Blue Devil Boys’ JV Basketball Grows as a Team

It might sound strange to hear what a great experience Huntington High School’s junior varsity boys’ basketball team had considering the struggle to win games that it endured, but the Blue Devils put aside the wins and losses and concentrated on achieving daily improvement. On that count there can be no doubt they succeeded.

Huntington was able to do this because the Blue Devils knew they were caught up in a one year Section XI experiment that grouped teams into leagues based on geography, regardless of student enrollment.

Playing much bigger schools hid much of Huntington’s growth. With the league format returning to a more traditional structure next winter, the Blue Devils expect to win many more games.

First year coach Jake Torres quickly won his players with a mix of competence, encouragement, well-staged practices and well-managed games. Torres grew as a coach. He ran highly organized practices that managed to bring about huge gains in skills over the three month season.

Captained by Jordan Thorbourne and George Mueger, the 15 player team was led by freshman guard Shariff Penalo.

“Shariff is a committed athlete who puts the team first,” Torres said. “He has a quality of natural leadership that uplifts the people around him. He is willing to listen and work hard no matter the circumstances. The future is bright on and off the court for this young man.”

The highlight of the season came when the Blue Devils topped Lindenhurst, 51-25. A 49-43 loss at Northport in the season finale also showed just how far Huntington had come.

“This was a team that grew tremendously throughout the season,” Torres said. “They gained a lot of experience. I am looking forward to a bigger and more effective program as a whole. It will be stronger socially and physically. The athletes and coaches will have more experience with each other, enabling more opportunity to succeed.”

There were highlights in just about every game, regardless of the final score. Penalo had 18 points against Central Islip. Thorbourne scored 16 points against Lindenhurst and Shelby Gillenwater had 13 points against Bay Shore. Nick Normoyle scored eight points at Walt Whitman and Henry Gerberg had eight points against Northport. Mueger had seven points against Copiague.

“Our goal since day one has been to grow as a program” Torres said. “Which means we grow in numbers and talent. We will continue reminding everyone that being on a Huntington team means we are committed every day, not just when we feel like it.”

Torres gave his players everything he had and they told anyone who would listen how much they loved their coach.