”
BYSNS did just that and eventually tied the game 5-5 at the end of the second period. Two goals by James Munoz (5G, 2A) put the Bisons up 8-6 with 3:45 to go in the game, giving BYSNS just enough of the lead to hold and secure the victory.
“James Munoz gave us an amazing effort last night,” Langkafel added. “He uses his speed and abilities to create chances, and he capitalized on them in the third period. That two-goal cushion was huge. We went into a defensive mindset at that point to get through the last four minutes, we did enough to overcome whatever the other team threw at us.”
AJ Jones (4A), Ryan Dean (1G, 1A), Danny Luis (1G, 1A), Jordan Millar (1G, 1A), Michael Bonelli (1A), and Patrick Vaughn (22 saves) all contributed to the big victory.
Carmel 10, BYSNS 7
Sunday, Jan. 5, Brewster Ice Arena
BYSNS fought back after trailing 6-0 at the end of the first period against Carmel, coached by 2004 Lakeland graduate Rob Santini Jr., before falling to the Rams 10-7.
“We had a message to play with pride and determination, our goal was to win the next period and to get ourselves a chance going into the third,” Langkafel said. “We did just that, we were relentless and never gave up. We kept pushing and it was paying off.”
BYSNS slowly cut into the Carmel advantage, trailing 8-4 after two periods, before getting to within two goals of the lead. The Bisons accomplished this when Luis scored, off assists from Bonelli and Jones, to slice the Rams’ lead to 9-7 with 3:09 remaining in the contest.
“When Danny Luis scored to make it a two-goal game, the energy and belief was there that we could pull it off,” Langkafel said. “It is never ideal to have a period like we did in the first. But we learned a lot about ourselves in the process. It’s definitely something we will build off of and can move forward with.”
Lucas Salvatore (3G, 2A), Munoz (1G, 2A), Jones (1G, 2A), Bonelli (2A), Dean (1G), Luis (1G), and Vaughn (28 saves) produced for the Bisons against the Rams.
BYSNS results provided by Mike Sabini.
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