Hun football runs MAPL table

Tomczyk aids Raiders unbeaten run

By: Bob Nuse
   Dave Dudeck knows how hard it is to win the Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship. He also knows to do so by going undefeated in the league means you have a pretty good football team.
   "To go 5-0 in the MAPL and 13-2 over the last three years, that’s a good thing for us," said Dudeck, whose Hun School team completed an unbeaten MAPL season with a 30-0 win over Hill School on Friday. "We’re real happy about winning the championship. Before every year, the one big goal we set for ourselves is to win the MAPL. It’s a smash-mouth league and usually teams beat each other somewhere along the line. But we were lucky enough to go 5-0 this year."
   For Dudeck, the most impressive aspect about this team isn’t so much the winning, as the way the team has come together over the last two months. It’s a team filled with seniors who have come through the program, with a few key additions sprinkled in to make it a championship squad.
   "This is a special group of kids in that they just bonded together so well," said Dudeck, whose team improved to 6-2 overall and will conclude the season on Saturday at Trinity Pawling. "They came together to be so tight as a team. It didn’t matter who scored the touchdowns or who got the ball or who made the tackles.
   "Even the guys who don’t play as much, they still come out in practice and give us everything they can. This team was tight and unified and I think that’s why they won the championship this year."
   One of the newcomers to the team was post-graduate lineman Greg Tomczyk, who helped solidify a very good defensive line for the Raiders. Tomczyk came to Hun from West Morris Central, where two years ago he played on a state championship team, but suffered through a losing season as a senior.
   "This was the senior year I never had," Tomczyk said. "I had a really tough senior year last year. It wasn’t what I wanted it to be at all. It wasn’t what I wanted football-wise. I came here and this is a great bunch of guys. It’s a great feeling to come here and help them win something.
   "My hat is off to the seniors. When they were sophomores I know they had a great group of guys here with players like Myron (Rolle). To do it for them and leave another mark on this if I’m only here for a year, it’s a real good feeling. I’m proud to be a part of this."
   Hun not only won the MAPL this year, the Raiders dominated it. In five games, they outscored the opposition by a 148-33 margin. And no team came closer than nine points to beating Hun.
   "I thought they were all pretty good teams in the league this year," Dudeck said. "This year we were fortunate enough to be a little bit better."
   Tomczyk came to Hun from a very competitive league, but came to find the play in the MAPL to be just as strong — or maybe even stronger.
   "I came from a very competitive conference, but this was actually better," he said. "Just to win again is a great feeling, especially with such a great group of guys. Shane (Davis) is a tremendous kid. Every one of the seniors has made this year phenomenal for me.
   "Ernie (Owusu) and I both came here as PGs. (Tyler) Stockton, (Randy) Mershon, (Brad) Pietras, they’re all great guys. It was a wonderful experience to be here. I would not take a thing back from this year. I felt like I was a part of it all the way through the season. We feel like one big family."
   The win on Friday capped off quite a MAPL season for the Raiders, who made their mark on defense, surrendering less than seven points a game and posting two shutouts in the league.
   "Each week my staff takes the time to break down film and get a game-plan ready and scout each team so we understand what we have to do," Dudeck said. "It starts with them and goes into practice each week. The kids learn about the other team and once we get into the game it’s all the kids."
   And this year, those kids were the best of the Mid-Atlantic Prep League.