Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 38

40 COURIER-POST, Sunday, December 5, 1993 mxtmu rmm mmm gg Harbor repeats as Group 3 championship Eagles' advantage in speed decisive in retaining crown Reynolds. "I thought I was dreaming until I got in the end zone and saw that it was real." Lacey, whose head coach Lou Vircillo was hospitalized with pneumonia, almost lifted the title from the Eagles. With 2:32 to play, Lacey took over at its own 32 and marched 11 plays to the Eagles' 6. But with no time outs left, Egg Harbor lineman William Reed sacked Lions' quarterback Mike Granato and time ran out. "They had everybody covered on the play," said Granato, who completed 11 of 19 passes for 162 yards.

"If I had thrown it, they might have intercepted it, that's why I held on to the ball. When he (Reed) go to me, there was nothing I could do." Egg Harbor running back Ed Bertino had an impressive day. He rushed for 111 yards, including a 72-yard, first-quarter touchdown, on eight carries. The Eagles' other touchdown came on a 95-yard kickoff return, also in the first quarter, by Steve Knight. The Eagles gained 204 rushing yards, and Dudley passed for 69 yards, completing only two of his five attempts.

By JOHN N. MITCHELL Courier-Post Staff LACEY TWP. David Dudley had a decision to make and a split second in which to make it. Rolling to his left on third-and-16, the Egg Harbor Township High School quarterback, who had yet to complete a pass in the game, struck gold on his fourth i attempt. As the Lacey Township de-fense was convinced the fleet-.

footed quarterback was going to away the ball and try to beat them with his speed to the i outside, Dudley spotted sopho-ii'more receiver Khari Reynolds jopen behind the Lacey defense and hit him for a 63-yard touchdown pass. V.That pass, which came with 8 minutes, 34 seconds left to play in 'the third quarter, gave the Eagles 19-14 lead, a margin that stood Egg Harbor (8-2) captured its second consecutive South Jersey Group 3 championship with a win 'over the Lions (8-1-1) on Saturday. XLast year, the Eagles captured the Group 3 crown with a 14-0 win over Lacey. In 1991, the Eagles were dealt a 14-0 semifinal defeat by Woodrow Wilson. In the first quarter, Egg Har-(bor Township coach Gary Shultz jcalled the same play, only this time Dudley kept the ball and ran for what looked like an 83-yard touchdown that could have given the Eagles an 18-7 lead.

But when he looked back from the end zone, exhausted, he saw that a personal foul penalty on one of his teammates had nullified his run. "Man, I thought I had that one. That's one you'd like to get back," Dudley said. "I never did that before. I mean, I never had a run for a touchdown that was that long.

I've had some runs for touchdowns on short-yardage situations, but never for one that long." But when the play was called again, it didn't matter to Dudley that he had been robbed of the long touchdown run. He just opted for the bomb, instead. "That's the same play. They wanted to run me to the corner so I couldn't run upfield," Dudley said. "But that was their biggest mistake of the day.

They brought everybody up the corners and the safeties. They forgot their responsibilities and left Khari wide open." Reynolds couldn't believe his eyes when he realized the Lacey defenders had left him wide open. "I never knew what was going on until I got the ball," said special notice of the athletic abilities of his, quarterback. "We talked about running that play at halftime, and we all agreed that the first option' would be to run the ball, passing only if we had; someone wide open," Shultz said. "It just so happened that Khari was wide open.

Dudley couldn't pass that up. i "He has done that for us all season long. It was just a great athletic play. Dudley never will be mistaken as the player whom he replaced in the Egg Harbor lineup, i Last year, Scott Parker was the quarterback for' the Eagles. Parker passed for 1,554 yards and was honored by the Courier-Post as the Offensive" Player of the Year in 1992.

Both players have led their respective teams to the same goal Group 3 championships but have done so in different fashion. Earlier in the week, Lacey coach Lou Vircillo spoke with respect about the Egg Harbor speed, i He said that his team hadn't faced the kind of! speed the Eagles possessed. He singled out' running back Andrew Parker, whom he saw rush for 237 yards and three touchdowns in the Eagle' i 19-9 playoff win over Pennsauken. On Saturday, however, Lacey limited Parker to 1 just 34 yards. Unfortunately for the Lions, though, Egg Harbor had more speed than they realized.

By JOHN N.MITCHELL Courier-Post Staff LACEY TWP. For the second year in a row, the Egg Harbor Township football team captured the South Jersey Group 3 championship. The Eagles proved to be another example of speed overcoming size and bulk in football. Egg Harbor's three touchdowns in its 19-14 win over Lacey Township were all by-products of its superior speed. On the third play from scrimmage, Egg Harbor's Ed Bertino exploded up the gut of the Lacey defense for a 72-yard touchdown.

The Eagles scored again in the first quarter, this time on a 95-yard kickoff return by Steve Knight. Also in the first quarter, Egg Harbor quarterback David Dudley raced 83 yards on a quarterback keeper but it was called back by a penalty. It all went toward establishing the Eagles' speed as a factor in the game. And no play typified that respect more than the game-winner, Dudley's 63-yard pass to wide receiver Khari Reynolds in the third quarter. On that play, the Lacey defense pursued Dudley when he rolled to the left, leaving Reynolds wide open to haul in the winning pass.

Gary Shultz, the coach at Egg Harbor, made 0-19 0-14 EggHartxHTwp. 12 0 Ltcn Top. 7 7 EHT-Bertino 72 run (kick failed) LT-Mahoney 14 run (Dunn kick) EHT-Knkjht 95 kickort return (pass failed) LT-Faulkner 1 run (Dunn kicki EHT-Reynolds 63 pass from Dudley (Schultz kick) efense lights way in Chiefs' Group 4 victory mm nii inn i ii mini wuwu inn hiiuiu itA; k4 tfl ...1 i. m. In the dark: Cherokee spent extra time getting ready for Washington Township, and it paid off.

By TIM KELLY Courier-Post Staff EVESHAM The Cherokee Jrligh School defense practiced Jhard last week, until they saw the Jight. i "When it got dark, we jogged Jover to a corner of the practice jfleld that was under some street eights, said senior inside linebacker Jim Eulo. I i' Eulo called the defensive signals in fourth-ranked Cherokee's stunning 16-6 defeat of Washing-ton Township, the top-ranked I team in both the Courier-Post 20 and state poll, i "We knew (Township) had lights at their field and it was (starting to get dark early," Eulo said. "We didn't want to quit practicing just because of that, and we wanted to get every little edge we could. The extra reps 1aid off." Cherokee shut down the Min utemen to the tune of 74 yards of iotal offense and just three first Shut down: Sean Gallagher (No.

76) of Cherokee helps stop Washington Township's Mike Koerner on this play. Koerner, who we could do it, we just had to execute," said junior linebacker Sam Settar, "Then we went out and did it." Eulo and defensive back Matt Ludman saved a potential go-ahead TD on the final play of the first half when they converged to drop receiver Nick Pace at about the one-foot line after time expired. Township had regained the momentum following Koerner's return and a blocked punt by Derek Alston that gave the Minutemen the ball at the Cherokee 19 with 1:34 to "Looking back on it now, that was a big play in the game," Eulo said. "At the time, it just gave us some additional confidence. We played with more confidence as the game went on.

If they score there, it gives them a lot of momentum for the second half." Defensive coordinator John Gambone, in his 10th year at Cherokee following 10 at Willing-boro, expressed confidence in Eulo's ability to react to Washington Township's formations. By Glenn Scroggy, Courier-Pot led South Jersey in scoring, was held to 39 yards on 12 carries and the Chiefs went on to win the South Jersey Group 4 title 16-6. Cherokee Upsets No. 1 1 bowns. Township all-purpose Wk Mike Koerner sprung loose for a 58-yard punt return in the second quarter for a touchdown, but the Chiefs limited him to 39 yards from scrimmage on 12 carries.

i The Cherokee four-man front, consisting of ends Tom Matera Sean Gallagher, and guards jCbris De Young and Matt Miller, riot only stuffed the running game, it pressured quarterback Chris Engelhart into 4-for-8 passing and sacked him five times. were prepared, we knew work harder and longer," he said. Eulo agreed. "We were the team of the '80s (with three 11-0 seasons), and just because we have a couple of down years, we're not considered to be a great team any more, and (Washington Township) is made out to be the greatest. I'll never understand that, but it was a great motivator." And the next thing you knew, it was lights out for Washington Township.

"I sent in very few signals," he said. "The kids knew where to go. I just told them to have some fun and be aggressive. You saw the result out there." Matera said Cherokee got an additional boost from pregame newspaper reports that didn't give the Chiefs much of a chance. "Every paper said we were gonna get crushed, that (Washington Township) should go ahead and order the rings and jackets now.

That just made us South all-stars 'grind' out win over North MIKE SHUTE 1 For the Courier-Post EWING Twenty of South Jersey's best high school senior bo's soccer players ended their careers on a winning note Satur-i day as the South topped North 1 4-2, in the Soccer Coaches Associ- ation of New Jersey Senior All-Star Game at Trenton State College. Tp, Despite the bone chilling conditions and slippery artificial turf Stadium, the players I Representing South Jersey posted a come-from-behind win. i Cherokee's Todd Miller knock-i home the go-ahead goal with Continued Irom Page 1C yards and just three first downs. "Our kids saved the best for last," Cherokee coach John Scott said. "The defense set the tone for the entire game and, overall, our kids responded with a truly quality effort.

Any coach would have been proud the way these kids responded." "What a great feeling this is," said Chiefs quarterback Jason Nicolais, who hit 12 of 15 passes for 107 yards. "This is what I always dreamed of to be on this field and win a game like this. What a way to finish out a career." "This is tough to take," said Koerner, who became the sixth player in South Jersey to score 200 points in a season but failed in his bid to become South Jersey's all-time leading scorer. "But we had a great season and, hopefully, people will remember all we accomplished." Cherokee took a 7-0 lead early in the second half when Brian Aikins, who had 116 yards on 23 carries, went over from the 1 to end a 39-yard drive after a short Washington Township punt. Jeff Haug added the extra point to make the score 7-0 with just over 11 minutes remaining to intermission, With just under 4 minutes left before halftime, Koerner got Township back into the game when he got loose on his 58-yard punt return, breaking three tackles along the way.

But Mike Colavita's extra point attempt went wide and Cherokee clung to a 7-6 lead. Then, just before halftime, came perhaps the most crucial sequence of the game. Derek Alston blocked a punt to give Washington Township the ball at the Cherokee 19. The Minutemen reached the 13 and, on the last play of the half, quarterback Chris Engelhart hit Nick Pace with a pass near the goal line. Officials ruled that Matt Ludman and Jim Eulo had stopped Pace inches short of the goal.

"I couldn't see if he had made it or not from where I stood," Township coach Tom Brown said. "But it was one of those things and our kids didn't make much of it and were confident we would score again. It was not the turning point of the game in my mind. The turning point is the way the Cherokee offense and defense performed. That is where the game was won, and they deserved to win this game." Little did the huge crowd realize that was going to be Township's last hurrah.

Tin' Minutemen were limited to one first down in the second half and that came midway through the fourth quarter. 1 The Chiefs assumed total control in the second half. A 30-yartl field goal by Haug with a little over 2 minutes remaining in the third period gave the Chiefs a 10-6 lead and, early in the fourth period the Chiefs clinched the game by going 30 yards following a botched Township punt. Aikin; again went over from the 1 with little over 10 minutes to play and snuffed out an chance for the defending champion Minutemen from joining Cherokee and Woodbury as the only schools in areb history to have back-to-back 11-p seasons. i i Washington Twp.

0 0 0- Cherokee 0 7 3 C-Aikma 1 run (Haug kick) WT-Koerner 58 with punt return (kick (ailed) 1 C-FQ Haug (30) C-Alklm run (run (ailed) grinds the North," said Shawnee coach Brian Gibney, who was at the reins of the South squad. "We were very very pleased with the way our kids played today." Shawnee's Jeremy Kirchner and Holy Cross' Mike Bachman each made three saves and played well for the winners. The South outshot North 15-11. STATE ALL -STAR QAMES South 4, North I 2 South Jason Kenig. Jason Deoiiu.

Todd Miller Dan Tyrall; North I Pstei Villegas, Jesse Vansaun. Saves: South Jeremy Kirchner 3, Mike Bachman North Phil Cerqueri 4, Lester Lembryk 3. North II Central 0 North II JeK Rosselli 2. Rich Eger 2. Rob McBnar.

Eric Ruano. Walters show finds O'Neal 'fascinating' Associated Press NEW YORK Shaquille O'Neal of the Orlando Magic is one of "The 12 Most Fascinating People of 1993," at least in the view of Barbara Walters and staff of the ABC News Special to be televised Wednesday night. The 7-foot-l, who was rookie of the year last season, is one of a dozen men and women who will be interviewed on the hour-long show. the top players," said Deblitz, who scored 11 goals for Moores-town this season. "This game gives you the opportunity to get around and have the college coaches see you play.

I'm glad I got a chance to come out here and play with these guys." North I tied it at 2-2 when Villegas fed Pascack Valley's Jesse Vansaun with 15:48 remaining to set the stage for Miller's goal. Haddonfield's Dan Tyrell added insult to injury when he hammered home a shot on a breakaway with 15 seconds left to play to round out the scoring. Deblitz assisted the goal. Don't think for a minute that winning wasn't important. "It was a lot of fun out here today and it was good to beat the North because you know how they hate us up there," Washington Township's Scott Wicken said.

"It was an honor to play here and this win feels good because we felt that they always have a cocky attitude toward playing us," said Shawnee's Joe Landen, a late addition to the South roster. "I know their (North I) coaches real well and for us to win really played very well today. Especially for never playing or practicing together before. "We all knew there would be college coaches here and we wanted to have a good showing." North I led 1-0 at halftime on a goal by St. Benedict's Peter Villegas with 7:52 left in the opening half.

Villegas was originally on the North II roster but got lost on the way to the 2 p.m. game between North II and Central. Arriving late, he was allowed to play for North I in the 4 p.m. match. Kenig, who scored 23 goals during the season, tied the score at 1-1 with 38:01 remaining on a blast from 30 yards out that hit the right-hand corner of the goal.

Moorestown's Jason Deblitz gave the South a 2-1 lead off a great pass from Shawnee's Greg Stevcic. Stevcic fed a ball through the left-hand side of the defense and Deblitz powered a shot off goalkeeper Lester Lembryk and into the goal. "It was great to get a chance to come out here and play with all 11 minutes, 43 seconds left to 1 piay- Hill East's Jason Kenig touched a pretty heel pass the left side of the box 'and Miller blistered the ball into right-hand corner of the net 'from 16 yards out to put the I South up 3-2. I "Jason and I played together on a club team so we know each a little," Miller said. "I saw an opening so I made a run to the left side and the pass came to me 'right in stride.

"I thought that as a team, we.