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ABOUT THE COVER
Three years ago, Pleasantville’s Jacob Valeus was just a skinny sophomore coming off the bench to shoot the occasional 3-pointer. A lot has changed in the past three years, as Valeus has grown to be 6-foot-5 and become one of the top forwards in the Cape-Atlantic League, helping his team to not only the CAL Tournament semifinals, but also the South Jersey Group 2 semis, where the Greyhounds will take on Camden on March 1 for a shot to go to the championship game. A lot has changed off the court, too. Jacob’s mother, Marie, was deported back to Haiti when Jacob was just 5 years old, and she passed away when he was 16. It’s been a heavy burden to bear, but he’s done it with class and dignity. His little brothers, and the younger players on the Greyhounds’ roster, look up to him as an example of how to persevere through tough times and still be in a position to succeed. He’s looking at colleges now that he’s a senior, and hoping to land a scholarship so his father won’t have to pay for his education. Pleasantville coach Butch Warner says that’s almost guaranteed to happen, because any school that is now showing interest would be foolish to pass on a young man who has such a high ceiling, both athletically and academically. — Dave O’Sullivan, Staff Writer
GLORY DAYS MAGAZINE General contact: 609-788-4294/advertising@acglorydays.com Dave O’Sullivan, Publisher: sully@acglorydays.com On Twitter: @GDsullysays Giuseppe Ungaro, Managing Editor: gungaro@acglorydays.com On Twitter: @GDgisepu Amy D’Adamo, Graphic Design: advertising@acglorydays.com Bill Lynskey, Director of Advertising: bill@acglorydays.com STORY IDEAS/ADVERTISING: Have a story you’d like to see told in Glory Days Magazine? Want to get your business noticed with a marketing campaign in our digital or quarterly print platforms? Call us anytime at 609-788-4294. Volume: 6 Issue: 18 Overall Issue Number: 125. Cover Photography: Dave O’Sullivan. 2019 Glory Days Magazine. All rights reserved.
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MAKING HEADLINES Sully takes a closer look at the athletes, coaches and teams who are generating news and highlights in the Cape-Atlantic League and throughout South Jersey.
u 4 in a row!: The Mainland Regional boys swimming team suffered
two regular-season losses this year, a rarity, but turned on the jets in the postseason, rolling through the South Jersey Public B bracket before winning its fourth straight overall state championship with a win over Scotch Plains-Fanwood. In the past four seasons, the Mustangs have gone 57-2. u Record-setter: During Mainland’s state playoff victory over Camden Tech, senior Claudia Mairone nailed five 3-pointers to up her career number to 155, a school record. u Staying hot: The Wildwood Catholic boys basketball team has won 20 straight games, and has just one loss this year. In girls hoops, Ocean City has won four in a row, including the CAL championship.
glory days digital Want the best high school sports coverage every day of the week? Visit glorydaysonline.com for game coverage, features and more! You can also like us at facebook.com/acglorydays, and follow Sully on Twitter @GDsullysays. Get the best. Every day.
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GIRLS BASKETBALL
Braves looking to join the party Absegami taking steps toward becoming a challenger in the CAL By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer obody really expected a whole lot from the Absegami girls basketball team this year, and why would they? The Braves went 1117 last year and returned just two seniors, Victoria Clarke and Liz Picardi. Plus, Absegami had a new coach, as Bobby Lasko, a former Holy Spirit assistant, took over for Brian Coyle. There were a lot of unknowns, but coach Lasko said early on in the season that he thought this team could impress some people as it navigated its way through a very tough Cape-Atlantic League National Conference schedule. The “Blue Bloods” of the CAL have been Ocean City, Mainland Regional, Middle Township and Wildwood Catholic for years now, and it seems as though everyone else is trying to get a seat at the head table. Ocean City and Middle have duked it out in the CAL Tournament final in three of the past four seasons, and last year featured the Red Raiders against Mainland Regional. In the next couple of years, however, those stal-
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Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan
The Absegami girls basketball team has a solid building block in sophomore Haleigh See Braves, page 9 Schafer, one of the top players in the league in just her second season of varsity hoops.
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March 1, 2019 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 9 Braves, from page 6 warts had best be on the lookout for Absegami, which features some very young talent that is only getting better with this year’s varsity experience. The Braves certainly will miss the talent and leadership of Clarke and Picardi, but their best player — Haleigh Schafer — is still just a sophomore, and guards Gianna Hafner and Jackie Fortis are a junior and freshman, respectively. They’ll also return players such as current guard Grace McFarland, Rylee Getter and Jayla McNamara, among others. “Liz is a great shooter, and I hope people understand how good Haleigh Schafer is. She’s one of the better players in South Jersey and I’m tired of hearing anything differently,” Lasko said after the Braves’ season came to an end with a loss to Mainland in the South Jersey Group 3 quarterfinals. Absegami just missed out on the CAL Tournament this year and finished fourth in the CAL National behind Mainland, Ocean City and Oakcrest, but still finished two games above .500 at 13-11. They also gave Mainland fits in their state playoff matchup before eventually falling, 46-34. Lasko said his message after that game was nothing but positive, and looking forward to a bright future. “I just told the girls how proud I am
Season review ABSEGAMI Overall record: 13-11 CAL American: 5-7 (4th) State playoffs: The Braves entered South Jersey Group 3 as the No. 9 seed, knocked off No. 8 Deptford, 50-41, before falling to Mainland 46-34 in the quarterfinals. of them. They did everything we asked of them. This team had 17 losses last year, and for them to come back and have the season they had this year, losing a lot of girls from last year’s team — it takes a special group to fight through that, and we fought Ocean City and Mainland very tough this year,” he said. “I told them to keep their heads up because I think people are starting to recognize that we’re a program now, and we’re not just another team in the CAL. I think our better days are ahead of us, and I’m looking forward to them.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan
Point guard Gianna Hafner, a junior, is one of several talented players who will return next year for Absegami.
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VIC’S SUBS COVER STORY
Fighting for his future Pleasantville senior Jacob Valeus saw his mother deported to Haiti when he was 5 years old, then she died when he was 16. Now, he’s determined to earn a college basketball scholarship to take that burden off his father and brothers. Story, photos by Dave O’Sullivan, Staff Writer
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ike a lot of 7-year-olds, Jacob Valeus and Sahmir Jones would spend countless hours on summer days in Jacob’s backyard, dribbling an old basketball on the dirt, taking jumpshots and just having fun, two boys with a basketball and a hoop. But unlike other kids, Jacob’s mother, Marie, wouldn’t call him in for supper as the sun started to fade in the western sky. She couldn’t. She was thousands of miles away, having been deported back to Haiti when Jacob was just 5 years old. He got to see her maybe once every other summer, if Jacob’s father, Jean, could find the money to take Jacob and his two brothers, Michee (now a sophomore at Pleasantville High School) and Jeff, a current eighth-grader. Marie passed away when Jacob was just 16 years old, so for the past couple of years it’s just been the four fellas — sort of their own version of a home team. Jacob has always had a basketball in his hands, and the game has always been a source of fun and escape for him, but as he started progressing through his high school career at Pleasantville, he started to understand that a basketball could be much more valuable than he ever imagined. He came up to the varsity as a sophomore and began to get playing time, started gaining confidence, and also began growing. He turned his focus to college, and basketball became a vehicle he could ride to a paid-for education, if he could become good enough to attract the attention of some college coaches. So he began working on his game even harder, all alone sometimes on summer nights, working on every little skill, from dribbling to rebounding to perfecting a short-range jumper. He wants to go to college, and he doesn’t want to have his family — which has been through so much already — to have to shoulder the burden of that cost. That’s why Jacob hits the books, stays off the streets and keeps his vision locked in crystal clear. Sure, he loves the
Pleasantville’s Jacob Valeus was a role player as a sophomore, his first season on the varsity level, and now is a senior 1,000-point scorer and one of the top forwards in the Cape-Atlantic League. game of basketball, and wants to continue to play in college — but he also knows there is going to be life after basketball and he wants to set himself up for that, to make not only his father and brothers proud, but also the city of Pleasantville. “I think his confidence has gotten a lot better since we started playing basketball together, he’s gotten a lot stronger, and his jumpshot has gotten better. I knew he was going to be good. He’s always had a good jumper, and if you have that everything else can develop. He works really hard, he’s always in the gym trying to work on his game and develop. We play against a lot of adults in the summer, so he knows the physicality of the game,” said Jones, a three-sport star who has a track scholarship to Boston University waiting for him next fall. “He’s meant a lot to this team, in terms of his productive-
ness and his leadership. The team wouldn’t be the same without him. We all joke around a lot and are lighthearted, and he jumps right in with that.” “My career is about to be over, but I’m happy with my career. I’ve worked hard and progressed every year, and I have my little brother who is a sophomore and hopefully he can follow what I’ve been doing,” Valeus said. “We’re trying to get a state championship, that’s all that is on our mind right now. Coach wanted us to get our chemistry right and it’s really come a long way. I don’t try to think about (the end) at all, but I’m proud of myself. I’ve really enjoyed being a part of this team. Me, Sahmir and Jalen (Freeman) all scored our 1,000th point this
See Future, page 11
March 1, 2019 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 11 said. “Most of my kids are really good kids, very into their sports. If they’re up late at night they’re playing video season, and that was a great thing.” For Pleasantville coach Butch War- games. The thing we want everybody ner, it’s hard to underestimate the value to understand is our kids do the right Valeus has brought to the Greyhounds’ things and they are good athletes as well. We’re trying to make sure, colprogram throughout his career. “You could see the potential in him, lectively in all sports, combine acait was just a matter of him getting the demics and athletics.” When Valeus was a sophomore, the confidence and figuring out that he Greyhounds went 11-14, but the past could do the things he’s doing now. He’s done all those things, constantly two years, as he has flourished, Pleasworking from his sophomore year un- antville has gone 35-18 and become a til now, and I’m not surprised by his legitimate force in the Cape-Atlantic success. Long-term, his upside is tre- League and South Jersey Group 2. mendous. Naturally, as a coach, you’re They made a run to the CAL Tournaproud when you see somebody who ment semifinals the past two years, takes his gifts seriously and takes his and as of Feb. 28 were just two wins classwork seriously, and somebody away from a sectional championship. “I just wanted to start my career by who wants to do it at the next level and making an impact. When I came in, nobe an example for the younger kids in body really knew me. I just wanted to this program to follow. We need good role models here, and we started to make an impression, play hard, work develop them last year with Divine hard in practice. I wanted to become Anderson going off to play college the best player on my team, continue ball, and now Jacob is going to do the to work hard and earn a college scholsame thing. That’s what we’re trying arship, and that’s what I’m working to build with this program, and he’s on right now, so hopefully that vision been a great example of that,” Warner
Future, from page 10
Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan
Valeus and the Greyhounds have been one of the top teams in South Jersey this season, and had racked up 20 wins heading into a See Future, page 13 sectional semifinal showdown against Camden.
March 1, 2019 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 13 Future, from page 11 will come through,” Valeus said. “In the beginning of this year I started out kind of slowly because I had a groin injury I was dealing with, by midway through the season it started coming together. This season has definitely been better than last year. Coach told me early in the season that I wasn’t playing well, so I just wanted to step up for my team. I knew if I played well, we could win some games. I had success last year, so I thought I was going to come in and have that same success, but it wasn’t like that so I had to just remain humble and keep working hard. “I had to get better at rebounding and playing defense. The scoring will come if you play defense, so I really wanted to focus on my defense and rebounding,” he continued. “When I shoot the ball, if it feels wrong I’m going to go after the rebound. Most of the time, when I feel like it’s wrong, it comes off (the rim) at the right spot and I’ll go up and get it. Sometimes that just happens naturally, but I also
work on my timing (on plays like that).” “It’s a relief knowing that if we miss a shot we can rely on him getting rebounds, because he’s been a dominant rebounder in the CAL. That game against Atlantic City (33 points, 22 rebounds), we were like, ‘wow.’ We couldn’t believe the stats he put up. He’s been consistent like that, though. I remember a game when I was at Mainland sophomore year and he was hitting every shot, we couldn’t stick him. He just kept hitting jumpshots,” Jones added. “He’s developed a lot since we started playing in his back yard. The dunk he would be doing on a nine-foot court, now he’s doing them in a varsity game. It’s just fun to watch. We would go in his back yard and play basketball in the dirt. We’d be out there all summer, it was a lot of fun.” If you ask coach Warner to tell you about Jacob Valeus, be prepared for a fairly lengthy conversation. He wants Jacob to be recognized as much as possible for all that he’s done to help lift the Pleasantville program to where it is today. “Jacob has a quiet confidence, he won’t say much, but when he gets that
look in his eye he’s ready to play. He has that quiet confidence, which is a special thing to have. It makes me proud, the work he’s put in and the conversations you have with him, you know he’s listening and taking your advice. When you come in here in the summer you’ll see him on his own, working on his game. When you see that, it makes you proud as a coach because you want the younger kids to see that’s what it takes to be successful,” Warner said. “Everything Jacob is getting now, he’s earned it all. He’s worked very hard to get where he is now. He’s a big part of our team and does so many things. He might get 10 points just off offensive rebounds, he’s our leading rebounder on the defensive glass — there are so many things he does to make us go. That’s the kind of leadership he has. He’s not real vocal, but his play is an example of his leadership and what he means to this team.” Warner was asked if Valeus earning a college scholarship would give the Pleasantville community a sense of pride. His answer was exactly what it could have been expected to be.
“He’s already made us proud. He’ll play college basketball, we’re just not sure where yet, and he’ll have a great college career,” Warner said. “He’ll play well for whatever coach gets him, and they’ll be lucky to have him because he allows you to push him. He doesn’t back down when you make him work harder, he never flinches. He just keeps working harder, and that’s a coach’s dream.” For the immediate moment, Valeus has put his college choice on the side burner, as he’s trying to just savor every last minute of his high school career. And maybe throw down a few of those signature left-handed dunks he’s been known for. “That feels great. It feels better against an away crowd. That gets you so pumped up. When you’re in the air and looking at the rim, it just feels great. I wish I could hang on the rim and yell,” he said. “Everything feels like it’s in slow motion.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
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BOYS BASKETBALL
Tumultuous start, hopeful finish It was a season unlike any other for coach Gene Allen and Atlantic City, but the Vikings believe better days are ahead By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer tlantic City boys basketball coach Gene Allen knew this season would be tough before it even started, as he was tasked with replacing just about the entire lineup from last winter’s team that made it to the Cape-Atlantic League and South Jersey Group 4 championship games. He didn’t know just how tough, however. Just two days into the season, Allen was fired — well, more accurately, his yearly contract wasn’t renewed. In high school sports, coaches are hired on a year-to-year basis, but for a coach with Allen’s resume, which includes three state championships, normally it’s simply rubber-stamped at a Board of Education meeting sometime in the summer. But a parent of a former player had raised concerns about Allen’s treatment of players, and made his feelings known at several Board meetings. The BOE removed coach Allen, and for weeks a drama unfolded as community members were split on
A
Season review ATLANTIC CITY Overall record: 9-15 CAL American: 6-6 (4th) State playoffs: The Vikings came into South Jersey Group 4 as the No. 9 seed, knocked off No. 8 EHT, 60-49, then lost to Eastern, 51-41, in the quarterfinals. whether to support the parent or coach Allen. Eventually, Allen was reinstated for this year, but the rocky start off the court, coupled with virtually an entire new roster, led the Vikings to stumble out of the gate with a 2-8 record. In the season opener, the Vikings were drilled by St. Joseph, losing 87-42. They bounced back with wins over Ocean
Glory Days Magazine
Stephen Byard, an outstanding junior forward, will be one of the building blocks next year for the Atlantic City boys basketball program. City and Bridgeton, but then a buzzerbeater loss to Egg Harbor Township led to a string of seven straight setbacks. Atlantic City finally ended the skid with a 67-61 win over Asbury Park on Jan. 19, and began to play better, eventually going 5-7 down the stretch in the latter half of the season. One of the losses during that stretch might have been the best game the Vikings played all season, when they hung toe-to-toe with rival Pleasantville
in the Battle By The Bay finale, losing 77-75 after battling hard throughout the fourth quarter to come back and have a chance to win in the final seconds. The Vikings picked up enough power points in January to head into the state playoffs as a No. 9 seed, and went on the road to knock off EHT, 6049, in the opening round. Their season came to an end Wednesday night with
See Vikings, page 16
Page 16 w Glory Days Magazine w March 1, 2019 Vikings, from page 14 a 51-41 loss to top-seeded Eastern in the quarterfinals of the sectional tournament. “This game was very important for us to win, especially because we had lost to this team before. So to play them again, and for it to be a playoff game, it was very important for us to win this game,” Zion Teague, one of just four seniors on the roster, said after the playoff win against EHT. “We’ve been playing a lot harder in practice and following what the coaches have been saying to us. We’re just working together as a team, working hard.” “This is monumental. Although we’re not satisfied, I’m extremely happy. I thought we could be a playoff team. We would show glimpses, but that’s what you get with a young team. This is a learning experience for me as well, and I’m excited for them,” Allen added after beating EHT. “You could feel it in the locker room after the game when we went over what happened tonight. I felt like these guys started to believe in themselves.”
“At the end of the day, you can win a lot of games and championships, and things like that, but when you see individual growth — especially with younger kids — it’s really satisfying.”
Gene Allen, A.C. coach
Allen said that despite all the controversy surrounding the start of the season, he really enjoyed the challenge this year presented with such a young and inexperienced group of players. In a sense, it brought him back to his coaching roots in his younger days. “At the end of the day, you can win a lot of games and championships, and things like that, but when you see individual growth — especially with younger kids — it’s really satisfying,” Allen said. This season marked the first time in 50 years that Atlantic City didn’t have a winning record, but that hasn’t seemed to discourage Allen. He has some pretty good pieces to work with next year,
Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan
Stephan Fredricks is one of four seniors who won’t be easy for coach Gene Allen to replace next season. including juniors Stephen Byard, Jack and Henry Rovillard, Julio Sanchez and sophomore Corey Yoeman, among others. “I haven’t studied this much tape in 10 years, but it’s good because that did
reinvigorate me and made me believe that I still could coach,” he said. “As much as we’ve won, I honestly think I took certain things for granted, and now with all the stuff that happened it made me refocus.”
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BASKETBALL/STATE PLAYOFFS UPDATE
Mainland boys, girls in hunt for sectional titles FROM STAFF REPORTS Apparently, the Mainland Regional girls and boys basketball teams are enjoying these postseason doubleheaders. The Mustangs hosted one on Tuesday, and both teams won, so they did it again for the South Jersey Group 3 quarterfinals, and again both teams came out victorious. So, why not do it again? Mainland will be hosting another doubleheader on Saturday, as the topseeded girls will take on No. 4 Winslow in their semifinal game at 4 p.m., with the third-seeded boys going up against No. 10 Seneca at 6 p.m. The Mustangs are able to hold this double-dip because the Seneca boys went on the road and knocked off No. 2 Ocean City, 62-57. In Mainland’s games, the Mustangs boys took down Toms River East, 72-60, while the girls, with star forward Kylee Watson returned from a concussion suffered during an opening round victory over Vineland in the recent Cape-Atlantic League Tournament, fought off a challenge from No. 9 Absegami to win, 4634, and advance to the semifinals. Here’s a quick look at how the sectional playoffs have played out so far for Cape-Atlantic League teams. GIRLS SJG1: Buena got the No. 16 seed, but was quickly dispatched with a 64-24 loss to top-seeded Wildwood. SJG2: No. 13 Lower Cape May lost to No. 4 Cinnaminson in the opening round. Cedar Creek, the No. 14 seed, lost to No. 3 Haddonfield, while No. 7 Oakcrest beat No. 10 Audubon in the opening round before falling to No. 2 Manchester. No. 5 Middle Township beat Pt. Boro and Cinnaminson and is in the semifinals against top-seeded Sterling. SJG3: Absegami beat Deptford in the first round before losing to top-seeded Mainland. Both Mainland and Ocean City are in the semifinals, Mainland against Winslow and Ocean City against Toms River East. If each wins,
Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan
JaQuan Mace and the Mainland Regional boys basketball team have won two straight state playoff games to put themselves into the South Jersey Group 3 semifinals. Mainland will host the championship game on Monday, March 4. SJG4: ACIT, Atlantic City and Vineland all lost in their opening round games. Non-Public B South: Wildwood Catholic took down OLMA in its opening round game and now hosts No. 5 Gil St. Bernards in Friday’s quarterfinals at 5 p.m. BOYS SJG1: Cape May Tech, the No. 9 seed, lost its opening round game to No. 8 Clayton. SJG2: Middle Township, Cedar Creek and Lower Cape May all lost their opening round games. No. 3 Pleas-
antville is still alive, having beaten Pt. Boro and Cinnaminson to reach a semifinal matchup at No. 2 Camden on Friday night. SJG3: No. 2 Ocean City took down Cherry Hill West in the opening round before losing to No. 10 Seneca. No. 3 Mainland is still alive, having beaten Camden Tech and Toms River East to earn a semifinal date with Seneca at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Linwood. SJG4: No. 10 Vineland lost its opening round game against No. 7 Cherry Hill East. No. 9 Atlantic City went on the road to upset No. 8 EHT in the opening round before the Vikings lost to top-seeded Eastern. No. 4 Millville is
still alive and will play Eastern in the semifinals on Friday at 4 p.m. Non-Public A South: Top-seeded St. Augustine Prep got a first-round bye then beat St. Joseph-Metuchen to reach the semifinals, where the Hermits will host No. 4 Camden Catholic on Saturday. Non-Public B South: No. 9 Holy Spirit went on the road and upset No. 8 Gloucester Catholic in the opening round, and now the Spartans must face top-seeded Wildwood Catholic in the quarterfinals on Friday at 7 p.m. St. Joseph also is in the semifinals, as it goes on the road on Friday to take on No. 4 Immaculata.
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GMS Law Assistant Coach Profile ZACH GIOVANETTI/MAINLAND REGIONAL WRESTLING
Giovanetti part of Stangs’ next generation Grappler getting back to his roots to help build up wrestling team By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer ne reason why Mainland Regional has so many successful athletic programs is because the Mustangs have a lot of coaches who were right where today’s students are now. They were athletes themselves wearing the Kelly green and white. Coaches such as Chuck Smith (football), Brian Booth (boys swimming), Dan Williams (boys basketball) and Jill Hatz (field hockey), among others. They all help tie generations of Mustangs together. Zach Giovanetti, one of Clayton Smith’s assistants in the wrestling program, is one of the next generation of former Mustangs who are working their way up the coaching ladder. Giovanetti grew up in Mantua and was part of the Clearview program during his middle school days, but moved to the Mainland area prior to his freshman year of high school. He had a good career with the Stangs, setting the singleseason pins record his senior year as a 160-pounder, but he only made it out of districts once. Before he graduated in 2008, District 32 was loaded with talented wrestlers and premier programs like Absegami, Buena and St. Augustine Prep. There were guys who didn’t make it out of District 32 who may have gone and placed at states had they been able to get out of districts. That’s how competitive it was a dozen years ago. “I wrestled for three years on varsity, but never really did a lot in districts. District 32 was really hard at the time — Absegami was really good, Oakcrest, St. Augustine Prep, and Buena was in the district — it was a crazy
O
Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan
Zach Giovanetti, right, is an assistant to Mainland wrestling coach Clayton Smith, left. Giovanetti is a former Mustangs wrestler who also competed for four years at Plymouth State in New Hampshire. district, it was like, ‘bring your 20-win record to districts and see what’s up.’ My junior year I had 20 wins and I was the sixth seed. It was nuts. My sophomore year, I was wrestling 189, and in the district was Mac Mancuso (Holy Spirit), Craig Capella (Absegami) and Bill Damiana (Lower Cape May) in the same weight class. So, I didn’t get out of districts until my senior year,” Giovanetti said. “My best friend, who’s now my roommate, Cliff Farrell, he was our 171-pounder. I was a senior and he was a sophomore 171, so it was pretty cool that we both made it out of districts. He went on to become a region champ. “It was a crazy good area at the time, and I’m happy to be back at Mainland,” he added. “When I was growing up
in the Clearview (youth) program we were really good, and my college team was really good, but my high school team wasn’t so great. So it’s cool to be back at Mainland and trying to help them get better. And that run we had a few years ago was really cool, to see us be good.” Giovanetti wrestled for four years at Plymouth State (N.H.) University, where he wrestled under Tommy Prairie. Prairie is now the coach at Washington and Jefferson College, and in his seven seasons there he’s sent 11 wrestlers to the NCAA Division III championships. Prairie, a Blair Academy graduate, also was a three-time D3 AllAmerican while at Williams (Mass.) College, and is a member of the New England Wrestling Hall of Fame.
“My college coach is the head coach at Washington & Jefferson University now, and he’s an amazing coach. I’m happy to have seen how he coaches kids because that’s how I want to coach them,” Giovanetti said. “He turned our middle-of-nowhere program (at Plymouth State) into a really good team, and Mainland is a team that doesn’t have a lot of history, so it would be cool to build one.” Giovanetti actually wrestled for one year under current Mainland coach Clayton Smith, who is in his second stint coaching the Mustangs. “Clayton was the head coach my freshman year. He’s had two stints as
See Giovanetti, page 23
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March 1, 2019 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 23 Giovanetti, from page 21 Mainland head coach, so the last year of his first stint was my freshman year. It’s cool to have him as the head coach again because he knows all the processes and everything that needs to get done, all the rules, and it gives me a lot of opportunity to teach the team and show them what’s going to work on this level, what will work on the next level,” Giovanetti said. “I wrestled for four years in college, and what a program needs is someone to come back and help out. The better programs, like Paulsboro, Absegami, they have guys who come back and help out. But we don’t have that many people who go on to wrestle in college, so it’s cool to be that guy who comes back to build something and help out. We have a great coaching staff. We have Smith and Antoine Lewis, who was a Division I football player and who con-
vinces as many kids as he can to come wrestle. It’s a really good dynamic.” Giovanetti said his philosophy as an assistant coach is pretty simple. He wants kids who want to put in the work to get better, and he, Smith and Lewis will do whatever they can to make sure a kid has every opportunity to succeed and grow in the sport. “I want to get these kids to get the most out of themselves. It’s hard to get a kid to want to do something difficult. You’re like, ‘hey man, this is going to suck the whole way and it might not work out.’ But when you win and you feel how good that is, there’s no feeling like that,” he said. “I’ve had two of our first-year wrestlers this year tell me this season has been life changing. They would say, ‘coach, I didn’t know coming in and getting my butt kicked could lead to something that was so satisfying.’ And it was cool because those were kids who didn’t have win-
ning records this season, but they want to come back and do better next year. That’s what I want to get out of kids, wanting to improve and come back for more to get better. You can have talented kids who don’t want to get better, but when you have kids who really want to get better, that’s how you get better as a program. We had kids this year who got their butts kicked all season but they want to go to camp, and they want to go to tournaments in the offseason.” Guys like Giovanetti and Lewis are helping to breathe some new life into Mainland athletics, along with the likes of Kelly Klever, who will be taking girls lacrosse this spring for the retiring Bernadette Daley. “We have a couple different groups of coaches who went to Mainland. You have Chuck Smith and Brian Booth, and they were coaches when I was in high school. And you have younger
people who have come along recently, like me, Lewis, Alex Weidman with girls soccer, Kelly Klever with lacrosse — we all went to high school around the same time and now we’re all coaching there. It’s cool, because when we were in high school Dan Williams had just started, and he went to Mainland. So we keep getting new people who went here and we know what the kids are going through,” Giovanetti said. “It’s like there are three different generations of coaches who all went to Mainland. For every sport, almost, you have somebody coaching who went here, and they get how much the kids want to beat Ocean City, or Holy Spirit. It’s local high school rivalries, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s cool when you can make that kind of connection with students.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
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SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: CONNOR BOAL, HOLY SPIRIT WRESTLING
Never stop grinding Boal battled injuries throughout his career but still become the first wrestler in school history to lead his team to four straight sectional championship match appearances By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer restling teaches a studentathlete about a lot of things, and one of the most important is that there are times when life has a way of kicking you in the gut, and it can keep kicking until a couple of ribs are broken. It’s in those moments when you find out what kind of person you are. Some can’t handle the tough situations and simply quit, while others use tough times to harden their resolve and get the most out of their body and talent. You can put Holy Spirit senior Connor Boal in the latter group. Boal spent a good portion of his high school wrestling career beat up, bruised, battered, injured — whatever you want to call it. But he never threw in the towel. He ended his career by making his first trip to the Region 8 Championships in February, and he can also hang his hat on this accolade: he is the only wrestler in school history who has wrestled in the sectional championship match four straight years. “Unfortunately for him, he missed the individual tournament his sophomore year because he had a concussion, and missed about a month of last season with another concussion,” said Spartans coach Ralph Paolone. “This
Senior 170-pounder Connor Boal went 29-12 this year and made it to regions for the first time in his career, where he went 3-2 and placed fifth overall.
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Glory Days Magazine photo/ Dave O’Sullivan
season, about a month ago, he had some elbow pain and it turned out he had a partial tear in his bicep. It bothered him, and it was painful for him to wrestle most days, but he’s a senior so he figured he would give it a shot.” “I really liked the program they had going on, and coach Ralph. I was excited (as a freshman) and it was a huge step forward, wrestling varsity as a freshman. It took about half a season to
adjust to it. Sophomore year I got hurt and missed the second half of the season, and junior year I got hurt again. This year was my last shot at it, so I had to give it all I had. I wasn’t going to let (the biceps injury) stop me this year, I just had to put that to the side and go,” said Boal, who started out as a 152-pounder and finished his career at 170. “(The mental aspect) is the challenging part. The physical pain is toler-
able, but you have to get over it in your head.” Five years ago, the Spartans had, well, a Spartan roster. It was basically Pat D’Arcy — who went on to win a state championship — and about five or six other guys in the room. Spirit couldn’t even fill out a roster big
See Boal, page 25
March 1, 2019 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 25 Boal, from page 24 enough to win dual meets, as they had to forfeit about half the weight classes. But coach Paolone wasn’t discouraged and he continued to try to get guys from the football team and other sports to come out and help the team. Holy Spirit started to expand its roster, and once the Spartans weren’t giving up all those forfeits they began to become a legitimate threat in South Jersey NonPublic B. They won three straight team sectional titles before falling in the championship match this season, and Boal was a big reason behind this recent success. “He’s just a coach’s dream in terms of dual meets. He had 29 wins this year, and almost all of them were by pin. And that was basically his whole career. He was a pin-or-be-pinned guy. He went six minutes in his two losses to Buena’s Jaden Roberts this year; his freshman year he might have gone six minutes once, sophomore year I’m not sure he did go six minutes, and last year he went six minutes once. And every year he’s won at least 15 matches, and this year he won 29. He was a guy who got us six points all the time, which is awesome. He’s certainly been big for us. I didn’t really know him that well as a junior wrestler, but he was good and he immediately had an impact. His freshman year, I think he pinned everybody in the Cape-Atlantic League,” Paolone said. “We’ve had holes in the lineup, and if you’re giving up 18 points you have to find where you can get those 18 points back. He was a kid
who always got us six, so instead of forfeiting three weight classes, you’re really only forfeiting two. I never worried about him getting us six points when he was wrestling. He’s a good kid, kind of quiet, but a great kid in the room and a captain this year.” This year, Boal, a Dennis Township resident, made it out of districts for the first time in his career, and in the opening round of regions, true to form, he pinned Oakcrest’s Elijah Gonzalez in the first period. That set up a third meeting against Buena’s Roberts, and a major decision loss sent Boal into the wrestlebacks. He won his next match before getting pinned by Mainland’s Jesse Bishop, but again bounced back in the 5th/6th match, pinning Woodstown senior Robert Parkell. He capped his career with a 29-12 senior season. “I’ll take what I got, but it wasn’t what I came for,” Boal said. “I had the flu that whole weekend of regions, so that took a lot out of me. But I had never made it out of districts my first three years.” Boal said he thoroughly enjoyed his time as a Holy Spirit wrestler. “It’s more like a family than a team, everyone is so close with each other. It was awesome, there’s nothing like it,” he said. “I don’t think anybody really saw (four straight sectional finals appearances) coming, but we have a really tough team. That’s something I’ll always think about. The kids on this team are all great.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Boal helped lead Holy Spirit to four straight sectional title appearances, and three championships, during his career.