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MANVILLE: ABIS holds first sports banquet

Winter athletes, teams honored

by Mary Ellen Zangara, Correspondent
   Alexander Batcho Intermediate School held its first sports awards banquet for the school’s young athletes. The dinner was held Feb. 26 in the ABIS cafeteria with families and staff joining the players and coaches.
   Dr. James Brunn principal of the school welcomed everyone: “When I see over 100 people in this room on a winter night I think of a couple of words – pride and involvement. I think in all three sports teams that we are honoring tonight everyone gave their best and everyone tried to do their best for the team and themselves.”
   Dr. Brunn also thanked everyone for their support and for giving the athletes this awards banquet since this was the very first one in the school’s history.
   ABIS boys’ basketball coach Carl Ruffer began with the recognition of his team.
   ”Though we often judge a team by its record, any coach will agree with me that a season is not made only by wins and losses. Yes, this season the boys’ team struggled and underachieved but throughout there were many positives. Players would sometimes get upset by the amount of playing time but every player needs to know they were important to the team by contributing to the goal of winning in their own ways whether in practice or on the game floor,” he said.
   Players on the Broncos team included John Clifford, AJ Kerrigan, Matt Cornelson, Bryce Forke, Sebastian Galvez, Carl Imhoff, Jair Malliard, Dan Alfaro, Robert Bogantes, Jeffrey Cabral, Peter Locham, Altaron Robinson, Ariel Rodriguez, Marcial Valverde and Pawel Zawadka. All players received a trophy.
   Special awards were presented to Bogantes (Defensive Player), Rodriguez and Cabral (Team Leaders), Locham (Most Improved), Clifford (Most 3-Pointers) and Cornelson (Heart of Steel). Conference awards went to Rodriguez and Cabral.
   Ed Ferraro, the ABIS wrestling coach, followed with praise for the wrestlers: “When the season starts for us, I like to set goals. Goals are very important. The wrestlers on the team need to work toward something. As a team, we said we wanted to match last year’s record of four wins and seven losses. I told them that if we could meet that goal, it would be a great accomplishment. I am very proud of the guys that I have coached. Every day they would come in here and work as hard as they could. I am very proud of the four wins that we had.”
   Ferraro also thanked Jack Kuhlman for keeping the scorebook and former MHS wrestler Aaron Janner for helping with the team.
   The ABIS wrestling team consisted of Brandon Perry, Steven Poto, Kyle Puza, Andrew Sutton, Sebastian Wisniowiecki, Jerry Fetzer, Brandon Hamblin, Christopher Hardie, Travis Hardie, Tristan Jaime, Dimitri Kontos, Jack Kuhlman, Angelo Locham, Max Miller, Anthony Zuhone, Brian Burke and Kevin Jerzewski.
   All the wrestlers received an award and special awards were also presented. Special winners included Hernandez (Most Improved), Jaime (Rookie of the Year), Burke (Most Reversals), Zuhone (Most Takedowns), Miller (Most Escapes) and Jerzewski (Most Valuable). The ABIS team received the sportsmanship award from the conference.
   The ABIS girls’ basketball team had an incredible season.
   ”The 15 girls that I had were just an amazing group of girls,” Lady Broncos coach Dan Sferrazza said. “They stepped up every day and gave it their all. I really can’t complain about our season. It was a great season.”
   Before ending, Sferrazza congratulated the girls again on their 12-7 season and said, this is the best coaching experience of my life so far.”
   Sferrazza thanked John Santostefano for his dedication to the team by putting together a Web site for the girls with stats and photos. He also thanked his mother Julie for her support and help putting the first awards banquet together for the students.
   The girls’ team included Alli Grimm, Alyssa Jankowski, Jessica Ramirez, Aereen Almonte, Emily Barnes, Wilmay Cayanong, Karen Dutan, Kim George, Rachel Janes, Leslie Loiza, Allie Puza, Jackie Richter, Stephanie Santostefano, Kaitlyn Ulicny and Emily Velez. Each girl received a plaque, team shirt and a scrapbook.
   Special recognition went to Puza (Spirit Award), Barnes (Coach’s Award), Ulicny (Most Improved Player), Velez (Leadership Award), Janes (Heart and Hustle) and Santostefano (Most Valuable Player). Santostefano and Janes were named to the all conference team.
   The dinner was catered by Manville Pizzeria and Restaurant and could not have been a success without the support of the ABIS faculty and staff, Dr. Brunn, ABIS PTA, John Santostefano, Julie Sferrazza, Stephanie Cornelson, Aaron Janner, Bill Kurzius, Kim O’Rear, Manville Wal-Mart, Antiques Emporium and the families of the student athletes.