11/18/2010 - Local Boys Soccer Players Honored
Realignment was not too kind to the larger schools from the old Sussex County Interscholastic League when it came to boys soccer last season.
Traditional powers Sparta and Vernon had losing records for the first time ever in the same season and High Point only won one match. Pope John was the only team to hold its own in the combined American/National Divisions.
Well, after the ADs in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference tweaked the two divisions some sanity returned as schools played each other twice in the new setup which also featured Jefferson joining the American Division along with former fellow SCIL schools, High Point, Pope John, Sparta and Vernon.
As a result, the Sussex schools rebounded with Vernon (8-13), Sparta (13-5-1) and PJ (13-6-2) making the state tournament as the Spartans and Lions each won a game in the tourney, respectively.
The season also brought individual success as the aforementioned schools had a combined seven players named to the NJAC All-American Division First Team.
The first team members are: Eric Lagg, Cody Kiss, and Tyler Corell of Pope John; Nick DiSomma, goalie Alex Altieri and Alexander Zambendetti of Sparta and Travis Eustace of Vernon.
The rest of the first team was dominated by division champ Montville (24-2), which had four players named to the squad in Rutgers-bound J.P. Corea, Austin Okereke, Andreas Geogiades, and Matt Lopuski.
Tyler Scheiss of Mt. Olive and Carlos Herrera of Morris Hills rounded out the first team.
The second team is comprised of Mike Geogiades, Eric Manning, Rob Swallow and Jack London of Montville; Casey Ferriola and Victor Magdaleno of Pope John; Ryan Magid and Jeff Petescia of Sparta; Sean Marsh of Jefferson; Josh Wilkerson of High Point; Antonio Baines of Vernon; Jake Rogers of Morris Hills and Ed Feeney of Mt. Olive.
Honorable Mention includes, Kyle Schmitz and Tim Noon of High Point: Garrett Mullins and Alex Tuhy of Jefferson; Dan Goetchius and Joe Canal of Vernon; Mike Brown and Dan Belli of Sparta; Gregg Leeper and Anthony Vergara of Morris Hills; Sal Bigay and Steve MacKenzie of Pope John; Jared Weiner and Thomas Il Grande of Montville and Ashwin Pillai and Paul Kramaritsh of Mt. Olive.
Montville won the division with a 14-0 record followed by Sparta at 11-3 and Pope John at 9-3-2. The cross-town rivals split their two meetings with Sparta’s other two losses coming to Montville. PJ lost to Montville twice and tied Morris Hills and Mt. Olive.
It was another banner season for Newton as the Braves won their second straight Freedom Division title with a division record of 8-0-2 and overall mark of 11-6-3 after getting off to a slow start.
The Braves were well represented on the All-Freedom Division First Team with four players receiving first-team honors. Andy Weber, Steven Churchill, Kevin Snyder and goalie Tom Frangieh were all named to the squad for coach Pat Brennan.
Other locals named to the squad were Ryan Chernard and Matt Parkyn of Kittatinny; Taylor Anderson and Tyler Smith of Wallkill Valley; Dylan See and Ryan Sheridan of Hopatcong and goalie Nick Pavlichko and Chris Mainero of Lenape Valley.
Hackettstown had Ryan McDonald and Cameron Philipsen named to the squad as well.
The second team was comprised of goalie Dan Marino and Matt Sanders of Hopatcong; Mike Pierson, Leo Recalde and Brett Conrads of Newton; Brandon Muir of Lenape Valley; Mike Conte and Sean Neal of Wallkill Valley; Ryan Pezzato Justin Knight and Ismar Tandir of Hackettstown and Mark Carmen of Kittatinny.
Honorable Mention: Kevin Boyd and Brady Castle of Newton; Carson O’Neil and goalie Dan Boeher of Kittatinny; Tim Sullivan and Adam Hero of Hopatcong; Cameron Muir and D.J. Duguay of Lenape Valley; Charlie D’Angelo and Ryan Paulik of Wallkill Valley and CJ Arteglier and Kirby Neuner of Hackettstown.
The division race shaped up as most expected with Newton and Hackettstown (5-2-3) up top most of the season. But Hopatcong and first-year coach Brian Carr turned some heads as the Chiefs went 7-7-5 and 5-3-2 in the division, which was good for third place. Kittatinny finished the season with an 8-10 mark and in fourth place with a 4-6 record.
Lenape Valley (3-14-4) and Wallkill Valley rounded out the division with division marks of 1-6-3 and 1-7-2, respectively.
I hope to get the girls soccer and field hockey All-NJAC teams as soon as possible and when I do I will post them on the blog.
PLAYOFF PICKS: We have three teams in action this weekend. Pope John (10-0), the No. 3 seed, will travel all the way down to Absecon to face No. 2 Holy Spirit (9-0) in the Non-Public Group 3 semifinals, while No. 4 High Point (8-2) will look to bump off top-seeded Wayne Hills (9-1) in the North 1, Group 3 semis Friday night.
On Saturday, No. 2 Lenape Valley (8-2) will host No. 3 Lakeland (9-1) in the North 1, Group 2 semifinals.
In the first game, Pope John has its hands full with the Spartans of Holy Spirit who won the section in 2007. Holy Spirit has several D-I prospects including Villanova-bound Joe Sarnese. The Spartans have two top running backs in juniors Donta Pollack, who has close to 1,500 yards and Nigel Jones, who has close to 800 yards.
Joe Callahan runs the attack at quarterback for an offense which scores close to 39 points per game.
PJ will look to its vaunted defense, which is paced by Kyle McGrath, Cole Farrand and Quentin Christiano to slow the Spartans down.
The pick, PJ comes home a winner and will play St. Joe’s in the final in two weeks after a 21-14 win.
High Point will be looking to play in its first-ever section final after topping Pascack Valley 28-20 for its second state win ever.
The Wildcats will need to play keep away on offense behind the option attack of QB Kevin Fasano and backs Austin Caldwell and Joe Gaccione. Nick Boyle and big Billy Smith must also key the HP defense if it wants to stop Wayne Hills’ dynamic all-purpose back Brian Dowling, a one-man wrecking machine.
High Point has had a great year and unfortunately for the Wildcats it will end in Wayne with a 28-14 loss.
Lenape Valley was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde last week after rallying to stop Pequannock 28-24 after trailing 24-7 at the half.
The Pats’ defense led by Mike LaBell must contain slippery Lakeland quarterback Steve Wilken who extends plays with his scrambling and can beat you with his arm and his feet.
Receiver Cory Geyer had over 50 catches and has great speed. Geyer is tough on screen passes and also keys the defense with tough middle linebacker Eric Sinke.
Lenape Valley QB Matt Ciampaglio and end Ryan Newson finally reconnected last week and they will be key once again if the Pats are to advance to the final for the first time since 2004 when it lost to Lakeland 17-14 in overtime at the old Giants Stadium.
I’m going with Don Smolyn and his seven section crowns in this one as the Pats hold off Lakeland 28-21 to advance to the title game where it will face old foe River Dell.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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