Cougars rekindle memories of Southern Freehold run
Rebels won division
title in their first
varsity season
The exciting first-year success of the Colts Neck High School football team has been one of the big sports stories of the fall season. The Cougars have hardly looked like a team getting its feet wet on the varsity level.
Mike McArthur’ Cougars are doing something almost unheard of, winning their first time out of the blocks. By qualifying for the state playoffs in Central Jersey Group I, Colts Neck (5-3) has done something no other Freehold District school has done, make the state tournament in its first year.
Colts Neck’s achievement recalls another first-year team, then Southern Freehold Regional, which is now Howell High School. The Rebels did something that is believed not to have been done by any team before or since in its first year, and that is, win a Shore Conference Division championship.
When then-Southern Freehold Regional opened its doors in fall 1964, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson was running against the Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, the Rolling Stones were first making the charts with Time Is on My Side and Vietnam still loomed far away.
On Sept. 1, Coach Jack Van Etten first assembled his troops at Freehold High School (Southern Freehold’s practice fields were not ready yet) for day one of practice. The team was largely an unknown quantity. Yes, there was talent on the team; many had played for Freehold High School, but no one knew what to expect. Van Etten’s coaching staff consisted of him and just two others, Charlie Figg and Harvey Casey.
"I told the guys that they had a chance to start a tradition," said Van Etten, who is now retired and living in Lakewood.
Southern Freehold began that inaugural season with everything working against them. They had no home field (home games would be Freehold High School for the first year while the SFR field was getting ready), no nickname, and Van Etten had only been hired in late September. Added to that, the student body wasn’t going to be in the new school until after the first football game had been played.
In scrimmages, it became apparent that Southern Freehold, which would play in the Shore Conference B North Division, had a dynamic backfield with halfbacks Herman Hill and Clarence Lida, fullback Orlando Fontanez and quarterback Joe Callaert, who had previous varsity experience at Freehold. The line was untested but had Larry Martin, who provided leadership. Martin and Callaert were the co-captains.
"After the scrimmages, I remember telling our coaches that we have a good team — we’ll shoot for .500," Van Etten recalled.
Southern Freehold officially debuted in Freehold Borough on Oct. 3 against Matawan. It was an auspicious debut with SFR winning 13-7 on a pair of touchdown runs by Hill. There are many who saw Herman Hill play football who will tell you he was as good as anyone the Regional District has produced. He began his legend that day with 132 yards on 15 carries. His 55-yard touchdown run won the game. Lida backed Hill up with 73 yards on 14 carries.
After the game, it was announced that Southern Freehold Regional had a nickname, the Rebels.
In week two, the Rebels rolled up 310 total yards in a 25-19 win over Raritan. Hill scored twice and Callaert hooked up with Lida on a 24-yard scoring strike to get the ball rolling.
Hill and Lida scored in a hard-fought 14-7 win over Rumson and the Rebels were off to a 3-0 start.
They were running out of superlatives to describe Hill by the fourth week as he scored three more times in a 32-13 win at Manasquan.
"Herman could do anything on a football field," said Van Etten. "He was fast and he had that second gear, what you call the passing gear. He played defense, he passed, he punted and place-kicked. And he was a real leader. He did everything but coach, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did a little of that as well. He was special."
The following week at Lakewood, the Rebels stumbled for the first and only time, 40-13, in a non-division game.
The Rebels couldn’t dwell on that first loss because next up was Shore Regional in the game that would decide the B North title.
Southern Freehold was up to the challenge at home. The defense blanked the Blue Devils, and the Rebel ground game was unstoppable, piling up 334 yards. Lida scored on a 43-yard run and Hill’s six-yarder in the fourth quarter sealed the 12-0 win that clinched no worse than a co-championship. With the Blue Devils concentrating on Hill (22 carries, 89 yards), Lida punished Shore for 212 yards on 28 lugs.
Reflecting on the championship, Van Etten pointed to SFR’s unit.
"Each and every boy on the club amazed us from day to day with his great desire to learn the game," he said. "There were no prima donnas on our club. Every player was out to help the other, and it sure paid off."
Van Etten also praised the leadership of his backfield stars, Hill, Lida, Fontanez and Callaert.
"They went out of their way to help the inexperienced players learn plays, fundamentals and such every day," he remarked. "They earned the respect of the new players right from the start.
"Instead of taking advantage of their elevated position, they returned that respect, and before we knew it, we were just one solid bunch of guys," he added.
The Freehold Transcript headline ‘Martin’s magic’ summed up Southern Freehold’s stunning 13-13 tie with Keyport the next week. The Red Raiders had gone ahead 13-7 with just eight seconds left in the game. It was going to take a miracle, or what turned out to be Martin magic, to save the Rebels that day. Martin returned the kick-off 65 yards for a touchdown as time expired to enable Southern Freehold to tie the game, 13-13, and win the B North Division outright with a 5-0-1 record.
The Rebels closed out their Cinderella first season with a 56-0 blasting of Jackson in a double-header at Freehold. The Rebels played Jackson in the morning while the Colonials played in the afternoon. Hill would scored four touchdowns, one in each quarter. Five different Rebels in all scored, including lineman Kazi Gryzkiewc. Hill’s 24 points gave him 109 for the season, the most in the Shore.
Howell finished with a 6-1-1 record and the B North Division title. It is still the best winning percentage season in school history, and the Rebels are still the only team to win a division title in their first varsity season.
They were a team to remember.