Pirates to face Howell tonight for CJ IV title
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Good teams have a way of finding players to fill roles.
For the past three years, West Windsor-Plainsboro South has been a good football team.
And for the past three years, the Pirates have found players to fill roles. Whether it’s a receiver, lineman, linebacker or special teams player, the Pirates have filled the roles and gone 27-5 in their last 32 games.
Nowhere is that ability to find a player to fill a role more prominent than at kicker, where the past two years the Pirates have pulled a rabbit out of a hat and come up with a record-setting performer at the position.
Tom McKeever handled the position in Todd Smith’s first season as head coach, setting a school record for points as a kicker with 44. Last year, Dan Jankoski came out for football after three years as a soccer goalie and set a school record with 39 points after touchdown.
This year, the Pirates came up with another last-minute player to handle the kicking chores, and Greg Quinton has responded with a school-record 51 points.
”It’s like an open tryout with us,” joked Smith, whose team will play Howell tonight at 8 p.m. at Rutgers University for the Central Jersey Group IV championship. “Dan had been a soccer goalie and kind of saw the writing on the wall that he wasn’t going to play much. So he came out for football. He tried to play linebacker, but that quickly came to an end. But he had a great year as a kicker for us.
”Greg had no interest in doing anything but kicking. Although in the first game against Trenton the kid broke it on a kickoff and ‘Q’ had to make a touchdown-saving tackle.”
Quinton has played football as a freshman, but spent the last two years concentrating on his main sport — basketball. As luck would have it for the Pirates, Quinton was part of the group of supporters on the train ride back from New York City the day senior J.B. Fitzgerald was in New York to announce his intention to play football at Michigan.
”I knew he was a good athlete,” Smith recalled. “We were riding the train on our way back from the press conference in New York for J.B. on ESPNU and he was there along with some of the other kids who had come to support J.B. We were struggling in the preseason with our kicking game and I asked him if he wanted to kick for us. He said he’d do it if that was all he had to do. So we got his six practices in and he’s been doing a good job for us.
”I knew he had kicked freshman year, but then he didn’t come back out for football and I didn’t think about it again. We had Tom McKeever as our kicker and he did a nice job for us. I remember at the time some kid saying Tom was a good kicker, but Greg could kick it further.”
Quinton has been perfect on his four field goal attempts this year, while also converting 39 extra points to match Jankoski’s record. It’s been a pretty good season for a player who in late August had intended to be a fan in the stands.
”All my friends were playing football and they had been talking to me about playing,” Quinton said. “I played as a freshman, but hadn’t played since. I think the coaches knew I could kick. When we were on the train after going up to New York with J.B., Coach Smith asked me if I’d be interested in kicking.
”I had played a lot of positions when I was a freshmen. I wasn’t that big or athletic, but I knew I could kick. My friends had been trying every year to get me to kick.”
It didn’t take long for the Pirates’ coaching staff to know they had their latest find. On his first day of practice, Quinton was knocking through kicks from 45 yards away.
”I think the first day I was there they wanted to make sure I could really do it,” Quinton said. “Last year they got Dan out of soccer. I made a few kicks and I think they saw I could do it. If I wasn’t kicking, I’d just be getting ready for basketball and cheering the team on.
”I love it. I’m glad I decided to do it. All I have to do is kick, which makes practice simple. We have good players everywhere, so they don’t need me to do anything but kick. It’s not just me. We have a great snapper (Mike Garzone) and holder (Nick Loury). They make it a lot easier for more.”
As much as he would like to just kick, Quinton did have to do a bit more on one play this season.
”We had joked about it before the season and it so happened that on the first kickoff of the season a kid from Trenton broke one and I had to knock him out of bounds, I felt that,” Quinton said.
Tonight, Quinton and his teammates will play their final game of the season as they look to capture the school’s first sectional title.
”We’re real excited,” Quinton said. “When the season started we thought this could happen. We just have to play our best game.”
Howell, which has a similar 10-1 record to the Pirates, has a dynamic offense that will make the game a challenge.
”We’re going to have to control their offense,” Smith said. “I don’t know if that means we have to stop them for a loss on every play, but we can’t give up the big play. Our kids have risen to the occasion every week so far, so we hope they can do it again. We’ve had good practices all week and the kids have looked sharp.
”I think the key is we need to be able to run the ball. If we can do that, we have a chance to hang with them.”
And maybe, just maybe, Quinton will make a kick that will help make a difference.

