"JV Bartozzi" Leads Heights Varsity to Playoff Win

The 2023-24 Cavaliers were an exciting group to watch, with young firepower on offense and a veteran presence on the defensive end. Seniors Luke Scalia (M,A), “Senior Ton” Colosi (M), and “Madlax Jake” Goodwin (A) had great seasons for the team. Jason Agwamba (LSM) and Daniel Kim (D) had stellar, outstanding seasons defensively, with DK being the best Mr. Fundamental in the WCAC. Jason was…well let’s just say beware of the slide from #3. The juniors had some special players, starting with the man in the cage, Chase Stichman (G). A top goalie in the conference, Chase had a 51.9 save %, which is well above average. Owen James (D) and I (D) played well, with Owen repeatedly making top D1 commits look like they just started playing the week before. My season was cut short after 9 games, but I managed to get in a few hard hits while I could. We believed that J.D. DeLellis (D) could step up along with JP Flynn (D) to lock it down defensively, and they did. The D-Mid tandem of Joe Mitch and the All-Met Soccer POTY Finian Godfrey were a great 1-2 punch. Fin, despite having never played before, only needed 15 minutes into his first practice for the coaches to know he was our guy. The guys suffered some tough losses in April to Good Counsel, Paul VI and Gonzaga. We bounced back with some good wins, especially against Yorktown in a sensational OT win courtesy of Grant Lanham (A). Playoffs were up next. We handled O’Connell in the 1st round, with Luke Chambers (M) getting himself on the stat sheet as a pole and the James brother connection on fire. Next up was St. John’s and their highly talented roster, minus the best player in the country. Nevertheless, when we faced off in the regular season, we played it tight, and the score was 5-5 at half, with OJ and Riley Shiner (A) making Navy and Notre Dame commits look like JV players. St. John’s managed to pull away, but it was a good fight. This time around, St. John’s came out fast, and even after scoring the first goal, we just stalled in an unfortunate turn of events in the second half. Brendan James (A) was outstanding all season long with freshmen Shiner and Clark Lanham (M), and as a freshman was demanding the best pole on the other team. The offense is young and will continue to get better. Pio Kirk (M) dogged it out at the faceoff X against some of the best FOGOs in the country. We are excited for the incoming freshmen and next season which starts next month at the biggest high school recruiting tourney in the country!