Bears celebrate the great efforts of bygone season

Nucleus of players to return next year on a mission

By RICHARD A. ROSS

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — Forget the notion that bears hibernate in winter. At Tri-Valley, that’s when they roar out of the den and onto the hardwood. In fact, these Bears never sleep.

With the basketball season just barely over (no pun intended), the modified, junior varsity and varsity players, and cheerleaders, parents and community members gathered on March 21 at the Neversink Fire House to pay tribute to the Herculean efforts of the bygone campaign, and to set their sights on doing better in the year to come.

Tri-Valley basketball head coach Jason Semo began the evening with a tribute to Jerry Stevens, the coach of the Bear Cubs—a program that encourages young kids in grades two through six to get involved with basketball. Semo went on to praise this writer for his coverage of Tri-Valley basketball and other schools in Section 9. (See article on Golden Media Award). Junior varsity cheerleading coach Desi Horn was up next and expressed her thanks to the team, their parents and to varsity coach Janna Worden.

Worden talked about how Tri-Valley cheerleaders are admired by other schools. “Tri-Valley kids are really a class act,” she said.

Referring to varsity basketball coach Jason Semo and his squad, Worden said, “It was a pleasure to cheer for a team with such a great work ethic.”

This year, the varsity cheerleaders had many new faces. Worden noted that she lost seven seniors to graduation. Despite their relative inexperience, this year’s squad placed second and third three times out of four in their competitions. Worden was extremely proud of her squad even though they didn’t place at the OCIAA competition.

Tri-Valley hosted Livingston Manor this year and shared some of their skills and techniques with the Lady Wildcats. It was rewarding to see another team from Sullivan County competing at the Pine Bush and Minisink Valley competitions.

Worden acknowledged help from manager Tabitha McLain and called the squad up for acknowledgment by the large crowd in attendance. She thanked Diana Gray, Lori Edwards and Iris Reyes for their help.

This year’s varsity squad included Sharonna Davis, Kim Edwards, Lyn Forget, Nicole Gorr, Katrina James, James Knapp, Kayla McNamara, Racheal Pompeii, Becky Romero, Kim Romero, Crystal Salgado, Christine Seibert, Gabrielle Skidmore, Josh Smith and Jen VanDenburg. The team managers were Amber Buley, Jessica Lee, Brittany Rennison and Brianna Worden.

Seibert was chosen as the squad’s Most Improved Player and Davis was designated as the Most Valuable Player. Outstanding cheerleading awards went to Gorr and Salgado. Kim Edwards won the leadership award given to the squad member who is key in helping children and families in need.

Semo spoke next, but before acknowledging his other coaches and the players, paid tribute to his wife, Bryndis, for her “love, incredible support and patience.”

Being the wife of a basketball coach is a unique existence because Semo spends a lot of time at what he does. In addition to the hours at practice, travel and the games, there is time logged in scouting and watching films of other teams.

Semo summed this segment of his talk up by saying he had made some good decisions in his life, but the best decision was marrying his wife.

Semo’s first award of the night was the Spirit Award. This year’s recipient was Brianna Worden, a person Semo said lives her life in the face of challenges and is an example to others.

Semo thanked Diana Grey and scorekeeper Kevin Giroux, along with the other coaches. He expressed thanks to Janna Worden and the cheerleaders.

Then Semo turned his attention to the team. “This team works hard and they deserve to win,” he said. “But it’s more than just that.” Semo pointed to Arthur Felder, a graduate of Tri-Valley and a player during Semo’s first year of coaching, who was in attendance.

“Arthur had a lot of confidence,” he said. This year Felder helped Semo as an assistant.

Semo had something to say about each of his varsity players:

• Ryan Van Lieu accepted the challenge of stepping in as starting point guard and developed into a floor leader.

• His brother Dustin worked hard in the off-season and committed himself to a weight program. Dustin led by example and gave 100 percent all of the time.

• Bo Murphy and Garrett Gray both dominated at the J.V. level and had the edge of toughness.

• William Elberth was willing to work harder and play less.

• Kevin Delane led the team with his basketball IQ and his overwhelming knowledge of the game.

• John Merchant led the team with his talent and even surprised himself sometimes. Merchant will be chosen to the All-Section 9 team.

• Michael Kaplan showed his ability to take over a game.

• Fred Moore excelled in rebounding ability and his capacity to score.

• Ian Exner, who will be heading to Sullivan County Community College to study Culinary Arts, showed his ability to do “anything we needed him to do and a lot of guts.”

• Zach Thayer exemplified determination and understood and worked hard at basketball, lessons that will have use throughout the rest of his life. Thayer will major in computer engineering at the University of Buffalo.

• Dan Walter led the team in effort. Walter, who was acclaimed for his work ethic, will be attending either Johnson and Wales, Keystone College or Cassanovia in the fall and will major in criminal justice.

Semo also paid tribute to his managers, Tyler Lopez, Albert Santiago and Sean McNamara.

Semo concluded his presentation with the announcement of the individual awards:

Offensive Player of the Year: John Merchant.

Defensive Player of the Year: Danny Walter.

Most Improved Player: Zach Thayer.

Most Valuable Players: Fred Moore and John Merchant.

This team was the first Tri-Valley team ranked in a New York State poll. They beat Class A Pearl River of Rockland County. Semo said that no matter what happened in any game during the season, his team never lost faith in each other. That, he stressed, is the difference between teams that emerge as champions and those that break apart.

Given the depth, talent and commitment of Semo’s squad next year, Tri-Valley has all of the ingredients for a championship season.

For details about the modified basketball program and the junior varsity cheerleaders and basketball teams, along with an album of photos from the awards evening, visit riverreportersports.com.