ABOUT THE COVER
SGLORY DAYS
ometimes we don’t really appreciate a player’s prep career until many years after they graduate, and that may end up being the case with Absegami senior guard Reese Downey. She’s not the kind of player who ever seeks the spotlight, in fact, she does her best to avoid it and she’d probably be just as happy if her name never appeared in a headline. She’s always been about the team, winning and losing together, and just enjoying the journey, the ups and downs that every team goes through during a high school basketball season. But when you’re as good as Downey, and you put up more than 2,000 career points while being double- and triple-teamed by opposing defenses in nearly every game, you tend to get noticed. She’s not one to talk much about herself, so we’ll be glad to do it for her! Check out Page 10 of this digital edition for our Vic’s Subs Cover Story on a young woman who has made a huge impact with the Braves and has a very bright future ahead of her.
General contact information:
Publisher Dave O’Sullivan:
Email: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
On X @GDsullysays @sjglorydays on Instagram
Contributors:
Mark Trible, Senior Football Writer (@MTrible on X)
Brian Tortella, Correspondent (@tortreports on X)
Ben Hale, Social Media & Web Development
VOLUME 12, ISSUE 2/ FEBRUARY 2025 (ISSUE NO. 172)
HEADLINES
PRESENTED BY BUNTING FAMILY PHARMACY
RACKING UP THE POINTS
It’s been a heck of a winter for some individual basketball players around South Jersey, as recently Reese Downey of Absegami and Elijah Crispin of Pitman became the newest members of the 2,000 career points club. Crispin is the third in his family to accomplish the rare feat, as father Joe and uncle Jon both did the same during their illustrious careers at Pitman. Also, Holy Spirit senior guard Sabrina Little (pictured) became her school’s all-time leading scorer in girls basketball with more than 1,400 career points.
DOMINATION
It’s hard to fathom a bigger blowout in a state championship than what the St. Augustine Prep boys swimming team put together on the final weekend of February. The Hermits won 10 races and dominated Pingry to the tune of a 12149 victory, claiming their third straight state title while also capturing their 31st straight dual win. Haddonfield was just as good, taking down Mendham, 101-69 to claim the program’s fifth straight Group C state championship. It marked the 10th overall state title for the Dawgs.
On the girls side, top-seeded Cherry Hill East won the Group A state title by narrowly defeating No. 3 Montclair, 85.5 to 84.5. Haddonfield’s girls were just as dominant as the boys, as the Bull-
dogs beat Governor Livingston, 118-52, to win the Group C title, and Our Lady of Mercy Academy dominated Immaculate Heart, winning 10268 to claim the Non-Public state championship.
Right place, right time GIRLS BASKETBALL
Brittney Carney thrilled to be launching her hoops coaching career at Oakcrest High
By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays sullyglorydays@gmail.com
When Scott Meile decided to leave the Oakcrest High girls basketball program to coach at Holy Spirit prior to this season, the Falcons needed a new leader.
Brittney Carney, a biology teacher at the school, checked a lot of boxes for Athletic Director Dave Bennett as somebody who could rebuild a program that struggled with roster numbers the past couple of seasons.
Transfers left Carney with just a handful of players who had any type of varsity experience, and that translated to a 1-9 start through the first 10 games of the season. The Falcons finished up 3-15 this year.
But those checked boxes will help her start to put things back together, brick by brick. One, she’s a former three-sport athlete at Delsea Regional High. Two, she’s young (having graduated from college in 2016), energetic and has boundless positive energy. And three, she’s the daughter of Tom Carney, former Delsea and Buena Regional baseball coach who won a ton of games during his career, most recently taking Buena to a state championship game in 2023.
“I just love basketball. I got into teaching to coach. I know that might be a little bit backwards, but I watched my dad do this my whole life,” Carney said after a win over Buena. “There’s something magnetic about high school sports and I’m very excited about this opportunity.”
Carney might be the perfect coach for this situation. She has a great support system, and she knows she has to teach a lot of her players just about everything about basketball. She went on a recruiting frenzy around the halls of Oakcrest prior to the season, just trying to get enough bodies out so the Falcons
South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully
Brittney Carney, a three-sport athlete during her time at Delsea Regional High before graduating in 2012, is the new girls basketball coach at Oakcrest.
could have actual scrimmages at practice. Last year, there were only about eight players in the program, and only about half of them returned.
So this year has been all about trying to get athletes from other sports to understand basketball — teaching the game from the ground up, including where each player should stand or sit during a timeout.
“My first thought was there were a lot of girls walking the Oakcrest halls who didn’t know that they should be playing basketball. I was going to be real loud about it and find a way to get them to give it a shot,” she said. “Most of them I told to come to the first practice and if you don’t like it you can stop.
“It’s hard for any team to be successful when you don’t have enough players to run a full scrimmage. (Because of inexperience) a lot of focus this year has been the team; showing up for your teammates, recognizing that you’re a part of something bigger than
yourself and making decisions based on what is good for the team, not what’s good for you,” Carney continued. “Everything in life worth having is hard to get, and we have to realize that the more we support each other and come together the more we can focus on Oakcrest. A lot of our battle this year is culture, and I think we’re starting to get there. When a girl comes out of the game, she gets a high-five from everyone on the bench. It’s understanding when a timeout is called, everyone gets up. These are little things that we were missing last year because we just didn’t have the numbers. When you only have seven girls, it makes it hard.”
The numbers are much better this year, so much so
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CARNEY, From Page 6
that the school now has a junior varsity team. It’s going to take some time for all these new players to get better at basketball so the Falcons can be more competitive, but Carney said she’s willing to put in the time and effort it’s going to take.
“We’re building toward something, coming together, and I stress all the time that our next big thing is going to be working out this summer. Every team practices from November to February, but showing up when it’s not required, not mandatory (will make a difference). I’m looking forward to seeing who is going to commit (in the offseason),” Carney said. “We’re in a little bit of a unique situation. Half my team has never been exposed to basketball before, but we’re getting there. We stress the basics because you can never be too good at the basics. We’re trying to build off the fundamentals. There’s some insecurity (with the new girls) but I’m their biggest cheerleader. I’m constantly telling them how capable they are and how proud I am of them because they need to hear that. Coming into this year we lost a few key players to transferring and a lot of the teams we’re playing this year came back at full strength. The girls are aware of that and they realize things don’t change overnight. There’s no one day where you just all of a sudden are a good basketball player. It’s every day trying to get a little better. One of the hardest challenges is constantly getting them to not be discouraged. No one becomes a great shooter right away, it takes thousands of shots and repetition. But we can get a little better every day.”
The players seem to have taken a liking to Carney, who they are familiar with because she was one of Meile’s assistants last year.
“She’s doing well. She talks to us, tells us what we need to be doing on the floor and things like that,” said guard A’Tirah Mitchell. “She’s good with talking to us, consistently, always just talking to us and letting us know what we need to do.”
Added Aliyah Gause, another returning guard, “I love Carney, she really has my heart. She’s a really good
“We’re building toward something, coming together, and I stress all the time that our next big thing is going to be working out this summer. Every team practices from November to February, but showing up when it’s not required, not mandatory (will make a difference). I’m looking forward to seeing who is going to commit (in the offseason).”
Brittney Carney
First-year Oakcrest girls basketball coach
coach, always supportive, always in a good mood. I liked her as soon as I saw her. She seemed like a really good person, really positive, and she’s had a really good impact on our team ever since she first got here.”
Carney said she has some great mentors as she gets started in her varsity basketball coaching career.
“I learned a lot from Meile. He’s been great, even this year, helping me with managing the nuances of the behind-the-scenes,” she said. “He’s a big supporter of our girls because he taught most of them in middle school. He’s been a huge asset to me.”
But her father is her sage, the person she gets a text from after every game asking how it went — before she even gets home.
“He is probably the biggest influence on me. I would be selling him short if I didn’t give him all the credit. From a very early age he pushed (me and my siblings) to be our best and not ac-
cept less than what we were capable of and to work hard for what we wanted. He always used to say, ‘what makes (someone else) different? Why is she better? She’s got two arms and two legs just like you, right? Everything else is just an excuse.’ The way he’s able to motivate almost everybody he comes in contact with, I just strive to hopefully one day have that effect on people,” Carney said. “Everything is in the details. It’s the little things, and that’s the same thing I’m trying to do with my players here at Oakcrest. Take pride in boxing out and rebounding and being a good teammate. Those are things (my dad) was big on; you know, all the corny cliches like ‘play for the team on the front, not the name on the back.’ I was lucky enough to watch him my whole life and I say it all the time, I’m so grateful for my parents. They held us accountable and supported us. My dad is my biggest fan, the first text I get after a game.”
Carney may have gotten into teaching so she could coach, but now she’s doing more teaching than she ever has, trying to get these Falcons used to their wings so they can start to fly.
“I love the girls, they are a great group. They have bought in and are committed. I love watching the light bulb turn on. Nothing I tell them is pointless, it’s for a purpose, and watching them in action is amazing,” she said. “Watching them start to take accountability after losses and wanting more. Watching them gel together — how cool is it to see girls who didn’t even know each other at the start of the season now walking around the hallways together? It’s those kinds of culture changes that excite me, and that goes for all of Oakcrest, too. I’m the assistant coach for field hockey, and all of this can snowball and become bigger for all of our girls. If we unite and support each other, great things can happen.”
IMAGES
South Jersey Glory Days photos/Sully
VIC’S SUBS COVER STORY
BEYOND THE NUMB3RS
Reese Downey’s impact at Absegami is so much more than the 2,000-plus points she’s scored
By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays sullyglorydays@gmail.com
When Reese Downey began her high school basketball career four years ago, she could have easily been mistaken for the team’s manager, or stat keeper. She certainly didn’t look like a player who would go one to become one of the best in South Jersey and eclipse the 2,000-point mark.
She was shy, all of about 14 years old, going up against 18-year-old seniors who in a few months would be in college. Yet she came out firing, and hasn’t stopped since. All she did in the first game she ever played was drop 18 points in a 49-16 drubbing of Vineland, nailing four 3-pointers and picking up three assists and three steals as well.
“I was definitely scared in my first game, but I had a lot of good seniors who I looked up to. And I had been playing travel basketball before that, so I knew how fast (the pace) would be,” Downey said. “I remember in one of our first games, against Atlantic City, we were going up against (current Mississippi State forward) Quanirah (Montague) and I was scared to death. I got my shot blocked like five times and I was like, ‘OK, so this is high school basketball.’”
Despite the nerves, Downey started her career with a string of 12 straight games in which she scored in double figures, and during her freshman year she scored in double figures in all but four games, with a season-high 31 in a win over Bridgeton.
She scored 426 points as a freshman, and has increased that number in each
South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully
Senior guard Reese Downey has had an incredible career at Absegami, scoring more than 2,000 points and leading the Braves to the South Jersey Group 3 title game as a junior.
season since. Heading into this year’s state playoffs, Downey has 604 points in 26 games — an average of 23 points per game. The numbers are off the charts — 311 made 3-pointers, more than 500 rebounds, nearly 500 assists, and 500-plus steals in 107 games
played.
But Downey is so much more than the numbers, as she’s elevated Absegami to be one of the toughest teams to beat in the Cape-Atlantic League, and during her career the Braves have become a perennial threat in South Jersey
Group 3. And she’s done all that while facing double- and sometimes triple-team defenses, as opposing teams’
See DOWNEY, Page 11
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No. 1 goal is to keep Downey from scoring.
“She’s put a lot of work in. This year is the most she’s ever done in the weight room, and I told her, ‘you have to be bigger and stronger this year. We’re going to ask a heck of a lot more from you this year than we ever have before,” said Absegami coach Bob Lasko.
One of the things that makes Downey such a great player is that she’s such an unselfish player and always looks to get her teammates involved. The Braves lost Julia Hartman, their other top scorer, to knee injuries the last two years and they have a freshman in Emma Grimley starting at one of the guard positions. Lily Ortiz is the only other senior on an otherwise young roster, which means a lot of the scoring onus has been on Downey this season.
She certainly has responded to the challenge. She has scored in double figures in every single game, and even recorded a triple double in a win over Hammonton, going for 29 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Downey also has recorded double figures in steals in three games this year and hit 79 threes.
“Everybody knew she could handle the ball and shoot a little bit, but I saw a kid who could do things that other girls can’t do,” Lasko said. “She can shoot off the dribble and if you give her some space she can find a soft spot (in the defense) and knock it down. I didn’t know exactly how far she could take that, but I kept telling her, ‘shoot first, pass second. Make them
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DOWNEY
DOWNEY, From Page 10
stop you before you pass the ball.’ That’s the concept we’ve had, especially the last two years, and she’s lived up to the challenge.”
“I knew as a freshman that I really needed to step up because Coach Bob told me from the beginning that I needed to be the point guard and needed to take on that role,” Downey said. “So, from the beginning I knew I had to be a leader and just play the best I could every game.”
Going from star freshman to team leader was a work in progress, however. Downey isn’t the type of player who relishes the spotlight, and during every postgame interview she’s quick to give credit to the teammates who surround her. She doesn’t crave attention — but when you score like she does, attention becomes your dance partner whether you like it or not.
“She struggles a lot with that. I think toward the end of her junior year she started realizing we need her to shoot more. I think we bumped heads a lot last season,” Lasko said. “But as the year went on, she took more of an aggressive stance toward scoring. I think her coming out party was when we played Clearview in the playoffs and she just didn’t miss. She had 33 points, and since then she understands she has to shoot, and she’s really asserted herself.”
“I thank my teammates for believing in me and Coach Bob for letting me take over as much as I could,” said Downey, who’s committed to play college basketball at Fairleigh Dickenson University. “I want to thank my team for helping me get to all these milestones because I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. We’re all pretty close and it makes everything so much easier and more fun.”
As a freshman, Downey helped lead Absegami to a 16-10 record that included a win in the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament and two state playoff victories before the Braves were stopped in the sectional semifinals by Mainland Regional. As a sophomore, she led the Braves to appearances in the league and state quarterfinals, but as a junior she really shined when Absegami made a surprising run to the South Jersey Group 3 title game, scoring a heart-pumping, 51-49 road overtime win at Moorestown in the semifinals. In that game Downey showed off her array of skills, as she hit a pair of 3-pointers, scored 12 points, added six rebounds, five assists and seven steals.
Scoring 12 points in a semifinal game might not sound all that impressive, but considering the kind of defense she was facing, against a very athletic Moorestown team, sheds a little more light on her performance. But she’s faced immense defensive pressure her entire career, and has come through time and again.
“I don’t think people really understand how hard it is to score that many points when every time you dribble past half court there are two girls waiting for you, and when you’re off the ball there are people face-guarding you,” Lasko said. “When the ball is not in her hands sometimes we have trouble getting it back to her because they’ll have a girl spying on her and one face-guarding her. She has to work that much harder to get the ball.”
Downey has certainly come a long way in the last four years, growing from a shy 14-year-old to a confident senior who looks ready to compete at the next level. She has one more chance to add to her legacy with the 2025 state playoffs.
“I just hope people remember me as a good leader,” Downey said, referring to that legacy she hopes to leave behind. “That I held my own every game, playing my best each game and trying my hardest, and wasn’t about myself, that I was a team player.”
“She doesn’t worry about missing anymore,” Lasko said. “Even if she misses shots, if we’re going down, we’re going down swinging. She’s all grown up now and she’s one tough competitor.”
FOOTBALL
SOLDIERS OF THE STANDARD
Mainland Regional has become a championship program because of players like Rocco and Lucas DeBiaso
By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays sullyglorydays@gmail.com
Imagine Mainland Regional High football coach Chuck Smith’s delight when he found out that Rocco DeBiaso had a younger brother coming up through the ranks.
DeBiaso is one of the players who helped build the foundation that won Mainland the 2023 state championship and had the Mustangs playing for another one this past December. He’s the kind of kid who will run through a brick wall — then rub some dirt on his wounds and run through another if it meant his team could win a championship. You could almost envision him playing for Chuck Noll’s Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s.
Rocco DeBiaso will be graduating with honors this spring, having helped build the Mustangs into a championship program again, and younger brother Lucas, a sophomore this year, will inherit that leadership role next fall as Mainland tries to get back to the state championship game for a third straight year.
Rocco played linebacker and as a junior was mainly a running back to spell star tailback Stephen Ordille, who finished with nearly 2,000 yards. He still finished with more than 600 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, but as a senior he really shined, putting up nearly 1,200 yards and 17 touchdowns despite missing some time with nagging injuries. Lucas is following a similar trajectory, as he put up more than 400 all-purpose yards and seven touchdowns in his second season after getting a taste of varsity as a freshman.
“Rocco played as a sophomore then junior year he really had a standout year. Playing in that talented backfield last year, he stepped into a role. (This year) he dealt with a lot of nagging injuries in the middle of the season but was able to overcome them and we rode on his back in the state playoffs,” Smith said. “The kid had about seven hundred yards rushing in the playoffs. He has tremendous heart. He’s been one of our morning lift guys the past couple years in our 5:30 a.m. club. I just can’t say enough about him, and
South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully
Rocco DeBiaso had a tremendous senior year at Mainland, rushing for nearly 1,200 yards and leading the Stangs back to the state championship game.
his little brother, Lucas.
“I had really never seen Lucas play football (before high school). He’s a little guy and I would notice him at basketball games. He’s a very talented basketball player and when he came in as a freshman he was a good athlete,” Smith continued. “He hit a growth spurt last year where he must have grown about four inches and put on a lot of muscle weight. He came out this year and ended up earning a spot in the backfield with a talented group of guys. He’s that kid if you asked him to go block a cinder block wall, he would do it at 100 percent. We’re lucky that we have him for another two years.”
“I think I had a pretty good career. When I started we were in a rebuilding phase at Mainland, and sophomore year we came around and had a pretty good year,” Rocco said. “I was getting in the mix at running back and we made it to the state semifinal. Then my junior year is when I really stepped up and got a lot of playing time on both sides of the ball. I really enjoyed that season, we had a great group and won a state championship, which was a tremendous
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feeling. Senior year was a little rough in the beginning, but we all believed in each other.
“Our coaches kept saying that as time went on we were going to be really good, we just had to keep believing in ourselves, and that’s what we did.”
Rocco’s freshman year, Mainland went 4-6 and got blown out by rival Ocean City in the opening round of the state playoffs. From then on, the Mustangs became a juggernaut. In 2022, the Stangs went 10-2, losing to Millville in the state semifinals. Then last year, Mainland put together one of the greatest seasons in South Jersey football history, going 14-0 and winning the state championship. This past fall the team reloaded and went 10-4, winning four straight postseason games before falling, 28-16, to Old Tappan in the state championship game.
“We had a lot to prove. I know we were a high seed (in the playoffs) but every game it felt like we were the underdog. We had to really believe in each other, and we stuck together,” Rocco said. “Winning all those playoff games was unbelievable. (Winning a state championship) is an unreal feeling. The thing that stuck out the most was that class of 2024, those seniors were like brothers to me. It was great to see them go out the way they wanted to go out.”
“He’s pretty special,” Lucas said of his older brother. “It all started in our backyard, and we’d always talk about what it would be like if we had the chance to play together. But there was a two-year gap so we never really got the chance until we were in high school. My freshman year I was basically on the practice squad, getting the starters ready, but I wasn’t going to be satisfied with just being a role player. I realized I was going to have to be able to contribute to the team if I wanted to play with my brother, and that’s what ended up happening.”
Rocco was one of the catalysts for Mainland’s surge following that embarrassing loss to Ocean City four years ago. He was a mainstay during Mainland’s 5:30 a.m. offseason lifts and helped turn the Mustangs into one
of the most physical teams in South Jersey.
“Our culture has been built in the weight room, and most of our leaders live in there year ’round. The young players see that the work you put in from now until August determines what type of player you are from August until the end of the season,” coach Smith said. “I always tell people that if you go into our weight room at 5:30 in the morning you’d think it was 3 p.m. because of the energy in there. It’s unbelievable, but that’s where it all begins. That’s the genesis of the whole thing and guys like Rocco are the ones who have kept this culture going. They have been the soldiers of our standard.”
“My strength coach, Antoine Lewis, he really pushed to get the most out of me and explained what it takes to be a good football player,” Rocco said. “The stuff that we do in the weight room and on the football field carries over into life. That’s just the standard at mainland now, and I really just believed in everything he was saying, everything the coaches said, and we just continued to strive to be the best that we could be.”
To say the DeBiaso boys are competitive would be a huge understatement. They try to out-perform each other in everything, which may explain why
they both carry grade-point averages well north of 4.0.
“Those boys do whatever they are coached to do. They are hard workers and they go at it 120 percent. It’s really neat that Lucas got to see Rocco in his role as a big-time football player for us and a Mainland team captain. He’s going to do his best to emulate that,” Smith said. “Rocco has been a great leader for our team in all aspects, not just on the football field, but in the weight room and he’s also a scholar athlete with something like a 4.5 GPA. He’s a great role model for our younger kids, they really look up to him — and not just for his prowess on the field, but his tenacity and work ethic.”
“Our coaches always said the work you put in on the field, in the classroom, everything you do that’s football related is going to eventually pay off in life,” Rocco added. “And I just believed in that. Getting to where we are now, where I am as a person now — it just feels great to look back on and realize what I’ve become as a person.”
“He’s a dog when it comes to working out, he goes at everything 110 percent. You don’t see many people working harder than him,” Lucas said. “My brother set the standard for me. He always raised the bar really high and was always 100 percent committed. I
always looked up to him, he’s been a role model to me and he has pushed me harder than anyone ever could. That’s going to be a big reason I’m going to keep contributing to this team, because of him.”
Rocco said there certainly will be a lot to miss about his high school career at Mainland.
“We’ll remember all the games we won, but most importantly, I think over the years we’re going remember those times we were all together having fun off the field,” he said. “Like during the season we would all hit the beach when it was freezing cold out to do a nice little recovery. Just little stuff like that I feel is going to mean the most to all of us.”
Lucas now has two more years to fill up his box of memories and leave his own legacy on Mainland football.
“It was great to be able to play with my brother this year, we really only had one year to do it so we had to make the most of it. It was such an amazing feeling being able to look over and see him as my lead blocker, or vice versa,” he said. “It was a tough ride home (after the state championship) but we were so happy we made it that far. I’m going to try to fill his shoes. I just want to keep trying to help this team win. That’s the most important goal.”
South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully
Lucas DeBiaso, a sophomore and Rocco’s younger brother, racked up more than 400 all-purpose yards and scored seven touchdowns this year as a running back and receiver.
SOCCER
‘Many hands make light work’
Strong youth programs the key to Shawnee’s dominance
By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays sullyglorydays@gmail.com
It’s really hard to win a New Jersey state soccer championship, particularly at the Group 3 level. Which is why what Shawnee High did this past fall is so impressive. Both the boys and the girls teams won state championships, and the girls finished a perfect 25-0.
It appears Medford is becoming the soccer capital of South Jersey.
“Both us and the girls team have been knocking on the door the last couple of years. Both of us have lost in the Coaches Cup championship, the girls lost in the state championship last year and we both lost in the sectional championship two years ago,” said Shawnee boys coach Ryan Franks, himself a former Renegade. “We’ve been right at the precipice of being able to bring home a state title in both programs, but it’s not easy to do. A lot of things have to break right, you need everybody to stay healthy. And I think the girls would echo that sentiment.”
“We went to the state final last year and lost in penalty kicks. We were really disappointed about that, but we brought back nine of our 11 starters from that team, so we had hopes for a special year,” said Shawnee girls coach Drew Wagner. “As we went along, I think this team expected to win it all as opposed to last year when they were just glad to be there. They were really
South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully
Jacob Santamaria and the Shawnee High boys soccer team won the state championship this past fall for the eighth time in program history.
hungry this year and they came in with a great attitude and a great work ethic. I always say what separated this team from other good teams is a great work ethic and accountability. They came to training every day with the same level of intensity, and they played every game with the same level of intensity. There were no letdowns — that’s what made this team so special.
“It was really awesome,” he continued, “it just worked out that both teams were really strong this year and able to get it done. We actually played each game the day before them, so we would win and then they would win. A
lot of the boys came to support the girls and the girls would then go support the boys team.”
Both teams have had their share of heartache the last couple of years, and perhaps that is what built their resolve to get it done in 2024. Three years ago, the boys had just two losses, but one of them was to Kingsway in the sectional quarterfinals. Two years ago, a gut-wrenching PK loss to Cherry Hill West in the South Jersey Group 3 championship game. Last year, another loss in the sectional final, this time to Clearview.
But this past fall, Franks’ boys put
it all together, winning 21 games, including their final 10 games — a span in which they allowed just six goals. They won four straight games to win the Coaches Cup, then ripped off six straight state tournament wins to capture the state championship. The girls had a similar trajectory. Three years ago, 14 wins and a loss in the sectional quarterfinals. Two years ago, 17 wins and a shootout loss to Cherry Hill West in the sectional ti-
SHAWNEE, From Page 16
tle game. Last season, 19 wins and a shootout loss against Chatham in the state championship game. The shootout went six rounds before Chatham prevailed.
This past fall, though, the Renegades put up perhaps the most dominant girls soccer season in South Jersey history, going 25-0 and scoring 83 goals while yielding just seven the entire season.
“I believe success breeds success. We have a handful of girls coming back and we have some young girls who are ready to step in. They’ve been around (championship soccer) and that will give them a huge edge. I expect them to come in with the same level of intensity next year,” said Wagner, who won the state title for the first time in his 22-year career. “It’s a combination of great feeder systems and great kids. We have exceptional kids who have great attitudes and work hard. We’ve had great girls soccer teams in the past, but we’d have a letdown game here or there. This group was so consistent and played with such intensity. It was unbelievable the year we had. We had 17 shutouts last year, a school record, and then we top that with 19 this year. It was remarkable.”
Franks and Wagner both agreed that the key to Shawnee’s success at the high school level is built on a foundation of great youth programs.
“I think in a lot of ways our program’s success is an extension of our soccer culture here in town. Our kids are brought up in it, and we’re lucky as (high school) coaches to be at the end of a lot of other people’s hard work. There’s been a rich soccer history in our town and here at Shawnee,” Franks said. “I coach my son, who is 8 years old, and I looked around the field one night this past fall and one of my old captains is coaching a team over on the next field. And on the next field over from that, one of our other guys a year younger than him is coaching a team. There’s a guy from the 1988 state championship team. These guys don’t have kids in the program, but they are there giving back to a program they were a part of and grew up in. I was lucky enough to be part of it growing up in this community, and even on this year’s team we had guys whose dads played for Shawnee. It’s a special soccer community to be a part of. It’s like they say, ‘many hands make light work.’”
Added Wagner, “it’s a credit to our community, especially the feeder system in Medford and the Real Jersey Football Club. That’s where it all starts. This is such a great community with great kids who work hard and are ambitious.”
For a while, a lot of the best players were choosing to play high level club soccer rather than for their high school teams, but the pendulum seems to be swinging back a little bit as players are eager for the high school experience.
“A good feeder program is obviously what starts
South Jersey Glory Days file photo/Sully Courtney Davis and the Shawnee girls soccer team posted a 25-0 record this past fall and won the program’s first state championship.
“It’s a credit to our community, especially the feeder system in Medford and the Real Jersey Football Club. That’s where it all starts. This is such a great community with great kids who work hard and are ambitious.”
Drew Wagner, Shawnee girls soccer coach
it, and then just having great kids who are willing to work and buy in,” Wagner said. “Both of my boys played for the Philadelphia Union Academy, so they didn’t get to play high school soccer, and it’s a completely different animal in that there’s so much pride playing for your school, playing with the kids you grew up with, your best friends since you were little. Our bus pulled out going to the state championship game and we had a police escort out of town. We had the parents lined up along the school driveway holding up signs. It’s such a special environment, and the girls loved it. They really took pride in doing it for our school and being the first team to ever win a state championship at our school.”
“It was really fun to be able to look at not just our success, but (the girls team’s) success,” Franks said. “I need somebody who is a better historian than I to figure it out, but I can’t imagine (both teams winning)
has happened too many times in New Jersey history. I don’t think either (myself or coach Wagner) could be more proud to represent Shawnee.”
Through the years, the Shawnee boys have won eight state championships, while the girls notched their first this past fall. It may not be the last for either program if things keep trending upward the way they have the last three years.
“I’ve had great teams and great kids over the years but this specific group was such a great group,” Wagner said. “One of the biggest compliments I get is in the hallways at school, when I run into teachers and they congratulate me. Every one of them says, ‘I have several of your players in class and this is just such a nice group of girls.’ To have this group win it and be the first team in school history is one of the best things to ever happen to me. I couldn’t wish this on a better group.”
‘We
Senior of the Month
couldn’t play without him’
LB Nick Medina was the centerpiece to a 10-win Holy Spirit football team
By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays sullyglorydays@gmail.com
When the Holy Spirit High football team scored a touchdown the last couple of years, linebacker Nick Medina never felt uncomfortable doing a celebration dance.
That’s because he’s one of a handful of Spartans players who have been taking dance class at the high school for the last few years. Yup, you heard that right — a dancing linebacker. A 6-foot, 240-pound dancing game wrecker.
“It definitely translates to football. (In class) we stretch every day and you see (athletics) in a different perspective,” said Medina, who this past fall finished up a career that saw him rack up nearly 200 tackles and 17.5 sacks in four years of varsity football. “Sophomore year I had to fill a class spot and dance was an elective. A couple other guys were doing it. So I was like, ‘oh, I have some friends in there, if I don’t like it I can always do something else.’ But I just fell in love with it. It’s kind of all over the place, we learn about the history of dance, doing contemporary stuff. We put on a big show at the end of the year the past two years and we’re going to do it again this year.”
“Nick came in as a freshman and was a kid who thought he was coming in as a running back, and it’s really hard to convince a running back that maybe that’s not the best position for them. So he had a little bit of an adjustment period with the position change from the position he grew up playing, but he bought in and he started as a freshman,” said Holy Spirit coach Andrew DiPasquale, who has also used Medina as an offensive lineman. “He started at full back and was a force. He adjusted really well to the point where we couldn’t play without him. He’s an overall great kid — there isn’t a person in the school, teacher administrator, anybody, who doesn’t have great
South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully
Linebacker Nick Medina had an outstanding career at Holy Spirit, finishing with nearly 200 tackles and 17.5 sacks.
things to say about Nick Medina.”
Some kids are born to lead, it seems, and Medina falls into that category. He learned a lot from his sister, who was a star athlete at Mainland Regional High and now plays both field hockey and lacrosse in college.
“His sister had a great career at Mainland, and that’s just how their whole family is,” DiPasquale said. “He comes from a great family with great parents who have instilled a worth ethic in those kids that has carried over into sports and their everyday life.”
Medina said he took cues from Julianna, now a junior at Fairleigh Dickenson University – Florham, as he grew into the role of team captain at Holy Spirit.
“(High school football) was a whole lot different. You come in as the top dog (from youth football) and go straight to the bottom of the barrel. It was a new
experience for me. Coming in and having to work (for playing time) really opened my eyes,” Medina said.
“My sister played a big role (in my development). As I got older, my sister was making first-team all-star everything, and it was like a button got pushed where I had to do better than her. I had to compete with her.” Medina certainly has left his own mark. He was one of the top linebackers and edge rushers in South Jersey last fall, leading the Spartans to a 10-2 record that included a trip to the sectional semifinals and big wins over teams such as Camden, St. Augustine Prep, Ocean City and Atlantic City. In all, the Spartans beat nine teams that made it to the state playoffs this past
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season.
“To watch him grow into the person that he has become has been awesome. I tell this to our guys all the time: ‘the best teams are the player-led teams.’ He was a captain as a junior; we weren’t really sure if he was entirely ready for that, but we felt he deserved it. He fully embraced the things he had to work on (coming into senior year) and has become a leader the kids listen to. He’s basically an extension of the coaching staff,” DiPasquale said. “We sometimes have the taxi (youth) kids play at halftime of our games and they look up to our guys like they are NFL players. It’s an awesome moment for those little kids and they know Nick Medina’s name. It’s a really cool thing for him. Sometimes these guys don’t realize it, but they are kind of local celebrities among the youth players.”
“My career is everything I had hoped it would be and more. It was awesome. I never thought I would get to this point. I always thought I would go play at Holy Spirit and see where it took me, and it’s taken me to places that I couldn’t imagine,” said Medina, who’s currently in the recruiting process to continue his career at the collegiate level. “Some of the practices were hard, but winning games — there’s no better feeling than that. Being undersized and going up against powerhouses and winning, celebrating with all the friends you made, the brothers that you have on the team. I don’t think there’s an experience that comes close to it.
“I learned a lot about defense and how I can improve myself every day. I’m not perfect but I can always make adjustments to my game. (High school football) was definitely a great experience.”
DiPasquale said Medina’s preparation, willingness to put in the work and his love for football certainly rubbed off on his teammates and the younger players in the program.
“He’s just a kid you can depend on. He has the mentality when he’s in the game that it doesn’t matter who is in front of him, he’s going to make plays — and that’s contagious. You can tell,
“His sister had a great career at Mainland, and that’s just how their whole family is. He comes from a great family with great parents who have instilled a worth ethic in those kids that has carried over into sports and their everyday life.”
Andrew DiPasquale, Holy Spirit football coach
there’s a difference when he’s on the field,” the coach said. “Last year, he broke his hand during a game and I didn’t even know he broke it. He called me at 1 a.m. and said he was in the hospital. I was like, ‘oh, my God, I had no idea!’ And he just goes, ‘don’t worry, I got a club (cast) on it, I’m good to go next week.’ That’s just the type of kid he is. And that energy, that toughness is contagious. The kids know there are no excuses. That’s the example he sets.
“Toward the end of the season you really start to think about the seniors you’re going to miss,” DiPasquale continued. “You’re with them every day for four years and you have a special relationship with them. You hope you did everything you could to get
them ready for the next stage of their life. I’m excited to see what Nick does, whatever it is. He’s going to take the approach that he’s going to be the absolute best at whatever he does because he understands the work it takes.”
“He’s the best. We were in the weight room every single day, we didn’t miss a single lift because we were both captains. He’s a fun player to play with. He could command the whole defensive line and linebackers, and I would get the defensive backs and safeties all on the same page. We were both kind of centerpieces to the defense, and it was a lot of fun because we knew we had two good minds out there,” said fellow senior and captain Matt Abbott. “He made my job a lot easier. I
didn’t have to make all those one-onone tackles because if I had to, it probably didn’t turn out too well for us. He made everyone’s job easier because he could go sideline-to-sideline and make plays literally anywhere on the field. He was the biggest leader on our team; he played four years and he was a lot of fun to be around, the center of jokes and all that. It was a fun senior year.”
No matter where he ends up, Medina will take plenty of memories of his time in the Navy and gold with him.
“I don’t think there’s an experience like Holy Spirit football,” he said. “It just brings you closer to everyone and you make new connections you never thought could happen. It sticks with you.”
LEEDS BY EXAMPLE
PRESENTED BY LEEDS BUILDERS OF MARGATE
Parker leaves her own legacy
Following in footsteps of her dad, Aniyah Parker found success at EHT
(Editor’s note: Throughout the school year we’ll be bringing you feature stories about high school athletes who maybe aren’t the most vocal, but lead by example and have gained the respect of coaches, teammates and opponents by grinding it out year after year. We’re proud to partner with Leeds Builders of Margate to bring you these stories of outstanding young men and women throughout South Jersey.)
By AIDEN SERATORE Correspondent
For the first three years of Aniyah Parker’s time on the Egg Harbor Town-
ship girls soccer team, she made her presence felt as a defender.
But coach Pete Lambert — new to the girls team this past fall after a highly successful run with the EHT boys program — saw that she had potential in the offensive third of the field as well.
“She’s a talent,” Lambert said. “She’s one of the players most teams and everyone are aware of. I knew she was a very solid defender and the past three years she’s had most of her minutes as a defender, but I knew she was capable of more. I knew she could score goals,
be creative and dangerous. My coaching staff and I, from Day One, were like, ‘we need to get more out of her.’”
“During the preseason after about three days, Lambert and (Phil) Maturi called me over to talk about having me in the midfield more, and I was like ‘Ok, but why?’” Parker said. “And they were saying that they’ve seen what I can do and they were seeing the potential I had with this team. They saw something that, at the time, I didn’t see, so it was a lot of fun learning a new position on the field, and you can tell in the film I was just having fun the whole time,” Parker said.
“There were days where she wanted to play defense, but we tell her, ‘you have to trust in your defense behind you, we need you to be in the box and
control the midfield,’” Lambert added. “So when she finally bought into that she was a really dominant force.” Parker’s presence on offense was surely felt, as her statistics skyrocketed during her senior campaign and her dual-threat capability was on full display. She scored 19 goals and added 10 assists, more points than any of her previous three seasons combined. Her previous highs came as a junior when she scored six goals and added seven assists.
Her efforts this past season earned her a spot on the All-South Jersey second team, as she led the Eagles
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to a 17-6 record that included an appearance in the Cape-Atlantic League championship game and a run to the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals. The Eagles also earned a share of the CAL American Conference title with Ocean City.
“This is probably the closest that we all were as a group, there were no cliques or anything like that. We were a group of girls with a goal and went after it,” Parker said.
Parker said the most memorable moment during her career at EHT was beating Ocean City her senior year, a first during her four-year varsity career.
“She was one of two captains and she leads by example, and being a senior and four-year varsity player she has the experience to win games, possibly from behind or hold onto a lead throughout a game,” Lambert said. “She has all the attributes to be a leader, on and off the field.”
Parker also is a member of the EHT track and field team, but that isn’t
enough to keep her away from the soccer field as she practices and travels to high-level tournaments in the offseason with her club team, something she’s done for more than six years.
Parker said her strong work ethic is a trait inherited from her father, Andrew Parker III, a standout athlete at EHT High, where the Parker legacy runs deep. In the 1990s, Andrew was a star running back for EHT, and his talents took him to the University of New Haven in Connecticut, where he played football and met his wife, Neysha, a volleyball player for the Chargers. The family’s athletic prowess extends beyond Andrew and Neysha, as Aniyah’s brother, Devon played football for EHT before continuing his athletic career at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
“It’s about legacy,” Andrew Parker III said. “She knows I drive her nuts with my pride, I’m just that kind of guy. I’m very loyal and I’m very proud. I’m one of those guys to be an alumni of my schools, so EHT is always going to be my home. So it was nice to see my kids go to the same school and have some of the same experiences, and watching
them compete wearing that black-andsilver, you can’t beat it as a father.”
Aniyah added a strong piece of that legacy, as her presence as a captain is something Lambert believes will add to the future success of the team.
“Out of the 14 freshmen we had, we had three on varsity who played quality minutes, and even started a handful of games,” he said. “For them to see
Senior Aniyah Parker was mainly a defender throughout her career, but stepped up with 19 goals in her final campaign, leading Egg Harbor Township to a 17-win season.
South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully
a player like Aniyah and see how she plays, hard, relentless, with passion —that’s something that’s contagious for not just the freshmen, but also the sophomores and juniors coming back.” Added Parker, “without our whole team buying into what our coaches wanted for us, we would’ve never gone as far as we did, so they were a huge part of why we did so well.”
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South Jersey Glory Days photos/Sully
