Good morning. 🏀🏒 It’s Friday, March 13. The winter sports season is nearing its conclusion, and Rye High School is once again making a case for having the state’s strongest athletic department.

After the fall sports season, when Rye was the only school in New York to send four teams to state, the Garnets now have two winter sports teams competing for state titles.

Six high schools in New York have both their boys and girls basketball teams still playing. But Rye is the only school with a hockey and basketball team still alive.

The Garnet hockey team can claim a Division 2 state championship with wins Saturday and Sunday. Boys basketball plays a regional final tonight, with hopes of making next weekend’s Class AA state semifinals.

Let’s go “Between the Lines” to preview the winter season’s home stretch.

“Between the Lines” is curated by Chris Marshall.

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State Semifinals Preview: Going for the Gold

The teams in this weekend’s state hockey semifinals couldn’t be farther apart. Byram Hills, the Section 1 champions, and Rye, the Section 1 at-large team, are separated by just 13 miles. But Clarence (on the outskirts of Buffalo) and Beekmantown (near the border of Canada and Vermont) are both more than 300 miles away.

When the teams convene in Buffalo for the Division 2 state semifinals, they’ll share one commonality: they all lost to Rye during a 15-day stretch in December. Clarence, the Garnets’ semifinal opponent on Saturday, fell 4-3 against Rye in the season-opener on Dec. 5.

Just 12 days later, Rye beat Byram Hills 6-4 before hopping on a bus for a six-hour trip to Plattsburgh, where the Garnets topped Beekmantown 4-1 to win the Applebee’s Winter Classic. The three wins against eventual state semifinalists were part of Rye’s 5-1 start to the season.

The Garnets never cooled down, entering the playoffs with just two losses. An overtime loss to Byram Hills cost the team a section title. But now, they’re two wins away from a much bigger prize, playing in the state semifinals for the first time in 19 years.

Rye may be the tournament’s lone at-large entry, but in last weekend’s regional final, the team was large and in charge. The Garnets beat the Section 5 champions, Aquinas, 4-1 in Rochester after scoring the game’s first three goals.

If the name Aquinas sounds familiar to Garnet sports fans, it may be because the girls soccer team beat the Little Irish 4-0 in the state championship game last November. Saturday’s victory came by a similar score, and now the Garnet hockey team will do what the boys and girls soccer teams, and the football team, did in the fall: play in the final weekend of the season, on the sport’s biggest stage.

Weather Report: Check out the weekend weather forecast for Rye here.

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Performer of the Week: Ben Truman

🏃‍♂️ Congrats to Ben Truman — winner of the Sportech Performer of the Week.

The senior finished third in the 600-meter run at the Section 1 state qualifier to earn a spot in last weekend’s New York State Indoor Track & Field Championships.

With a time of 1:25.36 in the qualifier, Truman earned another state appearance after competing in the outdoor meets as a junior and senior. Against a loaded field at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island, Truman ran a nearly identical time, finishing in 1:25.34 to take 27th in the state.

“Ben is one of the hardest workers we have in the team, and we as a staff have loved seeing his growth,” said Rye coach Bryan Johnson. “From strategizing how to approach his races to working with our coaches in practices, it’s been great to see his work pay off.”

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Game of the Week: Garnets Have a (Gold) Ball

🏀 Few high school sports duos are more decorated than Rye seniors Carson Miller and Henry Shoemaker. After an undefeated, state championship season last fall in football, the record-setting QB/WR tandem now leads the Garnets into a Class AA regional final.

With all that multi-sport success (not to mention lacrosse), one might assume it would be difficult to choose a favorite game. But fresh off last weekend’s section championship win, Miller didn’t take long to think it over.

“Of all the big games I’ve played in, this one tonight is the best of all,” he said after the 57-50 win against Clarkstown North. “Basketball is different for me. It’s my favorite sport. I’ve loved being a part of this team … This one tonight is just extra special for me personally, partly because we couldn’t get it done my sophomore or junior years.” 

The Garnets claimed the program’s first Section 1 title against Class AA competition, but they aren’t done yet. With a 62-47 win Tuesday against Section 9 champion Goshen Central, Rye advanced to tonight’s regional final against Smithtown West (22-1), needing just three wins to capture a state championship on the hardwood.

This Week’s Rye Record: 3-0

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