10/23/2008 - Rangers Riding High
There is something special going on at Wallkill Valley these days.
There is a buzz about town in Franklin, Ogdensburg, Hamburg and Hardyston and it is being supplied by a bright and energetic young coach and his football team which simply does not know the meaning of the word quit.
Daryl Jones, a former Rangers star, has the Wallkill Nation thinking state playoffs for the first time since 1995 after posting two of the wildest wins in school history the last two weeks. The Rangers are now 3-3 after recording just two wins over the last two seasons.
The Rangers absolutely stunned Hopatcong 27-26 two weeks ago at Hopatcong by coming back from a two-touchdown deficit midway through the fourth quarter culminating with Matt Briggs’ thrilling 16-yard TD pass to Dan Nann with seven ticks left on the clock.
Wallkill showed the same kind of moxie last week against Newton as it rallied for a wild 21-20 win in overtime as Kajie Cowans stuffed the Braves’ two-point conversion attempt to preserve the win in OT in front of a big Homecoming crowd at Wallkill.
So what has gotten into these Rangers, who have struggled so mightily the last couple of years? It is one word—confidence.
You can’t put a price on confidence when it comes to high school sports. If the kids truly believe they can win, that is more than half the battle. I always tell people there is no such thing as a sure thing in high school athletics.
Sure, some sports are more prone to upsets than others by the nature of the game, like soccer and field hockey, which are low scoring sports. But for the most part, when you are dealing with kids who range from 14-to-18 years-of-age, anything can happen. There is no such thing as a lock.
And when it comes to Wallkill football these days, Lady Luck, who has been absent from Hardyston for the last few years, is definitely smiling on the Rangers. This is not to say the Rangers have been just flat lucky the last two weeks. No, sir. The Rangers have made their own luck and that is a credit to them and their coaches.
“We’re turning the corner,” said Jones, who beat his father-in-law, Newton head coach Tom Brennan, last week. “I tell the kids every week keep plugging away and good things will happen and the scoreboard will take care of itself.”
The Rangers opened the season with their first Sussex County Interscholastic League win in several seasons when they nipped Kittatinny 20-19. Then the schedule got tough with Sparta, Lenape Valley and Pope John. The Rangers were manhandled by the Spartans, 38-7, and lost a heartbreaker to Lenape Valley 19-14 when they were stopped in the end zone late in the game by the Pats.
Despite the loss, the Rangers knew they could play with the big boys and were looking forward to facing off with the Pope. But PJ was ready to roar and soared to a 40-7 win leaving the Rangers at a crossroads with a huge showdown at Hopatcong on the next Friday night.
As we know, the Rangers answered the bell and came off the canvas and are now right in thick of the race for a spot in the North 1, Group 2 state playoffs. Right now, the Rangers are on the outside looking in, but they do not need binoculars to see the playoff promised land.
A win over Group 4 Vernon Friday night would give Wallkill a big fat 12 power points and double their total to 24, putting them in the mix. Right now they are just in the conversation.
But who is to say the Rangers can’t pull off the upset? Yes, the Vikings (4-2) are a big, physical bunch, but the Rangers are playing with purpose behind their heady quarterback Matt Briggs and two of the best wide receivers in the SCIL in Jason Neal and Nann.
Throw in an improving offensive line and a defense anchored by linebackers John Walsh and K.C. Murphy, and the makings are there for a wild one under the lights at Vernon Friday night. And more importantly, the Rangers remember the last time they were in this position against one of the top programs in the league and they were whipped by Pope John.
But the buzz at Wallkill isn’t just reserved for the football team. It has been a very good fall season as the girls soccer team won the SCIL Small School Division crown with a crew that has the talent to go very deep in the upcoming SCIL and state tournaments.
The boys soccer team qualified for the states for the first time in three years, while the field hockey team didn’t make states, the future is bright as the Rangers have a young and talented group. Plus, they have one of the best field hockey coaches around in Irene Chernati, who will definitely guide the Rangers back to their usual spot in the upper echelon of the league.
The girls tennis team was very competitive and you can’t forget the cross country teams, led by coach Sabrina Lucas, who will be inducted into the Sussex County Sports Hall of Fame next month.
I was joking with first-year Wallkill AD Todd Van Orden that it must be his influence that has brought the success and that the school had been “jinxed” by Mike Van Zile, who just retired. Todd just laughed as we both know that Van Zile was one of the best ADs to ever work in this county.
But it is people like Van Zile, as well as the administration at Wallkill, superintendent Joe DiPasquale, vice principals John Petronaci and Mike Casserly, head of guidance John Mayer and former AD John Pew that have really supported all the programs at Wallkill over the years. I can’t think of a more supportive administration when it comes to sports than the gang at Wallkill.
So in what is most likely the last year of the SCIL, it is nice to see the Rangers go out with some success. Yes, Wallkill has led the charge on realignment, but that doesn’t mean they won’t enjoy the last year of the SCIL.
BEST LAID PLANS…The ADs in Morris and Sussex County should be commended for taking a proactive stance on realignment and forming the 37-member Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference last week and naming John DiColo, Jefferson’s AD, the conference president.
DiColo is a good pick because he is a hybrid. He is a Morris AD from a Sussex league and has a relationship with all the schools from both counties from his AD duties and his days as the softball coach at Mount Olive.
The ADs voted 28-9 to divide the schools by size and location and sent their proposal to the school principals and superintendents, who voted down the ADs’ plan Tuesday afternoon.
According to the Star-Ledger, the main issues were with how the larger schools would be divided in Division A and B, which include Sparta, High Point, Vernon and Pope John. The SCIL schools were originally assigned to Division A with Morris Knolls, Mount Olive, Randolph and Roxbury.
Division B was comprised of Delbarton, Mendham, Montville, Morris Hills, Morristown, Parsippany Hills and West Morris.
The small SCIL schools, Hopatcong, Newton, Kittatinny, Lenape Valley, and Jefferson are in Division C with Sussex Tech. According to the report, Divisions C, D and E would not be included in any new revisions unless the conference decides to divide schools on a sports specific basis.
The ADs will meet again next week to come up with another plan, but this just goes to show how the ADs and their respective board offices differ on this issue. So don’t hold your breath for a final answer next week, either.
That’s it for now see you on the sidelines.
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