ALLENTOWN—Boys lacrosse offers talented and deep team for 2009

By: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
    The way Michael Kays looks at this year, Allentown High will be able to take the boys lacrosse season pretty far as long as everyone carries his weight.
    According to Kays, Allentown lost three impact players off of a team that went 9-9 and made the playoffs (lost to West Caldwell, 19-15).
    “Overall, we have more depth this year,” Kays said. “We just have to spread out the responsibilities more.”
    The return of Bobby Sopher, a senior, adds to the depth. Sopher, the team’s goalie, broke his thumb last season and a missed lot of games.
    Isaac Nissim (senior), Garrett Marshall (junior) and Tyler Freeman (sophomore) are the starters on defense.
    In the midfield, the main guys are Bryan Pope (senior), Brendan Skeehan (senior), Matt Mueller (junior), Luke Lamb (senior) and Tim Collins (senior).
    Vince Rini (senior), Richie Morris (senior) and James Bulk (senior) will be up front on the attack. Bulk had 44 goals and 23 assists last season. Mueller (42 goals and 10 assists) is another top scorer returning for the team.
    “We’re a pretty balanced team,” Kays said. “When we’re playing well, we’re capable of keeping the other team’s scoring down and our scoring high.”
    Kays’ assistants are Carl Schubauer, Keith Landolina and Alex Jakober.
    The other seniors on the team are Louis Keleher (defense), Kevin Predmore (midfield), Lee Rappleya (defense) and Tony Serano (attack).
    The other juniors on the team are Chris Dobrolski (attack), David Bolla (attack), Trevor Bullock (midfield), John Gellman (midfield), Garrett Hoover (attack), Carey Kells (goalie), Trevor Toms (midfield), Greg Valesi (attack) and Nick Villanueva (midfield).
    The other sophomores on the team are Trever Fernes (midfield), Tyler Fredricks (defense), Chris Johnston (attack), Scott Keleher (midfield), James Kiczalis (defense), Adam Levinson (midfield), Nick Lucarella (midfield), Cody Marks (midfield), Chris Pepe (midfield), Alex Smith (goalie), Joe Spinella (attack), Alex Tobias (midfield) and Brian Tobias (midfield).
    Freshmen new to the team include Dominick Lazzaro (defense), Kyle Lewis (midfield), Luke Olexyak (midfield) and Shawn Dziepak (defense).
    Allentown was scheduled to open its season yesterday (Wednesday) against Northern Burlington. The team will play at Lawrence at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.