Sports

Boys Lacrosse: Riverhead’s playoff status remains on hold

Like it or not, the Riverhead boys lacrosse team will have to wait more than a week before it learns whether it has clinched its first ever berth in the Suffolk County playoffs.

The Blue Waves certainly helped their cause with an 18-12 Division I victory over North Babylon at Mike McKillop Memorial Field on Saturday afternoon. Senior midfielder Ryan Bitzer led the way, tying the school record with a personal-best seven goals as the hosts improved their overall record to 10-5 and 8-5 in the division.

In many other high school sports, teams need to finish the regular season with a .500 record to reach the playoffs. In lacrosse, it is based on power ratings. Entering Saturday’s game, the Blue Waves were 12th among Division I teams with 111.870 points. The top 13 schools will reach the postseason.

Riverhead was followed by Half Hollow Hills West (107.32), Hauppauge (99.85), Walt Whitman (99.49) and East Islip (99.14).

“We’re still in the hunt in the playoffs,” Blue Waves coach Vic Guadagnino said. “If I can explain to you the power-rating system of Section XI, I would be a genius. I have no idea. We have a bye in our last game. We have a game on Tuesday and then we don’t play on Friday. So we’re not going to know until probably the following Monday if and when we’re definitely in. If this win definitely helped, I would be hard-pressed to say that we’re not in. But I will not commit and say we’re in until I see it officially on Section XI. Sorry, I wish I could say yes, but that’s not the case when you play with the power-rating system.”

The Blue Waves will play at West Islip in their regular-season finale on Tuesday.

On Saturday, the hosts enjoyed leads of 8-1 early in the second quarter and 12-3 early in the third period before North Babylon (4-10, 3-9) rallied with nine goals in the second half.

Dan Czelatka added two goals and six assists for Riverhead. Ryan Hubbard contributed three goals and three assists while Austin Fitzpatrick finished with three goals and one assist.