By Ben Epple
On Thursday, November 7, Irvington’s CAB and Positive Impact Club held its annual dodgeball tournament to spread awareness of alcohol and drug abuse, emphasizing the message “Don’t Do Drugs, Do Dodgeball.”
The tournament held eight teams, including a black, red, purple, orange, yellow, light blue, blue, and pink team. With over sixty competitors, the tournament was highly attended and a great event for all. Each competitor was provided a t-shirt with their team color, as well as snacks and water.
The event started off with a round robin round where each team got to play a team to warm up. The rules were simple as each team tried to eliminate the other by either catching their thrown ball, or hitting an opponent with a ball. Headshots would lead to an elimination of the player who threw the ball.
After the round robin ended, the elimination round began. In the first round black played purple, red played orange, light blue played pink, and blue played yellow. The four remaining teams after the first round were black, red, pink, and blue.
The second round did not disappoint. The blue team full of sophomore boys took on senior boys the red team. The games came down to a nailbiter. After ten minutes of play, the game came down to sophomore Gardner Stock who took on seniors Andy Feng and Massimo Ferrari. After ten more minutes of throwing and dodging, Stock hit Feng in the leg. A few throws later Stock also hit Ferrari in the chest, eliminating the red team. Blue team members celebrated as they moved into the championship round.
Stock describes his feelings during this game-winning moment, “As I picked up the last ball that was on my side of the court my head swung as I turned to see my last teammate get darted with a ball. I then realized that it was me against two seniors. I finally clutched it up and secured the dub and made easy work of those two challengers.”
On the other side of the bracket the black team defeated the pink team and moved onto the championship round against the blue team.
The blue team featured sophomore’s Matthew Cortese, Ben Epple, Harrison Malikoff, Grant Malikoff, Dennis Sasso, Joseph Denardo, Gardner Stock, and Ellis Schleifer. They would take on the reigning champions, the black team, which featured seniors Jack Van Der Spuy, Ethan Walter, CJ Steinberg, Irish Weeks, Alex Hempstead, Matthew Jacoby, Hudson Mollo and sophomore Griffin Warner.
A best two out of three series would determine the champions. Game one wasn’t close as the black team eliminated the blue team very quickly. Game two was the opposite as the blue team took the win.
It came down to game three. It started strong for the black team. Two blue team and seven black team players remained.
A few quick eliminations would narrow down the players as two blue team players and three black team players remained. Senior Alex Hempstead would throw a ball at sophomore Harrison Malikoff’s head, but was not called out, resulting in the elimination of Malikoff. It came down to a three against one. Ben Epple took on Irish Weeks, Alex Hempstead, and Ethan Walter. With two quick eliminations to Weeks and Hempstead, it became a one versus one to determine the winners. Epple and Walter fired back with all they got, and, at last, Epple hit Walter in the chest. The blue team celebrated and recieved their championship t-shirts.
I asked senior Jack Van Der Spuy how he thought the overall event went. Van Der Spuy replied with “It was a great turnout. Lots of students from all four grades came out to play and support. We were able to project the importance of alcohol and drug abuse awareness as well which we hope can make a difference. Overall, everyone had a great time and we’re looking forward to the Volleyball tournament in the spring.”
Overall the event was a great success, and students are looking forward to the volleyball tournament in the spring.
