St. Joseph High School of Metuchen’s Karl Towns (44) and Marcus Ashamole had East Brunswick High School’s Alex Fitzgerald trapped during the Dec. 20 meeting between the two Greater Middlesex Conference powerhouses in East Brunswick, which was won by the visiting Falcons, 46-44. The two teams could meet again in the GMC Tournament finals on Feb. 27. Both teams, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, have gotten through to the semifinals. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR BISHOP AHR
The Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Girls Basketball Tournament quarterfinals on Feb. 22 at Middlesex County College between 12th-seed Bishop George Ahr High School and fourth-seed South Plainfield High School was going exactly according to script at the outset.
The more athletic Tigers quickly jumped out to a 19-2 lead, and the Trojans would not have been blamed for hanging their heads at that point and going through the motions the rest of the way. But Kevin Harper, who has been head coach at Bishop Ahr for 25 years, has taught his players to never give up, no matter what the scoreboard reads.
In what Harper acknowledged was one of the gutsiest performances he has coached, Bishop Ahr patiently chiseled away at South Plainfield’s seemingly insurmountable lead and overtook the Tigers with just under four minutes left in the contest. The final was 55-50 and advanced the Trojans to the semifinals on Feb. 24 at South Brunswick High School, where they faced another major obstacle, top-seed East Brunswick High School. The winner plays on Feb. 27 at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in the first game of a boys and girls championship doubleheader.
“This [win] was similar to [how] our 1994 team was down to J.P. Stevens [High School] by a large margin and came back to win,” Harper said. “If this was earlier in the season, we never would have come back from that [19-2] deficit. Things were in a formative stage, but this group is moving in the right direction, and we believe in each other.”
Harper has to be excited about the development of one of the youngest teams left in the GMCs, with Brianna Foster as the only senior in the rotation. But Foster’s importance to the team, he said, cannot be understated.
“It all starts with [her],” Harper said about Foster, who was also a standout goaltender for Bishop Ahr’s state championship soccer team and is headed to Duquesne University next year. “She isn’t the best basketball player, and she suffered damage to her knee during soccer season. But Brianna sets such a high standard and plays with such heart, and the rest of the girls just follow her example.”
The Trojans have turned out to be excellent students, as leading scorer sophomore Lauren Barlow (12 points) and especially sophomore forward Jenna Harsh (21 points) played with the never-say-die attitude throughout the South Plainfield contest that Harper has taught them. Sophomore Ragen Reddick and freshman Elle Cimilluca also contributed valuable minutes.
Bishop Ahr advanced to the quarterfinals with a 53-44 victory over Edison High School (21st seed) on Feb. 17 and a 37-26 upset of South Brunswick (fifth seed) on Feb. 19.
In other tournament games involving area girls teams on Feb. 17, J.P. Stevens (22nd seed) lost to Colonia High School (11th seed), 58-32, and Metuchen High School (16th seed) defeated Mother Seton Regional High School (17th seed), 50-32. The Bulldogs were eliminated by top-seed East Brunswick, on Feb. 19, 54-48.
Boys basketball
In the boys tournament, the remaining area team is top-seed St. Joseph High School of Metuchen, which dominated 24th-seed South Amboy High School, 77-38, to advance to a semifinals date with Colonia (fifth seed) on Feb. 25 at South Brunswick.
EDISON
The Edison wrestling team put a stamp on what has been an outstanding season by capturing the NJSIAA District 19 Wrestling Championships on Feb. 22. The title represents the first time in 17 years the Eagles have won the districts and adds another distinction for Tom White’s program this year. In addition, Edison enjoyed a 17-6 dual match season and was edged by Monroe Township High School for the GMC White Division title.
Edison finished with 180.5 points at the districts, outdistancing Carteret High School, which finished second with 142 points. Bishop Ahr placed seventh with 77 points, Metuchen finished in ninth place with 48.5 points and J.P. Stevens High School was 10th with four points.
In addition to capturing the team title, four Eagles won individual championships: Robert Cleary (106 pounds), Billy Povalac (138), Carlos Botera (220), and Keith Serio (heavyweight). Other area individual titlists include Metuchen’s Kevin Coleman (126) and Bishop Ahr’s Vince Concina (132). Runners-up were Edison’s Fernando Encarnacion (113) and Kevin Karvaski (182 pounds), and Bishop Ahr’s Andrew Brazicki (160 pounds). Third-place medals went to Gianni Pascucci of Metuchen (120) and Edison’s Eric Nolan (152). First-, secondand third-place finishers qualified for the Region 5 Championships from Feb. 26 to March 1 at Hunterdon Central Regional High School.
ST. JOSEPH
The St. Joe’s ice hockey team (12-5-2) once again captured the GMC Tournament with a convincing 9-0 victory over Old Bridge High School in the championship game. The win avenges a 2-1 loss earlier this season to the Knights, the first time in school history the Falcons lost a regular season game to a GMC opponent.
St. Joe’s has been led in scoring by Felipe Rodriguez (21 goals, 15 assists), Marc Johnstone (five goals, 28 assists), Michael Nisky (10 goals, 15 assists), and Louis Ferrara (12 goals, eight assists). The Falcons (11th seed) begin NJSIAA state tournament play on Feb. 28, when they meet St. Peter’s Preparatory School (sixth seed) in the Non-Public bracket.