By Rob Potter
Football
Record: 5-5 overall, 1-1 Class D
Season Highlight: Making it back to the Section IX Class D title game for the second year in a row.
Coach’s Comment: “I think we had a very successful season, even better than our 5-5 record showed with having the state [Class D] runner up in our division and our non-league games being against the big [Class] C division” said Co-Coach Kevin Clifford, who guided the team with Co-Coach Fred Ahart.
“We certainly would like to recognize our seniors and thank them for their outstanding season and careers,” Ahart said. “Most of them have been with the program since its inception, beginning on the modified team.”
Those seniors are Troy Correa, Joe Fredenburg, Kenny Fisk, Mike Mills, Brandon Pagan, Chad Rosario, Trever Taggart and Jordan Tallman.
“Reaching the Class D championship game two years in a row is a very positive step for our program,” Ahart said. “The postseason really showed what an outstanding team Chester is by making it to the state championship game. And the postseason showed that our team did a great job in playing Chester as competitively as we did.”
Looking Ahead: “We will be losing a lot of seniors who have played key roles at the varsity level for the last three to four years,” Clifford commented. “But we did have a lot of underclassmen that played key roles this past season who we look to step into those spots nicely [next year].”
Girls’ Soccer
Record: 13-5 overall, 8-4 Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division V
Season Highlight: Making it to the Section IX Class C Tournament and beating Tuxedo in a quarterfinal game. Also being named a Scholar Athlete Team by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.
Coach’s Comment: “This team was a pleasure to coach,” Davis said. “They were hard-working, humorous, and had strong team spirit.”
Looking Ahead: “The team will be heavy with seniors next fall, so I expect great competitive skill from the team and a return to sectional play,” Davis commented.
The team will be losing four seniors to graduation in June. They are Maggi Calo, who was the leading scorer with 32 goals, goalkeeper Victoria Davis, Hunter Browne and Nina Zheng.
Boys’ Cross Country
Record: 9-10 overall, 4-3 OCIAA Division V.
Season Highlight: “We were a [New York State Public High School Athletic Association] Scholar Athlete team and Neal Mock qualified for the state championship and finished 52nd overall, fifth for Section IX,” Coach Sandy Taggart said.
Coach’s Comment: “I was very pleased with the turnout for cross country this year,” Davis said. “We had 14 boys on the team, all from Manor. We haven’t had a varsity cross country program in four years, and this is the first time in a long time that we had the numbers to run as a team, not just individuals.
Looking Ahead: “We will be losing four seniors, with Neal Mock being the biggest loss,” Taggart commented. “I think we will build on the numbers that we had this year, and there is already more interest for next year. Of the 14 boys we had on the team this year, seven were freshmen. I hope we can encourage some girls to come out so we can build a girls’ program, too.”