Wednesday, December 22, 2021
The Observer | www.theobserver.com
Sports & Recreation WITH
Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com
9
Belleville girls’ hoops: Only can improve from nightmare
‘Tis the season for a Santa Hague column Deck the halls with bows of holly and fa, la, la and all that stuff. Yes, it’s Christmas time in the city, which means it’s time for Santa Hague to open up his big bag of gifts and present presents to the local sports figures and members of the Observer readership community. So before Santa Hague comes down your chimney, we present the pandemic version of the Santa Hague column. Let’s start with my friends at Harrison High. It’s easier for Santa Hague to remember the area schools going south to north like Magellan. To athletic director (if she still holds that title this morning) Kim McDonough Huaranga: A few thousand photo albums to put all the great pictures she takes of her great family. And an acceptance letter to St. Peter’s Prep for her wonderful son. To the first family of West Hudson soccer, the wonderful Ruseks: Just appreciation for who you are and what you do. You are all treasures. To boys’ basketball coach Jose Camano: A ton of patience. To girls’ basketball coach Jenn Caliendo: Same thing. To baseball coach Jairo Mendez: A few pitchers like Jairo Mendez. To football coach Ray Lucas: A reality check. What
are you doing, my brother? And a roster to learn his players’ names. To football standout Jake Mulrenan: A scholarship to play football in college. Someone has to realize that the kid can play. To Dustin Huseinovic: A pro football contract to play for pay somewhere. To retired AD/girls’ basketball coach Jack Rodgers: A lifetime contract with Sprint. T-Mobile doesn’t cut it. To my friends at Kearny High: To athletic director Vin Almeida: A subscription to Dollar Shave Club. To track coach Al Perez: A Max Scherzer jersey. To boys’ basketball/volleyball coach Bill Mullins: To transfer some of the wins from volleyball to basketball. To baseball coach Dave Smart: A time machine to turn the clock back some 20 years, when Kearny baseball dominated. To football coach Stephen Andrews: A red carpet to welcome his team into the Super Football Conference’s Ivy League division. To girls’ basketball coach Jody Hill: A huge Mason jar to bottle the endless enthusiasm she has daily. One would figure that energy would wane a tad after See VIEW, Page 11
Photo by Jim Hague
The Belleville girls’ basketball team will be vastly improved over last season. Front row, from left, are Debora Ramirez, Jisela Sanchez and Ruth Ramirez. Back row, from left, are head coach Chris Cantarella, Daliana Estevez, Taina Carrasquillo and Yarelis “Yaya” Saez.
By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com If one thinks that the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a nightmare for all of the local high school sports teams, it doesn’t compare to what the season meant to the Belleville High School girls’ basketball team. Nightmare wouldn’t even begin to describe what the truncated campaign did to the Lady Buccaneers. Chris Cantarella, the dedicated and hard-working basketball and softball coach at Belleville,
always tries to make a positive out of a negative. No matter what, Cantarella sees the upside of things. But how does one put a positive spin on an 0-14 disaster? That’s right, the Bucs lost all 14 games they played last season. “We had five girls who were expected to play who backed off because of COVID,” Cantarella said. “We won our league (Super Essex Conference-Freedom Division) the year before, so the expectations were high. But then all of a sudden, things
changed. There were a lot of rules and regulations we had to follow. Parents were skeptical. We couldn’t have fans at the games. It was a strange season. It was tough to go through, but then it wasn’t. We had a group of girls who tried their best. We had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs. We had to keep it light, because we had no other choice. We only had seven girls. It was tough. We tried to make as recreational as possible.” And what does Cantarella’s See BELLEVILLE, Page 10
