Page 2 w Glory Days Magazine w Oct. 30, 2020
About The Cover
I
f you thought last year’s state championship-winning Holy Spirit football team was good, this year the Spartans are off the charts! Senior running back Patrick Smith has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in the first four games and Spirit is simply pounding its opponents. They beat a tough St. Joseph Academy squad 18-6 in the season opener, and on the season have scored 122 points while surrending just 33. During a two-game stretch against Cedar Creek and Vineland, the Spartans outscored those opponents 62-7, and Smith rushed for more than 600 yards! Flip over to Page 10 of this digital edition for more on the Spartans. Dave O’Sullivan, Publisher
GLORY DAYS 2020 General Contact Information Phone: 856-336-2600 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 8, Issue 3. (Issue No. 152) 2020 Glory Days Magazine LLC, all rights reserved.
Story Idea? Email sully@acglorydays.com or direct message Sully on Twitter, @GDSullysays
Oct. 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 5
headlines u PRESENTED BY BUNTING FAMILY PHARMACY u u Hobbled Hermit: The St. Augustine Prep football team lost perhaps its best player to a knee injury, as senior left tackle Jake Ketschek (pictured) will miss the remainder of the season. The Hermits are 2-1 and have a really tough schedule coming up, including games against Williamstown, Holy Spirit and Lenape, all teams that are ranked in the state’s Top 20. u Sacked by coronavirus: A multitude of high school football programs throughout the state have been forced to shut down because of positive COVID-19 tests on campus, including Hammonton and Washington Township. u Last of the unbeatens: The Cape-Atlantic League went to four divisions in soccer this year and that change has favored some, as there are a couple of teams still without a loss as we near November. On the boys side, both Oakcrest (8-0) and Ocean City (6-0) have unblemished records, while St. Augustine Prep is 7-0-1. The Hermits also handed EHT (7-1) its only loss. On the girls side, only Millville (7-0) Middle early on and has surrendered just two and Ocean City (5-0-1) have yet to suffer a loss. goals all season, both against Mainland in a 3-2 Ocean City played to a scoreless tie against win over the Stangs. Unfortunately, because
of a shortened schedule, we won’t get to see Ocean City take on Millville during the regular season.
Page 6 w Glory Days Magazine w Oct. 30, 2020
FOOTBALL
A new approach to recruiting EHT’s Amir Dunn decided to take matters into his own hands and go on a months-long social media blitz to get college offers By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer mir Dunn is the classic late bloomer. Always an athletic kid, Dunn bounced around from Holy Spirit to St. Joseph-Hammonton and finally to his hometown school, Egg Harbor Township, where he enrolled as a junior. He hadn’t played any varsity football to that point, but Eagles coach Kevin Stetser knew he had a diamond in the rough. Dunn starting becoming a standout player about halfway through last year and really finished the season strong. This offseason, he really got after it in the weight room and now the linebacker/receiver is 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. Still, with only a handful of performances on tape from his junior year, recruiters weren’t exactly knocking down his door. Dunn said he knew he had to take matters into his own hands, and beginning in the spring he began posting his Hudl.com highlight videos all over Twitter and reached out to every coach who put up a tweet about looking for players. For a long time, nothing but crickets. But as the 2020 season began to come around, so did the recruiting calls. So much so that now Dunn has nearly double-digit offers and likely will get the opportunity to attend college for free on an athletic scholarship. “I grew up in Atlantic City most of my life. I started out at Holy Spirit and then St. Joseph, and I was just looking for a home and I found that here at EHT. They were very welcoming, they took me under their wing and have treated me like family. This is where I felt was the best fit for me,” Dunn said. “Last year was my first year playing varsity and I was just trying to make a name for myself. I wasn’t known and there were starters in place here, and it was just a dog-eat-dog environment, I was going out there trying to prove that I deserved to be a starter, and that’s what happened. I worked hard and proved I was able
A
Glory Days photo/Sully
Amir Dunn, a senior linebacker and receiver at Egg Harbor Township, didn’t get his first college scholarship offer until late this summer, but now he has nearly 10 offers after an aggressive social media campaign to get noticed by college coaches. to be a starter. “This past offseason I just wanted to get myself out there,” he added. “Senior year was coming, I had a strong junior year and got a lot of film. My goal was to get myself out there and get recruited by college coaches, and it’s starting to come along.” “When we got him last year, he had gone to a couple different schools, but from the moment he got here we felt like he was a good fit for us. And he felt like we were a good fit for him. He’s been aces, he really has,” Stetser said. “He came in last year as a junior and hadn’t really played any varsity football because he moved and had gone to different schools. He came out and played safety for us early but then we ended up putting him at the Sam linebacker position, and by the end of the year he was clearly one of our best players. And that’s grown from not only
one of our top players, but one of the top players in the area. He’s a worker and a good kid, you’re not worried about what he’s doing, and he says the right things to his teammates. “He acts the right way and practices the right way. We’re a big fan of the kid. He’s an awesome young man.” Dunn said it wasn’t easy to remain hopeful when for so long no college coaches were reaching out to him, and he knows other guys are going through the same thing. But he said you just have to believe in yourself and not give up on the process, and be proactive. “It’s never going to be a good start, so guys have to
See Dunn, page 9
Shore Hardware has you covered!
CHECK OUT ALL OUR PHOTOS AT OUR PHOTO WEBSITE! YOU CAN ALSO PURCHASE REPRINTS, KEEPSAKES AND MORE!
GLORYDAYSONLINE.SMUGMUG.COM
Oct. 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 9 Dunn, from page 6 keep their heads up. I started my junior year and it’s a long, hard road. Nobody said it was going to be easy. And kids need to take school seriously because a lot of (college) coaches are looking at that. Coaches will look at your film, but if you don’t have the grades it’s not going to matter. So, you just have to keep your head up and keep tweeting at coaches, even if you feel like it’s not working at first, just keep doing it. I had moments where I saw everybody else getting offers and I felt like, what’s taking so long (for me)? It wasn’t my time yet, but you can’t stop a star from shining. A star is going to be noticed by somebody, eventually,” Dunn said. “It was amazing (getting my first offer). I remember getting the phone call and talking to the (Ithaca College) coaches. I was laying in bed just waking up, and after I got that first phone call I just went to work, continuing to build up more strength and speed, and reaching out to coaches daily. Even if you don’t get a response, that shouldn’t stop you from reaching out. Eventually they will see you.” “It took a while, even just to get my first offer. But after I got my first offer more coaches started reaching out, and I got a second, third and fourth offer. Honestly, when the season got here, I haven’t been focused on that, I’ve just been focused on the team and this season. What blessings come along will come,” he added. “It’s a building process. Some guys want to get an offer right from the start, but it’s not about that. You have to keep working and show them that you belong at their college. I know I just have to keep working. You come to the field and work every day, and as more schools start to offer then you have to take into consideration what you want to major in and what the education part of it will be like. A lot of things take a role in what makes you commit to a certain school. Me, personally, I just want to continue to keep working and showing coaches what I have to offer.” In an age when social media is the downfall of so many young athletes, it’s interesting to see high school players beginning to realize the power they have with their smart phone in their hands. And coach Stetser said, he had
Glory Days photo/Sully
With Dunn leading the way the Eagles have posted seven wins the past two years, including six wins in their last nine games. no problem with Dunn being so active on Twitter and reaching out to coaches on a near-daily basis. He knows Dunn is the type of kid who is going to use social media to his benefit and not let it become something that brings him and his dreams down. “That’s how he handles his business. You trust a kid like that (on social media) and he’s done nothing but show us that trust is warranted. Last year, if he had a bad game or a bad day in practice, he owned it. He was the first one out there the next day wanting to do better. And if we had a down point in the season he was the first guy to pick the other guys up. And it’s genuine, it’s not forced. It comes out naturally to him and the other kids respect that. We’re thrilled to have him because he’s an awesome kid,” said Stetser, who is in his seventh year as head coach at EHT. “We want to win games and we want to teach these guys the game of football,
but our main focus at this school and in this program is to use football as a vehicle to a better life. Are you going to use the things your coaches teach you about hard work and dedication and do that? If you can, that’s something. And some guys can’t afford to go to school without football — but by the same token, once you get to a school, you have to handle your business or they’re not going to keep you. There are so many things you can gain from football, and we try to teach these kids to use it as a vehicle to better your life in as many ways as possible.” Dunn said he credits his mother with keeping him on the right track, and he intends to do whatever it takes to get to the next level while also keeping his mom’s checkbook stashed away in her pocketbook. “I have to give it to my mom, she always tells me that if you want something, you have to go out and get it on
your own. There’s not always going to be somebody there to help you, so if you really want something you have to go get it yourself, so that’s been my mentality. If I want something bad enough and if I want to get myself known, I have to do whatever it takes,” Dunn said. “Playing in college is everybody’s dream and some guys aren’t as fortunate as others. A guy like me, coming from a background where I didn’t have both parents growing up and I didn’t have the money to go to camps. Being the type of kid who came up through the mud and had to keep working, it’s an amazing feeling to know that I’m about to go to college, and I’ll be wanted somewhere. That’s an amazing feeling.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Page 10 w Glory Days Magazine w Oct. 30, 2020
VIC’S SUBS COVER STORY
RUNAWAY TRAIN Nobody has been able to contain Patrick Smith and the Holy Spirit offense (oh, and the Spartans’ defense is pretty good, too) By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer fter a 22-19 loss to arch rival St. Joseph in early November last season, Holy Spirit ripped off four straight wins to finish the year 8-4 and state champions in Non-Public Group 2. The Spartans dropped 54 and 50 points, respectively, in playoff wins against St. Mary-Rutherford and Hudson Catholic, blanked Atlantic City 27-0 on Thanksgiving, then proceeded to dismantle St. Joe,
A
38-0, in the state championship game. The Spartans might be even better this year. So far, through four games in the COVID-19shortened 2020 season, Holy Spirit is 4-0 and has allowed only Pleasantville to score more than a touchdown. The defense has been lights out, and the running game has been so prolific that junior quarterback Trevor Cohen could probably take snaps from a swiveling office chair and just hand the ball back to either Patrick Smith or Devon Lee. Head coach A.J.
Russo laments the fact that his wide receivers are getting overlooked, but when you’re cranking out more than 300 yards per game on the ground, there really isn’t much reason to throw the ball all that much. “The rushing attack has been a surprise. I knew we had the ability to be balanced with throwing the ball and running the ball, but when things are hitting on all cylinders with the running game you don’t really need to do anything else,” Russo said. “Trevor has been throwing the ball, on average, about nine times per game and it’s a shame because we have some good receivers. Elijah Steward is probably one of the best receivers in South Jersey, Gavin Roman has been pretty darn good and Jahmir Smith had a big game against Vineland. So, we have capable receiv-
See Spirit, page 11
Oct. 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 11 Spirit, from page 10 ers, but when you don’t really have to throw it you just keep running the ball. When you run the ball and play good defense, good things happen.” The Spartans’ running game has gotten a big boost from a pair of transfers, Jadyn Crewe (6-foot-2, 250 pounds) and Jesse Bartlett (6-3, 285), both juniors. Crewe grew up in Absecon before moving out to Las Vegas in 6th grade, and had been playing at Bishop Gorman, one of the top prep schools in the nation, before coming back to New Jersey this fall, and Bartlett is a transfer from Pinelands Regional. Those two have teamed with the likes of JaShon Teller, Justin McNulty, Javian Magee, Tyler Peterson and Joe Calvi to form one of the more productive offensive lines in South Jersey this season. “We had a lot of kids coming back, so we had a lot of experience, and we had two transfers come in on the offensive line as well. Early on they were just starting to gel and right now it seems they are hitting on all the notes,” Russo said. “Jadyn Crewe moved in from Las
Vegas and he played at Bishop Gorman. They weren’t having any football (this fall) in Nevada, so his parents shipped him back here and he’s living with his grandmother.” The big key to the running game, however, has been Patrick Smith. He had a great junior year last year that led to a scholarship offer from Colorado State University, and Smith has been showcasing this fall why he’s considered one of the top running backs in the state. He had back-to-back 300 yard games against Cedar Creek and Vineland, including a Cape-Atlantic League schools record of 362 yards against Cedar Creek, and through just four games already has more than 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns. “He is so explosive, and when he gets to the second level there is no catching him. He had a run against Pleasantville where he hit the hole and squirted through their secondary like a blur. He just exploded, and it’s it fun to watch,” Russo said of Smith. “The
See Spirit, page 13
Glory Days photos/Sully
Senior defensive back C.J. Egrie has helped lead a Holy Spirit defense that has allowed just one opponent to score more than seven points this season.
Page 12 w Glory Days Magazine w Oct. 30, 2020
Oct. 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 13 Spirit, from page 11 best part about him, though, is he’s a great kid. He does extremely well in the classroom, has a great work ethic and will do anything we ask him to do. He has great moral character and comes from a great family. He’s the whole package.” “My focus is bringing us closer. This pandemic has people distant from each other, but we want to get closer, welcome in the upcoming freshmen. I want to be the type of leader the coaching staff is expecting me to be. Everything starts in the weight room and in practice, and every time we step onto the field we’re playing like it’s our last game. You never know, we can get that text anytime that we can’t have anymore practices or games, so we’re giving it our all every practice,” Smith said before the season began. “Having a short season just makes you even more hungry. We only have six games and we want to make our senior year the best it can be, so we have to go out as hard as we can and leave our mark. That’s my mentality.” As hungry as Smith has been, the Holy Spirit defense is playing like the opposing quarterback is holding a steak dinner. The Spartans have been getting after it no matter who they play and shutting down some pretty good offenses, including St. Joseph Academy, Vineland and Pleasantville. “We really get intense during practice, and we practice with a sense of urgency. We feel like we have to keep pushing every day. Guys like Ai’Johnnie Rembert and Markus Lewis, they’ve been like diamonds in the rough. All they had to do was keep practicing and practicing, and eventually that starts showing in the games,” said junior linebacker Michael Francisco. “We all feed off each other because we’re a family. We’re hyped up and that’s what we’re trying to be all the time. We just have to keep doing it over and over in practice at the highest level we can.” Russo said the linebacking crew featuring Francisco and Rembert has been sparking the defensive dominance. “It’s just another year of maturity. With the exception of Ahmad Brown and scrappy Luke Spotts, our whole defense is back from last year. We only
Glory Days photo/Sully
Junior quarterback Trevor Cohen hasn’t been asked to throw the ball a lot this season because of Holy Spirit’s success with its running game, but has been effective when need be. He’s completed 23 of his 38 attempts for nearly 400 yards and four touchdowns in four games. had to fill in two spots and the kids who have filled in have been fantastic, and the kids who came back from last year have matured. We’re just trying to keep it simple on defense and let those kids go out there and play,” Russo said. “We have a kid like Michael Francisco in the middle who has just been lights out as a middle linebacker. He’s a tough kid and he continuously make plays.” The Spartans have a bye week to close out October before a huge showdown with St. Augustine Prep on Nov. 6 in Richland. That will be a true measuring stick of how good this Holy Spirit team is, and coach Russo said he hopes like heck they get an opportunity
to play that game. Several South Jersey football programs have been forced to shut down because of the pandemic, including Hammonton and Washington Township. “If you look at the (St. Augustine Prep) roster up and down, they are like a North Jersey non-public team. With the size of those kids, I haven’t seen a roster that big in South Jersey in a long time. Our kids are very excited about that game. It’s developed into a great rivalry for us, along with St. Joe, and we’ve had some real battles with them the past couple of years, so we’re looking forward to it,” Russo said. “We’re day by day because you never know.
That’s no longer a coach’s cliche, it’s a fact of life and the kids are all in on that, too. They know every time they strap on their helmet it may be the last time they get to do it this year, and with that we’re playing with a sense of urgency. We have a bye week this week and we’re looking forward to prepping for St. Augustine and we’ll go from there. Nothing is guaranteed, we just go out every day, our kids continue to work hard and hopefully the opportunity will come to have another game, and we’ll move on from there.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Oct. 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 15
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Former Cherokee star Lovett enjoying senior season at Baylor, hopeful for NFL shot By LARRY HENRY JR. Correspondent ot many New Jersey high school graduates can say they’ve played all four years at the NCAA Division I football level, but John Lovett can officially say that, as he continues his senior season at Baylor University. The former Cherokee High tailback remains the starter for the Bears, a team that is fighting for consistency in the Big 12 Conference. Lovett was a star at Cherokee, winning state titles and also being one of the top prospects in the state when his time as a Chief came to an end. The Burlington native is three games into the 2020 season for Dave Aranda’s team, but reflected on his jump to becoming a Division 1 athlete. “I only needed one practice to pick up the differences in speed from high school to college,” Lovett told Glory Days Magazine. “It’s a jump to playing with grown men who on the defensive side of the ball are trying to hit you and show what they bring. I just had to bring everything I had every day, but play calling-wise it took a little bit because there are so many different calls for a running back on each offensive play. Sometimes its pass protection, sometimes we’re changing the run pattern, so it’s a lot more preparation you have to put in.” “Playing at Cherokee and winning state titles — and even as a youth player going undefeated with the Willingboro Panthers — was all experience to help me get to where I am right now,” Lovett said. “The Cherokee games were always packed with people and you get even more people at college games so that helps you get ready for the noise and the pressure.” Lovett’s first season at Baylor under now Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule wasn’t filled with many rewards despite the freshman getting early playing time. The tailback finished with 445 rushing yards and was tied for the Big 12 freshman lead with five touchdowns, but Baylor struggled for consistency as it finished 1-11. “It’s never fun to lose games, especially when you
N
lose 11 in one season,” Lovett said. “Coming from Cherokee, which is a tradition program, to here, where you lose more than you did in high school, it was definitely frustrating. It helped me with life and adversity though, and every single week we believed we could win. Next season, as you saw, we got better and built off those struggles in 2017.” Despite the 2017 struggles, Baylor quickly rose to success under Rhule during the next two seasons. The 2018 season saw Lovett’s rushing numbers increase to 573 yards and six touchdowns while the Bears finished 7-6 and won the Texas Bowl against Vanderbilt. Last year, the Bears posted an 11-2 record before losing to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, just missing out on the College Football Playoffs. Lovett increased his haul to 655 yards with five touchdowns, continuing to pack a punch in the Bears’ backfield. Rhule eventually left this past offseason for the NFL and was replaced by former LSU assistant coach Dave Aranda. Lovett enjoyed the success over the past two seasons and credits Rhule and his teammates for the turnaround. “Winning 11 games in 2019 was really fun, no matter how you do it,” Lovett said. “It was disappointing to not win the Sugar Bowl, but it was good to look back at the end of the season and see all of the hard work everyone put in to get to 11 wins, two years after having 11 losses.” “I love coach Rhule and he was the reason I came down here to Baylor,” Lovett said. “I always wanted to play for the guy, just not at Temple. I have a good relationship with him and we still check in from time-to-time even though his schedule is a lot busier now in the NFL. He’s a great guy and a great coach.” Now in his senior season for Baylor, Lovett remains the lead back for the Bears’ offense in 2020. He has recorded 160 all-purpose yards with two touchdowns this season, including a receiving score in this past weekend’s 27-16 loss to rivals Texas. Lovett plans on playing in the NFL once his time at Baylor is over in hopes of continuing to play the sport he’s loved
USA Today Sports photo/Jerome Miron
Former Cherokee star John Lovett is now a senior and starting running back at Baylor University in Texas. since a young kid. Should he get the chance in 2021 to play professional football, he could join former Salem High School star and friend Jonathan Taylor, who continues his rookie season with the Indianapolis Colts. “That’s my guy, we still communicate,” Lovett said about Taylor. “We both understand each other’s schedules and he is definitely a good person to have in your corner. I was cool with J.T. since high school because myself, him, and Bo Melton (of Cedar Creek) were all committed to Rutgers at one time. It’s great to see him getting a real shot right away in the NFL.” Baylor is now 1-2 on the season following Saturday’s home loss, but has six more chances and another possible bowl game to play for this season. Up next is a home showdown with rival TCU before trips to Iowa State, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma later this season. Lovett still aims to reach his goals of playing in the NFL, but for now is focused on helping Baylor finish strong this season. “The goal is to win as many games possible this season and then get ready to go to the NFL,” Lovett said. “I have some plans for what I’d like to do to give back to my communities in New Jersey when I get there, but for now it’s all about Baylor and then focusing on what’s next after the season concludes.” Larry Henry Jr. is a contributing writer for Glory Days Magazine, follow him on Twitter @lhenry019
Page 16 w Glory Days Magazine w Oct. 30, 2020
FOOTBALL
O.C. packing a lot into short season By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer he 2020 season may have been shortened to just six regular-season games because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Ocean City certainly is making the most of every opportunity the Red Raiders get to step out onto the field. So far, Ocean City is 4-0 and it looks like the Raiders are having a lot of fun winning games. The sideline is engaged on every play, coaches are roaming up and down hollering instructions, and even the fans are getting into it by giving the officials an earful when calls go against their beloved Red Raiders. Last year, Ocean City went 9-3 and advanced to the sectional championship game, where the Raiders came up short against Shawnee. But coach Kevin Smith and his staff have been building something solid for nearly a decade at Carey Stadium, and the fruits of their labor have been showing the past couple of seasons. In the past 36 games, Ocean City is 24-12, including a 4-0 mark this year that has seen the Raiders score at least 35 points in every game while giving up more than seven just once. “There aren’t many differences from last year except that we’re all another year more experienced. We know where to be and what to do on every single play, and we know how to move the ball and put the ball into the end zone,” senior quarterback Joe Repetti said after a recent win over Cedar Creek. “I definitely feel more confident. It’s a lot easier (this year) going through my progressions and reading defenses, and if a hole opens up I just take it and run with it. I’m just trying to put the ball on people’s bodies, get the ball to my playmakers and let them do their thing.” Coach Smith knows this is one of Ocean City’s best teams in a long time, and it’s a shame the Raiders won’t get to have a normal postseason with an opportunity to win a state championship. This year’s “playoffs” will feature four-team “pods” in which the two winners from the first week of postseason action square off in a pseudo-sectional title game. Any team in the state can enter the postseason and once all teams are entered they will be placed into four-team brackets based on school size and competitive balance. This is simply the COVID-19 world we’re living in, and the players and coaches get it. Still, they are playing this season like there is a championship on the line. “This is a great group of seniors and I think their
T
Glory Days photo/Sully
Senior running back Jake Inserra and his Ocean City teammates have been grinding each week, trying to make the most of their pandemic-shortened 2020 season. familiarity with the system and the fact that they’ve played in big games — it’s a pretty flat-line group of guys, and we like to have that steady hand. They absolutely believe (they can be a championship team) but I think all of them, and myself included, are just happy we’re playing. I know it’s very cliche to say we’re taking it one game at a time, but we’re literally taking it one game at a time with this (Covid-19) stuff,” Smith said. “Nothing is different for us in terms of our preparation, film work, weight training. You just have to make it as normal as possible. The kids like routines, they thrive when they have them, so we’re just trying to keep things as normal as possible.” “I think our defense is one of the best in South Jersey, honestly. Our defense is the strongest part of the team and they find a way to get on the scoreboard almost every game. I have all the faith in the world in our defense. All battles are won in the trenches and they get after it every single play up front,” junior Jacob Wilson said after a 36-16 win over Millville.
“We just came out strong last year, and we knew we had a lot of the same guys coming back this year, so all we did was work all summer and pray that we would have a season, and God blessed us with this opportunity, so we’re going to live for it.” “I think the biggest thing is our chemistry. A lot of these guys, especially the seniors, have been playing against each other or with each other since second grade, so we all really click. We all pretty much have the same work ethic. We’re making every game count,” added senior Jake Inserra. “I have a lot of good senior friends who lost their lacrosse season last spring and I know they would have killed to have just one game. So we’re just taking it one game at a time and we’re grateful for every game we get.” Ocean City has two more games remaining on its regular-season schedule, including a huge tilt Nov. 6 at Carey Stadium against rival Mainland Regional, a team the Red Raiders beat in the first round of the state playoffs a year ago.
Oct. 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 17
Page 18 w Glory Days Magazine w Oct. 30, 2020
GIRLS SOCCER
Danz puts name in EHT record book Team-first mentality helped make senior star the Eagles’ all-time leading scorer By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer n soccer, there are forwards, and then there are strikers. Forward are kids who a coach might put up top because they are fast or have a powerful leg. Strikers are the true goal scorers, the players who seem to have a knack for scoring. Players like Jack Sarkos, who set a school record for career goals before graduating from Mainland, or Oakcrest’s 2019 star Gabe Paz, who scored both goals in the Falcons’ overtime win over St. Augustine Prep in last year’s Cape-Atlantic League Tournament championship game. Or Faith Slimmer and Summer Reimet, the dynamic duo at Ocean City who combined for 70 goals a year ago while leading the Red Raiders to a Group 3 state championship. Nikki Danz, a senior at Egg Harbor Township High this year, hasn’t gotten that kind of fanfare during her career with the Eagles, but deserves just as much recognition. She recently
I
poured in four goals in a 6-0 win over Atlantic City to become her school’s all-time leading scorer at 56 goals, and counting. She topped 2010 graduate Katie Lindacher and 2017 star Stefania Piantadosi, who each scored 53 during their careers. “A true striker is a special type of breed. The good programs have a player like Nikki and the great programs are able to surround her with players who have the technical skills of a Kristen Semet or the leadership skills of a Casey Biglan. All those pieces come together to make this program as successful as it has been,” said EHT coach Christian Wiech. “Finishing is the name of the game. Nikki has earned every one of the 56 goals she has scored, and I’m sure that number will continue to climb. She’s just as humble as she needs to be, though, because she knows this is a team sport. Scoring records are individual, but they’re also collective and she was adamant about being on the field with her senior teammates when that 54th goal was scored, and that’s just a reflection of her as a person.” For Danz, scoring goals has always been a team priority. She knows the skills she has and the position she plays demand that she put the ball in the back of the net, and her doing that is just one piece of the puzzle that has made EHT one of the top teams in the
CAL the past four years. “Honestly, it’s amazing to be labeled as a goal scorer, but it’s my job because of where I play. Defenders aren’t being seen as goal scorers, but they are seen as the lockdown defenders. It’s my position and my job to score. It’s amazing to get the recognition, but there are so many other players who deserve that, too,” Danz said. “It’s amazing being the record holder. I can’t thank my team enough for getting me to this point. It’s something that’s been on my mind since my freshman year when Stef Piantadosi tied it. I was really close with her, she’s been like a big sister to me, and she said, ‘you have to break this record. It’s something you need to do.’ It’s crazy to think about the recognition I’m getting, but I really have to thank my team. They helped me get to this point. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.” Plenty of assists have come from midfielder Kristen Semet as well as back-line defenders such as Casey Biglan and Meghan Maul. All four of those players have been on varsity their entire careers. “We’ve been playing since we were nuggets, and it’s sad to see it coming to an end soon, but it’s been
See Danz, page 19
Oct. 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 19 Danz, from page 18 amazing to play soccer with my best friends,” Semet said after the win over Atlantic City. “We all started freshman year; Nikki just broke the record, it’s 56 goals she’s at now and she’s been a key staple for us at forward. But she couldn’t just do it by herself, there’s Casey and Meghan in the back and they’ve been playing since freshman year and they really hold the line. It’s a team effort, from Nikki up front to Casey in the back, we’re solid.” “We’ve all grown up together and I’m so proud of Nikki. She has, the whole time, been looking at this (scoring record) as a team effort and she wouldn’t have been able to do it without us. I really admire that as a player because she has been very selfless with everything, and I look to try to do that with myself as much as I admire her doing that,” Biglan added. “She has taken on the role from her freshman year and that just shows all the hard work she has put in since then to get to this point. That’s something that she’s taken from (Stefania) and now she’s going to try to pass that on to Gabby (Piantadosi, Stefania’s younger sister). It’s a great role she has, and I’m proud of her.”
Danz said the key to being a great scorer is not necessarily foot skills or God-given talent — although those things surely help. “You have to have the vision. You don’t always have to have the high-end foot skills to be able to score, but you need to be able to see the field and know that when you have your opportunities, take them,” Danz said. “I’ve improved on everything, from my speed to physicality to my skill level — everything has improved. Even my shots have improved, my accuracy since freshman year.” The Eagles are flying high as one of the top teams in the CAL again and in just a few short weeks Danz and the prep careers of her classmates will be over, so they are soaking up the last bit of experiences that high school soccer has to offer. “It’s awesome being a part of this program,” Danz said. “It’s been challenging to come onto varsity as a freshman and compete to earn a spot. You’re here for four years and you get to experience everything.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Glory Days photo/Sully
Nikki Danz set EHT’s single season record for goals scored last year when she poured in 26, and recently became the school’s all-time leading scorer when she scored her 54th in a recent win over Atlantic City.
Oct. 30, 2020 w Glory Days Magazine w Page 21
FIELD HOCKEY
Meaningful milestone for Murray Breast cancer survivor continues to beat the odds By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer here are a lot of coaches out there in various sports throughout South Jersey who have reached 100 wins. If you’re a good coach and work at a school that has a solid athletic program that includes youth feeder programs, you can reasonably expect to reach 100 wins in about 10 years or so, depending on the sport and how many games or matches are played each season. Still, it’s a nice accomplishment for any coach to reach the century mark in wins. It means you’re doing something right. Reaching that milestone earlier this month was even more meaningful for Absegami field hockey coach Denise Murray, particularly because of the month in which she did it. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Murray is a breast cancer survivor. She’s lucky to even be alive right now, which is why hitting that milestone of 100 wins meant more to her than perhaps any other coach. “This was definitely one of my coaching milestones and it meant a lot to me to do it with this group of girls,” said Murray, who notched 49 wins during her five years at Lower Cape May and now has 51 in seven years with the Braves. “All my seniors have been with me all four years, so to get your 100th win with a team that has gone through your program and believes in your philosophy is really important.” The milestone win came Oct. 14 against Oakcrest, and in typical Absegami fashion. The scrappy Braves shook off a slow start and continued to grind — like their coach did four years ago through chemotherapy sessions — and eventually came out on top, winning 4-1 because they relied on each other to push through when the Falcons kept denying them on goal-scoring opportunities. “It was a very frustrating game. I don’t think we played that well the first three quarter — we had chemistry issues and just couldn’t gain any momen-
T
Glory Days photo/Sully
Absegami field hockey coach Denise Murray celebrates with her parents after winning her 100th game, as the Braves beat rival Oakcrest on Oct. 14. tum,” said Murray, who is now four years cancer free and has a 1-year-old daughter. “But we made some adjustments in the fourth quarter to generate some offense — I took a risk and pulled some of my defenders and put them in more offensive positions. Thankfully, the risk paid off and we were able to put some goals in to secure the win.” “It was great. We thought we’d get it for her last year, but this is great with my other senior girls being able to get it for her. I’m sure she’s very excited,” senior Brooke Felix said. “She’s a really good mentor to me and I look up to her a lot. We have a really close relationship and we all appreciate her. She helps us with math — she’s a great math teacher — and she’s a great coach on the field. She keeps a positive attitude and has been a really good coach for us.” Following the win, Murray celebrated with her mom and dad, who have been through her side
throughout her recovery from cancer and are her biggest fans. “Coaching and being a mom — thankfully I have both my parents here to help me. They both watch my daughter, and my dad is here with me at practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Without them I would not be able to still be coaching. The support and the village that supports you as a mom and a coach and helps you do everything, that’s important,” Murray said. “Everything so far has been good with my check-ups. I had to be almost completely clear to have the option of getting pregnant. I was on hormone therapy, so I had to get off that to be able to get pregnant. It’s been about four years now since I finished up radiation, and we’ve been able to get on with the next chapter of our lives.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
snapshots
See more great Glory Days photos now at
glorydaysonline. smugmug.com