Column: Nuse Sense

A fantasy dream come true: last to first

By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
   Kevin Watson and David Twamley helped lead their teams to two of the best seasons in their school’s football history, but it wasn’t quite enough to give the Mighty Tucks a championship.
   J.T. Tartacoff and Matthew Miller made plenty of big plays this season, but even their big-play ability wasn’t enough for the Curious Georges.
   Chris Garcia had as good a season as you can have as a tight end and Clint O’Brien ran and passed his way to an big season, but that didn’t help the Feil Cabinets in their attempt at a repeat.
   In the end, it was a roster full of steady players and a big-time effort from the Hun School defense that helped the Good Nuse Bears go from last to first and capture the championship of this year’s Princeton Packet Sports Pod Fantasy Football League.
   The Bears, led by the play of quarterback Connor Farrell, the running of Devon Saunders and Mike Shimkin, and the receiving of Jeff Riemann and Andrew Ojeda, captured the league championship with 816 points. Steve Tuckerson’s Mighty Tucks were second with 776 points, while George O’Gorman’s Curious Georges finished third with 661 points. Justin Feil’s defending champion Feil Cabinets were fourth with 630 points.
   Points were awarded based on season yardage totals, as well as touchdowns and catches throughout the just completed high school football season. Defensive points were awarded based on points allowed, sacks and interceptions, while kickers were awarded a point for each point they scored.
   The Good Nuse Bears were led by Farrell, whose 22 touchdown passes for West Windsor-Plainsboro South helped him finish with 229 points. Shimkin (144 points) and Saunders (135 points) formed a solid running duo, while Riemann’s 11 touchdown catches helped him score 144 points. Ojeda had 60 points, the Hun defense scored 99 and kicker Jack Mulhall of WW-P North scored one point.
   That balance helped offset some big performances from players on the other teams.
   The Mighty Tucks were led by the highest point scorer in the league, Watson, who threw 21 touchdown passes for Montgomery and also ran for seven touchdowns. Twamley, who rushed for nearly 1,300 yards for WW-P South, was the highest scoring running back with 172 points. Princeton’s Doug Borchert, who also rushed for over 1,200 yards, added 141 points for the Mighty Tucks. Receivers Andrew Singley (64 points) and Matt Furstenberg (39 points) also contributed. WW-P South kicker Greg Quinton finished with 52 points and the Princeton Day defense added 48.
   The Curious Georges received 199 points from Montgomery’s Tartacoff, whose big-play ability made him the highest scoring receiver. Miller, Hun’s post-graduate quarterback, used his ability to run and pass to score 177 points. WW-P South’s J.B. Fitzgerald added 76 points as a receiver. Running backs Sean Reed (57 points) and Luke LaVoie (nine points) also contributed. Hun’s Scott Demler was the highest scoring kicker with 61 points, while the Montgomery defense scored 82 points.
   The Feil Cabinets were hurt by an injury to WW-P North’s Darren Parrott in the opening game. He finished with just 10 points. Garcia had a huge season with 11 touchdown catches that led to 186 points, while O’Brien finished with 145 points. Hun running back Kenny Howard had 114 points, while Raider receiver Nick Williams added 86. Princeton kicker David Griffin had 33 points, while the South defense scored 56.
   The highest scoring players at each position were Watson at quarterback, Twamley at running back, Tartacoff at receiver, Demler at kicker and Hun on defense. So, maybe defense really does win championships.
   There were also several players not chosen in the draft who had big years and could have helped teams if they drafted a bit wiser.
   WW-P North’s Ryan Phelan used his combination of receiving and a couple games at quarterback to finish with 109 points, the most of any player not drafted. The Knights’ Tim Owoh also had an interesting combination of passing, running and receiving, mostly as a quarterback, to finish with 87 points.
   Next year, those are two players who may go high in the draft. But you can be sure there will plenty of newcomers who will work their way in as well.
   As far as this year’s season is concerned, it was the depth and the overall contributions from the entire roster that helped lift the Good Nuse Bears from last to first.