Pullen's Garage 3060 Quakerbridge Rd. Hamilton, NJ 609-586-2471 pullensgarage.com |
The World Renowned Christmas Eve Club of Mercer County Route 156, Yardville Home of the Greatest 3 Hours of the Year |
Mayor's Office America's Favorite Hometown hamiltonnj.com |
First Bank “Welcome Home” 2465 Kuser Road 609-528-4400 Member FDIC
|
Ed Riley, Sales Manager Davis Acura 2051 East Lincoln Highway Langhorne Pa. 215-943-7000 x 1301 mailto:edriley@davisacura.com |
Mercer Oaks Catering |
|
Fornaro Francioso LLC 2277 Highway 33 Hamilton, N.J. 609-584-6104 |
Bob & Christine Barrett REMAX TRI COUNTY BOB Cell 609-558-1220 CHRIS Cell 609-468-8202 Specializing in Hamilton NJ www.bobbarett.com |
Follow |
The Legendary Friday Afternoon Club |
 Click above link for Trentonian.com home page |
Xerographic Document Solutions, Inc. |
|
Game Time Performance |
Michael Gerstnicker Team Gersh: A Professional Prudential Fox & Roach Real Estate Team 609-890-3300 x259 (O) 609-306-3772 (cell) www.teamgersh.com |
| Allied Vision Services 1004 Washington Blvd.Robbinsville, NJ 609-448-4872 alliedvisionservices.com
|
Route 130 Car Wash |
|
Dennis Maffezzoli |
Medford Strikers Rich Fornaro, President |
|
Original's Pizza & Subs |
Universal Soccer Academy Where Champions Are Born James Galanis, Director
|
| Bob Smith's
Soccer Academy 153 West Manor Way Robbinsville, NJ |
Jo Jo's Tavern 2677 Nottingham Way Mercerville, NJ 609-586-2678
|
|
|
J&S Home Improvements Trenton, NJ 08609 609-695-4400 ing, windows & doors jandshome.net |
|
Peac Performance Training
Speed, Agility, Power, Strength and More
Sports Performance Training For EVERY SPORT!
www.peacperformance.com
609-882-0054 |
Dennis Symons Jr. Photography Sports*Events Custom Senior dennissymons.com
|
|
John Blaine Sports Photo
Specializing in
Hamilton Twp. |
Dr. Pamela Tola Tola Foot & Ankle Center Specializing in sports injuries 609-588-5474 hamiltonpodiatrist.com |
|
|
Hamilton A's Baseball |
|
Taylor Applications, LLC |
Sound Investment Disc Jockeys Professional DJs since 1984 djsteveusa@verizon.net sidjs.com |
|
ZavSays, LLC Designer of websites, logos and print |
|
|
SPONSORSHIP
|
SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE $110 for 6 months $200 for 1 year |
| SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE $110 for 6 months $200 for 1 year |
SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE $110 for 6 months $200 for 1 year |
SHS Hall of Fame Class of 2010: 1975 Soccer Team
Top photo: The champs. Below, forwards Rick Wiener (far right) and Jim Bowen (left of Wiener) attack the Kearny goalie for one of Steinert's numerous opportunities in the 1975 state championship game that ended in a 1-1 statelmate.
On and off the field, Steinert '75 soccer team was special
By Rich Fisher
Fish4Scores.com
Their biggest concern was winning.
Their second biggest concern was where to celebrate the wins.
What never concerned the players on the 1975 Steinert High boys soccer team, was who scored the goals or who got the headlines.
It was that attitude that made the Spartans the No. 1 ranked team in New Jersey according to the state coaches that year, which in turn makes that team one of the latest on an impressive list of inductees to the 2010 Steinert Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Spartans will be feted at the 5th Annual SHS Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet on Saturday, Apr. 24, 2010 at the Hamilton Manor.
It will be a night where the stories have as much to do with what happened off the field as on it, as the ’75 Spartans were made great by both talent and cohesiveness.
“My vivid memory is we were a collective force,” said West Windsor-Plainsboro South soccer coach Brian “Maynard” Welsh, a starting fullback on the ’75 team. “We liked each other. I always tell the story that one of the amazing things is that Joe (Fink) was the only one that made All-State in All Groups. And we were number one in the state!
“Joe was the only one that got recognized, and I don’t think that bothered any of us. I don’t think anyone cared about accolades. People cared about our friendships, we cared about playing good soccer and hanging out together and figuring out where we were going after the game.”
Fink, the stopper and a senior co-captain along with John McDowell, agreed with Welsh.
“The best memory is just the fact it was a great team,” Fink said. “There were no individuals. Nobody cared about personal goals or getting the ink. Everybody wanted to win the state championship.”
And so they did. Well, half a state championship anyway.
Sharing wasn’t fun
The Spartans went 18-1-2. Their loss was to Hamilton, 1-0. Their ties were with Lawrenceville in the regular season and with Kearny in the NJSIAA Group IV championship game.
The amazing thing about that game was, with the score tied 1-1, Steinert got a red card in the first half and still dominated the second half and both overtimes despite being a man down. The Spartans could not capitalize on some excellent opportunities and thus got a co-title, which excited Kearny more.
“We were actually mad that we tied,” Fink said. “They were running around like they won the World Cup even though they were a man up on us.”
“Kearny was satisfied with a tie,” Welsh said. “They didn’t think they were gonna beat us anyway.
“If we weren’t short handed, I don’t know if we would have won anyway because we still had good chances. We still played well. It was just one of those things you get in a sport like soccer or hockey or lacrosse.”
Despite sharing the title, Steinert was named the No. 1 team in the state by the coaches at the All-State banquet. The Spartans edged Mercer County partner Lawrence, which took No. 2 after winning Group II. Kearny was third.
“They were counting down the teams from 20 to one,” Fink recalled. “(Lawrence’s) Timmy Snyder and I were going back and forth across the table and then they announced ‘and runner-up is Lawrence High School,’ so we knew we had it then.”
A season of selflessness
The starting lineup featured juniors Gary McIlroy and Rick Wiener and sophomore twins Jim and John Bowen at forward, senior Dan Povia and junior Ruben Rivera at midfield, Fink at stopper, senior Dave Andres at sweeper and seniors Rick Picatagi and Welsh at fullbacks.
Senior Sam Maira played the first half in goal an
d junior Kevin Haney played the second. (A current-day Haney is pictured on the right, having added the glasses for a fabricated intellectual look). That 'keeper partnership typified the squad’s unselfishness.
“We were both into (sharing time),” Maira said. “As a junior I was third-string and that ate away at me. As a senior, when I became a starter, even though it was splitting time, I was fine with it. And Kevin was fine with it, he was a junior, he had another year left.
“We made it good, we enjoyed working together and pushing each other. It became each of us taking care of our 35 minutes.
"Kevin was the more vocal of the two of us,” Maira added with a laugh. “The paper did a story on us and Kevin said “Our goal is to shut out every team this year.’ I was like ‘Are you crazy! Don’t say that!’ I’d never say something like that, but that’s how Kevin was to get himself prepared, and we made it work.”
Central Jersey title a true epic
After rolling through the regular season, Steinert knocked off Colonia and Neptune in the first two rounds of the state tournament.
Then came the rematch that captivated Mercer County, as the Spartans met Hamilton West at Mercer County Community College for the CJ IV title.
Both teams owned 1-0 wins over the other, and over 3,000 fans turned out to watch.
“I really don’t know how many there were,” Fink said. “The number gets bigger every time I think of it.”
Hamilton took a 2-1 lead before McIlroy scored twice, the second coming with 10 minutes left.
“That was just one of those classic, back and forth games,” Welsh said. “Gary scored a great goal and I remember him jumping into (graduated football player) Jimmy Costello’s arms before we got to him. Jimmy was right up against the goal because there were so many people there, that they had to pack them in everywhere.
“My other reaction was looking at (Hamilton’s) faces on the bus. We celebrated and they collected their stuff as a quickly as possible and got on the bus. I remember just looking at how upset they were.”
Steinert had to come off that high and re-focus for Shawnee, and the Spartans scraped out a 1-0 victory on Jim Bowen’s goal. Maira, who is now Seneca High’s head coach, eventually became an assistant under Shawnee’s Brian Gibney.
"When I went for a job at Shawnee I interviewed with Gibney for the coaching job,” Maira said. “He asked when I graduated and I told him 1976.
“He goes ‘I remember that game. Bowen scored. The only reason he scored is we had an injury, and he went right by the kid we had to put in.’ So Gibney was fired up even after all those years.”
Maynard’s prom put in jeopardy
Then came the finals at Mercer County Park, Field No. 1, the day after Thanksgiving. Fink’s goal was offset by a Kearny score that Maira still sees in his head.
“To this day, I can visualize myself in the air,” he said. “I’m extended out thinking ‘I’m gonna make a great save, I’m gonna knock it out,’ and I ended up knocking it in the goal.”
“Sam was pretty upset about that,” Welsh recalled. “Our prom was that night and he didn’t even want to go. He wouldn’t come out of his room. But he had to go because I didn’t have a driver’s license yet. So if he didn’t go I wouldn’t have had a ride to the prom.”
They went to the prom and all was well, and second-year coach Paul Tessein had his first state title after enjoying a phenomenal run at Reynolds Junior High.
Tessein gets first of many
Tessein had to replace Mario “Goose” Laurenti, who won four state titles in five years. He went on to win three more state crowns, but faced some pressure in those early days.
“I think he did,” Maira said. “Part of that was the way Paul carried himself. He was very confident. And that was when club soccer was just getting started, so there was external pressure from the community.
“Plus, he was coming up from junior high so it was like ‘This is Steinert, let’s see what you’ve got.’”
Welsh added that, while maybe everyone on the team wasn’t thrilled with their coach (what team is?), he was the right man to coach that group.
“Paul was still living in Goose’s shadow, but I think it was a good team for him to inherit, because we liked each other,” Welsh said. “When I think about role models in my life, it is Richie (Giallella, current Steinert AD) and him. For the most part Paul was pretty honest and up front with us.
“I also think our older brothers had an influence, my brother (Kevin), Rick’s brother (Henry), Joe’s brother (Jim), Gary’s brother (Billy). They all won championships so there was the pressure of us carrying on the tradition. And we did it in a way that was like those crazy made-for-TV movies when we played that championship game a man down.”
Good friends and smart friends
The Spartans not only had talent, but brains. All 11 starters and a slew of reserves went on to play in college, a number of the seniors were in the top 10 of the class academically and the Bowens and Blair went to Princeton.
“Could you imagine coaching a team like that now?” Maira wondered. “In today’s game it would probably be a nightmare because every kid would be a prima donna.
"We didn’t think twice about it. We had guys who were spokesmen and other guys who went about their business. The voice of our team was Joe Fink, McIlroy and McDowell. If they said something, you made sure to do it. Everyone knew our roles, it was just a great team.”
It was also a close team, not only then, but now. A group of players still get together at Jo Jo’s every Thanksgiving Eve, where the highlight of the night is Welsh performing “Glory Days” in karaoke.
Many of the players still coach at high school and club levels and many still play in competitive leagues.
“My positive memories of that ’75 group, is that we liked each other and more importantly we cared about each other,” Welsh said. “I use it now as motivation. I try to create the best team environment so they have good memories.”
Listening to them talk 35 years later, the ’75 Spartans certainly have those memories.
Note: Maynard Welsh tragically passed away 4 months after this story was posted, and nearly the entire '75 team attended his memorial service.
HIGH SCHOOL
VARSITY BOYS
Baseball
Basketball
Cross Country
Football
Golf
Ice hockey
Lacrosse
Soccer
Swimming
Tennis
Track & Field (winter)
Track & Field (spring)
Wrestling
HIGH SCHOOL
VARSITY GIRLS
Basketball
Cross Country
Field Hockey
Lacrosse
Soccer
Softball
Swimming
Tennis
Track & Field (winter)
Track & Field (spring)
HIGH SCHOOL
JV/FRESHMAN TEAMS
Junior Varsity
Freshman
Middle School
REC/TRAVELTEAMS
Baseball
Basketball
Football
Soccer
Softball
Other
NOSTALGIA
This day in
Hamilton history
Fish Tales
ESSENTIAL LINKS
Contact Us
Submit Scores
Bulletin Board
About This Site
Related Links
Follow Fish on
at Fish4Scores
Check out the area sports scene beyond Hamilton by clicking above Trentonian link
ADVERTISE ON
FISH4SCORES.COM
Sponsorships
Sponsor boxes appear on every page and sponsors receives up to six lines, including website links if preferred, along with free postings on our Bulletin Board.
Cost: $200/year or
$110/6 months.
Display ads
Purchase a banner display ad on specified pages to go across the top of the page. Ad will include company logo and any information.
Cost: Prices vary depending on page, amount of time ad runs and how large ad will be.
Video ads
Video ads can run as stand-alone ads or used to sponsor another video.
Cost: Prices vary depending upon extent of ad.
E-mail for more info
PURCHASE A
"SHOUT OUT!"
Support your team by purchasing a "Shout Out", which lets you post words of encouragement on that team's respective page.
Cost: $5/week;
$20/month
E-mail for more info
PURCHASE A
BULLETIN BOARD
NOTICE
Promote an event that your organization is staging by posting a notice on our bulletin board page, with as much information as you would like to include.
Cost: $5/week
$20/month
E-mail for more info
FISH TALES
(Also known as
Rich Fisher's blog)
May 7, 2012
Thanks go out to
Mollie, Ms. Quinn,
Alu, Nancy Mac
and other great
F4S contributors
May 7: Just want to start out by thanking Steinert senior Mollie Coyne and GALARE teacher Tracy Quinn for having me in as a guest speaker on Friday. It was a tremendous experience with a great group of kids.
Mollie extended the invitation, Ms. Quinn made it happen and it turned out to be a great morning.
Being a guest speaker is always a crap shoot. You go in and talk for a little bit and hope you spark an interest that will lead to some questions. If there are little or no questions, it can get pretty embarrassing because I don’t have a heck of a lot to say after five minutes. . . on anything!
But the GALARE gang took care of that by asking some thought-provoking, intelligent and inspiring questions. They made me think of things I haven’t thought of in years and also made me think of things I take for granted all the time and never give much thought to. It also gave me a chance to experience a nice give-and-take relationship with the students other than a quick interview after the game.
It’s kind of cool to see what kind of things young adults think about in this day and age, and I have to commend this group for being attentive and, not to sound like a britsh woman at Sunday morning tea, quite delightful!
And I have to give props to Cat Castaldo, whose dad John put her up to a prank question that she didn’t even understand, but asked it anyway and had me laughing like crazy. Good job Cat! But don’t let your dad drag you down to our level too many more times!
And Sydney, thanks for overlooking my Yankee dislike. Glad we could come to terms!
* * *
Congratulations also go out to Quinn and Robyn Korchick Lucchesi, both standout hoop players from the township, for their upcoming induction into the Mercer County CYO Hall of Fame. Both are quite deserving and are products of Joe O’Gorman’s knowledge of the game.
Also, happy birthday to Tracy one day late, and happy anniversary to Robyn, who’s celebrating her 18th year with husband Frank today. All good stuff!
* * *
More thanks go out to Phil Alu and Nancy McManimon.
When this site started over two years ago, I billed it as a “community sports” website, with the accent on the community. I have a few guys helping out but for the most part I’m still on my own and need help from the members of the community and the coaches of each team.
I have certainly been getting that, as the influx of youth sports results has been better than ever this spring, as has the reporting of results from the high school coaches.
But on Friday Phil took it to a new level. I couldn’t make it to the Hamilton-PDS game due to some other issues I needed to deal with. I really wanted to get there because so many township kids played on PDS.
So Phil agreed to text me updates each inning, which he did a fabulous job of. And Nancy provided several pictures of the game, although that’s not news because she has done that often in the past.
Now, skeptics will say this was only done because both their kids had big games. But they offered to do so before the game even started, no matter what the end result.
It worked out great and I just want to thank them both. . .and thank everyone else for all the contributions you have been making this spring and, of course, in the winter, fall and summer.
* * *
It’s hard to believe Marshall Harden isn’t in the Steinert lineup. Few programs can lose a guy like that and do what the Spartans are doing.
Speaking of Steinert baseball. . . .how tasty is that 7 p.m. match-up against Robbinsville. Rarely do you get last year’s finalists meeting so early in the tournament. Steinert owes the Ravens some payback from last year, but Robbinsville is on fire.
Should be awesome. * * *
Here’s a little unfortunate news to report.
Just call it “Bad Ending II”
Steinert grad Angela “Pit Crew” Marinos’ had her outstanding collegiate softball career come to a gruesome end on Sunday.
With Mercer County Community College playing Morris in the Region XIX Tournament Sunday, Marinos swung at a high and inside pitch on a hit-and-run play. She fouled the ball directly into her mouth, and blood exploded everywhere.
Marinos was rushed to the hospital. There was no fracture but twor front teeth were pushed back, and it took over 25 stitches to seal all the wounds.
This marks the second dark ending to a career for the popular Marinos. (To quote HGSA legend Tara Lavin “Who doesn’t like Ange?”). Her career at Steinert ended due to a broken ankle.
Get well soon Ange. There are engines to overhaul!
* * *
Fish4Scores “Phase 2” is on the horizon.
After making sure this was a site that was going to last and gain interest, I now want to take it to the next level and begin selling banner advertising to local businesses. The process will probably take a month or so to get started, but if you are a business owner out there looking to promote your venture and support local athletes all at once, please give it consideration.
If you are a sponsor and want to upgrade to a banner ad, you will obviously have a lower rate since you’ve already paid into it.
More details will be forthcoming, but just putting it out there.
* * *
There is another exciting promotion for Fish4Scores in the works, but things haven’t been finalized yet so let’s wait until they are before we talk about it. But in getting it started, it will involve fun help from the community.
* * *
My dislike of the Yankees is no secret to anyone who reads this blog, but here’s hoping Mariano Rivera can make a successful return next year.
There is no way anyone in the world can not like this guy. He is humble, modest, keeps a lower than low profile and just happens to be the greatest player at his position that ever lived playing for a franchise that is nearly impossible to stay low profile with.
A guy like Mariano deserves to go out on his terms. He deserves to have a farewell tour around the league and let everyone cheer him. He probably doesn’t want that, but he deserves it.
In my mind, he is the absolute key to this Yankee dynasty in the era of the closer.
Get well and get back Mariano. You deserve it! * * *
My Flyers are down 3-1. My Sixers are up 3-1.
I predicted Flyers-Devils would go seven games with four of them going overtime. I didn’t predict the winner, just the length. Well, change that from my prediction to my prayer.
As for the Sixers, I thought they would hang with the Bulls after Derrick Rose went out, but didn’t think they would win. But Chicago is getting killed with other injuries too, so what the hell, might as well take advantage of it!
* * *
Mike “The Meatball Master” Papero continues to show his versatility, as he ran the clock flawlessly during Hamilton West’s girls county lacrosse game with Robbinsville Saturday. The Master also announces at hoop games, coaches football and coaches golf.
Where there is time for meatballs, I will never know.
April 28, 2012
Township athletes
should be making
us proud during
period of adversity
Apr. 28: As much as everyone in the area likes Jimmy Hines, I’m afraid I overstayed his welcome at the top of this blog. No less than three people this week said “Hey, isn’t about time for a new blog, I’m a little sick of Jimmy Hines.”
Well, OK, a month might be a little too much, so here we go on to the land of the Hines-less.
* * *
We all know what’s going on in Hamilton Township these days and it is not casting us in a very good light around the area.
But we can’t help what our leaders do, we can only do what we do.
That’s why this township should be proud of some of the young athletes at Hamilton West High School this week.
In case you missed the stories posted on Fish4Scores earlier this week (and still on the home page), a group of Hornet football players helped out at the Miracle League by playing baseball with individuals with disabilities, and Hamilton West softball catcher Brianna Castellano has gotten her teammates and Nottingham’s softball team to “Play for Pink” Monday night during their game at HGSA.
Granted, these aren’t the only high school kids from the township that do nice things. It happens at all three schools.
But during a week of total upheaval in our township, the timing of these athletes could not be better to make us feel good about ourselves. Isn’t it nice to know that there are some young kids among us who aren’t just thinking about themselves, but are looking out for others?
Show them how much you appreciate it.
Prove to them you’re proud of what they have done during this bleak week.
Come to the HGSA complex Monday night and donate to breast cancer. And watch a good softball game while you are there.
* * *
Megan Cibree is about as much of a lacrosse expert as you can get when it comes to the sport in Hamilton Township.
The Steinert senior has played in the Spartans program since she was a freshman and Steinert was a club team. Her boyfriend plays on the Steinert boys’ team.
If she’s not playing lacrosse with the girls, she’s watching it with the boys.
So who better to ask if the sport is catching on in Hamilton.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” she said during a recent boys game that was very well attended. “You really see it at the boys’ games. I’m not sure if it’s catching on with the girls as much, because there really is more action in the boys’ games.
“But we’re still getting better crowds. People are really starting to get into it more.”
It helps that the Steinert boys and Hamilton girls have been winning a few games this year, which always helps pump up interest.
Granted, they are playing weaker schedules than the best teams in Mercer. But New Egypt coach Jay Corby, a township resident who has done an outstanding job out there in Plumstead, says that’s the way to go.
“If you’re trying to build a program, you have to have some success first,” Corby said. “You have to go out and win a few games, and get the kids some confidence. Then other kids in school see that the team is winning and maybe they want to come out.
“Once all that starts happening, then you can try and get a tougher schedule. But for now, let them enjoy some wins.”
* * *
Whoever knew this township was such a rugby factory?
Believe it or not, no less than four former high school athletes are playing club rugby at their respective colleges. Steinert’s Garrett Braddock is at Syracuse, Nottingham’s Mike Elberson is playing at Ursinus, Steinert’s Jonathan Pulley plays at Albright, and Hamilton West’s Amanda Rossi just went to the collegiate club championship game with Pittsburgh before the Panthers fell in the finals in chilly Ohio.
When somebody finds out where this feeder system is, please let me know.
* * *
You may have noticed that I am trying to run game by game results of various sports.
You may also have noticed that they are like, really crooked. They kind of swerve their way downward.
You may not care. Or, you may wonder why.
My answer is, I do not know why. They are straight when I type them in and proof them and all that. Then when the site publishes, they are crooked.
One of life’s little mysteries I suppose.
* * *
I’m not a huge hockey fan. I used to be, back in the day of the Broad Street Bullies winning Stanley Cups, but there’s just too many teams to try and keep track of the regular season.
BUT. . . I don’t know if any sport’s playoffs are more exciting than the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The NFL playoffs and NCAA tournament are gut-grinding because they are one-and-done. But as far as best-of-seven series, the emotions of these hockey playoff games are incredible. It seems like so many of them are one goal games, down to the wire with a goalie out.
I think one of the big differences in hockey and the NBA is that with hockey, barring a penalty, the game plays out in a rhythm with few stoppages down the stretch. In basketball, foul shots and timeouts in the final few minutes pretty much stall things. In hockey, you never get the chance to catch your breath, which is what makes it so cool.
I don’t even care about some of the teams in these playoffs and I’m all edge-of-my-seaty at crunch time. It’s good stuff. And it’s gonna be pretty wild around here in the next few weeks with Flyers-Devils.
Let’s go Flyers!
* * *
Speaking of playoffs, I am a Sixers fan, but it kills me to see Derrick Rose out for the rest of the playoffs.
Part of what makes any post-season game great is watching the stars go head to head and see who rises to the top. For the Bulls to lose their best player, that just cheats everybody. Will the Heat feel good about beating a Rose-less Bulls?
Actually, with that crew, who knows?
* * *
I guess there’s something wrong with me, but I just can’t get into the NFL draft. I don’t know why. Maybe I’ve just seen too many hyped guys fall flat, so watching all this stuff and all these interviews and everything just doesn’t do much for me because you really never know what’s going to happen.
I can understand people doing it. It’s a great haven for hard core football fans. I’m a big fan, but I’m more a fan of just watching the games. I’m not a fantasy guy, I don’t play pools, I just love to watch it.
What does make me laugh, are the people who sit there and watch the 86,000th pick with the same intensity as the top 10. “Ohhh, how can they take that guy when that receiver at Saskatchewan College is still available. That kid’s a sleeper!”
* * * *
Congratulations to College of New Jersey coach Sharon Pfluger for becoming the first Division III women's lacrosse coach to win 400 games. Sharon is not from Hamilton, but she's a friend, a great person and a great coach and I'm happy for her.
