The last 365 days have brought plenty of highlights, produced many stars and created memories to last a lifetime. Brooklyn Courier Sports Editor Joseph Staszewski takes a look back at the year in Brooklyn high school sports and picks the best of the best from 2014:
Program of the Year: Poly Prep
The Blue Devils was always one of the premier programs in New York City, but it was quite a year in Bay Ridge. The Poly Prep baseball team won a fourth-straight private school state title and an Ivy League crown. Its football team lost only one game for the second-straight year and its dominance made it arguably the best club in the five boroughs. Add in the wrestling team’s first state title, and you have an athletic year unmatched in Brooklyn.
Boys’ Athlete of the Year: Luis Rodriguez, Abraham Lincoln
No player meant more to his team than the senior running back-wide receiver, considering he scored every postseason touchdown for the Railsplitters. Rodriguez, a senior, tied a Public School Athletic League record with nine playoff touchdowns, including two in the championship game against Erasmus. Lincoln coach Shawn O’Connor dubbed him a Coney Island legend after the performance at Yankee Stadium.
Girls’ Athlete of the Year: Marlena Budna, Fort Hamilton girls’ volleyball
Many players have had a role in Fort Hamilton’s rise to prominence in the last three seasons, but Budna has been the key to it all. The dominant middle hitter did everything on the court and was unstoppable at the net when she was in rhythm. The senior had an uncanny knack for closing out sets and used to it help the team win its first Public School Athletic League Class A crown this year.
Team of the Year: Xaverian baseball
Resilient is the only word to describe this group of Clippers. Xaverian, which saw this as rebuilding season, staved off elimination seven times to win the Catholic Class AA crown for the first time since 2011. Senior ace Anthony Sigismondi led the way by winning three playoff games, including the title clincher.
Coach of Year: Linda Strong, Fontbonne Hall girls’ volleyball
It has been a quite a climb for Strong and the Bonnies, and it culminated in them reaching the top in historic fashion. She molded and trained this group both with the Bonnies and at the club, and it paid off in the school’s first Brooklyn-Queens AA crown. Fontbonne ended St. Francis Prep’s seven-year run as regular-season and diocesan champions in the process.
Best Newcomer: Isaiah Wilson, Poly Prep football
The Blue Devils lost two-way lineman Jay Hayes to graduation and Notre Dame, but didn’t miss a beat because of Wilson. The 6-foot-6, 279 pound sophomore helped keep Poly as a dominant running team and quelled opponents offense at the point of attack.
Best Upset: Fontbonne girls’ volleyball
No team ever come close to touching St. Francis Prep during its seven-year run atop Brooklyn-Queens volleyball. But Fontbonne didn’t just beat the Terriers in bringing the streak to a close — the Bonnies dominated. Francesca Castellano, Emily Greenstein, and company beat the Queens school three times, including in straight sets in the diocesan final.
Best Clutch Performance: Bianca Cuevas, Nazareth
The South Carolina-bound star shone the brightest in one of the best girls’ basketball games in recent years, in the Catholic Class AA state semifinals. Cuevas scored a career-high 50 points to beat fellow McDonalds All-American Sierra Calhoun and Christ the King. The transcendent performance epitomized the toughness and stubbornness that Cuevas has shown throughout her career.
Game of the Year: Thomas Jefferson stuns Abraham Lincoln, Public School Athletic League Class AA boy’s basketball semifinals
Lincoln, with its all-star filled roster, was supposed to roll to a second-straight city title. It had already beaten Jefferson in their three prior meetings. But the Orange Wave saved its best performance for last and upended the Railsplitters 77–74 behind 21 points from Shamorie Ponds.
Story of the Year: Isaiah Whitehead’s recruitment
No story or decision was watched more closely by sports fans in the tri-state area than where the Abraham Lincoln star and McDonald’s All-American would land. Whitehead eventually spurned St. John’s for Seton Hall, and took Desi Rodriguez and coach Dwayne “Tiny” Morton with him to South Orange. The decision was still the talk of local college basketball when the season began.
Quote of the Year: “I’m the new boss in town,” Jefferson coach Lawrence “Bud” Pollard
Pollard made the boast right after his team upset Lincoln and visiting former Railsplitter coach Dwayne “Tiny” Morton. “I’m the big dog. I am happy I sent him out of here,” Pollard said. “One thing, he will not be at the Barclays. He had a run at the Garden, but not the Barclays. I am glad he didn’t get to the Barclays.”
