By Scott Stump – Senior Editor
Before everything gets kicked off this weekend, here’s a few tidbits from the travels of our staff this week to the eight Shore teams playing for state sectional championships this weekend.
If you can’t make it to the games this weekend, the following three games will be broadcast live on the radio on WOBM Radio, 1160 a.m. in Ocean County and 1310 in Monmouth County. You also can stream the audio over your computer by clicking here. (Click on the “Listen Live” link). They will be doing the Mainland at Toms River North game (Saturday at 1 p.m.) as well as the two Sunday games at Rutgers Stadium – Rumson vs. Carteret at 2 p.m. and Long Branch vs. Moorestown at 5 p.m. Kevin Williams, Matt Harmon and Ed Sarluca do a great job, so if you can’t make it, they’ll bring it to your living room for you.
First off, the Shore Conference single-season record for state champs in one season is five, so hopefully that will be surpassed this weekend.
Starting with the games tonight, here is some quick stuff, and also don’t forget to check out our previews for these three games as well as the previews to follow on the rest of the games. Also, there is still time to get your picks in for the Schwartz Chrysler Mazda Pick ‘Em contest, which you can do here to take your shot at a $100 gift certificate to Monmouth Mall for beating my picks. I went the straight homer route and picked every Shore team to win (with Long Branch being the biggest upset) and I picked Asbury Park to defeat Keansburg.
Keansburg vs. Asbury Park at Rutgers Stadium, 5 p.m. – Central Jersey Group I final
–Asbury Park wideout Derrell Bell has started to attract some Division I-A interest for his explosive play this year. No colleges have specifically offered him yet, but I do remember Asbury Park head coach Don Sofilkanich telling me earlier this season that he was friendly with University of Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins and has been out to Boulder, so I wouldn’t be shocked if maybe the Buffaloes have gotten a phone call about Bell. As Scott Clayton noted in his feature on Bell, Sofilkanich coached at New Brunswick when current Carolina Panthers wideout Dwayne Jarrett was there, so you know he has some connections at some major colleges.
–Asbury Park practiced a couple days on the artificial turf at Neptune to get ready for the turf at Rutgers.
–The three games that Keansburg running back/safety Justin Laguna missed due to his fractured fibula injury marked the first time that he and his twin brother, Joe, had ever not been playing together in a game in the history of their football careers, going back to when they started playing organized football at the earliest Pop Warner level.
Howell vs. West Windsor South at Rutgers Stadium, 8 p.m. – Central Jersey Group IV final
–The father of Howell senior Chance Carrick, one of the top wide receivers in the Shore, is a member of the U.S. military, and the Carricks lived in Kansas before moving to Howell. Also, his father works at the Pentagon during the week and comes home on the weekends, so I’m sure he will be there tonight to root on the Rebels as they try for their first state sectional title in school history.
–Howell got in some practices at Monmouth University to get used to the turf.
West Deptford at Point Boro, 7 p.m. – South Jersey Group II final
–That wasn’t just Point Boro coach Calvin Thompson breathing a sigh of relief when wideout Bob Stowe was diagnosed with a dislocated kneecap rather than an ACL tear earlier this year, allowing him to return for the last three games of the season. Stowe, who is 6-foot-5, is also one of the top returners on the basketball team under Kevin Hynes.
–Junior DB/WR Matt Mehorter, who filled in for Stowe at wideout during his absence, almost wasn’t here to be a part of this championship game. He was injured in a horrible car wreck as a sophomore, according to Thompson, but has returned after a harrowing experience.
Saturday’s games
Mainland at Toms River North, 1 p.m. – South Jersey Group IV final
–Anthony Penna’s 17 touchdown passes are believed to be the Mariners’ single-season school record. Penna is getting attention from NEC schools like Monmouth, Sacred Heart, Robert Morris and Wagner.
–TR North linebacker Zach Kane could be offered a scholarship by an ACC school as early as next week, according to TRN coach Chip LaBarca, which could open the floodgates for other offers. He has 130 tackles, 10 sacks, and 48 quarterback pressures this season. Several coaches from well-known programs have been regularly in touch with LaBarca, but no formal offers have been made yet.
–Toms River North beat Mainland in an NJSIAA consolation game last year.
Shawnee at Lacey, 1 p.m. – South Jersey Group III final
–Lacey had not been to a state sectional final since 1993 before reaching three straight from 2005-07.
–As Lacey’s only head coach, Lou Vircillo has led the Lions to six appearances in a sectional final and three titles. Lacey assistant Craig Cicardo previously was a head coach in a state sectional final when he took Mater Dei to the Non-Public Group I final in 1999, where it lost 6-0 to St. Joseph-Hammonton.
–Lacey junior Justin Pandorf was voted Constitution Division Defensive Player of the Year by the division’s coaches.
Sunday’s games
Rumson vs. Carteret, 2 p.m. at Rutgers Stadium – Central Jersey Group II final
–Although Rumson has never won a state sectional title, there is a player on its roster with a championship ring. Senior tailback Ryan Korn, who grew up in Rumson, transferred to a school in Tennessee as a sophomore and was part of a team that won a Class 5A title (the biggest school classification)before he transferred back to Rumson before last season. Korn is also an all-conference level lacrosse player.
–Shane Fallon will now have played and coached in the only two state sectional final appearances in Rumson history.
–Two of Carteret’s three touchdowns in its 19-14 upset of Rahway in the semifinals came from fumble returns for touchdowns.
Long Branch vs. Moorestown, 5 p.m. at Rutgers Stadium – Central Jersey Group III final
–A Shore Conference team has won the CJ III title every year since Sayreville beat Middletown South, 14-10, in 1997.
–Long Branch defensive lineman Michael Luke has 17 sacks this season, and linebacker Shawn Brown has over 100 tackles.
–Long Branch practiced a few days on the artificial field at Matawan to get used to the turf at Rutgers Stadium.
–Moorestown’s bread-and-butter play out of its Delaware Wing-T is the buck sweep.
Finally, on a baseball note, this is disturbing, and I’m hoping this is not as bad as it looks. Unfortunately, it’s not been a good off-season for some coaches, as this girls basketball note will also attest.
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