8/3/2011 - PJ's Moore Picks BC
Malachi Moore cuts an imposing figure both on and off the field.
On the football field the rising senior at Pope John stands 6-feet-7, weighs 250 pounds and puts the fear of God into opposing offenses with his incredible strength and athletic ability.
In the classroom, Moore attacks his studies with the same intensity and is one of the top students in his class.
Put that combination together and what do you get? A Division I scholarship to one of the top schools in the country.
After going through the tedious and sometimes emotionally exhausting process of being recruited, Moore made a verbal commitment to continue his college career at Boston College after he graduates from Pope John next June.
“It was tough,” said Moore, who will play defensive end this season for new Pope John coach Brian Carlson. “But after going through the recruiting process Boston College was right for me. Coach (Mike, assistant) Dawson did a great job recruiting me.”
Moore can now concentrate on helping the Lions (10-1) win the elusive Non-Public Group 3 title they so eagerly want after losing to eventual champ Holy Spirit in a heartbreaker last year in the semifinals.
“Right now we are thinking about Delbarton,” he said of the Lions’ opening day matchup. “But we want to win that state title. Losing last year was tough. We all remember that.”
Moore’s top attributes are his athletic ability for a big man and his intelligence. Moore’s potential is limitless and it will be scary to think how big he will get once he hits the college ranks. His frame is big enough to add at least 30 pounds if not more.
Although Carlson has not coached Moore in a game, he knows a little something about collegiate players having coached at Kean College in the 1990s and more recently at national power Don Bosco in Ramsey.
Carlson first pointed out what a great student-athlete Moore was and that he comes from a great family, two factors that do not go unnoticed by college recruiters.
Carlson compared Moore to the type of player you would see playing in the Southeastern Conference like Auburn or an Alabama. “You look at his body-type and he looks like one of those D-ends from the SEC,” Carlson said.
Of course, many people know that Moore’s older sister, Vanessa, was a star hoops player at Pope John. Vanessa scored 1,000 points and hauled in 1,000 rebounds before earning a full ride to Georgetown where she is a key member of the Hoyas.
“She was a great help,” said Malachi Moore. “I couldn’t gone through this without her.”
Boston College went 7-6 and 4-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference-Atlantic under second year coach Frank Spaziani in 2010 and sported the top defense in the ACC and the 13th-ranked defense in the country.
Current Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka is just one of the top defensive linemen that the school has produced over the years.
Moore follows in the footsteps of former Sussex County stars Frank Wilpert of Pope John, and Frank Misurelli and Kevin Pearson of Lenape Valley to head to Chestnut Hill.
SUMMER FUN…The Sparta Summer Basketball League recently wrapped up its season with Team Sweeney nipping Team Synol 75-70 in double OT in as entertaining of a basketball game you will see.
Team Sweeney won the best-of-3 series 2-0, but it wasn’t easy. The team trailed 57-44 with 5:08 left before Team Synol went absolutely ice cold from the free throw line allowing Sweeney to rally and send the game into OT on a Matt Tobin bucket.
If there was an MVP, it would have been Tobin who finished with 29 points and put the team on his back in the second half and in the first OT. Shannon Sweeney then iced the win from the stripe in the second OT.
Tobin, the county’s all-time leading scorer after graduating from Hopatcong last June, told me playing against older and more experienced players will definitely help on the next level at East Stroudsburg and I couldn’t agree more.
As I stated in my last blog the league is stacked with current and former college stars, but Tobin stood out. He had a lot of help, though, and he was the first to admit it.
Team Sweeney had a good mix of veteran players like Shannon Sweeney, a 1000-point scorer at High Point who played at Rutgers-Newark, his brother Matt, who is still an imposing figure inside, former Vernon and Kean star Jack DeVries and ex-Wallkill Valley sniper Dave Shaw.
Their experience coupled with the young legs of Matt and Mike Tobin, Amil Mitchell, Altmin Hodzic and Chip Madoff made them the top team in the very talented league.
And hats off to Charlie Collver and Gene Schecter for doing a great job of running and promoting the league. It was a lot of fun, guys, thanks.
GREAT CAUSE…Once again the Pope John soccer community led by boys soccer coach Brad Cameron put on a terrific show at the third annual Mona Barbulescu Tournament which raises money for scholarships for PJ soccer players.
The tourney is named in honor of PJ girls soccer coach Ryan Barbulescu’s wife who passed away from cancer three years ago.
Cameron said the tourney raised over $2,200 this year and is getting bigger and better every year.
On a personal note, it just warms my heart to see how many people come out for this tourney and that Mona’s memory is kept alive. Seeing the reaction on Ryan’s face and his daughter Stephanie’s was priceless.
It was also great to see Stephanie, a former PJ star, back on the pitch after suffering a nasty knee injury last year which forced her to miss all of last season at Montclair State. She is a captain this year and she brought several of her teammates to play in the tourney.
Pat Brennan, the class act he is, brought his Newton boys team for the third straight year and they played Cameron’s Lions to a scoreless tie. It was hilarious listening to the banter between Cameron and Brennan throughout the game proving once again the soccer community up here is special.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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