PHS Boys’ basketball team advances to final

Championship game Saturday night at 7:15

A winning PHS boys basketball team leaving Westchester County Center court. All photos by Student Photographer Damien Ritter

February 28, 2024

They’re baaaaaaack! After a decade long drought, the Peekskill High School boys’ basketball team advanced Tuesday afternoon to the Section I Class AA championship game, defeating Eastchester in overtime, 62-56. “We’ve been playing together since we were in third and fourth grade,” said junior Jaden Chavis after the game, when commenting about Eastchester’s fouth quarter run.

Coach Tyrone Searight’s team dominated during the first and second quarters but a hustling Eastchester was closing the gap in the third quarter and a 12-4 run in the beginning of the fourth quarter tied the game at 48 with under three minutes till the final buzzer. A basket at the buzzer from Eastchester’s Jake Warnock sent the game into overtime.

The Red Devils will play for the Section I championship on Saturday at 7:15 at the County Center. All photos by Student Photographer Damien Ritter.

Red Devils entering the county center court
Ezekiel Jones and Amir Thames during pre-game drills
Practicing layups during pre-game warm-ups.
Pre game driills.
Team huddle
Red Devils being introduced to the crowd at Westchester County Center
Red Devils mascot cheering on the crowd
PHS Dance team
A winning PHS boys basketball team leaving Westchester County Center court. All photos by Student Photographer Damien Ritter

About the Contributor

Regina Clarkin, Editor and Publisher

When the Peekskill Herald weekly newspaper ceased publishing in August 2000 it was the first time in the history of the city that there wasn’t a local newspaper. The award-winning weekly was often referred to as the ‘glue’ of the community. Founded on January 9, 1986 by Regina Clarkin, Kathy Daley and Rich Zahradnik with a $7,000 credit card line, the paper filled the void created when the daily Evening Star was sold to Gannett and moved out of town. Founding publisher Regina Clarkin continued to live in the Peekskill Cortlandt area and turned her attention to other life endeavors. Through the ensuing 19 years, Clarkin was frequently stopped in town and asked when she would start up the Herald again. In January 2019, Clarkin decided it was less labor intensive to deliver a weekly blog than a print newspaper so she began posting one story a week about life in Peekskill. After a successful crowd funding campaign in 2020, the Herald was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in July of 2021. Peekskill Herald is a digital relative of the former print edition, featuring many of the favorite aspects of the beloved Peekskill Herald such as old pictures, personality profiles and well written stories about newsworthy events. Regina Clarkin is the editor and publisher of the site. Photo by Joe Squillante