Sports

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Sports

WITH Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com

The Observer | www.theobserver.com & Recreation

Once again, Kardinals are a soccer power

Not the fi rst year rookie Harrison grid coach Jackson expected

When Jonathan Jackson was finally elevated to the position of head football coach at Harrison High School last August – incredibly becoming the eighth head football coach the school employed in the past decade – Jackson assumed that it would be just a bit easier of a transition.

After all, Jackson was an assistant coach under former head coach Brian Capriola last season. Jackson was also the head freshman boys’ basketball coach and was the strength and conditioning coach as well, so Jackson was more than familiar with the territory.

But the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic didn’t allow Jackson to take over as head coach until August. In fact, the 26-year-old Jackson didn’t even know if he wanted the job in the first place. He needed some coaxing and prodding from others to put his name into the hat when the interviews began.

So Jackson was given the opportunity in August, had his first Zoom meeting as head coach with his team – and then had to endure a two-week shutdown mandated by the NJSIAA until midSeptember.

“Once Sept. 14 came, we had to get the ball rolling,” Jackson said. “We didn’t have time for conditioning. We couldn’t do anything. Not to make excuses, but we knew that we were going to have some challenges.”

Things got worse before they got better. Just as the season was set to kick off in early October, six members of the team simply walked away.

“They simply stopped showing up,” Jackson said. “I told them that they should hand in their pads.”

Jackson could have panicked. The rest of the Blue Tide could have done the same and quit as well.

“It helped me figure out the kids who wanted to be here,” Jackson said. “It gave me the opportunity to give the younger kids a better look.”

Jackson wasted little time and started moving people around.

“We had three sophomores who became starters on our offensive line,” Jackson said. “By the time we get to our offseason, we will have kids in the weight room with some experience. Those kids will get the chance to

Photo by Jim Hague

The Kearny boys’ soccer team is once again strong, evidenced by the Kardinals’ 7-1 record. Front row, from left, are Carlos Zapata, Michael Reis, Matheus Ferreira and Emanuel Valentin. Back row, from left, are head coach Bill Galka, Max Silva, Alan Castillo, Matthew Brun, Pablo Pedroza and Daniel Velazquez.

By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com

Once again, the Kearny High School boys’ soccer team is one of the best in New Jersey – although the latest state ranking doesn’t show that.

The Kardinals now own a 7-1 record, after a solid 5-1 victory over previously undefeated Waldwick last Saturday. The Kards’ lone loss came two weeks ago, a 2-1 setback at the hands against Hudson County foe Union City.

But the Kards have outscored some of their opponents in downright devastating fashion, winning games by outcomes of 15-0, 13-0 and 10-0.

“You can’t complain with the results,” veteran head coach Bill Galka said. “This comes without having a real preseason. We’ve been finding out about ourselves as the games go on.”

The Kardinals have posted the solid record, even though the team lost 14 seniors to graduation from last year’s team that finished 17-3 and went to the semifinals of the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV tournament.

“That was unusual,” Galka said of the massive loss to graduation. “This year, we’re heavy with underclassmen. I think the COVID (coronavirus COVID-19) made things difficult because we couldn’t get a look at the younger kids in the summer. I wish we had more time to see what we had. We had to make cuts after just a few days of practice.”

Galka said that he made an inventory of the players he had coming back from last year’s junior varsity squad.

“We had a good idea of the kids who we could move up from JV,” Galka said. “We have three sophomores on this year’s team. We were trying to find some consistency with the younger kids.”

Leading the returnees is senior goalkeeper Matthew Brun, who has been solid in net for three seasons.

“He’s bigger and stronger this year,” Galka said. “He came in pretty fit and it showed. He’s kicking the ball better and handling the ball better. He stepped up in a big way to become a good leader for us.”

The two center defending backs are both juniors in Daniel Velazquez and Alan Castillo.

Velazquez is the younger brother of the late Adrian, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident in Delaware two years ago after finishing his freshman season playing for RutgersNewark.

Daniel Velazquez even wears the No. 17 jersey number that his older brother donned while playing for Kearny.

“There’s definitely a resemblance between the two,” said Galka, who made sure that there was a memorial to Adrian placed at Harvey