After losing in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group II semifinals, quarterfinals, and semifinals the previous three seasons, Hopewell Valley Central High’s lacrosse team was moved to North Jersey and promptly won it’s semi.
With the Bulldogs reaching a sectional final for the first time, senior midfielder Ryan Foret had a simple philosophy.
“We got there,” Foret said. “We might as well win it.”
Win it they did, creating history in the process. Hopewell’s 8-5 victory over Sparta made it the first Colonial Valley Conference team to ever win a sectional championship.
“I don’t know if we felt pressure to win because no one else in the county had ever done it,” said coach Matt Foret, Ryan’s father. “I think we felt pressure to win because we hadn’t done it. But there is that aspect where we feel a lot of pride that we were able to do something that hadn’t been done in the county yet.”
It was also retribution for several seniors who had played varsity for four years and had to endure the pain of losing three tournament games before the job was done.
“It was definitely a huge focus to finally break through and make it to the final,” Matt Foret said. “And to be able to win it when we got there was incredible.”
The fact that Hopewell fell to Manasquan in the Group II championship game was disappointing, but could hardly take the euphoria away from being North Jersey II champ.
“It’s a dream season,” Ryan Foret said. “Obviously you want to win that last one. It goes back to the group of kids we have. We’ve been together since freshman year and before that. Even in eighth grade we talked about winning a sectional championship this year.”
Adding to the storybook feel of it all, was that Matt Foret privately decided he would retire by season’s end. Even Ryan didn’t know until his dad’s announcement, though he did suspect it.
“To get that done in my dad’s last year it’s insane,” Ryan said. “It’s really a dream come true. There’s no better way to end off our time together.”
Ryan, who was injured and could not play in last year’s semifinals, made up for it with four goals and three assists in this year’s semis win over Pascack Valley. Like his dad, the younger Foret took pride in making Mercer history.
“Especially coming into a new group,” he said. “North Group II don’t know who we are. We’re not a big powerhouse school. Coming from a conference that never wins it they’re probably thinking, ‘Oh, these guys aren’t real, they never won before.’ To come out and show what Mercer County lacrosse is all about is really cool.”
The Bulldogs had a solid team from back to front, starting with Owen Shehab. The junior goalie began lacrosse in 9th grade and became an all-state selection en route to playing at Lake Erie College in Ohio next year.
“To develop the way he did was really huge for us,” Matt Foret said. “His play in goal was critical.”
Senior Milan Desai, who will play football in college, is a first-team All-Group II pick and “is really the glue of our defense,” according to the coach. “He’s our best communicator, makes sure everybody knows what we’re doing. He’s a tremendous one-v-one defender.”
Senior Mike Vaggot, an All-Conference defender, “plays with so much passion and enthusiasm. He’s the guy always looking to double team and slide and do whatever he can to help the defense be successful.” Also in the back was junior Carter Horvath, a two-year starter and “a big, physical defender who’s real experienced.”
In the midfield was senior Johnny Ellis (46 goals, 11 assists), a two-time All-Group II pick and Hopewell’s best outside shooter. “He can really shoot with great velocity and great accuracy with both hands, which is a pretty unique quality,” Matt Foret said.
Junior Kyle Yadamiec (18 goals, 25 assists) was a second-year starter and All-Conference pick who played both ways.
“He’s good on the clear and gives us good offensive production,” the coach said. “He’s got a relentless work ethic. He plays the most minutes on the team and running up and down the midfield is not easy in a day where most guys play offensively or defensively.”
Senior Joe Demareski is a defensive midfield specialist and “he’s really great at it. He’s a really good one-v-one defender and he’s probably our best player on the clear.”
Conversely, junior Gavin Seibold is more of an offensive player who “sets a lot of picks, works hard off the ball to get opportunities in the crease where the defense is spending energy on our more prolific scorers.”
The long stick midfielder was senior Ben DeCore, a fast, physical player who grabbed 64 ground balls.
“He wreaks a lot of havoc in the middle of the field,” Foret said. “He’s great on ground balls, great on rides and generates a lot of transition opportunities that are really important.”
The faceoff man was senior Dylan Yasher, who won 60 percent of his faceoffs and led the Bulldogs with 122 ground balls.
“He was all-league two years in a row and a really huge part of our success,” Foret said.
The team’s high-profile stars were up front with the incomparable Luke Caldwell and Ryan Foret. Caldwell is a two-time All-State, All-American and CVC Player of the Year selection. He owns every HVCHS scoring record but assists in a season, which Foret set with 83 this year. Foret is also second to Caldwell in all other scoring marks.
Foret had 50 goals this year and finished 157 goals and 162 assists for his career. Caldwell, a record-holder in football and state qualifier in wrestling, had a record 121 goals to go with 49 assists. He led the state in goals and points (170), while Foret was second in New Jersey in assists and fourth in points (133).
Caldwell finished as New Jersey’s third all-time leader in points (465) and goals (302) and third in goals for one season. He will play for Washington & Lee next year.
“Playing with Luke makes everyone so much better, especially me,” Ryan Foret said. “I wouldn’t have had half the points I got this season without him. You’ll see some clips of me just putting my hands on my head, like ‘Wow, I can’t believe he just did that.’”
Foret was two-time All-State and All-Academic selection and hopes to play club lacrosse at University of Vermont. While he could have been a bigger goal scorer playing with someone other than Caldwell, his performance fit his nature.
“I think he probably gets more joy out of an assist than scoring a goal for himself,” Matt Foret said. “He’s been like that since he was little. He’s always feeding the ball to other guys. He and Luke balance each other out really well.”
The third man up front was junior Ty Becker (32 goals, 10 assists), who crashed the starting lineup.
“It was an open position coming into the season,” Matt Foret said. “He did a great job stepping up and filling that third attack role and being a reliable scoring option for us.”
It was a group that will always be noteworthy in HVCHS and Mercer County history, and it’s efforts were made extra special by it being Foret’s final season.
A lacrosse lifer, he coached high school lax for 30 seasons, including the past seven at Hopewell (2020 was cancelled due to Covid). He went 89-47-1 at HVCHS including five sectional semifinal appearances and a school record 21 wins this season.
“I’d been thinking about it for a while,” said Foret, who announced it after the final game. “When the season started, I was pretty certain that it was gonna be a good time for me to step down. It definitely wasn’t a snap decision after the win.
“It was absolutely great to accomplish what we did, knowing it was the last time I’d be coaching them. To get a huge goal of ours was fantastic. And having Ryan on the team makes it super special to see him achieve some of his goals and have the success he had.”
The son was pretty happy about it himself, if only because he did it with his extended family.
“You look at other teams that have all these D-1 college kids. We have two kids committed and we’re beating these teams,” Ryan said. “We play so hard for each other and just have each other’s backs all the time. When you play together, you can beat individual talent.”
And make history.
The Hopewell Valley boys’ lacrosse team after winning not only the first state title in school history, but the first for any team in the Colonial Valley Conference. (Photo by Mike Schwartz/mssphoto.com.),
