Wednesday, 18 November 2020
www.TheObserver.com
Vol. CXXXIII, No. 28
MORE ON THE INSIDE Nutley woman, a Kearny native, working to win nationwide cake-making contest. See Page 4
BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
IN DIRE NEED Two-sport NAHS star has rare kidney disease, requires transplant
Story and photo By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com
J
ared Velazquez was looking forward to this scholastic sports season, After all, it was going to be his senior year at North Arlington High School, the
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last year to spend with his childhood friends, playing the sports that he loved. Velazquez has been playing baseball since he was 8, soccer since he was 10, and had been a varsity soccer and baseball player since he arrived at North Arlington High.
Velazquez always loved being a busy kid. “I loved the conditioning part of soccer,” Velazquez said. “I was a bigger kid when I was younger, so I needed to be in condition to play. But I liked soccer in general. I used to score a lot more goals when I was
younger, but I became a midfielder and settled in there.” Veteran North Arlington head coach Jesse Dembowski liked what Velazquez brought to his team. “He started for me since his freshSee JARED, Page 10
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