Turkey Day victory ended season in style

MHS FALL SPORTS AWARDS

By: Rudy Brandl
   Manville High certainly didn’t win a lot of games during the fall scholastic athletic campaign — the school’s four varsity teams collected a grand total of 11, to be exact — but the Mustangs saved the best and most dramatic for last.
   Thanksgiving Day football has been a great tradition at MHS and this year’s holiday game will go down as one of the most satisfying and thrilling in school history.
   Of course, any Manville triumph over Bound Brook is meaningful, but this year’s season finale went above and beyond the usual drama.
   Manville capped a 3-7 season, by far the school’s best of the decade, with a 27-21 overtime victory over the Crusaders. After nearly blowing the game in regulation, the Mustangs regrouped and prevailed in dramatic fashion.
   Neither soccer team qualified for the state playoffs and the cross country program went winless in another rebuilding campaign. There wasn’t much left to anticipate in November besides the Turkey Day football contest.
   Most of the recent MHS-BB meetings have pitted no-win or one-win teams against each other. This year’s game featured a pair of much-improved units battling for third place in the division.
   Manville’s victory locked up most of the fall season recognition for the football team. Winning a classic game like that warrants continued recognition.
   The basketball players have started working on their jump shots and the wrestlers are busy learning moves and cutting weight. Before they can start filling these pages with their news, it’s time to take one final look back at the recently completed athletic season in my Manville High Fall Sports Awards:
   Best Team – Football. I can’t remember the last time I gave this award to the men who battle on the gridiron. They entered the season on a 20-game losing streak, but the Mustangs started their reversal of fortune with a 3-7 season that represented a monumental improvement over recent years. The Mustangs hadn’t won three games since 1994. Manville scored 117 points, the most since 1998, and was only blanked twice all season. The team scored four touchdowns in all three victories.
   Best Coach – Brett Stibitz, football. If you don’t believe me, ask the NFL Giants and the Madison Square Garden Network, who named Stibitz their Metropolitan Area Coach of the Week after the Mustangs opened the 2005 season with a 25-0 victory at Newark Central. Stibitz led the program’s positive turnaround in his first year at the helm, coming back to revive the program he once participated in as a player. It’s not surprising Stibitz was able to get things going in the right direction. He’s done the same thing with the MHS wrestling program and he’s committed to the community.
   Best Athletes – Leo Rodriguez and Mike Knitowski, football. These juniors were solid all year but their exploits on Thanksgiving Day clinched co-ownership of this award. Rodriguez finished his season with a monster game, scoring three touchdowns including the game-winner in overtime. The running back also played a key role in the team’s defense as a linebacker. Knitowski moved from wide receiver under center to the quarterback position this year and showed that’s where he belongs, starting with the win at Newark Central in the season opener. His interception in overtime stopped Bound Brook and gave the Mustangs a chance to win the game on their possession.
   Most Exciting Moments – Nothing beats the football team’s 27-21 overtime triumph over Bound Brook on Thanksgiving Day at Ned Panfile Stadium; the Mustangs wasted little time serving notice they were for real this year when they traveled to Newark and ripped Central in a 25-0 shutout, a victory that ended a two-year, 20-game losing streak; the girls’ soccer team would not be denied on Senior Night, rolling over rival David Brearley under the lights at Panfile Stadium; the boys’ soccer team spent most of the season struggling to find the back of the net, but Jim Chiariello’s club enjoyed its first big offensive outburst in a 4-2 home win over Belvidere; and Sasa Todorovic produced the cross country program’s only victory of the season when he finished first in a season ending home tri-meet vs. Belvidere and South Hunterdon, both of whom defeated the Mustangs on the team scoreboard.
   Best Game Performances – Leo Rodriguez finished with 115 yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns in the Thanksgiving Day football victory, for which he was honored with Offensive Player of the Game honors; Rodriguez and fellow back Tommy Rock rushed for 130 and 122 yards, respectively, in the team’s 26-6 home victory over South Hunterdon in October ; Rafal Brozyna scored both goals in the boys’ soccer team’s season ending victory at Middlesex County Academy; Sasa Todorovic learned his lesson and paced himself to finish first in his final race on the MHS course after struggling to the wire in an earlier home meet; and senior Christine Bradley scored a career-high four goals to lead the Lady Mustang soccer team to a 6-0 victory during a driving rainstorm at Hillside.
   Tough Luck – The football team was only blanked twice, but one of those was responsible for the most disappointing loss of the season, a 6-0 home setback to Princeton Day School in game the Mustangs dominated but lost on a defensive touchdown; the girls’ soccer team couldn’t catch a break and dropped a 1-0 decision at Gill St. Bernards in the first round of the Somerset County Tournament; and the boys’ soccer team dominated several teams on the statistical sheet but fell short, including a heart-breaking home overtime loss to Jonathan Dayton in October.
   Freshman Phenoms – Soccer goalkeeper Bryan Molina, football lineman Joe Burnett and cross country runners Casey Shields and Kate Harodetsky.
   Sophomore Sensations – Soccer players Rhianna Lebedz, Lucy Yakobchuk, Michelina Aichele, Alexander Malliard, Drew Evanylo, Jimmy Lozado and Marvin Sosa; cross country runners Adam Wolcott and Erik Lubas; and football players Anthony Palovick and Dennis Petrone.
   Junior Jewels – Quarterback Mike Knitowski, running backs Leo Rodriguez and Tommy Rock, receiver Robert Wood, lineman Matt Golen and linebacker Jamie Levine from the football team; soccer players Ronnie Lobo, Marzena Brozyna and goalkeepers Marta Fabiyan and Juliana Andrade; and cross country runners Sasa Todorovic, Ron Skirkamish and David Le.
   Senior Stars – Soccer players Rafal Brozyna, Tuan Anh Lee, Christine Bradley, Robyn Barb and Katrina DeSantis; and football players Andrew Schaefer, Craig Howell and David Mazzucca.