The High School South boys’ and both High School North and South girls’ basketball teams will also have their first games of the season on Friday, December 14.##M:[more]##
High School South boys basketball coach Bob Schurtz said seven players return this year, including senior guard Andy McKeever, although the team lost its three leading scorers from the team that went 18-9 and made it to the playoffs. “We have to find some of those (seven) guys stepping into new roles, who can come in and hopefully score for us,” he said. Two other seniors helping out are Greg Quinton and Mike Iacoueze.
The team faces off this Friday against Trenton Central. The Pirates beat the team, which Schurtz refers to as the best team in the league, twice in ten days last year, but it will prove a “very formidable task” to do so again, Schurtz said. He did say the team was working on putting a premium on defense and pressuring the ball so that quick turnovers can lead to easy points.
The winter season for the North and South swim teams are already underway.
The North boys’ and girls’ teams came out especially strong with their win against Lawrence — last year’s Mercer County champion — on December 4. The boys were helped by Derek Chiao, Edwin Chiu, and Kevin Zhang, who dominated in the 100-meter breast stroke and put the Knights ahead of the Cardinals in what was a close match up until that point.
For South, although both the girls and boys lost a match to one of their best competitors, Bridgewater, they have two wins, including against Hopewell. Last year the boys team went 10-5, and the girls team went 15-1, said coach Paul Hamnett. Almost all of the swimmers on the team are returning from last year, as only three from each the girls’ and boys’ teams graduated last year. For the boys, some of the key swimmers will be Joey Grant, Hugh Le, Mike Prewett, and Steve Park. For the girls, they are Paola Simon, Meredith Ketchmark, Rebecca Lewinson, and Brynja Winnan.
Hamnett said the loss to out-of-division Bridgewater was somewhat expected, but “we’re hoping to learn from it and grow from it.”
He said he hopes to bring the girls back to the state championship, where they made it last year but lost. “It’s going to be tough. The girls have got some really steep competition,” he said. “Getting to that same point would be an amazing achievement.” For the boys, he hopes to bring them to compete for a Colonial Valley Conference title.
Ice hockey at both schools has also begun, and the first faceoff between the two ended in a tie on December 5, 2-2.
High School North has yet to lose a game, with its wins against Rancocas Valley and over Hightstown. Coach Bob Weiss said the team is heavy with experienced juniors and seniors this year, after years of having freshmen and sophomores. “We’ve got some pretty high aspirations this season,” Weiss said, adding the team hopes to compete with South this year for the Valley division title.
Ernie Park, who has been captain for the last two years, is “in the middle of all our plans.” The team will also be looking to leading scorer Chris Keresztes — who had four goals in the team’s 8-2 win over Hightstown — and to assistant captain and forward Scott Litwak, assistant captain and defenseman Jack Mulhall, and Mark Raziano, to lead them this year. Weiss also boasted goalies Brandon Worrall and James Komianos as two of the best in the league. “From the net out, we should be pretty strong,” he said.
The team was scheduled to play Lawrence on December 13, and will play Brick Memorial on Friday, December 14.
South Coach Brian McGurney said the team is very young, and he hasn’t set too many goals for this season, but “the freshman class has been a pleasant surprise as far as talent-wise.” There is a core of returning players, however, including three seniors this year, and he said he doesn’t think heading to the state tournaments will be a problem. If the team continues as it has being playing thus far, with its wins over Hightstown and Monroe, and with its ties against Tenafly and North, it should be in good shape, he said. Keegan Martell and Will Dzugan are team captains this year.
The North wrestling team will head into a tournament on Saturday, December 15, at South Brunswick, and then heads into its first match on Wednesday, December 19.
First-year coach Chris Manente has a young team this year, with one senior and two juniors. And “although the guys are young, they’re really dedicated,” and they looked strong in the three-way scrimmage with Cherry Hill and Collingswood, and in the scrimmage against Egg Harbor this week, he said. “Although they’re really strong and solid wrestlers, there’s still no substitute for experience and time on the mat.”
He said he hasn’t selected the team’s captains yet, and doesn’t know yet if the team will even have them this year. Manente, who hails from Dumont, was a wrestler himself for many years. He is currently a graduate student at Rutgers and is a student teacher at Grover Middle School. Coaching “melds two of the things I’m really passionate about — wrestling/grappling and teaching. It’s a perfect fit for me.”
Prior to teaching, he served 13 months in Iraq as a sergeant in the army with the 101st Airborne Infantry based out of Fort Campbell in Kentucky, and has served in multiple overseas combat tours since 2002.
He said his goal for this year is to go at least 10-8, an improvement over last year’s 6-12 record.
Wrestlers for each of the weight classes are as follows: Brandon Lerner, 112 pounds; Brian Oglesby, 119 pounds; Matt Redman, 125 pounds; Alfonso Gonzalez, 130 pounds; Zack Mozenter, 135 pounds; Jon Redman, 140 pounds; Mike Kenny, 145 pounds; Steve Kuzy, 152 pounds; Austin Scharsstein, 160 pounds; David Calves, 189 pounds; Mo Reda, 215 pounds; and Stuart Derman, 285 pounds. The 161-pound spot is still open at this point.
Winter track begins in January. High School South Winter Track Coach Todd Smith said the team returns about 55 students who ran last year, including fall season stars Brian Leung and Katie Kellner. The team is “viewing the winter season as a step toward the spring,” Smith said. “We’re just really going to work on getting our sprinters ready.”
