When Brookdale Community College men’s lacrosse coach Steve Heller first meets his team in September, he informs the players what the team’s goals are.
He explained that one of them is to win two games in April.
“Everything we do during the season is preparation for those two games,” he said.
Those two games come in the Region 19 Tournament — a tournament the Jersey Blues have owned the last six years.
They earned their sixth straight tournament championship when they overcame a four-goal deficit in the final 7:30 to stun Delaware Technical Community College, 11-10, April 26 at Snyder Park, Berkeley Heights.
Dan Bury’s goal with just nine seconds left in the game completed Brookdale’s fivegoal rally in the fourth-quarter.
“It was a crazy, but fun, game,” Heller said. “For 55 minutes, I was thinking I can’t believe we’re going to lose this game. Credit the kids for getting it done.”
With less than eight minutes left in the game, Delaware Tech held a commanding 10-6 lead, having scored the only goal of the fourth quarter to that point.
What Brookdale needed was a couple of quick goals to seize the momentum, Heller noted. They got it.
Joe Collins (Monroe) started the comeback for Brookdale with an unassisted goal. Just 1:09 later, Andrew Dooley (Monroe) scored to make it 10-8 with 6:34 left in the game. Bury (Brick Memorial), who assisted on Dooley’s goal, made it 10-9 with 5:14 left.
“I knew we had them [at 10-9],” Heller said. “They were on their heels.”
Brookdale’s offensive onslaught continued with Collins knotting the score at 10-10 with 2:09 remaining before Bury buried the game-winner in the final nine seconds, beating Delaware Tech’s goalie on a one-on-one play.
Heller was quick to credit Delaware Tech’s defense for Brookdale’s offensive struggles.
“Del Tech throws a full-court press defense that’s not very common,” he said. “It really threw us off our game. We couldn’t get into a rhythm.
“We figured it out in the last five minutes. We got into transition and got [the defenders] isolated.”
Lost in the comeback was the play of Brookdale’s defense, Heller said.
“Our defense played great the whole game,” the head coach said. “They caused turnovers to get the ball back for us.”
When recruiting players for Brookdale, Heller said he looks for athletic kids who are coachable. Shore Regional High School graduate Jack Kelly might be the prototype that Heller looks for.
“He came to us as an offensive player,” Heller said. “We turned him into a long stick midfielder, and he’s the best defender in the entire region and one of the three best athletes I’ve ever had.”
It was Kelly who caused the critical Delaware Tech turnover in the final minute that gave the Jersey Blues the game’s last possession. Without Kelly’s forced turnover, Delaware Tech could have had the last shot of regulation and the opportunity to win the game and championship.
Collins led Brookdale with four goals and an assist. Bury and Dooley each had three goals, with Bury assisting on three others. Kevin Loveland had Brookdale’s other goal.
Goalkeeper Hunter Kaplan (Wall) had 13 saves.
Dooley was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and Heller earned the Region Coach of the Year.
Heller admitted that after Brookdale won its first region title, he never thought it would lead to six straight with the focus now on seven-in-a-row. Winning never gets old, Heller said.
In winning the last two region tournaments, the Jersey Blues have showed a flair for the dramatic. Last year, they defeated Union County College in overtime, and this year, of course, won it with just nine seconds remaining.
In this year’s regional semifinals, the Jersey Blues beat rival Ocean County College, 15-10, to advance to the title game.
T.J. Coleman (St. John Vianney) had five goals to lead Brookdale, while Collins and Dooley each had three goals. Bury scored two.
With the region championship, Brookdale advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Tournament for the third straight year. In the national tournament, Brookdale faces teams whose programs are 30 to 40 years old. Brookdale’s is a mere infant compared to them.
Those two games in April aren’t the only goals that Heller sets for Brookdale lacrosse.
“We want to get to the national tournament and continue to close the gap with the teams from Baltimore and Long Island,” he said.
On May 2, the Jersey Blues lost in the first round of the NJCAA tournament, 31-6, to Community College of Baltimore County-Essex, one of those established programs from the Baltimore area.
Collins scored twice for Brookdale in the loss.
For the season, Dooley led the Jersey Blues in scoring with 37 goals and 12 assists. Bury had a team-high 32 assists to go with nine goals. Loveland had 22 assists and eight goals.
Collins contributed seven goals and 18 assists, while Jake Deitrich (Newton) scored seven goals and had 11 assists. Completing the 2015 Region 19 championship team are: Tyler Verdoni (Howell), James Vassallo (Manalapan), Oliver Warnes (Manasquan), Ben Talcott (Howell), Nick Paolillo (Howell), Nicholas Rjedkin (Colts Neck), Nicholas Horvath (Lacey), Dom Parente (Monroe), Scott Zackman (Red Bank Regional), Mike Okulewicz (Jackson Memorial), Chris Schmidt (Howell), Jared Pezzello (Edison), Jimmy Montgomery (Neptune) and Shaquan Worilds (Freehold Township).