Earl Ownes and Jim Roe will don their coaching hats one more time as members of George Conti’s Monmouth County staff for the 2001 All-Shore Football Classic Friday night at Toms River East High School.
Although retired from coaching and now supervisor of extracurricular activities at Freehold Borough and Freehold Township high schools, respectively, neither has gotten football out of their blood after successful runs as head coaches — Ownes at Freehold Borough and Roe at Manalapan. Both won Shore Conference division titles and took teams to the state playoffs. For them, the All-Shore Classic is another chance to be part of the coaching fraternity again, pacing the sidelines, teaching fundamentals and drawing up game plans.
"It’s going to be a lot of fun," said Ownes, who will coach the wide receivers. "I’m anxious to get back. I had a lot of fun getting together with the coaches and going over the X’s and O’s again.
"What I miss the most is ‘the game,’ " he added. "The most enjoyable part of coaching football was the mental battle each Saturday, having to think on your feet during a game."
Roe, who will coach the tight ends, is also looking forward to getting back on the sidelines.
"It’s been hard being away from football and coaching," he said. "George and I go way back. He brought the idea up to me back in March. For me, it’s the chance to get out for a few nights and coach again.
"I look forward to hanging out with the football players and coaches," he added. "It’s more of a fun thing for me. I know when I was the head coach in 1987 and on the staff in ’88 that I had a lot of fun."
Another part of the fun, according to Ownes, who will be coaching in this game for the fifth time, is the caliber of people he’ll get to work with.
"It’s good to be in a game like this because there are a lot of good coaches and good football players," he said. "You know that you have dedicated players who have accepted playing in this game as an honor and that they will come to play.
"There’s not a guy on George’s staff that doesn’t know his football," he added.
Conti is coming out of retirement himself. He is the former head coach at Ocean Township and Asbury Park. He is currently the athletic director at Ocean Township.
The Monmouth All-Stars are led by two quarterbacks who can air it out, T.J. Moriarity of Red Bank Catholic and Matawan’s Glennis Lester. They have a solid ground attack with Ty Henderson of Neptune and John Colangello, both 1,000-plus runners.
Ocean County will feature a high-powered offense led by Toms River East’s Colin Gaynor, the all-state quarterback who passed for more than 6,600 yards and 52 touchdowns during his career, and Jackson’s QB Gary Edwards, who used his arm and legs to lead Jackson to a perfect 10-0 season that included the Jags’ first-ever New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Central Jersey Group IV championship. John Gardi, former head coach at Central Regional, is the head coach of the Ocean squad.
The Freehold District will be well represented on the Monmouth County team led by Colts Neck’s Marc Savard. The linebacker/fullback helped the Cougars create a tidal wave in their first year of varsity competition, going 7-4 and qualifying for the state playoffs where they won their debut against Highland Park. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards.
Also on the squad are Manalapan linebacker Mike Bianco, Howell lineman Scott Blum, Freehold Borough’s Larry Hendrick-son, an offensive guard, and 1,000-yard rusher Keith Reid, Freehold Township lineman Aaron Winik, and Marlboro defensive lineman Adam Geis. Kickoff for the 24th All-Shore Classic is 7:05 p.m. The rain date is Sunday at the same time.

