Good morning. 🏒🏀 It’s Friday, Jan. 16, roughly the midway point of the winter sports regular season. Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but all of Rye’s varsity teams are in serious contention for section titles.

Between boys and girls basketball, hockey, squash, and swimming, the Garnets went 12-0 in the past week, defeating several teams well above .500 in the process.

Girls basketball remains unbeaten at 13-0 entering Saturday’s showdown against defending Class AAA state champion Albertus Magnus, and hockey and boys basketball have both come on strong since starting the season 1-1.

This edition of “Between the Lines” breaks down how the Garnets have iced out the competition this winter.

“Between the Lines” is curated by sports editor Chris Marshall.

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Emerging Contenders

9-1-1 are typically the digits dialed for an emergency. In the case of Rye’s hockey team, the numbers represent an emergence.

After opening the season 1-1, the Garnets are riding a nine-game unbeaten streak, highlighted by a 4-1 win Tuesday at Pelham. The comfortable victory against the top-ranked Pelicans shows just how quickly Rye has improved. Last week, the two rivals tied, making it the only game the Garnets haven’t won outright since Dec. 10.

Since then, Rye has won four games by a combined score of 22-7 to enter the season’s second half as one of the section title favorites, with a record of 9-1-1. Aside from a 7-4 win at Massena, when sophomore Colin Nigro netted an astounding five goals, the scoring has been as evenly distributed as possible.

Each of Rye’s four goals against Pelham came from a different player: seniors Ryan Draddy, Jamie Morris, and Cody Greenhaw, plus freshman Connor Dehmer.

In the Garnets’ latest game, a 7-2 road win Wednesday against Clarkstown, six different players scored: Nigro twice, Morris, Draddy, Dehmer, Greenhaw, and junior Jack McGill.

“Of all the teams we’ve seen so far this season,” said senior Will Weinman, “I don’t think there are many who are more skilled than we are top to bottom.”

Rye’s goaltending depth was even on display, as Davis Goodman relieved fellow junior, starter Fernando Mosquera, late in the game against Clarkstown. The rest was well-deserved, as the Garnets finished off a stretch of four games in six days — with a six-hour bus trip to Massena in between.

Tonight, the Garnets get a shot at avenging their lone loss, facing Rivertowns (8-3) at 6:20 p.m. at Westchester Skating Academy in Elmsford. The Legends lived up to their nickname in the teams’ first meeting, scoring four straight goals in a 4-2 win Dec. 10 at Playland.

If the Garnets can pick up their 10th victory of the season against a Rivertowns conglomerate made up of players from Irvington, Ossining, Sleepy Hollow, Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, and Croton-Harmon, it will further cement Rye’s claim as the county’s strongest contender.

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Performer of the Week: Milo Shirakawa 🔥

🏀 Congrats to senior Milo Shirakawa — winner of the Sportech Performer of the Week.

Stepping into a firestorm of suffocating defense and no real offensive flow in the game, Rye coach Tom Proudian turned to Shirakawa for a spark last Friday against Byram Hills.

Maybe the best pure shooter on the team, Shirakawa made every one of his minutes off the bench matter, scoring a team-high 13 points to lead Rye (6-2) to a 39-37 win against Byram Hills (6-2).

With Rye trailing 23-13 with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter, junior Ben Hudson connected for a 3-point basket. 23-16. Moments later, a Shirakawa 3 made it 23-19. Then quickly another Shirakawa 3, and just like that, the Bobcats’ lead was trimmed to one, 23-22.

With 3:58 left in the fourth quarter, Shirakawa gave Rye its first lead, 31-30. Then more Shirakawa. A two-point basket with 3:13 to go. Another 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining to put Rye ahead 36-33.

Finally, Hudson dropped the hammer on Byram Hills with Rye’s final points of the unforgettable game – another 3-pointer – with 17 seconds left to close it out.

Shirakawa showed the hot shooting was no flash in the pan, following up the outing with 10 more points in Rye’s latest game, a 72-60 win Monday at Roosevelt.

— By Steven Kearney

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Game of the Week: Girls 13-0 Entering Saturday Showdown

🏀 Rye’s girls basketball team remains undefeated on the season at 13-0, but their latest game, a 54-50 victory Wednesday against Mahopac (8-3), was their closest call yet.

Senior Phoebe Greto accounted for nearly half of the Garnets’ offensive output, with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore Stella Maresca added 14 points, while freshman Charlotte Storz and junior Frankie Chiaravalle each chipped in with seven.

Chiaravalle, who led Rye with 20 points in a 62-42 win Monday against Clarkstown South, grabbed 11 rebounds with seven assists against Mahopac.

The next game may be the toughest on the schedule, as the defending section champion Garnets host Class AAA state champion Albertus Magnus (9-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday.

This Week’s Rye Record: 12-0

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