As Brick takes on Brick Memorial in a nondivisional game tonight, you’ve got to wonder if this is the grand finale for the grandmaster, legendary Brick head coach Warren Wolf. It’s his 50th season as the school’s only head coach and the state’s all-time winningest coach, and just like the finale of plenty of seasons before this one, everyone is wondering if this is it.
I just think football is so in Coach Wolf’s blood that he’ll never be able to leave it behind, so in no way would I be surprised if he came back next year. If you’ve ever met the man, he radiates an old-school love for the game that is palpable, not to mention he is a polite, considerate anomaly in the age of the loudmouth (being somewhat of a loudmouth myself, I certainly admire that).
As for the other Turkey Day happenings, stay tuned all through this weekend for some more inspirational stories involving football players from Freehold, Neptune and Manalapan. I will have them up on the site on Friday and some more on Saturday in addition to our regular coverage. I hope you enjoyed the stories on Holmdel’s Dave Burke and Middletown South’s Billy Slocum. They remind me of why it’s still fun to cover high school sports when you meet kids who play just because they love to play the game and they’ll fight through anything just to have the privilege of putting that uniform on and getting on the field.
Freehold quarterback Brian Prisk had a soft cast on his non-throwing hand at practice but will be playing against Colts Neck in one of the better Thanksgiving Day match-ups. It’s been an emotional season for the Colonials, who have dedicated a season in which they upset Middletown South to win the Federal Division championship, to the memory of Mike Dragonetti, who was a senior on last year’s team and died in a car accident in January. They have T-shirts that read, “Let’s go!” and the initials “M.D.” on them that have helped push them all year.
“Mike was undersized, but he played so hard,” assistant coach Mike DeLucia reminisced while at practice on Wednesday. “Cicc (head coach Mark Ciccotelli) and I thought there was no way he would ever start, but we couldn’t keep him on the field.”
As for Colts Neck, watch out for sophomore quarterback Chris Chiarelli, who looks to be one of the better returning passers in the Shore next year. I could see the Cougars airing it out a lot more next year with the graduation of superback Ashton Jackson. Colts Neck leads the series with the Colonials, 5-2.
Another solid game on Thanksgiving will be Manasquan at Wall, where I will be on Thursday. A win by Manasquan would even the Thanksgiving series at 4-4 since it was re-established in 2000.
Another tight series is the one between Red Bank Catholic and Rumson-Fair Haven, which is tied 24-24-6 all-time.
One team is still undefeated against its Thanksgiving opponent, and that is Point Boro, which has a 7-0 edge on Point Beach since 2000. Raritan ended up its brief series undefeated against Pinelands with a 14-13 win last week. The Rockets will play neighboring Holmdel on Thanksgiving starting next year. I know we’re all going to miss that riveting Wildcats-Rockets showdown every year. All five of us.
The big one is Toms River North vs. Toms River East, which I have talked about at length on the Schwartz Chrysler Mazda Pick ‘Em Show on our homepage in case you missed it. The Raiders lead the all-time series, 15-11-1. If TR East wins, the next question is what team will then be No. 1 in the Shore? Also, what if Asbury Park falls to Neptune and Rumson-Fair Haven loses to Red Bank Catholic, two possible scenarios. Then what? You know what, let’s not think about that for 1/2 a day or so.
Also, my apologies for not having a Top 10 Plays of the Week up for this past weekend, but our videographer, Travis Johnson, had a family emergency and we could not pull it together. We’ll be back with plenty at the end of this week and next week. Our prayers are with Travis and his family during this holiday.
Finally, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there. Maybe even the Jets will shock the Cowboys, which may result in me needing the Heimlich maneuver in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. Dare to dream. Also, good luck to all of the seniors and enjoy it one last time against your Thanksgiving rival.
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