“I really loved my time here,” Sacks said. “I loved the community. I loved the coaches and the kids. I really think it’s a special and magical place. We went through COVID, we went through austerity with the budget cuts, we went through some ups and downs with the teams but I’m very happy and proud of the things I accomplished here. Whether it be adding new teams or adding new clubs or upgrading the facilities or hiring all the coaches we have now, it was part of a full body of work here at Riverhead. It’s bittersweet for sure.”

Athletes and teams the past two years in particular went to new heights — even historically significant heights — shattering school records and accomplishing things no team in Riverhead has accomplished before.

The softball team won their first Suffolk County championship in school history and won back-to-back league championships the past two years. They were the first team in Riverhead softball history to produce an undefeated league season.

Madison Marshak and Angelina Gust became the first Riverhead girls golfers to make it to the New York State championships. Colby Baran qualified for the New York Boys Golf Championships for two years in a row. The boys golf team has won five consecutive league titles.

The boys lacrosse team produced its best season in school history two years ago and won its first round playoff game. The boys basketball team made the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and won its first round playoff game as well.

Christopher Jones, Riverhead’s most decorated long distance runner in school history, walks away with five school records. Kayleanne Campbell, won multiple Suffolk County championships in the high jump and holds every school record relating to it.

Miiko Foster, a freshman, fought her way to become the first Suffolk County girls wrestling champion in school history. Riverhead baseball made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years and won a playoff game for the first time in 20 years. Matthew Zambriski threw the school’s first perfect game in school history this year.

“The coaches I hired are great people,” Sacks said. “They really led to the success here. I’m happy to have hired them, and they should hold their positions for many years to come regardless of what athletic director steps in after me.”

In short, things have turned around. The effects of cutting sports for a year as a result of the failed budget during the COVID era is now in the rear view mirror. Sacks led the charge in the rebuild.

“COVID was one thing because everyone was going through it,” Sacks said. “Everyone was in the same boat, so I [could] lean on other athletic directors at other schools to bounce ideas off of. The austerity year, the year after, that was the hard year. That was the year that our students didn’t have something that other students had. And because of losing sports, we lost a lot of our varsity student athletes and then siblings of those athletes as well. We had to play underclassman at the varsity level for years after that to simply field a team. So getting out of that was definitely one of my proudest accomplishments.”

Sacks was also able to bring in new sports and new teams over the years. There is now JV girls golf, JV girls tennis, JV boys tennis, middle school boys tennis, unified basketball and unified bowling. 

The future of Riverhead sports is bright. There’s nothing to rebuild anymore. But now a position needs to be filled. The school district hasn’t named a replacement, though many have put in for the job. Sacks will hold the position until July 15. 

“I think the next A.D. in Riverhead should be open to change and have a vision,” Sacks said. “Riverhead is an unbelievable place. Sports is the heartbeat of the area. The slogan of ‘We bleed blue’ is true and it’s real. I think the program is in a good spot. They just need someone to keep building what we have here.” 

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Riverhead High School athletic director Brian Sacks is doing whatever it takes to right the ship and return the Blue Waves to a level of competitiveness they’ve been striving to achieve since the school board decided to cut sports after two failed budget votes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With uncertainty in the air and no sports to play, many of the school’s best, most experienced athletes transferred out of the district and Sacks has been picking up the pieces ever since. 

Many of the varsity teams wound up fielding underclassmen — and some programs barely had enough participation to field a team at all. It was the lowest of the low for Riverhead sports, but things have started to look up lately and it’s because the right people have stepped up to the plate.

“No matter what anyone wants to say, when it comes down to it, winning is important,” Sacks said. “I think because of the losing we were doing, the past couple years maybe deterred kids from playing sports, I’m not totally sure. But our participation numbers were so bad and they’re finally picking back up again all across the board.”

The boys lacrosse team had their best-ever season last year and won a playoff game. The softball team made school history, going a perfect 18-0 in league play before losing in the Suffolk County semifinals. The boys basketball team just made the playoffs for the first time since 2019. It’s a testament of those who stuck around and believed.

A rebuild always starts from the ground up. 

“When you build a high school program it is truly predicated on [area] youth programs and how their numbers are and how their coaching is and how they’re influencing students at those levels,” Sacks said. “It starts there before they even think about participating in a school sport.”

The Police Athletic League, which offers football, lacrosse, cheerleading and soccer, introduces kids to sports as young as age 5. Football found success at the PAL level this season with both the 10-and-under and 11-and-under teams winning championships thanks to strong leadership. Riverhead Little League is a pillar in the community and churns out district champions every year. There are also travel baseball programs like the Riverhead Waves that put local kids in elite competition. Boys varsity basketball head coach Patrick Fabian brought youth basketball back to Riverhead by getting membership in the Hampton’s Youth Athletic League and currently coaches third- through sixth-grade girls and boys in his off-time. 

“Anyone that wants to get involved in our youth programs I have been all ears,” Sacks said. “I’ve offered our facilities, whatever people need, I will do my best to help with what I have to offer.”

A big change in the middle school ranks is to use coaches with varsity-level experience to better prepare players for the next level. Leif Shay along with Scott Hackal, former high school coaches who led Riverhead to multiple Suffolk County championships, coach the middle school football team now. John Rossetti, who coached Riverhead’s boys basketball team to a league title when he was in charge, has returned to coach the middle school cagers. Cherese Foster, who was most recently the varsity girls basketball coach, has also chosen to move down and coach middle school.

“I can’t have girls coming up to varsity not knowing how to make a layup,” Foster said a few months ago. “We have to do everything we can to get to these athletes as early as possible. We shouldn’t still be teaching the basics at the varsity level.”

To spread awareness and try to increase interest and participation, Erica Murphy and Quinn Alexander recently formed a new booster program called the Riverhead Athletic Club — a 501-C not-for-profit organization.

“Personally I’ve always been an avid sports fan,” Alexander said in a phone interview. “I grew up around athletics. I’ve been a teacher and a coach in Three Village. I’ve been a coach at Ward Melville. I came up through Shoreham athletics. All those places had a booster club and we felt like that’s something Riverhead has lacked. I have three little kids in the district and everyone that has joined the organization bleeds blue.”

When Murphy and Alexander approached Sacks with the idea, he welcomed it with open arms. 

“Our biggest problem has been attracting kids to try sports at an early age,” Sacks said. “I think the booster club can help get the word out to the community. Show them there’s opportunity here and give the parents a place to go for information.”

Alexander has short-term and long-term goals with the club. The first step is to simply get the word out and start fundraising. 

“I know there are clubs that help out certain sports but we want to be there for every sport across the board,” Alexander said. “I want to do youth sports camps eventually. I want to be able to hand out scholarships to our best athletes. I want to have a hall of fame. Everyone here is committed to bringing Riverhead sports back. We all want to help.”

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Now, he’s looking to Riverhead High School graduates who played sports and continued to play sports after college in an amateur or professional capacity, hoping they will donate personal sports memorabilia for an exhibit to be displayed outside the gym at Riverhead High School. 

“We’re looking for any type of memorabilia, preferably a jersey, that can be donated to the school that we can then put in our showcases and have one showcase that’s dedicated to our [former] students, our athletes who have gotten to the highest level of a sport,” said Mr. Sacks.

Other items — game balls, trading cards and more — are also welcome, he added, noting that he hopes to have the display set up by the start of the next school year in September.

“I think this is also going to be an ongoing project where hopefully I can get enough to start it and open it and then, as people see it or as people are interested and donate more, I can always add to the showcase,” he said.

Mr. Sacks launched the initiative, which has been advertised through the Riverhead Athletics Instagram (@gobluewaves), several weeks ago.

“I was thinking about this early winter, and we just started to advertise it,” he said.

Though the athletics department hasn’t yet received any donations, there is a lot of excitement about the project.

“When I talk to the staff — especially those who grew up here — they’ve been bringing up multiple people’s names and I think they’re going to try to reach [out] to some of the people they know and they’re all very interested in this concept,”

Mr. Sacks said, adding that he hopes the showcase will inspire the district’s current students.

“I really want our students now to understand that athletics is certainly a path to college and can be a path beyond, and to recognize our students that have come to Riverhead that have achieved this kind of level.”

Anyone who has memorabilia to donate or wants more information can email Mr. Sacks at  brian.sacks@g.riverhead.net or call his office at 631-369-6817.

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Every year, Riverhead athletics director Brian Sacks selects two scholar-athletes, one male and one female, to compete for the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association’s Student Athlete Scholarship award. According to NIAAA.org, the “scholarships will recognize the distinguished scholastic, leadership and sportsmanship attributes of high school student athletes.” It’s a prestigious honor for which, according to Sacks, no Riverhead athlete has ever been nominated — until now.

Ellis, a standout on the school’s cross country and track teams, now enters a regional pool of nominees from throughout the Northeast, vying to become one of 16 finalists, eight male and eight female, who will move on to the national competition. Nominees are judged on their athletic and academic achievements along with a personal essay outlining their commitment to leadership and the wider community of high school student athletes. Only one male and one female athlete win the national honor each year. The winners, to be announced in July, will receive $2,500 in scholarship money and attend the group’s national conference to present their essay and receive a glass plaque recognizing them as the national winner.

“It was definitely a surprise when I found out that I won,” Ellis said. “I didn’t think I would win, being that I was against every other applicant from New York.”

But Sacks was sure Ellis had a shot when he submitted the nomination, knowing she was more than deserving of the honor. 

“Emma’s academics really stood out to me,” Sacks said. “She’s always been a tremendous athlete but the academics set her apart. When I was reading the criteria for the award, she seemed like the perfect person.”

In addition to being one of the best athletes on the track team, where she is attempting to qualify for the New York State championships in pole vault, Ellis is also contending for class valedictorian. The grades aren’t finalized yet, but she’s right in the mix for the top spot in her class.

“Emma is a leader both on the track team and in the classroom,” Riverhead track coach Maria Dounelis said. “She is involved in many clubs and is also a part of Athletes Helping Athletes, where she mentors sixth grade classes.”

Ellis will be in action at the Section XI State Qualifier meet at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood on Feb. 17. She is currently ranked fifth in all of Suffolk County, with a personal record jump of 9 feet, 3 inches. 

“Emma has such a strong inner desire to succeed,” Dounelis said. “One of the strongest I’ve ever coached. She is very self-motivated and once she puts her mind on something, she will not give up.”

Ellis hasn’t formally committed, but she is leaning toward attending the University of Notre Dame (Ind.) in the fall.

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