 Preseason C-P Top 20
*****Note: The home of C-P boys' soccer has gone legit, with a foothold on the newspaper's official site. It can be found from now on at:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/blogs/mccann.html.
It's called Shots in the Dark. For the first week or so, this site will keep up with the new one, with the same posts at the some time. After that, the content here will stop updating, and new material will appear exclusively at the new site. Hope that's clear enough.
These rankings are an educated guess, at best. This year is harder to predict than 2004, and a lot harder than last year. That's OK, though. Preseason lists always look funny by the end of the year, and sometimes they're ridiculous after just a couple of weeks, but nobody remembers them
Anyway:
1. Shawnee
2. Ocean City
3. RV
4. St. Augustine
5. Haddonfield
6. Gami
7. Lenape
8. Cumberland
9. Eastern
10. Washington Twp.
11. Schalick
12. Delran
13. Seneca
14. Cinnaminson
15. Williamstown
16. Cherokee
17. Cherry Hill East
18. Heights
19. Moorestown
20. Atlantic City
Almost: Bishop Eustace, Kingsway, Wildwood Catholic, Burlington Twp., Holy Cross, about 10 or 12 others I can't think of right now
I mentally auditioned each of the top three teams for Preseason No. 1, and Shawnee just seemed like the best fit. I thought the Renegades really figured something out near the end of last year, and were really a good enough team to win a state championship. The players they lost were important, but not nearly as important as the seniors from any of SJ's other three state finalists.
All five Olympic American teams made the list, which I could barely help. Lenape and Eastern were ranked all last year, Cherry Hill East didn't lose a whole lot from the team that ended up No. 17, Washington Township got to the Stockton final and Cherokee is the team I think is going to improve most out of all those squads.
It's hard to know what to make of Group 2 this year. I put Haddonfield back in the Top 5 out of respect for recent accomplishments, but the Dawgs aren't a ton better than anybody, at least not yet. Delran, Cinnaminson and Schalick are all dealing with big graduation losses, so I just sort of clumped them all together somewhere in the middle. A team like Burlington Township could come along and balst the whole thing to hell, but again, preseason rankings aren't worth much.
The preview material for all the fall sports will be out in Saturday's edition of the C-P, so check it out. The SJ coaches really came through for me this year, sending back all but a few preseason forms. It was really a great help and a nice surprise.
I'll post tomorrow in supplement to the steroid package in Sunday's edition, and I'll be checking back in all week after trying to get to as many as scrimmages as possible. WIth just one week left, it'll be here in no time.
 Farewell
This is the end of the line.
After three months, the SJ high school soccer season has found resolution, for better or for worse, and it's time for us all to think about other things. As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I'm covering girls' basketball in the winter. If anybody's curious, the brand new blog address is:
cphoops.blogspot.com
Feel free to drop by, or let me know about other stuff that's been going on.
I want everyone to know how much I've really enjoyed this season, and how much I admire so many of you. The best thing about covering high school sports is getting to see kids do stuff they didn't know they could do, and it happened several times a week this fall. I appreciate all the coaches, parents and especially players who took the time to tell me they like what I do at this site or in the paper. I also appreciate all of you who posted comments, even those which differed with me.
I sincerely hope that I've treated everyone with respect and thank you for doing the same. The future remains uncertain, but there's no forseeable reason I won't be back covering high school boys' soccer again come August, and until then, I wish you all the best of luck and health.
 All-Stars
The C-P's fall all-star section became available online earlier today, and the print edition will be out in the morning. All the choices have been made, and in my case they've been made for about two weeks, but I thought I'd shed some light on the process of deliberation with regard to some of the tougher decisions.
In ascending magnitude:
It may or may not be apparent from the picks that the second-team all-group choices are pretty much a crapshoot. Since the first-team groupers get photos, I always try my very best to get them as right as possible. The first few spots on the second team go to players who were a part of the first-team agony but did not make the cut, and the rest is in large part about representation. In other words, I try to touch on as many squads as possible. To that end, I had a pretty good year, including players from about 60 teams, or about two thirds.
The takes get raised for the All-SJ first and second teams because there's a sense that folks remember these honors and the inevitable slights much more than the all-group picks. I don't know if it's true or not, but that's the way it feels. Anyway, over the last month of the season, I'd jot down my all-SJ list every few days and think. It always changes as the season is played out, but I'd say that all 22 players on the two all-SJ teams were on a list af about 35 that I had at the start of the playoffs. There were a lot of conversations with JLew about the Burlington County kids, a few talks with other writers about kids from other areas, and some very strategic questions to coaches. Plus, this year Jess Ryan (the gsoc writer) and I sent out nomination ballots to most of the coaches we could find email addresses on.
In making the picks, I ran into a few rough spots, starting with keeper. ZJ was an easy choice last year, and he started the season penciled back in that spot. There are guys I have a lot of respect for who say that if an underclassman earns an all-star spot, he or she has to really screw up to lose it as a senior. I'm of the opinion, however, that the player who had the best season should get the nod. ZJ's numbers were nowhere near other keepers' and though I feel there are things he can do that no one else can, he did not have the year and the door was open. I went with Kyle G. because his numbers were impressive and because I'd seen him come up huge early in games, when the rest of his team came out slow. He won the spot in the SJ G4 final against Toms River North.
With the keeper, I had 10 solid first-teamers with one spot left. Jack Hagan, Taylor Martucci, Brian Lanning, Jason Lewis, Andrew Kroculick, Rich Stone and Greg Zizik were all in that spot over the last several days. Martucci and Lewis played a sort of elimination game in the G1 state semi, and if neither had performed great I probably wuld have gone with one of the other guys. But Taylor had a hat trick and that was it.
COY: There were a ton of deserving candidates. I eliminated Otto, Pellegrino and Gibney right off since they were our last three honorees. If it's a crystal clear choice, I'd name a guy in consecutive years but there were terrific alternatives. If our teams had crapped out in the state semis and finals, I was perfectly prepared to give the honor to Mike Tomasetti or Rich Kulpa, and those guys are deserving too, but our teams came up huge in states. So it was down to Mike Brennan, Les Heggan and Joe Falana. Brennan did a great job, especially in the postseason, but I couldn't be absolutely positive that it wasn't just a weak Group 1 making his team look good. Plus, I'd decided to make Martucci first-team so Bordentown had kind of used up its weight. To be honest, Heggan was the choice until very late because I felt guilty about not seeing SA play as much as I'd hoped, and because of the upcoming POY decision. And because it was his last year. That final reason raised a red flag, because sentimental choices are rarely the correct ones. When I was able to think clearly, after the games were through, I realized that Falana was the right choice and that any other one wouldn't sit very well. For weeks I'd been trying to figure out how to make everybody happy. When I stopped caring about everyone else's feelings, the process was much clearer.
POY: I made the mistake of opening this discussion up way too much and way too early, and it nearly affected things. From the CT on, Evans had been at the top of my list for reasons enumerated in the story. I always knew he had a temper, but there was a bold emotional progression, particularly once the playoffs started. I did look at one precaution, however, and this is where the ballots really came in handy. With about a week left, I was down to just a few guys, so I went to the ballots and found all the coaches who had faced those particular players. Evans was the only one of those kids mentioned by every single coach he played AGAINST as an all-star, and none of them attached any reservations. So I figured I was safe. In the end, the decision came down to Evans and Sheridan, both terrific players with terrific seasons, but I had to believe my own eyes.
 SJ Banquet
I'd like to congratulate the honorees from tonight, boys, girls and coaches all. The turnout was pretty good, I think, as there were only a few unclaimed awards.
Here's an interesting thing, however:
The MVPs of the SJ all-star game were Todd Sheridan and Kevin Luber, neither of whom were around to accept the plaques themselves. Why? Probably because neither were names first, second or third-team All-South Jersey. I'm not sure what happened in Luber's case, but Sheridan was nipped by the process used by the coaches in choosing the teams. I don't know what the C.A.L. coaches were thinking, but not naming Sheridan first-team all-National Conference is very strange, and it precluded Todd from appearing on the All-SJ ballot. I really believe that both he and Luber belong on one of those three teams, if not the first team. The process is what it is, and it's worked pretty well, but I thought it was funny that the MVPs of the senior all-star game were both left out in the All-SJ cold, and for what it's worth, I believe they earned better.
Without a doubt, however, the evening belonged to Ocean City and Gloucester Catholic. Mike Pellegrino and Kate Ormsby were the coaches of the year -- both great choices -- Kyle Evans and Nicki Stone were named Forwards of the Year -- also good choices -- and Ryan Scully was boys' Defender of the Year -- a surprise but another good choice, especially considering Kustas was second-team All-SJ. OC had four players make first-team, more than anybody else. Shawnee and Schalick had three, SA, RV and Delran had two, Highland and Lenape had one. With an amazing 19 players on the first team, I'm a little surprised there wasn't a Haddonfield player, and SA probably deserved more than two. In fact Rich Stone went the way of Sheridan and Luber, which was a surprise as well.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening, however, and the coaches did another terrific job. No matter how much you agree or disagree, it's impossible to say that their intentions are in the wrong place. They are tireless in their promotion of the sport.
Folks will find out where I differed from the coaches' picks soon enough, Saturday to be specific. I'll try to post once more, perhaps on Saturday, to go through some of those harder choices, and then it'll be all about the girls' basketball after that.
 Miscellany
I've been on vacation all this week, trying desperately to get all my days in before Jan. 1 comes along and I lose them. So I've been trying to stay away from anything work related, including email and blog comments. I know lots of folks have emailed me the past few days, and I'll do my best to get back to you all come Monday. As I've been off, there was no notes column in the paper today. I'd have thrown one together if they had called me up and asked me to, but it's nice that they respected the boundaries of my time off.
Here are a couple of notes that might have appeared if I had worked this week:
McANDREW's McRECORD
Haddon Heights senior Tim McAndrew finished his career with a record. He'll leave as the Garnets' all-time leader in career shutouts with 29.
McAndrew earned his starting position a third of the way through his freshman year and backstopped some of the most impressive teams in Heights soccer history, including two Colonial Conference Patriot Division champions and a share of a third.
The graduation of a stellar Class of 2005 last June thrust McAndrew into greater spotlight as a senior leader on a team dominated by underclassmen.
Heights went 13-5-2 this season to share the Patriot title with Gateway. The defense allowed just 26 goals, giving up more than two in just four games. McAndrew posted nine shutouts with a goals-against average of 1.3.
(I was in the office for about 90 minutes for a meeting on Thursday, and Heights coach Jeff Eppright happened to call with this note. What were the odds?)
DATE CHANGE
The state banquet originally scheduled for Sunday has been pushed back a week to Dec. 11, at 12 noon at the Hilton off Exit 9 of the Turnpike in New Brunswick. Those with questions should call Cinnaminson coach Bill Dent at 609-859-2327.
(I forwarded Coach Dent's message to the office, so it should appear in the paper as well.)
SJ BANQUET
The SJSCA will hold its annual banquet at 7 p.m. Monday night at Adelphia's Restaurant in Deptford.
(I'll see you all there, of course, as it's my job to give out the coveted C-P Cup. Incidentally, I'll most likely be giving out both the boys' and the girls' Cups, as JRyan is an Eagles season ticket holder and the game Monday night is probably the last one that will matter.)
So that's it for now. I'll post at least one more time with analysis of some of the all-star-related decisions, but many of you have already moved on -- and rightly so -- to other sports or other interests. Speaking of which, feel free to check out the new Unofficial C-P Girls' Hoops site at this address:
cphoops.blogspot.com
There's not much there yet, but Im sure it will get interesting soon.
Also, check out the newly-minted forums at courierpostonline.com. The link is on the left side of the home page, at the bottom of the blue box. So far it's been pretty much just us reporters trash-talking back and forth to each other, but again, it'll eventually get interesting.
Dates to read the C-P
NOTE THE CORRECTION!
In response to a comment, here are the dates the end-of-the-year packages will appear in the print edition:
The Team of the Year page is coming out Friday (not Thursday), the day after Thanksgiving, and it will feature the final rankings.
The Player of the Year and Coach of the Year stories, along with first-team All-SJ capsules, first-team All-SJ and first-team All-Group photos and first- and second-team picks will appear in the Varsity All-Star section Dec. 10, along with those from the rest of the fall sports.
I've almost got my first-team picks for SJ and the groups nailed down, and I've made my POY and COY choices but have not really told anybody yet. All the decisions have been tough but I'm slowly wading toward a comfort level with them.
SJ in the house
Just a quick note of congratulations to the entire area.
There were 16 state championship handed out this week in the three main non-football sports of the fall and SJ claimed the whole or a share of 10 of them. If you count shared titles as half a crown, that comes to nine out of 16 -- or more than half -- for an area that comprises a quarter or less of the state's population.
The Star-Ledger's final rankings will likely not reflect this dominance, but I wanted to make sure that anyone still reading knows that it didn't go unnoticed by this reporter. It's hard to ignore such facts, but I'm sure the north will find a way.
Again, congratulations to all the boys' soccer, girls' soccer and field hockey state champs, especially those from south of Trenton.
Haddons win, Scotties fall
Well, another soccer season is in the books, and I don't know about you but I had a blast.
I would have certainly preferred the year to end on the excalamatory note that 2004 did, with two SJ teams winning championships at Hillsborough, but as Coach Brennan said, "It wasn't in the cards" for Bordentown. I think that in Group 1, the ever-so-slightly better team won, but it was certainly there for the Scotties this afternoon. As hard as Whippany Park played, it would have been a shame if Haddonfield had lost.
Maybe it was the glass partition separting me from the emotion of the crowd and the field, but Haddonfield did not seem to have its A game this afternoon, which really makes the win all that more remarkable. Good teams play well a lot and win the games they're suppsed to win. Great teams find ways to win even when it's not really their day. The Haddons got the goal at the end of the first half and then refused to crack, even when faced with a desperate opponent. Had Haddonfield put one more in, I think Whippany Park would have packed it in but the last 10 minutes of the game were far more exciting because the underdogs could have tied it with one fortunate series of events.
Chris Tarbell was marvelous in preventing those series from reaching fruition today. That's the best I've seen him play in the five or six games I've seen Haddonfield win. The kid never pretends to be Zach Johnson, stealing games from the other team, but he proved today that he's far beyond giving up a weak goal in a big game. In fact, the WP kids had to be pretty much perfect to get the better of him, and they never managed it.
Th Bulldogs put the finishing touches on what might have been a Team-of-the-Year type of campaign in many seasons. They won conference, sectional and state titles, allowed under 10 goals all season and never lost a game on the field. The one game they lost, in PKs at RV, was thrilling at the moment but I can't help wishing it had turned out differently now that the season is over. it's not that RV wasn't deserving -- and the Red Devils' comeback victory over SA was certainly validation of their quality -- but I would have loved to see Haddonfield play against St. A or Ocean City. We can now only wonder what might have transpired. There have certainly been moments -- the SJ final at Delran, the first half against JFK and most of the RV game -- when I believed Haddonfield capable of taking it to absolutely any team in the state. As I sa, another year they might have finished at No. 1.
Bordentown, on the other hand, is probably the best eight-loss team in the state. It's really a credit to Coach Brennan, his staff and the leaders of that team that no one ever got discouraged b the inevitable setbacks built into the Scotties' schedule this year. That team never lost focus of the victories out there to be won and the invaluable lessons to be learned in losing close games to great teams. In many ways, the hardest part had to be just getting to the playoff season with egos intact. Once they did that, the fun obviously began because I really believe that team picked up its play in the postseason. It wasn't just that Group 1 was weak.
Of course, the day would not have been complete without its moment of confusion and lunacy. This time it was a disallowed goal by Pompton Lakes in the first half. A PL kid put a shot on goal and CJ Dixon made the save. A second later, the ball was out of his hands and across the line. The original call was that it was a goal, but then the refs got together and realized they didn't know if the ball had been knocked out of Dixon's possession by a PL player -- in which case it would be a goal kick -- or is he had simple dropped it -- in which case it would be a goal. The officials apparently decided on some hazy middle ground and waved off the goal, calling for a drop ball about six yards off the goal line. This resulted in a PL header and a goal anyway. Nobody quite knew what was going on, and it took some explaining by the senior official in the press box before I was even mildly disconfused, but 10 minutes later the confustion moved back in and I still don't quote understand it. The best I can figure is the refs said to each other, "I didn't see it, it might have been a goal and it might be a goal kick, so let's split the difference and give Pompton Lakes another scoring chance." In all honesty, it was probably a fair judgment, if unsupported by any actual rule.
By this weekend's standards the incident was tame. But of course we can't have Raf Duarte chucking balls at guys' heads or Kyle G. cutting dudes down in front of Boys Sands every day. I guess the magnitude of the fireworks is directly proportionate to the enrollments of the schools involved; the Group 4 game gets a scandal involving police and the Group 1 game only rates a minor officiating dustup.
So I've seen my last full, official soccer game for 2005. I know this time of the year is particularly terrifying for the BCT's JLew because it means that wrestling season is fast on its way. Ah, I can smell the sweat and psoriasis from here. Luckily, he's got a full two weeks of football to navigate before he's got to put on his singlet. All I've got is a Thanksgiving Day football game and the end-of-the-year boys soccer routine to go through, and then I'll be on to something else. What that might be, I do not know.
Anyway, I'll try to post a few more times here as I wade through the all-star minefield. I know better than to make the details of my deliberations public, however. I'll certainly be speaking to coaches and players, but luckily the season has made many of the choices for me. It's funny how that happens most of the time.
Hillsborough finals
There isn't time to get into a lot of gritty detail on the Group 1 and Group 2 finals, to take place up un Central Jersey in a few hours. Just a skim, however:
Game 1 is Group 2, Haddonfield against Whippany Park. The Bulldogs figure to have a real size advantage here, and I would be surprised if they did not win. The soccer they have been playing the last couple of weeks has been amazing, and they're in a terrific frame of mind. Some of it, of course, will depend on the officiating, and whether the refs let them play a little bit. Unfortunately, Haddonfield comes in with a repuation and some refs may anticipate some calls against the Dawgs.
The other game is Bordentown-Pompton Lakes, and I know even less about PL than WP. The Scotties are a complete team and that's a very rare thing in Group 1 now. Plus they have a real star in Taylor Martucci, a kid who I have to make an all-star decision on pretty soon. Mike Brennan is also a solid COY candidate in just his first year in Bordentown. The former Sterling goalie has taken the high road all year when he has the star to play long ball. It's really had a positive effect on the Scotties' midfielders and defenders, who have had to raise their games. I have no idea how much they'll have to raise them to win a state championship, but I'm confident that level is within their grasp.
That's it. I've got to get in the shower, in the car and up to Hillsborough. See you there.
OC wins, Shawnee falls
I'm afraid the game story I wrote on the Group 3 final wasn't quite my best work. As I remember, it was scattered and distracted and basically all over the place because I was caught up in the game just like a lot of people. It was a great game, one of the best I've seen all year and perhaps even the very best, considering the stakes. I'm not supposed to root for any one squad, but after seeing OC lose in heartbreaking fashion last year and play so well at alll the critical moments this fall, I really didn't want to see it end badly.
After the game, Pat Tolomeo said the team didn't play well, and perhaps other guys on the team felt the same way. I don't think that's true. I don't even think it's possible. To win a state championship game is to beat a team that is not only talented but playing its best soccer of the season. Sometimes it's not pretty, but the team that wins a game like that is playing very well, whether the soccer feels good or not.
A few guys had awesome games tonight. Mike Mousaw, of course, identified himself as an All-SJ and perhaps even POY candidate for 2006. His game-winning shot was a lightning strike, and the assist on Scully's goal was clutch. Speaking of Scully, he did a nice job in an almost impossible spot, giving up a head to Sean Young. In addition to being Johnny on the Spot (as were Nick Canderan and Jason Dugan, among others) on defense, he was able to push up and apply some offensive pressure. Kevin McCarthy ahd some really nice plays from the forward position, and Evans was, well, Evans. He didn't score but he was at the start of both of the scoring plays.
The guy that really impressed, however, was Mike Dugan. WHen I saw OC play before, I probably wouldn't have called any of the goals soft, but I thought of Dugan as a serviceable , if unspectacular, keeper. Maybe he needed to know he was going to be tested in order to find his best game, because he brought it today. There were maybe one or two great conventional saves, but the real genius was in the risks he took to catch the ball on SPF long thrower Jeff Bell's throws, and to cut down Young's breakaways. He never made a mistake, and the only ball that got behind him was the one that went off the crossbar. Goalkeeping is a little about luck too. Incidentally, it was SPF goalie Bryan Meredith who kept it a game in the first place. That kid was the real deal.
Both of tonight's games had their little piece of crazy intrique. At the end of the OC game, it was Raf Duarte chucking the ball at Meredith that ignited a little brouhaha, quickly put down by officials and security. Duarte had nearly scored a moment before and it looking like Meredith stepped on him. Raf's a little excitable, and a little goofy to beging with. The euphoria of reaching the promised land must have pushed him over the edge, but it's all good. He and Meredith had a nice little hug in the lineup.
Shawnee's Kyle Grzeszczak never got the chance, thanks to Boys Sands. In another of a series of bizarro events, BR took a late lead on a PK awarded after a handball in the box. (Tough call to make, but I was way too far away to question it and the accounts from each side have been strictly along the predicatble lines.) Mr. G made a huge save to keep it 1-0 with about 2:30 left, and the BR player who took the shot ended up on the ground deep in the box. Play went the other way, the kid got up and ran after it. and as he passed Kyle, the Shawnee keeper chopped him down by the legs. The linesman saw something because he called for a BR free kick, but he didn't card KG so he must not have seen what I saw. Boyd Sands -- a dude I heve never, ever gotten along with, but that's beside the point -- is the NJSIAA executive director, and he was standing behind the goal. He saw the whole thing, and as there were only a few minutes left in the game, he ran over to the cops and told them to escort KG off the field after the game. Anyway, BR's Matt Kassel hits the free kick around the wall and in for the insurance goal and the game ends, and the cops intercept KG as he comes off. KG says, "But I didn't even get a yellow card," which I thought was a pretty good point.
Anyway, the game was over by then. I felt bad for Shawnee because the Renegades really carried play for the majority of the game. It's an old story, however, and one Shawnee lived right before my eyes way back in September against Lenape. David Drake was the man in the first half, but the Renegades had nothing to show for it, which was ominous. Any time a team is that dominant for that long against a team as good as BR and does not take a lead, it's a bad sign because a team like the Cougars isn't going to go a whole game without a run. It didn't take much. Until that PK, Shawnee was the better team, and suddenly they're behind with 15 minutes left. I was disappointed that Shawnee did not recover, but you've got to give some credit to an opportunistic BR team.
I'm done for tonight. There are two games left to this season, and I'll try to get up in the morning to get something down on Haddonfield-Whippany Park and Bordentown-Pompton Lakes. SJ now has two full state titles, and still has a chance to equal the area's best haul ever, which I believe was four state championships in 1992.
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