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About The Cover
High school football players, coaches and fans got a sobering reminder in November that life is much bigger than the game they love. During Pleasantville’s state playoff game against Camden, shots rang out in the stands and several people were injured, including 10-year-old Micah Tennant. Micah died from his injuries sustained during a senseless act of violence, but the following week the teams completed the game and honored young Micah as best they could. Both teams were shocked, angry, heartbroken and grieving, yet the young men of Pleasantville and Camden came together and showed us what they are made of by facing a difficult situation head on. Dave O’Sullivan, Publisher
GLORY DAYS 2020 General Contact Information Phone: 609-788-4294 Email: advertising@acglorydays.com Publisher Dave O’Sullivan Email: sully@acglorydays.com @GDsullysays on Twitter Contributors Amy D’Adamo, graphic design Bill Lynskey, advertising sales Mark Trible, special football writer Giuseppe Ungaro, content editor Volume 7, Issue 15. (Issue No. 149) 2020 Glory Days Magazine LLC, all rights reserved.
Story Idea? Email sully@acglorydays.com or direct message Sully on Twitter, @GDSullysays
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headlines u PRESENTED BY BUNTING FAMILY PHARMACY u u New kids on the block: The ACBL playoffs are set to begin when the calendar turns to August, and there could be a new team crashing the party. Ocean City has been riding the pitching of guys like Tyler Mondile (pictured at right) and Ian Murphy to an outstanding Covid-19-shortened season, and we’ll soon see if Ted Khoury’s gang can hang with the stalwarts like Margate Hurricanes, Northfield Cardinals and Hammonton HotShots. This year the playoffs will be a little different than in years past, which featured three-game series in the semifinals and a five-game championship series. This time around it will be more like the NCAA College World Series, with brackets and a threegame championship series. u Football is back! Well, sort of: Cape-Atlantic League area football teams began working out on July 27 in anticipation of the 2020 season, but nobody knows for sure what the shortened season may look like (games are scheduled to begin in early October) or if it will even happen. For now, though, teams are starting to get their workouts in, following the proper safety guidelines, in the hopes that a two-month season can be played. u NJAC sacked: A few weeks ago The College of New Jersey pulled out of all fall sports in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, and earlier this week the conference followed suit, canceling fall sports for all its member schools. Sev-
eral other NCAA conferences have already canceled fall sports as the coronavirus continues to plague the United States. u Last time around: The Last Dance World Series, which featured 222 high school baseball teams throughout the state, will be completed on July 31 and the tournament has been a blessing to graduated seniors who lost their final season because of the pandemic. Read more about this story on Page 6, as well as
reaction from some Cape-Atlantic League seniors on Page 9 of this edition. u The 100 club: Mainland Regional rising senior Chase Petty continued his amazing summer by recently topping out at 100 miles-perhour during a Perfect Game showcase. The lanky right-hander has consistently thrown in the upper 90s this summer and has been skyrocketing up projected Major League draft boards.
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BASEBALL
‘Last Dance’ a resounding success By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer oly Spirit’s baseball program has a tradition where once the final out of the season is made the team huddles up for a few minutes. The departing seniors then walk back to the dugout as a unit to greet parents, grandparents and friends, get hugs and take photos while the underclassmen stay behind in the outfield. Coach Steve Normane says it’s the program’s way to honor four years of sacrifice, allowing the seniors the right to return to the dugout first. The Spartans seniors this year figured they wouldn’t get that chance when the 2020 season was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But a couple of coaches in North Jersey put together the “Last Dance World Series” as a way for this year’s seniors to get one last chance to take the field together, and by all accounts it was a resounding success. The tournament began in mid-July with 222 teams throughout the state, and the opening round featured regions of four-to-six teams. The teams would play three “pool play” games with the winners of each region advancing to a single elimination, Round-of-32 knockout stage. The tournament whittled the 222 teams down to two, as the North Jersey champion and South Jersey champion were scheduled to take the field on July 31 in Trenton in a pseudo “state championship” game. The Ocean City Region was made up of six Cape-Atlantic League teams including host Ocean City, Egg Harbor Township, Holy Spirit, Mainland Regional, ACIT and Millville. The teams weren’t specifically representing their high
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The Baseball Performance Center/Holy Spirit Spartans celebrate a walk-off win over Egg Harbor Township that helped the team win the Ocean City Region at the Last Dance World Series. Glory Days photo/ Dave O’Sullivan
schools and couldn’t wear their official high school uniforms, but most teams stuck to their original spring 2020 rosters. A few teams, such as Mainland, needed to grab players from St. Augustine Prep and St. Joseph — teams that didn’t enter into the tournament — to fill out rosters. Other CAL teams, such as Vineland, Buena Regional and Cedar Creek, played in other regions. “I’ve been working really hard during the time off to make the most of the time we had free to come out of this better and to get ready for school in the fall. I’m going to High Point University, and I was really focused during the time off to be ready when the time comes. Once we found out we were able to do this, we were all ecstatic. And we’re playing to win, we’re not just playing for one last time. That’s what coach (Rod) Velardi and all the guys on the team said, we really wanted to come out here and win the whole thing,” EHT senior pitcher Sean Duffy said after a regional victory. “On my way here today, I was looking out over the bay, and I was thinking, ‘this is awesome.’ I was thinking to myself that I’m so blessed to be able to do this, and I’m so happy this was put together so I can do this one last time with everybody.” Holy Spirit ended up going 3-0 to win the Ocean City regional, but then lost in the knockout stages to Williamstown. Still, it was a thrilling way for the Spartans to go out, as they scored a walkoff win over EHT in the second game of the region then beat Ocean City to punch their ticket to the Round of 32. The Spar-
See Dance, page 9
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July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 9 Dance, from page 6 tans tried to mount a late rally against Williamstown, but eventually came up short, losing 7-3. “I think they realized it there at the end as we were trying to get a rally going — we still had a shot to win this thing, it wasn’t a blowout — but I think it kind of clicked in their heads that this might be it. It kind of clicked in Justin’s head the last inning he caught that this might be the last inning he ever caught for us,” Normane said. “We’re just thankful we got to play in this thing. The people who put this together did it for the right reasons. The reasons are to watch those six (seniors) walk off in their uniforms one more time, so that was nice.” And the tournament did exactly what it intended to: It gave some deserving seniors one last chance to close their careers on a high note, and also gave fans a look at what might be to come next spring. EHT’s Dave Appolonia, a junior who got some time in 2019 as a sophomore, had a breakout Ocean City Region and certainly put his name out there as a player to watch in 2021, and the same can be said for Spirit’s Steven Petrosh, who had some big hits for the Spartans in their four games. We saw some outstanding pitching, too, from the likes of St. Augustine Prep’s Jackson Vanesko (who was playing for Mainland), Duffy of EHT and Matt Nunan of Ocean City. And guys such as Mainland’s Luke Mazur and Spirit’s Pat Oakes, seniors who worked their way into starting roles as juniors last year, each got one last big hit to end their careers. Mazur’s RBI single helped Mainland beat rival Ocean City, and Oakes — who had struggled at the plate in the first three games of the tournament — finished his career with a booming double to right-center against Williamstown in the final at-bat of his career. The normally reserved Oakes, who is headed to St. Joseph’s University to study accounting, cracked a smile and saluted his teammates when he reached the second base bag. And that moment right there was the reason people worked for months to bring this tournament to life. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
“I said, ‘you know what, this is my last one so I might as well end on a good hit.’ I got a good pitch I like, drove it to right-center, where my power is, and it felt good. I’ve spent my whole life playing baseball, so it felt good getting to that second-base bag one more time as a high school player. I always have all my teammates and fans here to cheer me on, and that growl from the dugout was awesome to hear from second base. It was definitely a good feeling. It felt good to end on that last big hit.” Pat Oakes, Holy Spirit senior 2B (on hitting a double in his final at-bat) “I’m just thankful we got to play in this tournament one last time. These boys are forever going to be my brothers and I wouldn’t have wanted to play with anybody else. This has been great. Everybody had doubts about us, even in our region, and we came in and swept it.” Justin Jimenez Holy Spirit senior C “When I heard this tournament was going to be a thing I knew I needed to be a part of it. My family was saying, ‘Luke, you need to play because we want to see you play one more time.’ I’ll never play baseball again after this, so I hopped right in. We got to play Ocean City one last time, so how could I turn that down? We came out here and got one last ‘W’ against them with all my boys.” Luke Mazur Mainland senior 3B
Glory Days photo/Dave O’Sullivan
ACIT’s Tony Santa Maria, an Iona recruit, is one of many South Jersey seniors who got one last chance to play high school baseball in the Last Dance World Series.
“All we could do (the past few months) was hope, and I never thought we’d be able to play again. About half our team (from last year) is out here on the field, but we’ve also had a lot of new guys step up and they’ve found their place here. I’m proud of them, and proud of all the guys. Having people come out and support you feels great, too, especially with everything that is going on. Thank God everybody is safe and can come out here and watch us play the game we love.” Garrett Smith, EHT senior OF “It was awesome to have this opportunity, and ‘thank you’ to everyone who put it together. I never thought I’d be able to put on an EHT uniform again. With the crowds and the great weather, it was a great opportunity.” Bobby Baxter, EHT senior OF
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VIC’S SUBS COVER STORY
Unity over violence A playoff game shooting in the stands and the death of a boy rocked the Pleasantville and Camden communities, but players and coaches showed their mettle in the aftermath By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer hris Sacco stood alone for a long time on the manicured Lincoln Financial Field grass on a beautiful late November afternoon as his Pleasantville Greyhounds warmed up prior to the completion of their state playoff sectional semifinal game against Camden. Emotions swirled inside his head as he tried to figure out how to get his team to erase a 6-0 deficit and beat the Panthers with only a little more than one quarter of play left. But the Xs and Os were lost in the fog of everything that had happened since the previous Friday night. On that night, Pleasantville was beginning to gain
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momentum and wear down Camden late in the third quarter when the frenzy of a high school state playoff game was suddenly replaced with a different kind of frenzy — the kind where fans were running for their lives after a series of gunshots rang out. Several men from Atlantic City were accused of taking a personal matter public and injuring three people during the shooting, including a 10-year-old boy named Micah Tennant. Eventually, players and coaches were both sent home as police were now faced with a crime scene at a high school football field. The incident sent shockwaves throughout the South Jersey football community and for several days nobody was really sure
Story of the Year what would happen with the game. Would it simply be canceled and Cedar Creek awarded the Central Jersey Group 2 championship, or would it somehow resume? And if so, where? Pleasantville and Camden players and coaches had a decision to make, too. Did they even want to continue playing? Did they feel safe enough to go back out onto the field? “For me, at the time, I was really just worried about the well being of my teammates and my family in the bleachers, and everybody at the game. I just wanted everybody to be safe. It didn’t take me long (to recognize what was happening). A few shots in and I knew it wasn’t fireworks or anything like that. I was
See Unity, page 11
July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 11 Unity, from page 10 just running off instinct at that point. Where we live it’s kind of common, but I didn’t think it would happen at a football game,” said Pleasantville senior running back Joshua Kotokpo. “Once we got into the school we were just trying to calm everybody down. It was getting kind of hectic in there and the atmosphere felt unsettled. Nobody felt safe, everybody was panicking. We let the guys have a little bit of space but we kept telling the younger guys that we’re there for them and we’ll make sure everybody is safe. “We came together and said we had to finish this out,” he added. “Football is more than just a game for us, we’re trying to make a way for our families. It’s like business for us, so we had to take care of it.” “Going into the game, the game plan was that we had to just weather the storm. They have athletes over there. Camden always has athletes. We never thought something like that was going to happen during the game — espe-
See Unity, page 12
“They are a great group of kids, from both teams. The way they handled themselves — knowing them, I wasn’t surprised that they were mature enough to handle a situation like that. And it was the same for the Camden kids, I thought they did a phenomenal job. ... it’s not something you ever prepare for, but I think both programs and both groups of kids really handled the situation as best as they possibly could.”
Chris Sacco Former Pleasantville coach
Page 12 w Glory Days Magazine w July 30, 2020 Unity, from page 11 cially in a game like that, the playoffs, we had just won the conference championship by beating Buena, so all our minds were focused on winning that game and going to states. Then that broke out, and it really shattered us because we felt like we did everything right, we stayed out of trouble, we stayed off the streets. A lot of us look at football over here as a way out, and for that to happen at a game of that magnitude, it was bad,” added Pleasantville senior linebacker Ernest Howard. “It was the day (the game resumed), that next Wednesday, when we found out (that Micah died). That was really hard. I walked out onto the field (in Philadelphia) and just sat there for about 30 minutes. I was thinking, what if that kid
wasn’t there at the game, would it have happened to another kid? What would have happened? That’s all I kept thinking about it.” The Philadelphia Eagles stepped up to provide their stadium as a safe place for the game to resume, with only media and family members of the players allowed to attend. The game was set to resume the following Wednesday afternoon, and on the way to the stadium Greyhounds players found out that young Micah had died from his injuries. It was a tough pill to swallow, and the weight of that knowledge was too much, as the Panthers scored a couple of touchdowns to beat Pleasantville and advance to the sectional title game. “Obviously that’s never something you want to go through, but the kids handled themselves in a very mature manner and they stuck together. There’s no
blueprint or manual for how to handle a situation like that, and I thought the kids stuck together, the program stuck together, and it was very important to know that we were all there for each other in a time like that,” said coach Sacco, who stepped down after the season and now is the head coach at Absegami. “I try not to think about it too much or talk about it too much. It’s one of those things you’re never going to forget, and those memories will never leave, but you just continue to move forward. You feel terrible about the situations and for the families that were involved. Your heart breaks for Micah’s family. I don’t know how you continue to move on. I guess the best
See Unity, page 13
Glory Days photos/Dave O’Sullivan
Pleasantville senior linebacker Ernest Howard switched from his normal jersey No. 2 to wear No. 10 against Camden, in honor of 10-year-old Micah Tennant, the young boy who died after being shot at the Greyhounds’ state playoff game against the Panthers.
July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 13 Unity, from page 12 way is to continue to be there for the kids. I still reach out to a lot of the players and they know I’m there for them, and that’s the best thing you can do, continue to keep those relationships alive moving forward.” Nobody ever wants a tragedy like a little boy dying to happen, but as grim as the situation was, it also provided an opportunity for South Jersey football fans to see the true character of the Pleasantville and Camden football programs. Both schools are in cities that are no stranger to gun violence, but the young men on these teams proved that they could not only handle an adult situation, but be an inspiration for change, hopefully, in their respective towns. “We’re around shootings sometimes in Pleasantville. Somebody in a family takes the wrong road. We’ve seen it before, but when it happened at a football game, that was something different,” Howard said. “We figured out that (we were going to continue the game) real fast though, we knew we wanted to play. We didn’t want to quit. We tried to conquer the moment. It was hard, but I was really proud of my teammates for playing. We knew we were playing for something different. The outcome had nothing to do with the score, we didn’t think about that. We just wanted to finish the game and finish strong. That’s what it was all about.” “At the beginning of the day we came to the school and we were talking about how we were going to win for Micah. But before we left they let us know that Micah died. Everybody was sad. Some people didn’t show it, but a lot of people were emotional. But we just tried to stay calm and keep working on taking care of business for him. I was proud that we fought so hard, but I was also disappointed that we couldn’t pull it off for him,” Kotokpo said. “We’re here for each other. We build together; we go through a lot together, the whole team. We showed how strong this team has gotten the past couple of years and how much of an impact this program has had on us.” Added Sacco, “They are a great group of kids, from both teams. The way they handled themselves — knowing them, I wasn’t surprised that they were mature enough to handle a situation like that. And it was the same for the Camden kids, I thought they did a phenomenal job. That Wednesday when we went up to the Linc and just talking to their coaches and how they handled the situation — it’s not something you ever prepare for, but I think both programs and both groups of kids really handled the situation as best as they possibly could. “It was a very difficult couple of days but it was good to see some smiles on their faces when they got to meet Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz and some of the other Eagles players,” he said. “Just seeing them light up in the locker room before the game, and running out onto the field with the smoke and everything, it was a really cool experience for them. We have gratitude to the Philadelphia Eagles for doing that, and more than anything it was nice to see the kids smile and get excited for a couple of minutes because it was a very emotionally draining week for them.” Coaches always look for ways to impart “life lessons” on their players. Obviously this was not the kind of life lesson any coach wants to use as an example of overcoming hardship, but the Pleasantville and Camden teams responded as well as anyone could have expected given the circumstances. “I think football is a great life tool. It prepares you for things you’re going to face in life. You never want to face an incident like that, but it brings people together. This sport brings people together and tough times brings people together,” Sacco said. “All the work they’ve put in over the years — you always want to win games, but you’re always more proud of what they do off the field than what they do on it. That will always hold true for me, as a coach. We want to see them be successful men more than we want to see them win games, and that’s saying a lot because we want them to win a lot of games and championships. But that’s not the most important thing in high school sports. Seeing these kids become successful and move on to do what they want to do with the rest of their lives is by far the most important. “It was a unanimous ‘yes’ that they wanted to go back out there and finish that game. That didn’t surprise me, knowing that group of kids and what they wanted to try to achieve. It was a tough moment, for sure.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Glory Days photos/Dave O’Sullivan
Philadelphia Eagles players such as Jason Kelce greeted players’ family prior to the resumption of the state playoff game between Pleasantville and Camden at Lincoln Financial Field.
Players like senior lineman Jewel Banks were emotional as they left Lincoln Financial Field following the resumption of the state playoff game between Pleasantville and Camden in late November.
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Glory Days BOYS SENIOR of the Year ERNEST HOWARD / PLEASANTVILLE / FOOTBALL
Hunger, passion, pride Howard has all the attributes of a winning football player, and he put them on display every Friday night By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer ome people are just born to become leaders. Recent Pleasantville High School graduate Ernest Howard is one of them. The Glory Days Magazine Boys Sports Senior of the Year displayed not only talent, toughness and fortitude on the football field for the Greyhounds, but became their rock in the locker room after one of the most tragic incidents the South Jersey football community has ever seen. During the Greyhounds’ hard-fought state playoff game against Camden in late November — with
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Pleasantville trailing just 6-0 late in the third quarter and a chance to go to the sectional championship game on the line — shots rang out in the home stands. Three people were injured that night, including a 10-year-old boy named Micah Tennant. The game was stopped, the stands cleared, and eventually several suspects were brought into custody. The game resumed the following Wednesday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia as the Eagles stepped up to help provide a safe environment for both teams. That morning, as the Pleasantville players were en route to Philadelphia, they learned that young Micah had died from his injuries. Howard, the team’s cap-
tain, had already decided to switch his jersey from No. 2 to No. 10, in order to honor Micah, and the news put an even heavier weight on his shoulders. Camden eventually won the game and advanced to play Cedar Creek in the Central Jersey Group 2 title game, but Howard and his teammates earned the respect of players, coaches and fans throughout the state by doing what they had to do to finish with they started, despite playing with heavy hearts that no teenager should ever have to. “He really did a great job of leading. The team worked together to get through that, but he took the lead on a lot of the issues, he wore No. 10 for Micah. He kind of took the bull by the horns with some of that. He’s going to be very successful at Sa-
See Howard, page 15
July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 15 Howard, from page 14 cred Heart, we don’t have any question about that. He’s mature, he works hard in the classroom, and he does everything off the field that helps him become successful on the field,” said former Pleasantville head coach Chris Sacco, who this spring was hired to replace Dennis Scuderi Jr. as head coach at Absegami. “When you look around at the best leaders on teams, it’s not always the best players, it’s the guys who put in the most work and the other guys see that and feed off that. He’s one of those guys who the other players were able to look at how hard he was working and they worked just as hard. That’s what makes the team raise its level. We had a lot of guys who worked hard. They work hard and the rest of the team sees that, then they want to work hard. That’s how you become a good program.” “We’re around shootings sometimes in Pleasantville. Somebody in a family takes the wrong road. We’ve seen it before, but when it happened at a football game, that was something different,” said Howard, a linebacker and Sacred Heart University recruit. “We figured out that (we were going to continue the game) real fast though, we knew we wanted to play. We didn’t want to quit. We tried to conquer the moment. It was hard, but I was really proud of my teammates for playing. We knew we were playing for something different. The outcome had nothing to do with the score, we didn’t think about that. We just wanted to finish the game and finish strong. That’s what it was all about.” Howard said he knew it meant a lot to Micah’s family that he was wearing that No. 10 jersey, and he wanted to make them proud. “It was a big risk because I couldn’t go out there and look bad,” he said. “I felt like there was pressure on me. But the family loves me, they came to my graduation party and we always talk on the phone. We have a good relationship, regardless of how the relationship came to be, it’s still a good relationship.” While Pleasantville’s season didn’t end with a championship, Howard certainly made a name for himself in the
Glory Days photos/Dave O’Sullivan
Howard will continue to make Pleasantville proud in the coming years as he takes his talents and leadership abilities to Sacred Heart University. season-and-a-half he played in the maroon and white after transferring over from Mainland Regional. That’s where he got his start under the tutelage of Mustangs assistant coach Antoine Lewis, a former defensive lineman at Villanova. “Mainland was a stepping stone for me. Coach Antoine Lewis is going to be my guy for a long time, he got me into the weight room really early and I appreciate him for that. But I think me coming to Pleasantville and playing with the guys I grew up with really made me into the player I am now. I really started getting good my junior year and things are taking off now with some new opportunities,” Howard said. “I’m most proud of being consistent. I knew (senior year) there was a big target on me. After sophomore year I started getting really consistent, I was in the gym every day. For me, I just love the process of football. I’m more motivated about that than the actual game.” Howard became an absolute monster in his senior season, serving as Pleasantville’s main short-yardage running back while also playing middle linebacker and earning a reputation as one of the toughest defensive players in South Jersey. He rarely came out of the game, either on offense or defense, and even late in games, playing both sides of the ball, coach Sacco would call Howard’s number if the Greyhounds needed to punch it in on 4th-and-goal
from the 1-yard line. “Having coached him for two years, you know if the game is on the line he’s the guy who you want to be able to call his number. Early on we had a couple guys who we felt comfortable doing that with, but he was definitely the biggest in terms of his physicality and late in the game he’s not the guy you want to be tackling when you’re tired. It paid off early in the year against Salem, he did it against Cedar Creek, he helped us run the clock out against Buena. I’m just as proud of all the other guys as I am of him, those guys helped us win a lot of games,” Sacco said. “It goes back to all the hard work. It’s not something that happened a few weeks before the season, he busted his butt for eight months before training camp. Like a lot of our guys, he worked hard in the offseason to get bigger, stronger and faster and that’s the reason why he was successful.” “Honestly, I just think that I can’t quit, I can’t give up,” Howard said, referring to those late-game pressure situations. “People are counting on me and I know I worked out for this, I have to finish strong. You have to be a dog, that’s how it is when you’re playing linebacker. Nine out of 10 times it’s just mental toughness, those consistent workouts, running at night, running in the morning — stamina is what the second half is about. And our whole team had that, it wasn’t just me.”
Howard knows there is plenty left to improve in his game and he’ll get that opportunity at the next level, where he’ll be going to college for free — and securing a scholarship was important to Howard because he didn’t want to cause extra financial stress for his mother, Keisha. “There’s always more room to do better. But I started from a little freshman at 160 pounds to senior year at 205 and clashing heads every play, averaging 10 tackles a game and stuff like that, it was definitely a good career. But it always could have been better,” he said. “My mom is definitely proud of me and happy that she doesn’t have to pay for school for me. It was perfect, being able to go to school for free and let my mom be stress free is the best thing about it. I’m really ready. I can’t wait.” Howard is leaving Pleasantville High behind, but during his time there he became one of the most notable role models in the school, finishing his academic career on a high note as well as his athletic achievements. “I just tried to connect through regular life and not just football. I tried to see what was going on with them at home and just show that I care,” Howard said of his leadership style. “I never really thought about being a role model, but to see people appreciate me for what I’ve done really means a lot to me.” “He’s right at the top of the list when it comes to guys I’m going to talk about (to future teams). He’s a great kid. Him, guys like Josh (Kotokpo) and Keon (Henry), who are going on to play college football, I wish all of them the best. They worked their butts off for us for years,” Sacco said. “For him to come in and have to sit part of his junior year, he was hungry right out of the gate and I think that helped drive him. Being around some of the guys the year before, like Elijah (Glover, Villanova), Jabril (Shakur, Monmouth) and Mohamed (Toure, Rutgers), he worked out with them a lot in the offseason and that fed into his hunger, and on Friday nights he was able to take advantage of that.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
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Glory Days GIRLS SENIOR of the Year ABBEY FENTON / OCEAN CITY / SOCCER / BASKETBALL / LACROSSE
The long road to the top Fenton worked her way up from JV to state champion By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer y the time Abbey Fenton graduated from Ocean City High School a few weeks ago hers was a household name. As the Red Raiders’ girls lacrosse goalie the past three years she led Ocean City to sectional championship game appearances in 2018 and 2019, as the keeper for the girls soccer team last fall she helped orchestrate a 24-1-1 season that ended with the program’s first state championship, and in basketball the Red Raiders won another South Jersey title this year. Fenton enjoyed the fruits of her labor and local stardom, garnering postgame interviews on a regular basis and having her photos plastered all over the internet from various high school sports media outlets throughout South Jersey, and the state. But it wasn’t always that way. A few years ago she was a junior varsity soccer and basketball player — and Fenton says she was OK with that. She used her time on the lower levels to figure out what it was going to take in order to make an impact on the varsity squads, and in a time of instant gratification, Glory Days Magazine’s Girls Sports Senior of the Year took the long road to the
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Glory Days photo/Dave O’Sullivan
Abbey Fenton, a 2020 Ocean City High graduate, played soccer, basketball and lacrosse during her career and was part of 220 wins during her four years with the Red Raiders. top, and it paid off handsomely. During her four years of high school (and even though she wasn’t on varsity all the time in the three sports she played) Red Raiders teams she was a part of went an eye-popping 220-52-5, won five Cape-Atlantic League titles, five South Jersey Group 3 championships and an overall Group 3 state championship. “Freshman year I was just coming in with an optimistic view. You’re coming in and starting over again at the bottom of the totem pole, so I kind of just wanted to take my freshman year to feel out each team I was playing on. In soccer, I was mostly on freshman and JV, in basketball I was mostly JV,
and in lacrosse I started varsity. So it was kind of a view of each level with all the different sports I played and that gave me an idea of what I had to do to get to the varsity level in soccer and basketball. Freshman year was definitely a good insight to see what it was going to take at the varsity level, and that’s what I needed to have the later impact on all the teams I played for,” said Fenton, whose older sister, Nicholl, was a field hockey star at Ocean City and now plays at St. Joseph’s University. “Lacrosse is probably my favorite sport and I had the most impact from the beginning in that sport. We went pretty far in the playoffs all three years and my sophomore and junior
years we made it to the South Jersey final, which was the first time we ever did that in girls lacrosse. And soccer, with the state championship — I think those two sports were where I made the most impact.” In her final season as Ocean City’s starting goalie in soccer, Fenton proved herself to be one of the best keepers in the entire state. She and the Red Raiders’ defense allowed just nine goals all year, the team went 24-1-1 and posted a perfect 6-0 record in the state playoffs that included a dominating 3-0 win over a very highly touted Ramapo team in the state championship game.
See Fenton, page 17
July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 17 Fenton, from page 16 Fenton nearly always came through in big games for Ocean City, as in basketball she hit some huge 3-pointers that helped the Raiders beat rival Mainland in the South Jersey final this year, the third time in four years they had taken down the Mustangs in the sectional championship. “It’s definitely really cool to get to play in those types of games. Not many people get to make it that far, the crowd is always big and it’s a great environment. It feels really good to be able play in so many of those games and win some of them, because not many people ever get to do that. I do look back and I’m thankful for that. It’s so cool,” she said. “When you get to that late in the season it’s about having a lot of confidence. It starts in the beginning of the season as you prepare for those types of games. Those are the games you want to be at, and when you get there you tell yourself it has to be your best game of the season if you want to keep playing. Everyone wants to win a South Jersey championship and I knew I had to come up big, so I just focused more and had a lot of confidence going into those big games. I think when you have a lot of confidence, in any sport, you’re bound to perform better.” Fenton said coming through in the clutch is all about the ability to focus in the moment and push the pressure aside. “It takes a lot of focus. I see that in both soccer and lacrosse — you might not see a shot for a good amount of time, and then you see one, so you have to focus on each play. It’s all about the mindset that you’re going to make the first save, and if I was able to save the first shot I saw I would have a lot of confidence throughout the game,” Fenton said. “In those championship games the energy is high and you want to perform your best for your team, so it’s all about taking it one play at a time and making sure you’re ready, because it can come down to just one shot. That’s how I looked at it.” Fenton said that what made all that winning so special is the way in which it was done. She had to earn everything she got, as coaches such as Kelly Halliday, Paul Baruffi and Alyssa Morrison are not the type to just hand out starting
Glory Days photo/Dave O’Sullivan
With Fenton as part of the Ocean City girls basketball program, the Raiders won 98 games and three South Jersey championships the past four seasons. spots if a kid hasn’t earned that right. “I would say, overall, that I’m pretty happy with the way my high school career turned out. This year was special in its own ways with soccer and basketball. As I look through my years, I think I progressed the way you want to as you go through your high school career,” Fenton said. “I look at soccer and I’m thankful for the opportunities I got on the freshman and JV levels because I think it pushed me to become better, and we ended up winning a state championship. A lot of people look at playing on the freshman or JV levels as a bad thing, but I think it was a really good thing for me. It helped me progress in many ways. I think I had a successful career and that’s all I can ask for. I made so many friends and memories, so I’m very thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had at Ocean City High School.” The crowning achievement of Fenton’s illustrious high school career certainly was the state championship won by the soccer team in what turned out to be a dream season that may never be equaled in school history. “When I think back to the state championship game, it’s so hard to find the words because that was such an amazing experience just to be in that game, let alone win it. I find myself staring at the pictures and I still can’t believe
we won the state championship,” she said. “We just had that mindset going into that game that we had made it to the state final, so we might as well play our best game and try to win it. Everyone thought they were going to be better than us — and they were a great team — but we just thought, why not us? We worked so hard the entire season and we deserved it just as much as anybody else. We knew they were going to be good, we just had to play our game, and I think we played it really well. That was such a cool, amazing experience and I think that was one of the best moments of my high school career. Everyone wants to win a state championship, that’s the dream. And to get it my senior year with a great group of girls, that was just an awesome experience. It honestly still doesn’t feel real now. I find myself thinking about it all the time. It’s crazy that we won a state championship and I’ll be able to look back on that and be like, ‘wow, that really happened.’” Fenton will be off to Cabrini University in Radnor, Pa., this fall to play lacrosse and study to hopefully become a kindergarten teacher one day. Chances are her new friends at college will soon tire of all her stories about Ocean City sports, but she’ll keep telling them because that school, and that town, have made
such a profound impact on her life. “I’m definitely going to remember the state championship in soccer the most. That whole season we did so many team bonding activities, and I think that’s one of the reasons we were so successful, because we were so close,” Fenton said. “Coach Halliday made sure we were always together doing things and that made us a stronger team. And everything from that state championship day — we had to wake up at six o’clock in the morning, one of our teammates almost missed the bus. Those are the things I’ll remember most, the bus ride there. The game was kind of a blur, it’s the before and after that I’ll remember most. I’ll remember that forever, and that’s one of my favorite memories from all the years I’ve played sports. The ride home was crazy. We started to get closer to home, the energy was building, we got a police escort over the 9th Street bridge. For people who never get to experience that, it’s crazy. There were people lined up on the bridge. It was an amazing feeling. The community was so great the entire time and I think it brought a lot of people together. I wish I could experience it again right now. It was awesome.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
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Glory Days GIRLS ATHLETE of the Year KYLEE WATSON / MAINLAND REGIONAL / BASKETBALL
Undeniable legacy Watson one of the best athletes area will ever see By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer he best is most likely yet to come for Kylee Watson, and that’s a scary thought. Glory Days Magazine’s Girls Sports Athlete of the Year had perhaps the greatest girls basketball career in South Jersey history, and her time at Mainland Regional High School could just be a stepping stone to a long basketball career. She was getting NCAA Division I offers before she even graduated from eighth grade. After her freshman year in high school she earned a place on USA Basketball’s U16 national team and competed for her country in Brazil. As a senior she was set to show her skills at the Jordan showcase in Chicago before it was canceled, and was a McDonald’s All-American — the first in school history. Oh, and how about all those other firsts in Mainland history? She was the first girls player to record 2,000 career points and finished as the school’s alltime leading scorer while also grabbing 1,000 rebounds. She also helped lead the Mustangs to the first overall state championship during her junior season. What makes what Watson — the daughter of former Cedar Creek football coach Tim Watson and Mainland girls basketball assistant coach Courtney Watson — did even more impressive is the fact that she faced double-team defenses her entire career, and sometimes teams threw three and four defenders at her.
T
Glory Days photo/Dave O’Sullivan
Mainland basketball star Kylee Watson, a University of Oregon recruit, finished her amazing high school career with more than 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. She completely dominated South Jersey for four years, leading the Mustangs to four straight South Jersey championship game appearances, two appearances in the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament title game, a victory in the 2019 CAL final, a sectional championship and a state title. She was also one of the most recognizable and sought-after high school athletes in New Jersey throughout her career and was interviewed by media after nearly every game she played. Oh, and to top it all off, the University of Oregon recruit just happened to be named the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year in 2020. “For my money, she’s the best basketball player — male or female —
who has attended Mainland Regional High School,” said Mustangs coach Scott Betson. “The thing that anybody who knew her will walk away with is just how outstanding a kid she is to go along with all those accolades. Her humility, saying and doing the right things all the time with a huge target on her back all four years, that stuff never seemed to really affect her in any meaningful way. That’s a testament to what a great kid she is. Everybody knows what a great basketball player she is, but she’s such a great human being on top of that.” And it was directly because of Watson that Mainland got to play in so many big games the past four years. Mainland was invited to the Seagull Clas-
sic the past two seasons, one of only a few girls teams that got to play in that prestigious tournament hosted by Holy Spirit. As a junior, Watson guided her team in the Score at the Shore Tournament, and during her career Mainland played teams from Florida, Texas and New York, not to mention in-state powers such as Rancocas Valley, Gloucester Catholic, Manalapan, Notre Dame, Lenape and Toms River North. During her career, the Mustangs went 99-19 overall and 46-2 in the CapeAtlantic League National Conference. Their only two losses were to arch rival Ocean City, which seemed to be a thorn in Mainland’s side every season. The Red Raiders beat the Stangs in three of the last four sectional championship games. But even still, Watson played very well in nearly all those games and it took huge efforts from Paul Baruffi’s teams to pull out close wins. “It was pretty cool seeing all that. There’s a lot to that. Obviously, she’s a presence unto herself, but one of the things I tried to drive home to all the girls during her career was that they were playing in games that not a lot of high school girls get to be around. Not only the championship games, but even the other ones we played in the regular season that were big-time matchups that had a lot of people there to watch,” Betson said. “My point I was trying to drive home to them is that most girls play their high school careers and never get to be in an atmosphere like that. A lot of that is a testament to the program and having a lot of strong players around Ky, but obviously Ky was a huge part of that. And the kids really embraced that. Wins or losses, they knew they got to play in
See Legacy, page 19
July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 19 Legacy, from page 18 some special games that they might not have otherwise.” “I think numbers-wise, she understands all the records she broke and how huge that was, and being a McDonald’s All-American, getting invited to the Jordan Brand Classic — she understands. But it was the little things she would do that made her such a great player,” said lifelong friend and Stangs teammate Madi Hafetz, also a 2020 graduate. “People say your character shows on the court, and it definitely did with Kylee. We weren’t the most-liked team and we kind of had a target on our back, Kylee especially, but the way she handled herself the past four years — I’ll keep saying it, it was the little things, the little pep talks, that was big for me. She always gave me more confidence. She doesn’t even know how impactful she has been.” Even opponents were left in awe — while they were playing against the 6-foot-4 forward. “Kylee is such a great player and an even better person. Just to be able to play against her was something in itself. And being able to beat them was great because they are such a big rival. We split during the regular season, and to come back and beat them (in this year’s South Jersey final) in their gym was awesome. Playing against Mainland in the South Jersey final, there’s something special about that,” said Ocean City senior guard Abbey Fenton. “She’s amazing. I’ve known her since fourth grade and we’ve played against each other and on the same team. We’ve always been good friends. The things she does are crazy, she’s such a good athlete in all different types of ways. The way she passes the ball, the way she can score — she can do so much on the court. Playing against her, sometimes you find yourself watching her go to work and you’re thinking, ‘wow, she’s a special basketball player.’ I know her future is so bright at Oregon and I can’t wait to see all the big things she does.” Watson could have had her pick of any number of highly touted private high schools to attend, but she chose to stay home and leave a legacy at Mainland. “I don’t feel like I deserved to have
a player like her. There’s nothing about my coaching acumen or background that demands a kid like that. It was just dumb luck, and I’m super fortunate and appreciative to coach a player like that,” Betson said. “And I’m appreciative of her for making it such an enjoyable experience. I would think that when you’re dealing with a player who is that talented that there would be a lot of headaches to go along with it, but Kylee was never a headache or a problem. I guess the best words are I’m appreciative to have had this opportunity.” When asked about what Watson has meant to Mainland basketball, Hafetz didn’t have to struggle for words to describe her impact. “Whenever people ask me about Ky, my go-to answer is she is so much more than basketball. I’m biased because I’m her friend and I’ve known her since before she was a big star. There were things she would do that were so subtle but so impactful. Little things here and there in practice. The biggest star on the team who gets the most hype, she gave us the most hype. She was always there for pep talks in the locker room. In the beginning of this season we had three tough games after Cam got hurt and Ky and I got together and we were like, ‘what do we think the rest of the girls need to hear right now?’ And Kylee was like, ‘OK guys, we’ve got this. Let’s play for one another and let’s have fun.’ It was the little things that made Kylee who she is,” Hafetz said. “In 10 years I’ll see her on TV or she’ll be winning (an Olympic) gold medal, and I can be like, ‘she’s in my phone, I can call her right now.’ All the work she puts in behind the scenes has always been so inspiring. She got the best gene pool she could have gotten, so she got lucky with that, but she has put in so many hours behind the scenes and that was so inspiring to watch. Some people walk the ball back after a rep, and there she is sprinting so she can get more reps in. It’s been such an honor to watch her grow from us playing at Our Lady of Sorrows and me tripping over her feet when we were 8 years old, to being 18 and finishing our careers together.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
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Glory Days BOYS ATHLETE of the Year MALACHI “MAX” MELTON / CEDAR CREEK / FOOTBALL / TRACK
Family tradition Dominating high school football in South Jersey was in Max Melton’s DNA By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer hen the 2018 NJSIAA state playoffs began, the Cedar Creek football team was a respectable No. 5 seed and went on the road in the opening round to face No. 4 Pleasantville. The upstart Greyhounds shredded the Pirates, 57-0, and the game wasn’t even close before the halftime hot dogs were even done cooking. Malachi “Max” Melton — the third in a series of brothers who helped define what Cedar Creek football has come to be known as the past decade — left the field that night with a sick feeling in his stomach. He said something was just off that entire season with the Pirates, who normally are one of the top teams in South Jersey Group 2 and a yearly sectional championship contender. When that season ended, and the nauseous feeling finally subsided, Melton and his fellow junior teammates set about getting back to the drawing board. They didn’t want to go out as seniors with another 4-5 record and a first-round playoff flop. They wanted to go out as champions. “It was more of a sick feeling than being mad. I think that’s the worst loss I ever had in my life, and that goes for a lot of our players. And not just that game, but the whole season in general. The vibe was off and we just wanted to close the year out — but definitely not in that type of fashion. But we came back and did our thing this year, and that was pretty fun,” said Melton, Glory Days Magazine’s Boys Athlete of the Year. Melton, who originally committed to Purdue University before switching to Rutgers to join older brother Bo, said he and the other seniors knew they had to work harder than ever to finish strong in the 2019 season and bring home another sectional title. “Me and the guys — we had about 13 seniors — knew what it would take to get to the championship but we didn’t really know what it took to win
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Glory Days photo/Dave O’Sullivan
Malachi “Max” Melton had a tremendous year for Cedar Creek in 2019 and helped lead the Pirates to a Central Jersey Group 2 championship. one because we had never won it before. We went to it our freshman year but we didn’t win it, so we just took control. We were coming off a junior season where we went 4-5, one of the worst records in school history, so we just had a chip on our shoulder with every team we played,” he said. “It was really just revenge/The Greatness Getback, which was our mantra this year. Our senior class just took it. A lot of people doubted us, but we just stuck to the system and stuck to our game plan. If you buy into that with coach Watson and the rest of the coaches, you’ll be straight.” Melton was a one-man wrecking crew for the Pirates on both sides of the ball, playing everything from defensive end to safety to wide receiver, running back, quarterback and kick returner, and helped lead Cedar Creek to one of its best seasons ever — a 10-3 mark, a Central Jersey Group 2 championship and a berth in the NJSIAA’s new “bowl” game. Their season came to an end with a loss to a highly talented
Hillside team at Rutgers University in December, but not before Melton solidified his family’s legacy in Egg Harbor City. It all started in the season opener, when Melton — who had primarily played defensive back throughout his career — switched to mostly defensive end and helped Cedar Creek score an impressive win at home over a very good Willingboro team. A few weeks later, the Pirates came up a point short against traditional power Camden, but Melton went off as a receiver, racking up 180 yards and four touchdowns. He helped the Pirates come back from a huge secondhalf deficit in what turned out to be one of the most entertaining games of the year in South Jersey. “That was crazy. I just looked at Louie (Barrios) and gave him a head nod and he knew. I ran the same post routes and go routes into double coverage, but
See Melton, page 21
July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 21 Melton, from page 20 it was like, ‘what do we have to lose? We’re down by 28.’ We just ran deep routes. We didn’t have time to waste because it was the fourth quarter and we were down by 28, so just throw it up,” Melton said. “The first one was a hook, I broke three tackles and scored, and the next one was a hitch, it was just one-on-one coverage. The third and fourth ones were just straight go routes and I was like, ‘just throw it up over the top of the safety’ and Louie trusted me. Somehow I got up over the top of the safety. Everybody thought the game was over, but the next thing you know you see cars start to come back. That was lit.” With Melton leading the way, Cedar Creek posted some really impressive wins. Two weeks after that tough loss to Camden, the Pirates went on the road and rallied to beat Woodrow Wilson, 29-28, in a game nobody thought they could win. They went on the road and beat Oakcrest; they thumped Delsea Regional at home; they blasted Bernards, 50-10, in the state playoffs and got some revenge on Camden, beating the Panthers 31-23 to win the sectional title. “I never even pictured my senior year being like it was. I pictured it being good because we’re Cedar Creek and we always want to do well, but we just took it to a whole new level — me, Louie Barrios, Manny Reid, Aaron Richardson, Tyler Hendrickson — we all just fully bought into the system and that’s what helped us win a lot of games,” Melton said. “Even the games people thought we were going to lose. People thought we would get blown out by Camden the first time, and against Woodrow Wilson people definitely thought we were going to get blown out, but we knew how to chop those teams down. We knew they had Division I athletes everywhere, but that was alright. When you look at it stats-wise, height-wise, weight-wise, we were overmatched by a lot of those teams, but our mentality and what was bred into us put us over the top. “It was about leaders,” he added. “Leaders are such a big part of your team. Coaches can give you everything but the players have to do it. My eighth grade year, I saw juniors on that
team be leaders and that led them to a state championship. The coaches can give you all the tools they can, but if you don’t have the leaders on the field applying that day after day, it can go downhill. I think that’s what was so special (about Cedar Creek). You don’t have to have the biggest team, but if you have the right mindset you can go get the job done.” Melton credits head coach Tim Watson — who also coached older brothers Gary and Bo — as well as the rest of the coaching staff with turning Max into the player he is today. “When I think about my career at Cedar Creek, I think about coach Watson and everything he put us through for the betterment. He ran the team like a college program. A lot of the stuff I’m doing up at Rutgers we did at Cedar Creek, and at a lot of high schools you don’t get that,” Melton said. “So when it came to the mental part of the game, the fundamentals, our team mantra — you really have to buy into that because there were a whole lot of games since my freshman year that were really close and a lot of the time it was our mentality that put us over the top and made us one of the best teams in South Jersey. I feel like the mental part of the game took us to a whole other level under coach Watson.” Melton, who also was one of South Jersey’s best track athletes during his career, already is enrolled at Rutgers, having graduated from high school early back in December. He’s taking with him a trunk load of great football memories from Egg Harbor City, as well as some good advice from coach Watson. “I’ll think about my family and my brothers, not such much me, really. I’ll think about Gary and Bo because they set the bar. I didn’t really exceed their offensive stats, but I made an impact in different ways, like on special teams and defense. No. 16 is a memorable number (at Cedar Creek),” he said. “Coach Watson said before I left (for Rutgers), ‘keep E.A.T. (Effort, Attitude, Tenacity) in your system and you’ll be fine.’ So I’ve just been eating every day and picking things up fast. I’m excited for the future.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
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Glory Days BOYS SCHOLAR-ATHLETE of the Year DREW DEMORAT / MAINLAND REGIONAL / FOOTBALL
demorat delivered LB helped usher in new age of Mainland football By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer few years ago Mainland football coach Chuck Smith, who was in his second year after coming over from Oakcrest, told a group of talented sophomores that they were going to have to take their lumps as part of the Mustangs’ rebuilding process. Many of them probably weren’t ready to be thrown into the starting lineup, but Smith needed to get those players experience under fire in order to be successful in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The plan was a risky one, but it certainly has paid off. After two 1-9 sea-
A
sons to start his Mainland career after a highly successful stint at Oakcrest, in the past two years Mainland has completely reversed its fortunes, going 182. In order to make a turnaround like that, a coach needs to have dedicated, smart players who are willing to buy into what he’s selling and believe that they can become a championship caliber team. That sophomore class two years ago featured eventual stars such as safety Brandon Batz, cornerback Amir Vick, linemen Ben Arena and Sean Bradley, and linebacker Brayden Pohlman. It also featured a guy who would become perhaps Mainland’s most consistent
and talented defensive player, linebacker Drew DeMorat. DeMorat — Glory Days Magazine’s Boys Scholar-Athlete of the Year — was the centerpiece of one of the best defensive resurgence projects we’ve seen in South Jersey in quite some time. With him leading the way, the Mustangs turned 1-9 into 9-1 in 2018, and repeated that last fall, winning a pair of West Jersey Football League division titles in the process. “It’s kind of crazy to look back. I talk about it all the time with my teammates. We came in freshman year and the varsity team didn’t win a game until the very last one. Our freshman
team, we won every game and had a bunch of fun playing together. That was one of the most fun times I’ve had playing football. But then the next year, moving up to varsity, we won one game again, but we knew we had the core group of guys that if we stuck together and stuck with it — the one thing we always had was that determination. We never thought that we were going to lose a game. We always had confidence, even though my first two years we didn’t show much. We knew we could beat teams and go on to do something great,” said DeMorat, a Le-
See DeMorat, page 23
July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 23 DeMorat, from page 22 high University recruit. “Us coming up through it, our friends would occasionally make jokes about how we weren’t doing well and give us a jab every so often, but when junior year hit we were like, ‘watch out, this year we’re going to do something.’ For them to start seeing us winning games, it changed the whole school. Everyone wanted to come see the game Friday night. The student section is always there, win or lose, but it made it so much better to be winning games and after the game we take off our helmets and sing the alma mater. We weren’t hanging our heads anymore when we were singing that, we were all excited and jumping around. It was a complete 180. It’s a great feeling to come back Saturday morning and watch a game on film that we’re winning, and not just taking lumps.” Coming off the 2018 turnaround, South Jersey football fans weren’t sure if Mainland was for real or if it just got lucky with one good season. DeMorat and his teammates proved that this was no passing fancy, as they worked even harder to repeat their success in 2019. The Mustangs jumped out to an 8-0 start, including wins over some quality
teams such as Cherry Hill West, Clearview and Ocean City. The only blemish — and it was a big one — was a 2114 loss to Ocean City in the opening round of the state playoffs, a week after Mainland had beaten the Red Raiders 21-6 in the regular season. Still, turning 18 losses in two years to 18 wins in the final two years of his high school career was big for DeMorat, he said. “It’s a pretty big accomplishment. It’s crazy to think about how drastic the change was and how quickly we did it. I really look up to head coach Chuck Smith, and a few years ago there were people from Linwood, Northfield and Somers Point going to St. Augustine Prep and Holy Spirit, but now everyone coming up wants to come to Mainland,” he said. “They want to be a part of the team and the new culture of winning and doing well, winning division championships and making the playoffs. He told us this year that he started some of us seniors when we weren’t ready to start, but he knew getting that experience would give us the bricks and the confidence at a young age so that when we started to mature, get older and get bigger, we were going to be good and be able to win games.” And there were plenty of memories
made along the way. “I’ll always remember the moment when I scored a touchdown. It was at an away game so there weren’t that many fans there, but that was a surreal moment. I had a pick-6 against Cherry Hill West,” DeMorat said. “The game that really stood out for me, though, was against Clearview this year. My junior we played them and we were up by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but they came back and beat us. So this year we knew we had to be tough. It was a really good game, we scored with about a minute left to beat them, and that was the best game I ever had. I set a school record with 21 tackles.” Football takes a huge commitment of not only time but physical fitness and mental toughness. DeMorat was able to transfer those kinds of attributes to the classroom, where he finished his academic career with a 5.0 weighted GPA. He had just two marks of a B his entire career — one in Advanced Placement English as a junior and one in AP Calculus as a senior. Other than that, it was straight A’s across the board. “It takes a lot of time, especially during the season. You’re getting home at like eight o’clock from practice, but you just have to have a routine. For me, that was big. I did better (with my
grades) when we were in season because I procrastinate sometimes, but when I was in-season that made me do my work as soon as I got home. In the offseason I would always think I had time, but then I would run out of time and have to cram stuff in,” DeMorat said. “It really helps staying focused. In sports I’m always going to try my best to go hard and never take a play off, so I didn’t really see why it would make sense to go easy in school and not go as hard as I should.” DeMorat will soon be off to begin his college football career and study engineering, but he’ll never forget his roots in Linwood, the place that turned him into a Division I prospect. “I grew up in Linwood and I live right down the street from the high school, so Mainland has always been a part of my life,” he said. “I’m always going to bleed green and look back at all the friends I have from Mainland football, and the school in general, that I’ll have for the rest of my life. That Mustang logo, the helmet — just all of it. It’s a big part of my life and I’m never going to forget it.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Drew DeMorat was one of the best linebackers in South Jersey during his final two years of high school and plans to continue his football career while studying engineering at Lehigh University. Glory Days photos/ Dave O’Sullivan
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Glory Days GIRLS SCHOLAR-ATHLETE of the Year ANGELINA POLLINO / ABSEGAMI / VOLLEYBALL / BASKETBALL / TRACK
Self motivated
Pollino took it upon herself to have an impact in three sports at Absegami while maintaining a 4.0 GPA By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer ete Pollino says he and wife Lisa haven’t had to do much to motivate their two daughters, Angelina and Sarina, whether it comes to school work or athletics. In fact, Pete said all they had to do was “just add water.” It sounds like an overly simplistic approach, but Pete is adamant that everything Angelina — a 2020 graduate of Absegami High School — has accomplished has been because of her own drive and determination. Glory Days Magazine’s Girls Scholar-Athlete of the Year was robbed of the chance to defend her Cape-Atlantic League high jump title this spring, as the track season was wiped out due to Covid-19, but she made a huge impact throughout her career in four sports — volleyball, basketball, winter track and outdoor track. And she did it all while carrying a 4.0 grade-point average. It’s no surprise that a young lady with that kind of motivation already has the next few years of her life planned out, as soon she’ll be reporting to San Antonio, Texas, to begin boot camp for the Air National Guard. After that she’ll return home to Galloway to study criminal justice at Stockton University. “She’s a great kid who has always worked hard. I coached her for some years, but all her coaches would always say she worked hard, the first one to be there and the last one to leave, that type of thing. She played all different sports (when she was younger), and she has a great set of wheels. That helps in any sport, when you’re fast, and she grew to be tall,” said Pete Pollino, general manager of Bennett Chevrolet in Egg Harbor Township. “When it came to Angelina, she played lots of different sports growing up as we tried to expose her to everything. The one rule was she had to play basketball because I always found that to be the hardest sport, so if she could do
P
Glory Days photo/Dave O’Sullivan
Angelina Pollino came back to the basketball court her senior year and helped lead the Braves to 17 wins and a spot in the sectional semifinals. basketball she could do anything else. It really was nothing on our part — we just added water and she did the rest. And her grades — I didn’t even know GPAs went that high. Myself and my wife, Lisa, are just very glad with what she’s been able to do, and now she’s on to the next chapter of her life in the Air National Guard. Hopefully she’ll get a good job, make lots of money and live a better life than us.” What’s even more impressive is Angelina had no volleyball experience before entering high school and limited track experience, and yet she became a league champion in track and helped the Braves’ volleyball team to a 22-3 record and a conference championship in 2019, and an overall record of 87-23 the
past four years. “I never really played volleyball until my freshman year, so that was pretty nerve wracking, but I had amazing coaches and teammates and we really became like a family. Basketball has always been my main sport, I’ve played that since I was about 5 years old. One of my really good friends from middle school played volleyball, and her older sister played. I knew I wanted to play a fall sport so I figured I would try it out,” Angelina said. “It was different, but with the help of my coaches I saw myself and my teammates improve so much, more than I expected
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July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 25 Pollino, from page 24 to, and I knew my senior year we’d be unstoppable. And that’s pretty much what happened, the stands were filled every single game. Halfway through the season I switched positions from middle hitter to outside hitter — one of our outside hitters had a softball tournament, so they threw me in at the CAL Tournament, and everything just clicked. I wish I could have played there all four years, but who knew? “It was a lot of working out because it’s a different kind of fit than either basketball or track,” she added. “I had to work a lot on myself, but my coaches were amazing. I never expected to pick up a sport as quickly as I did with volleyball.” She was hobbled by an ankle injury during her sophomore basketball season and as a junior she decided to take a year off from the hardwood in order to get stronger and more fit, and that decision paid dividends, as she won the league high jump championship as a junior, and as a senior in basketball she was a key member of a Braves team that went 17-11 and advanced to the South Jersey Group 3 semifinals with a pair of heart-pounding playoff wins. She even hit a game-winning buzzer beater during the regular season against district rival Cedar Creek. “I missed basketball this year. I knew I couldn’t play a sport since I was 5 and not go back and finish it out. I’m so glad I did go back, we had a really good season. (The playoffs) were really cool. You can’t even describe the feeling you get when you’re behind the whole game and then in the last three minutes, out of nowhere, we came back and took the lead. And it really was a team effort — every single girl on the team contributed to those wins. There’s not one person who didn’t do something to help us win those games,” she said. “We played Cedar Creek at home and we were down by two points with seven seconds left. For most of the season, (coach Bob Lasko) would put me in the corner to shoot a 3-pointer if we needed it because I was good with those shots. So we called a timeout, coach Lasko drew up a play on the whiteboard, Gianna (Hafner) brought it up and Iggy (Crandell) set a screen
“I was lucky enough that most of my coaches were teachers, so they were good about understanding that school work came first and they would always want me to make that my priority. And I had very good teachers, as well.” Angelina Pollino for her. They passed it out to me in the corner, I shot it and it went in, and everybody started screaming. I think that was the most nerve-wracking moment of my life. It was so cool. I think that was my favorite basketball game ever. I thought the shot was way too far and I thought it would be the most awkward thing if it didn’t go in.” Pollino was versatile in basketball, showing the ability to play either guard or forward, and in volleyball she played both middle hitter and outside hitter during her career. But in track is where she really showed every aspect of her athleticism. “I’ve tried almost every event. I’ve done the 100 meters, the 4x100, the 100-meter hurdles, the 200, the 400, the 800, the 4x4, the javelin, discus, long jump and high jump,” she said. “I think during meets I wasted more energy going back and forth between events than I actually did competing. It was pretty chaotic.” Spending all that energy in three sports certainly made it challenging for Angelina to keep up such high grades, but she credits her teachers and coaches with helping her navigate through such a heavy work load. “It was a lot and there were nights, like coming home from a far away game or meet, when I’d have to stay up really late doing homework, or sometimes I’d have to go a few minutes late to practice to stay after with a teacher to work on something. But I was lucky enough that most of my coaches were teachers, so they were good about understanding that school work came first and they would always want me to make that my priority. And I had very good teachers, as well, so as long as you put in the time you can make it work,” Angelina said. “If another student-athlete came to me and asked for advice (on how to handle it), I would tell them to have a very open relationship with their teachers and coaches. That was the most helpful thing for me. If I had a good relationship with
my teachers they would do anything to help me, especially when they know you are a busy athlete and your schedule is not as open as everyone else. The coaches are also understanding, but you have to want to do it because it is a lot of work. If you don’t have the drive, it’s not going to work. But if you do, and you make the time, it’s 100 percent possible.” “We just sat back and she would get all A’s, from kindergarten, and she played three sports. We didn’t have to do a lot with this kid,” her father said. “Her and her sister are both excellent athletes, get great grades, and they drive themselves. We’re blessed that they care about those things. My wife made sure these kids were in bed and fed, and she gave them discipline at a young age with going to bed on time and eating right, and all those things. Angelina is a great kid with a big smile and infectious attitude. She’s amazing.” As for picking the military as the starting point to her career, it seems like a natural fit for someone with that kind of self motivation. “She picked this all on her own. A lot of her studies were in the magnet program (at Absegami) that has a lot to do with government work and homeland security, so this seems to go in line with her career down the road,” Pete said. “She’ll have a five-year commitment of one weekend a month and two weeks a year, and she’ll be right here at the FAA in Egg Harbor Township. She can pick any state school for free. She wants to live at home so she’ll go to Stockton and work here at the 177th, and I think that will probably consume the next few years of her life. At 18 years old it’s tough to have a career path, but I think she’s picking a good one. Government work is pretty good. I don’t even know how to spell pension.” “In September I leave for boot camp and I’ll be serving in the Guard component of the Air Force. My detail is
military police. I’ll be gone for about six months in San Antonio, Texas, and once I come back I’ll be working at the 177th base and going to college at Stockton,” Angelina added. “I’ve always been really interested in law enforcement and criminal justice, and I did the magnet program at school for homeland security, and that definitely sparked my interest. In 10 or 15 years from now I hope to have a good job and I’ve always wanted a big family. I’d love to be able to coach my own kids, like my dad did for me. That really made a big impact on me and that shaped me into who I am today. He was harder on me than the other kids.” Pete said he believes his younger daughter has a chance to have the same impact at Absegami, and that’s saying a lot considering all that Angelina has accomplished. “I grew up in the age when we were all three-sport athletes. We hoped that for (Angelina), but we didn’t think she’d be able to max out with varsity letters in three sports all four years, so that was pretty exciting for us,” said Pete, a three-sport athlete himself at Absegami and a 1986 graduate. “Hopefully her younger sister, Sarina, will do the same thing. She’ll be a freshman at Absegami. I don’t want to say she’ll be better, because Angelina accomplished a lot, but she’s a pretty formidable athlete in her own right.” Angelina said she just hopes her sister is able to have the great experience she did during her time on Absegami’s campus in Galloway Township. “The best thing about going to Absegami was I think the whole environment,” Angelina said. “I always wanted to go there because my dad did. The Friday night football games, the pep rallies — there was always such good energy around and such a high spirit level. All the sports teams support each other and there was such a big support system. I think that made it easier to get by. High school can be a hard time, everyone has their own personal battles and problems, but having that big support system helped me get by and I hope it does for everyone else, too. I know me and my friends probably wouldn’t have made it without that.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
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Glory Days STORIES of the Year
A near-perfect season for Red Raiders Staff report Each year in July, Glory Days Magazine takes stock of the previous school year and we bring you the best that we saw on the playing fields, courts and in the pools from throughout the Cape-Atlantic League. Here’s a quick look at some of the top stories from throughout the 2019-2020 school year. 1. Story of the Year: See our Vic’s Subs Cover Story on Page 10 to read about the story we thought had the most impact this year, the Pleasantville vs. Camden football state playoff game that was interrupted by gun violence, and how the players from both teams responded to a situation that left a 10-year-old boy dead. It’s a story of tragedy, but also of triumph that the young men from those teams were able to overcome very difficult emotions to continue what they had started, and finish the game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. 2. Crowning achievement: The Ocean City girls soccer team took South Jersey by storm last fall, winning 18 of their first 19 games. Their only loss was 2-1 to Rancocas Valley in the fourth game of the season, and the Raiders tied RV later in the season, in the Coaches Cup title game, before falling in a shootout. Those, however, were the only blemishes as the Raiders finished 24-1-1, won the CapeAtlantic League National Conference title, the overall CAL championship, a South Jersey Group 3 crown and the overall state championship. 3. Super Stangs: Whatever is going on at Mainland Regional High School, Mustangs fans just hope it keeps happening. The school’s football team completed a second straight 9-1 season, and that’s even more impressive considering in 2016 and 2017 Mainland combined to go just 2-18. Mainland also had two state players of the year, Kylee Watson in girls basketball and Katie McClintock in girls swimming. They probably would have had another, but star swimmer Destin Lasco, a University of California commit, chose not to compete during the high school season. It’s
Glory Days photo/Dave O’Sullivan
The Ocean City girls soccer team was nearly perfect in 2019, winning 24 of the 26 games it played and also capturing the Group 3 state championship. not out of the realm of possibility that Mainland could produce two future Olympians, as Watson has already competed for USA Basketball’s U16 team and is headed to the University of Oregon, and Lasco could be a contender for the 2021 or 2024 Summer Games. Oh, and not to be forgotten, senior cross country runner Kevin Antczak, an N.C. State commit, took second overall at the 2019 Meet of Champions. 4. Covid-19 pandemic: First, the global virus put an end to some exciting state basketball playoff runs by the Ocean City girls and Atlantic City and St. Augustine Prep boys, then it wiped out the entire spring sports season. Seniors throughout the state who played spring sports were denied their final chance to shine, although some sports tried to do what they could to get their athletes back onto the field one more time. Baseball’s “Last Dance World
Series” was a huge success that involved more than 200 teams from throughout New Jersey and played more than 400 games over the span of a few weeks. 5. Gone too soon: Legendary Holy Spirit football coach Bill Walsh lost his battle with ALS last November, but his death seemed to inspire his beloved Spartans, who went on to win the first state championship under current coach A.J. Russo, who had a lifelong friendship with Walsh and his family. The Spartans left no doubt who the best team in Non-Public Group 2 was, as they blitzed rival St. JosephHammonton 38-0 in the championship game at Rutgers. 6. Celebrity tour: It kind of seemed like the Wildwood Catholic boys basketball team had gained celebrity status this winter, as the CruSee Raiders, page 27
July 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 27 Raiders, from page 26 saders played in all kinds of big games and showcase events. The Crusaders finished the year 24-7 and were on an eight-game winning streak when the coronavirus pandemic shut down their state playoff run. 7. Here to stay, it seems: Wrestling fans have embraced the idea of girls wrestling, as the sport is beginning to gain a foothold in New Jersey. This year saw another great NJSIAA state tournament at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City featuring the girls, and no doubt the sport will continue to grow in popularity in the years to come. 8. Saved by the bell: A month or two ago it seemed as though Wildwood Catholic and St. Joseph-Hammonton might shut their doors for good due to lack of funding from the Camden Dioces of the Catholic Church, but the schools have been able to stay
open thanks in large part to huge fundraising efforts. 9. Pitch perfect: Soccer fans were treated to a thrilling season last fall, as both Oakcrest and Egg Harbor Township boys teams made thrilling runs to sectional championship games. Oakcrest also captured the CAL Tournament title as Gabe Paz, Glory Days’ Boys Soccer Player of the Year, scored both goals in a 2-1 overtime thriller over St. Augustine Prep. 10. Still going strong: Longtime Millville field hockey coach Claudia McCarthy, who has been the skipper since the 1970s, says she’s set to retire after the 2020 season. It appears she has a lot left in the tank, however, as her Thunderbolts won the CAL American title in 2019, beating out perennial powerhouse Ocean City, to record one of the best seasons of McCarthy’s career. Coaching this fall would give McCarthy a nice, even 50 years in the books.
Glory Days photo/Dave O’Sullivan
In the spring, St. Joseph and Wildwood Catholic faced possible closure, but massive fundraising efforts have saved both schools, at least for now.
snapshots LAST DANCE WORLD SERIES