By: John E. Powers
Before the season, one of the team goals the South Hunterdon High School cross country squad set was to finish at least .500 in dual meets.
So far the Eagles are running like a team committed to reaching their goal.
Sept. 25, the Eagles beat Warren Tech 21-34 as sophomore Dan Marley placed first. South Hunterdon entered Wednesday’s meet against Delaware Valley, Manville and Belvidere with a 3-4 record.
The team also knocked off Hackettstown on Sept. 20 during a triangular meet that also included North Plainfield. The Eagles lost to North Plainfield, but did beat Hackettstown, something they hadn’t done for many years, the coach said. South Hunterdon lost to Hackettstown last year.
The Eagles also beat Pennington on Sept. 18.
"I think that our meet with Manville and Belvidere Wednesday are going to be very close," Zidzik said. "I think reaching .500 is a very achievable goal for us."
Zidzik, who’s in his 18th year, welcomed 16 runners out for team, including last year’s top five runners sophomore Dan Marley, senior Bill Hood, senior Wyatt Brady and junior Matt Schwab and sophomore Wyatt Riggs. Senior Andrew Cheung has also been running well.
The Eagles had just 11 runners’ sign up last year and finished with a 6-8 record.
The South Hunterdon football team dropped a 31-15 decision to Bound Brook on Sept. 21 in Bound Brook.
The Eagles, now 0-3, now have a bye week before taking on North Warren at home a week from Friday night.
South Hunterdon will be looking to stop its 15-game losing streak.
"We did some good things," South Hunterdon coach Jim Meert said of the game at Bound Brook. "Our kids compete, and that’s probably the biggest thing. Nobody has left, and that’s an encouraging sign. I think we’re going to get better. We’re going to use the week off as something of a spring practice."
Carl Snell rushed for touchdowns of 65 and 12 yards against Bound Brook and also ran in a two-point conversion. Kyle Hart kicked the other point after touchdown.
After opening the season with four straight wins, the Eagles lost two straight to Somerville and Bernards.
Somerville blanked the Eagles 2-0 on Sept. 20. Lauren Mitchell made four saves in the first half and seven in the second for South.
The Eagles then were beaten Sept. 23 by a score of 2-1 by Bernards. Tory Marley put South Hunterdon on the scoreboard with 3:10 left in the second half after Bernards had taken a 2-0 lead. Mitchell made 16 saves.
"Somerville’s game did not go well at all due to our lack of team work," said South Hunterdon head coach Andi Burroughs. "Our practice the day before was great, and I really thought that we would have a phenomenal game against Somerville. Although losing was disappointing, we needed to see what it felt like so we didn’t get too full of ourselves. The Bernards loss had a lot to do with the extreme poor field conditions, but I am not making any excuses for my team.
She added, "They knew what needed to be done to win, and they didn’t bring it that day until the last few minutes of the game. That isn’t good enough. We had 10 corners, and, to me, that is 10 free scoring opportunities."
The Eagles beat Mount St. Mary Academy 5-4 in overtime Sept. 18 as Christina Aiello had two unassisted goals. Laura Coleman, Marley and Steph Davis had the others. Davis had the game-winner in overtime. Mitchell had 11 saves.
The Eagles were scheduled to play host to Hackettstown on Sept. 26 and play at North Warren on Sept. 28.
"We had to change some corners and formations around and regroup and kind of start all over," Burroughs said. "So, hopefully, we found what we need to succeed!"

