Sports Report January 30, 2024

Author

Green N White Club Reporters
January 30, 2024

For information on membership, sponsorships, spirit items, digital tickets, VSN subscription, and more, please click here.

Many thanks to the following Green N White Club corporate sponsors for their support this year:

Bollinger Shipyards

LaFleur & Laborde

Tulane Doctors

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The Chloe

CMS's Services LLC

Dawn Services

First Horizon Bank

Landry & Swarr LLC, Attorney-at-Law

Manning Passing Academy

Ashley and J.T. Nesser

Taceaux Loceaux

Walker & Dunlop

Woodward Design+Build

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Auto-Chlor, Bayou Hot Wings,

C. Collection, Betsy and Gary Laborde,

Marquette Transportation, Midway Pizza,

K. Miller Gem and Jewelry Brokerage,

Moses Engineering, NOLA Chill, Seatrax,

Stretch Zone, tasc Performance,

Vendisco Culinary Services, Villere & Co.

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Black Bay Energy Capital,

The Chicory House | The Garden District Book Shop,

Deirdre and Hal Moffett, Entablature - Design/Build,

Amy Farnsworth Designs, Lovell and Company

Boys Basketball

In a non-league match, the Newman Greenies faced Ponchatoula High School in the Carver Classic Basketball Tournament. Ponchatoula started this game strong, scoring from multiple levels. After the first quarter of play, Ponchatoula was up 18 to 7. In the second quarter Newman picked up the defensive pressure allowing them to get out in transition and score several baskets. The Greenies also did a good job scoring out of their half court sets. The score was tied going into halftime Ponchatoula 25, Newman 25. Spearheaded by a strong defensive presence and half court pressure, Newman opened the 2nd half strong, forcing several turnovers to generate fastbreak opportunities. Ponchatoula played hard but was not able to cut into the lead over the next two quarters. The final score was Newman 68, Ponchatoula 56. 

In the next game, Newman played Crescent City Christian School of Metairie in the Booker T. Washington Basketball Classic. From the tip, Newman had a clear size advantage over Crescent City. Once the game started, Crescent City made a few shots which kept the game close midway through the first quarter. Once Newman made an adjustment, they controlled the remainder of the game. Using the size and length of the Greenies in a 3-2 zone defense, Newman took away Crescent City’s offensive rhythm.  The defensive pressure opened the door for several transition points for Newman and the Greenies also dominated with scoring from the inside. The final score was Newman 65, Crescent City 49.

Girls Basketball

The Newman Girls basketball team was in action last Thursday night vs Hannan. The game started with Hannan taking a quick lead but Anaya Yanusah and Talia Parnes both scored to help Newman gain ground on Hannan. After 1 quarter, Newman was down 18-7. In the second quarter Newman got baskets from Madison Williams, Sanaa Bean, Jessica Taranto, and Stella Joyce, but Hannan held a big lead at half of 35-16. After halftime the Greenies came out slow, but eventually their intensity picked up. Yanusah and Bean started to get in a groove and the defense started to cause many turnovers. The Greenies were able to close the gap to 4 points with a minute to go, and the score was 49-45. Unfortunately, the Hannan team made their free throws when they were fouled and the Greenies came up short. It was a great effort by the team and we hope it will lead to a better game next week. 

The girl’s next game is at St. Mary’s Academy against Country Day for our district tournament on Wednesday, January 31st @ 5:30pm and the next game (the district championship) will be Friday, February 2nd (also at St. Mary’s) at 6:00pm. Please come out and support the Girls team. We hope to win both games and again win our district!

Boys Soccer

Last Tuesday (1/23), the Newman varsity boys hosted Brother Martin High School (D-1) (6-6-4) on VSN here.  After a foul at midfield in the 12th minute, Boyce Batten delivered a long free kick into the goal area that was bobbled and dropped by the Crusaders goalkeeper.  In the scrum that followed, junior Rylan Claverie was able to thump the ball in to give Greenies an early advantage.  Brother Martin looked to answer in the 17th minute with a long through ball and numbers forward.  Goalkeeper Journey Manson stopped the attacker at the top of the box, but the Brother Martin attacker was able to recover and pass the ball over to a trailing attacker who drilled a shot toward the right corner of the goal. Fortunately, center back Alex Dulitz had retreated to the goal line and was  able to slap the ball away with a left-footed save and preserve the clean sheet.  In the 21st minute, the Greenies added a second goal off a throw-in from Rowan Dravid, which was back-heeled by George Villere and finished nicely by Paul Richard.  With the scoreless second half, Newman was able to hold on a 2-0 win and its 11th win of the season.

On Thursday evening (1/25), the boys honored their senior captains Boyce Batten, Journey Manson, and Luke Mobley in a foggy Senior Night showdown with Metairie Park Country Day.  After losing last year’s district title to the Cajuns in Metairie in ill-fated penalty kicks, the stakes were just as high in this match, on VSN here and covered by NOLA.com here.  In the 21st minute, with Country Day playing at a very high level of intensity, a deep through ball from the Cajuns brought goalkeeper Manson off his line.  Though Manson was able to separate the ball from the Cajun striker, the ball landed with another Country Day attacker, who banged in a shot for a 1-0 lead.  In the second half, however, the Country Day players began to tire and the Greenies took advantage.  Shortly after halftime, after a hard foul on Will Pinkerton running up the left wing, Batten stepped up and dropped in a beautiful free kick to Alex Dulitz, who raced in behind the Cajun back line and finished with a sweet-touch equalizer.  In the 56th minute, after a Country Day handball following a Rowan Dravid throw-in, a confident Batten stepped to the mark and buried a penalty kick into the top-right hand corner for the 2-1 lead.  A few minutes later, George Villere gave the Greenies a third goal via a back heel pass from Paul Richard.  Finally, Jake Isenberg’s ball into the area was cleared by the Cajuns center back, but the goalkeeper was unable to get both hands on it and Rylan Claverie was on the spot to capitalize for his team-leading 23rd goal of the season.  With the 4-0 win on Senior Night, the Newman boys finished a perfect 6-0 in District 8-IV and re-captured the district title. 

With the cancellation of Saturday’s and Monday’s games, the boys completed the regular season with an impressive 12-3-2 record and enter the playoffs as the #5 seed in the statewide D-4 rankings.  On Thursday (2/1) at 6:30pm, the boys will host a first-round playoff match against Acadiana Renaissance Charter (3-11-1), the 28th seed from Youngsville. Tickets to the Thursday playoff game must be purchased using the following link (all attendees, including Newman staff, students and GNW Club members, must purchase tickets):

Stay tuned for additional playoff game dates and times, with the online playoff brackets here.   

Girls Soccer

On Thursday (1/25), the Newman girls played against district rival Metairie Park Country Day School (7-8-1) in a special Senior Night match on VSN here and covered by NOLA.com here.  With senior honorees Hannah Plaisance, Maggie Mills, Lauren Klebba and Ava Weill in the starting lineup, the Greenies jumped on the Cajuns early, with left winger Brooke Montano scoring her 6th goal of the year in the 12th minute.  Two minutes later, Klebba popped a Sarah Gibbs Smallpage throw-in over the Cajun goalkeeper to make it 2-0.  Late in the half,  Kingsland LeBourgeois added a third goal after beating the keeper at the top of box and firing in a rebound from the center back.  Right before halftime, Hannah Plaisance put the game away with a deep strike into the left corner, her 11th goal of the year.  In the second half, Newman took the opportunity to play the recently promoted girls from the junior varsity team with the seniors and coasted to a 4-0 victory.  With the win, the Greenies improved to a perfect 5-0 in District 9-IV play and again captured the district title.

On Saturday (1/27), the girls traveled to Geismar for a late-season match with Dutchtown (13-5-3), the fifth ranked program in D-1.  Though the Greenies played strong defense throughout the game, the Griffins were able to convert a cross from the right wing into a goal in the 34th minute.  From there, the Greenies moved the ball well, but the Dutchtown defenders and goalkeeper were able to thwart the Greenies attack each time in the final third.  With the 1-0 defeat, the Griffins handed Newman only its third loss of the season.

In the regular season finale on Monday (1/29), the girls hosted a strong side from D-1’s Mandeville High School (20-5-5) on VSN here.  In the first half, the girls were under heavy pressure from the Skippers’ attack, but goalkeeper CeCe Pinkerton was able to make some diving saves to keep the Greenies in the match.  In the 23rd minute, however, a punt from the Mandeville goalkeeper was flicked through to the Skippers striker, who raced toward goal and drilled a left-footer into the back of the net.  After the break, the Greenies regrouped and strong performances from Claire Charpentier, MC Flower, Sara Cordova and second half goalkeeper Bizzie Guy shut down the Skippers’ offense.  In the closing minutes, a late corner kick from Avery Summerour was blocked up high by the Mandeville keeper and headed four times in the goal area before finally pinballing to safety and securing the 1-0 win for the Skippers.

Though the regular season ended with two losses, the relative strength of those opponents enabled the Greenies (12-4-2) to finish as a strong #3 seed in the statewide D-4 rankings.  On Thursday (2/1) at 5pm, the girls will begin the playoffs with a home game against Delta Charter School (5-11-1), the 30th seed from Ferriday.  Tickets to the Thursday playoff game must be purchased using the following link (all attendees, including Newman staff, students and GNW Club members, must purchase tickets):

Other playoff game dates and times will be announced shortly, with the full playoff bracket online here.

Upcoming Schedule

See the latest Newman sports schedule here. 

Thank you for supporting Newman athletics, its teams, players, coaches, and administration!