2007 season opens Sunday at Bound Brook
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
Bring on Bound Brook.
While the Manville High football team won’t face its neighboring rival until the night before Thanksgiving, the Manville Youth Athletic League’s four squads will open the 2007 season at Bound Brook this Sunday.
The quadruple-header kicks off with the Flag Mavericks taking the field at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Junior Pee Wee Ponies at 1 p.m., the Pee Wee Pintos at 2:30 and the Midget Colts at 4 p.m. Manville will not field a Mitey-Mites team this fall, but the numbers are fairly solid at the other levels.
MYAL president Gregg Snyder remains cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season. While numbers are better than the last few years, the program is still barely above the minimum.
”I’m glad we were able to get some extra kids this year,” Snyder said. “We’re able to play, but we’re still at that minimum. If a kid gets hurt, we could be in trouble.”
Manville will compete in the Raritan Valley Conference again this season, playing four home games and four on the road, including two at Bound Brook. The MYAL football teams host Clark in their home openers Sept. 2 at Gerber Field.
The Colts once again will be coached by veterans Walt Mathewson and Bobby Willard. Al Rizk and recent MHS graduate Mike Knitowski will be working with the Colts, whose roster includes Andre Heredia, Matthew George, Joseph Veglatte, Matt Veglatte, Matias Gualtieri, Luismael Monterrosa-Caprio, Michael Tarnovetchi, Alex Agans, Jonathan Rizk, Altraron Robinson, Marc Hagin, Akash Patel, Jake Caswell, Lawrence Abner, Cory Britt, Nicholas Harenza and Scott Minegar.
John Harenza is the head coach of the Pintos, assisted by Joe Hanover. The Pintos roster includes Skylar Skibo, Anthony Zuhone, Vincent Aclao, Scott Caswell, Angelo Locham, Joseph Hanover, Max Miller, Steven Poto, Andrew Sutton, Tristan Jaime, Jared Williams, Kyle Thomaszfski, Bryan Pettit, Jack Sanford, Kyle Puza, Jared Matisak, David Rubin and Carl Imhoff.
Dave Janovsky (Ponies) and Bob Demeter (Mavericks) are the other MYAL head football coaches.
”The coaches feel pretty confident,” Snyder said. “They’re all pretty upbeat.”
The mood within the organization was somber last week after the tragic death of Thomas Oset, whose son, Troy, plays for the Ponies. Many MYAL coaches, parents and players attended last week’s viewing. Snyder and other league members discussed plans for fundraising events to help the family.

