Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 39

Monday mi Dec. 5, 1994 OUTH ERSEY bPORTS Soccer Coaches Association of New Jersey All-State team South Jersey's representatives Rath shares top soccer honor By MIKE SHUTE For the Courier-Post Shawnee High School's senior midfielder John Rath was named one of the state's three boys' Players of the Year at the Soccer Coaches Association of New Jersey awards banquet Sunday at Pines Manor in Edison. Rath joined Piscataway's Greg Serafin and Clifton's Chris Halupka as the state's top three. Rath, an all-state first teamer last year and among the state's top 51 players his sophomore year, earned the award after scoring 28 goals this season for the Renegades who finished 17-3-2. The goal output doubled his career total, however Rath played in just eight games in his freshman year due to a season-ending knee injury.

"I've been hearing things about the award but I dimension," Shawnee coach Brian Gibney said. "John is one of those players and he's proven it several times over." Gibney cited Rath's past achievements as proof of what his standout midfielder has done in his three years. "Last year he was named the Offensive Player of the Year by the Courier-Post and he was the MVP of the Garden State Games. And he was an all-state player in each of his three years." In Rath's three years as a full-time player, Shawnee compiled a 65-5-2 record, won two state titles, two Courier-Post cups, played in three South Jersey sectional finals, and won three straight Burlington County League Liberty Division titles. Joining Rath on the state coaches' first team are Schalick's Kevin Jackson and Washington Township's Craig Wicken.

First team Name School Year Pos. John Rath Shawnee Sr. MF Kevin Jackson Schalick Jr. Craig Wicken Wash. Twp.

Sr. Second team Name School Year Pos. Ben Brand C.H. East Jr. Rich Lunsford Haddontield Sr.

Mike Cellini Ocean City Sr. Third team Name School Year Pos. Anthony DiMichele C.H. West Jr. GK Rob Rivera Holy Cross Sr.

Shane Snyder Pennsauken Sr. MF Dan Mannella Schalick Sr. MF didn't know for sure," Rath said. "It's surprising, very surprising." Coming into the year, Shawnee had graduated 10 letterwinners from its 1993 team that captured the school's second straight state title. Rath knew he would have to raise his game another notch.

"In the beginning of the year, I felt that I had to raise my game, and I figured that as the season wore on we'd be better off," Rath said. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen and I got into a scoring drought toward the end of the season and didn't score as much as I would have liked and we lost two to Cherry Hill West." "There are good players and then there are players that can take their game to the next "T'v 1 1 XS- ViT 1 "Jr Paulsboro ends season as No. 1 in C-P rankings 1 1 Vii 19 't'llU .3 i 1 Football Top 20 Poll School Rec Pre 1. Paulsboro 10-0 1 2. Holy Cross 8-2 2 3.

Cherokee 8-2-1 3 4. Ocean City 9-1 4 5. Overbrook 8-2 5 6. Hammonton 10-1 6 7. Deptford 8-1 7 8.

Kingsway 9-2 8 9. Bridgeton 8-1 9 10. Florence 8-1-2 10 11. Delran 8-2 11 12. Woodrow Wilson 7-2 12 13.

Colllngswood 8-2 13 14. West Deptford 7-2 14 15. Washington Twp. 6-3-1 15 16. Mlllville 6-3 16 17.

Bordentown 7-2 17 18. Delsea 5-4 18 19. Gloucester 7-3 19 20. St. Joseph 7-4 20 Tha Top 20 I selected by coachee and Courltr-Post staff.

By Al Amrhem, lor the Courier-Post Futile attempt: Gloucester Catholic's Joe Eliason (88) stretches Lamb as Marist's David Griffin defends. Gloucester Catholic lost out in a failed attempt to bring in a third-quarter pass from Bill its bid for a state title with 16-13 defeat at Giants Stadium. Rams lose a game, but win admiration By WALT BURROWS Courier-Post Staff The Paulsboro High School football team today became the first Group 1 team to win the Courier-Post Cup, symbolic of being No. 1 in the final Top 20 Poll. The Red Raiders, 11-0, earned the award with a convincing 33-6 win over Florence in the South Jersey Group 1 championship game.

It was also Paulsboro's 29th consecutive win, moving it within two of the all-time South Jersey record of 31 established by Mill-ville in 1952-55. The voting panel is comprised of coaches, officials and writers from the seven-county area. Paulsboro had taken over the lead last week when it defeated West Deptford and Holy Cross upset Cherokee, then the No. 1 team. Thus, Paulsboro's destiny was in its own hands and it didn't fail.

"I never think about polls," Paulsboro coach Glenn Howard said. "Our goal at the beginning of every season is to win the Colonial Conference championship and go 11-0. "This (winning the C-P Cup) is icing on the cake. "The kids have worked hard and I feel good for them. Myself, I'm not big on polls." Seniors Brian Peck and Mike Belh had similar opinions.

Sort of. "It's a great honor to play on a No. 1 team," Peck said. "But my main concern this week was Florence. I felt that, if we beat them, everything else would fall in place." "It always feels good to be recognized," Belh said.

"But I thought all along we could give any team a run for its money. It's nice knowing other people think so, too." Holy Cross, 8-2 and Burlco Liberty Division champions, finished behind Paulsboro with losses to Malvern Prep and Bergen Catholic, both teams out of South Jersey. Defending champion Cherokee, 8-2-1, closed its season with a 28-16 loss to Toms River North in the South Jersey Group 4 championship game. The Chiefs also By WALT BURROWS Courier-Post Staff EAST RUTHERFORD In the end, it didn't matter that Gloucester Catholic High School lost to Marist by three points in Sunday's Parochial Group 2 state championship football game. In the opinion of coach Tom Iacovone, the Rams far exceeded even his own expectations.

"I certainly didn't expect to be competing at this level, that's for sure," Iacovone said after his team's 16-13 loss to Marist at Giants Stadium. "It's a tribute to the kids. They worked hard and never let up." Now in his ninth year at Gloucester Catholic, Iacovone took over a team that went 1-8 Rams for Sunday's bout with Marist. "All the kids worked hard and put in a lot of hours for this game," Iacovone said. "I thought they put on a great display of guts today.

They never quit, despite being outmanned. "Marist simply outmanned us. But we hung in to the end. Maybe we'll be able to carry it one step further next year." Marist coach Gene Pagnozzi left little doubt where he stood on the Rams' chances of returning to the state championship game next season. "I don't know whether we'll be back or not," Pagnozzi said, "but that team (Gloucester Catholic) will be here.

I feel very strongly about that. They have a lot of last year and failed to reach the win column until the final game of the season against Schalick. "We came together at the Gloucester Inn," Iacovone said of a meeting he had with his team last summer. "I met the kids and we began planning for what we hoped to achieve." The Rams' season began with four victories, but Iacovone felt his team wasn't that good not. at that point.

Four losses to Gloucester, Kingsway, Deptford and Clear-view squared the Rams' record at 4-4. An upset win over Pingry in a Parochial Group 2 playoff game generated some enthusiasm, but an overwhelming 33-0 setback to Schalick did little to prepare the young players. I was impressed with them." Asked if he was given the choice of playing at Giants Stadium or Gloucester High School in next year's title game, Iacovone sounded unsure. At first, he said, "No way. We would play at Gloucester High." But he quickly added, "This is a great place to play.

It's an experience the kids will never forget. No, I would want a little time to think it over." Record turnout The three-day attendance at Giants Stadium for the 10 games was 36,283. The biggest turnout was on Saturday when 19,830 fans turned out. Sunday's attendance was 10,654. lost to Holy Cross 19-14.

Ocean City, 9-1 and the Cape-Atlantic League American Division II champion, closes at No. 4. The Red Raiders' loss came at the hands of Central Regional. Overbrook, 8-2 and the Olympic Conference American Division champion, rounds out the Top 5. The Rams' losses were to Washington Township and Toms River North.

Hammonton, a team replete with underclassmen, finished 10-1, won the Cape-Atlantic League National Division and defended its Group 2 championship with a 36-28 win over Kingsway to finish No. 6. The Blue Devils lost to St. Augustine. Deptford, 8-1 and the Tri-County Conference Royal Division champion, is ranked No.

7. The Spartans just missed qualifying for the playoffs in the wild and woolly Group 3 scramble. The Spartans' loss came at hands of Hammonton. Kingsway, 9-2 and beaten in the final seconds by Hammonton in the sectional Group 2 final, held on to the No. 8 position.

Deptford was the other team to beat the Dragons. Bridgeton, 8-1, lost its next-to-last game of the season and fell from playoff consideration but finished as the No. 9 team. The loss was to Hammonton. RamsTurnovers prove costly to Gloucester Catholic Lamb kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.

"I knew if we could keep it close we would do OK," Lamb said. "We did a good job moving the ball and killing the clock, but they really got after us in the second half." Gloucester Catholic's gutsy defense, sparked by Sean Wright, Justin Furman, Mike Furman, John Barnes and Warren Lindey, held the Royal Knights to one first down in the first half. As it turned out, it wasn't enough. "These kids played with everything they had, especially the seniors," Iacovone said. "They have no reason to hang their heads." Continued from Page 1D plays, including a holding penalty against the Royal Knights, that ended on Gonzalez' 52-yard pass to David Griffin.

Flagler ran a two-point conversion to give Marist a 16-7 lead and a leg up on its first playoff championship with 46 seconds left in the quarter. "They spread us out a little bit in the second half and their speed began to kick in," Iacovone said. But Gloucester Catholic refused to fold. Following an exchange of turnovers, the Rams took over at the Marist 17 and scored in five plays. Lamb hit Lee Carmichael with a 7-yard pass for the touchdown.

different team with Lamb at quarterback. "He doesn't have the strongest arm, but he makes the right moves. We really had to get after him." In the first half, Gloucester Catholic limited the Royal Knights to 10 yards rushing and 38 passing. "I thought we could give up two touchdowns and score three or four or more ourselves," Pagnozzi said, "but they played us tough on defense." Meanwhile, Lamb orchestrated an eight-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with his 18-yard pass to Joe Eliason with 44 seconds left in the first quarter. "I ran a curl and up and was wide open," Eliason said.

Lamb's extra point kick was wide and Marist held a 16-13 lead with 6:18 left. Gloucester Catholic had one more opportunity. With 2:11 remaining, the Rams took over on their own 26, but Marist's relentless pressure on Lamb led to four incomplete passes. Lamb, who made his first start since breaking his left hand in the seventh game of the season against Deptford, completed 14 of 32 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw five interceptions.

Marist coach Gene Pagnozzi was impressed with Lamb and the Rams. "We saw films on them," Pagnozzi said. "And they're a Franklin Twp. and Somerville capture state titles Courier-Post Cup winners Camden 1973, 1976 Cherokee 1982, 1983, 1985, 1993 Cherry Hill East 1988 Collingswood 1966 Delsea 1972, 1979 Deptford 1978 Haddon Heights 1970 Holy Cross 1991 Holy Spirit 1990 Kennedy 1967 Oakcrest 1968, 1969 Paul VI 1971,1981 Paulsboro 1994 Pennsauken 1980,1984,1986 Sterling 1974, 1975, 1977 Washington Twp. 1987, 1992 Woodrow Wilson 1989 Associated Press EAST RUTHERFORD -Quarterback John Simeone threw two touchdowns and ran for another Sunday, powering Franklin Township to a 39-25 victory over Neptune in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III championship game at Giants Stadium.

The Franklin defense returned two Neptune fumbles for touchdowns. Dwayne Brown returned a fumble 23 yards on the game's first play from scrimmage. In the third quarter, Nick Solomon returned a fumble 48 yards for a touchdown. The Warriors also received an 87-yard kickoff return by Chris Jordan. Simeone finished 7 of 13 for 164 yards.

Somerville 21, Manasquan 14 Darnell Carter dashed 18 yards for the decisive touchdown with 4:22 left Sunday and lifted Somerville over Manasquan in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II championship game, also at ants Stadium. Carter's touchdown, on a sweep, capped a 79-yard, 12-play drive after the Somerville defense halted a Manasquan drive at its own 14-yard line. Somerville (8-3) raced to a 14-0 lead. Carter scored at the 10:33 mark of the first quarter on a 1-yard run and Tres Dorsey followed with a 5-yard run with 6:03 left in the second quarter. Manasquan (7-4) rallied using 91 -yard kickoff return by Mike Webb, a 9-yard run by quarter back Eji Paige and two point-after kicks by Jax Landfried to tie the score 14-14.

Manasquan appeared to be driving for the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter but on third down at the Somerville 14-yard line, Somerville's John Van Doren dropped Paige for a 2-yard loss. A penalty and incomplete pass ended the Manasquan drive. Manasquan's Phil Trasher led all rushers with 140 yards on 24 carries. 0 jmm.