11/5/2012 - Sandy Wreaks Havoc
When Dan Moylan goes to sleep tonight, he like thousands of others in the tri-state area, hopes to wake up with his power restored.
But if the Lenape Valley girls soccer coach doesn’t he will have something to take his mind off the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy---a state playoff game with Freedom Division rival Newton.
Under normal circumstances, preparing for the high-octane Braves led by super-sophomore Alyssa Cronin, could lead to a sleepless night, but Moylan said no matter what the morning brings his Pats will be ready to play.
“We will use it as a rallying point,” said Moylan. “We have been able to train a couple of days but it has been tough with a lot of the players still without power and staying in places outside the area.
“But they know come 2 p.m., we will have a game, we will be ready to play a very good Newton team,” he added.
And that is the beauty of sports. A welcome break in what has been a historically horrible week for the state from the Shore to High Point.
Moylan and the Pats are not alone in their plight, but the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association has done a great job in dealing with the storm pushing the fall state tournaments back a week.
The state catches a lot of heat for some of its decisions, but this one is the right one. Unfortunately one of the casualities of the storm was the cancellation of the Tournament of Champions in field hockey.
The TOC is normally played in Toms River and we all know what Sandy did down there and our best wishes and prayers go out to everyone on the Shore.
“Our primary goal is to make sure that there is a safe environment for the kids to get back into school and hopefully get prepared to participate by this weekend,” NJSIAA Executive Director Steve Timko said. “Our goal was not to overlap (winter season), or to overlap in the least amount as possible. It used to be football was the only one that overlapped. But as a result of what we’re facing — and what our schools have faced — we had to look at other options.”
As of now, the first round for the boys and girls soccer tourney must be played by Nov. 10. Second round Nov. 13 and weather and conditions permitting, the state finals will be held Dec. 1 for the boys and Dec. 2 for the girls.
Field hockey will hold its section semifinals by Nov. 12, section finals Nov. 14 with the state semifinals Nov. 16 on a turf field and the group finals Nov. 18 at The College of New Jersey.
It was announced last week that football would be pushed back a week with first round and consolation games being held the weekend of Nov. 16-17, second round Nov. 30-Dec. 1 and the section finals Dec. 7-8.
This week’s local football schedule is tentative with Wallkill Valley taking on Hopatcong Thursday at 7 p.m. But that game is in danger because most of Hopatcong has no power and the school is a shelter. There is a good chance it could be bumped back a couple of days, but right now its Thursday.
Friday night 7 p.m. games slated are West Morris at Vernon, Morris Catholic at North Warren, Lenape Valley at Hanover Park and Kittatinny at Jefferson.
Jefferson AD John DiColo said his district was hit hard and the school has no power. He is hoping the Falcons can play Friday, but it is still up in the air.
Saturday will feature High Point at Parsippany Hills, Newton at Madison, Sparta at Morristown and Sussex Tech at South Hunterdon.
Again these are all tentative and if we get hit with another storm by midweek, all these changes will go out the window.
And if that storm is a bad one, there is a strong possibility that the Fall of 2012 may come to a premature end in some sports and that would be a crying shame for the kids, especially the seniors.
The weather pattern over the last few years has been crazy and unpredictable. I’m not going to get into some sort of climate change rant, for or against, but from Hurricane Irene some 13 months ago, to the Halloween snowstorm to last year’s rainy spring, I can’t remember a time that weather has had such an adverse effect on the area.
Believe me, I’m tired of writing blogs about how sports serve as a distraction. Let’s hope this is the last one for a very long time.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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