6/2/2009 - Newton Makes Disque Proud
Somewhere, Art Disque must be smiling.
Who is Art Disque? Well, for longtime fans of Sussex County sports, especially those from Newton, they remember Art for his dedication to his athletes and teams at Newton High School during his time as a coach and athletic director back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
But his legacy in the county is much more than Newton sports. You see, Disque was one of the architects of the Sussex County Interscholastic League and worked tirelessly along with several other Sussex County school administrators to achieve his dream of Sussex County having one sports conference to call its own.
So when I covered the final SCIL sporting event ever the other day, it only seemed fitting that Newton would be involved in some way. The Newton baseball team, which had a great run at the end of the season, knocking off third-seeded Pompton Lakes in the North 1, Group 2 tourney before falling to SCIL rival Wallkill Valley, traveled down to Jefferson to complete a game that was suspended by rain and darkness with the score tied at 2-2 after seven innings at the start of May.
To be completely honest, I was originally going to write this blog about the magical run Jefferson had in forcing the completion of the game. The Falcons, who had a super season under first-year coach Jason Klebez, had a chance to gain a share of the final SCIL baseball crown with Sparta if they topped the Braves.
And the run Jefferson had this year in all sports was a truly remarkable one with the football team winning the North 1, Group 2 crown and sharing the SCIL title with Pope John and Sparta, while the boys hoops team won the SCIL regular-season and Festival titles before advancing to its first-ever North 1, Group 2 title game.
It has been a long time since a school has won “The Big 3” SCIL crowns in one season, so Jefferson was on the verge of history.
But a funny thing happened on the Falcons’ history-making journey. Someone forgot to tell the Braves they were supposed to lie down and let history be made. No, sir. These Braves came off the bus ready to play, despite the fact they hadn’t played in 10 days.
Newton had no desire to be a footnote in the story of Jefferson gaining a share of the championship in the final SCIL sporting event ever. No, the Braves wanted to be the answer to the future trivia question of which school won the final SCIL game ever played.
The Braves were loose as can be and they had the attitude of if we are going to play, we might as well win. Hey, the Braves were up 2-0 after six innings the first time they met and some felt the game should have been called then but the umpires didn’t call the game until after Jefferson tied it in the bottom of the seventh.
Newton was aggressive against Jefferson ace Tim O’Shea and threatened every inning until going down in order in the top of the 11th. But as the game went on, you got the feeling that the tide was turning for the Braves as pitcher Tim Conkling did a great job of keeping Jefferson’s potent attack in check.
Then there was “The Catch” in the bottom of the 11th. Yes, Newton seemed to have momentum, but Jefferson almost realized its dream of sharing the SCIL crown when James Kasica belted a one-out double to the gap in right. He went to third on a roller to short before Newton coach John Selitto wisely intentionally walked O’Shea, who had doubled in his last at-bat.
Nick Beckmann then stepped to the plate and laced a screamer to dead center. It was a center fielder’s nightmare, a laser that is hit directly at you, the toughest ball to judge for an outfielder. Newton center fielder Alex Price took a step in before he realized that Beckmann’s blast had some legs and he retreated back, and at the last second, he made the game-saving catch for the final out of the inning. You could hear the collective air come out of the Falcons' balloon as Price was congratulated by his teammates as he ran off the field.
That ball was ticketed for history and Price made one whale of a catch, a catch that seemed to spark the Braves’ attack in the 12th. Paul Billing led off with a single and moved to second on a perfect sac bunt by D.J. Meisinger. Billing then took off on a hit-and-run as talented Newton catcher Zach Noviskey delivered a run-scoring single to left to snap the tie.
Kyle Spence followed two batters later with a RBI single to provide a huge two-run cushion as the Braves took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the 12th, putting the game in Conkling’s hands.
And the hard-throwing senior delivered and set the Falcons down in order as he ended the game by catching a little liner and the Braves celebrated like they had won the SCIL. And good for them.
The Braves may have not won a title this season, but they were one tough out in the SCIL, having knocked off Sparta and Pope John. Selitto did a great job keeping his team motivated to play against Jefferson when there was really nothing on the line for the Braves besides pride.
I asked Selitto did he have to scour the halls to find guys ready to play against Jefferson and he just smiled and told me, “No, they are baseball players. They have nothing to do until graduation so they wanted to play.”
The effort Newton gave showed the type of character and hard-nosed attitude the Braves carry in every sport. Newton has always been known for its great athletes who were also tough as nails.
The Braves could have mailed it in, but as Selitto said, “There are no ties in baseball; this game should have been finished.” And he is right. When the standings showed each team with a tie, it made me cringe. Even if the game didn’t have any league implications, it should have been finished.
Now, there is a school of thought that the game should have been replayed from the start and there is some validity to that, but picking up where you left off was the right call in my book. Both teams sent out their top guns, so there was no pitching advantage for either team. And one of the many beauties of baseball, there is no “sudden death.” Each team gets an at-bat, so the game is decided on the field and not by a coin-flip.
So Art Disque, who passed away several years ago, would probably be scratching his head as to why the SCIL was broken up when one of the main reasons for the formation of the SCIL was to cut down on travel to Morris and Passaic counties.
But he definitely would be pleased to know that his beloved Braves went out a winner in the final game of the league he worked so hard to form and became the answer to what will be one day a great trivia question for Sussex County fans.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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