Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 63

7D COURIER-POST, Sunday, December 2, 2001 Jackson stops Cherokee, wins Group 4 crown By DON BENEVENTO Courier-Post Staff coach and player at Camden. "I think they did it. It's very tough to repeat, but they got the Job done." With the win, Jackson most likely sealed its position as the No. 1 team in the state, according to the Gannett New Jersey Football Top 20 Ml. The Jaguars certainly impressed Cherokee coach John Scott, whose team got nothing going offensively.

PISCATAWAY On the first play from scrimmage Saturday, Cherokee High School running back Sean Mayers bounced to the outside alter the designed hole off guard was sealed and he gained 12 yards for a first down. That was the high point of the game for Cherokee. The Chii-fs wmild "They're very good, there's no doubt about that," Scott said. "They're very aggressive, they're mobile, they block well and they tackle well." For the game, never come close to They got US that level of success r. again while the out- GOWI1 IrOHl the come was stiii in get-go and after i that we couldn't lost 24-0 to powerful Jackson in the do much.

We gOt South Jersey Group 4 football OUT DaCKS Cherokee had just championship ocroincf fVio wall 67 yards and May. V' game at Rutgers ers, by far the University and ft WaS kind team's leading of. Led by the run- fensive threat, was ningofNickCastel- OlOne-SlCiea lano, who had 145 yards on 17 carries, alter Uiat. held to 39 yards on 20 carries. "I felt like I was MICHAEL J.

TREOLAGannett News Service Jackson's Joe SerrateM tries to gain yardage as he is being tackled by Cherokee's Larue Robinson In Saturday's game. Cherokee coach John Scott running into a and two touchdown passes from uncK wau, iviay- Nick Anzalone, the Jaguars re opening run, quarterback Blake Letchford was hit behind the line of scrimmage and fumbled. The ball was recovered by Ryan Nie-miec and that set up a 2-yard run by Castellano. "They got us down from the get-go and after that we couldn't do much," Scott said. "We got our backs against the wall, and it was kind of one-sided after that." Jackson scored all of its ers said.

"I got a little frustrated there because it seemed like we couldn't get anything going." Against that backdrop, it seemed the Chiefs, 9-3 and the No. 4 team in the Courier-Post Top 20 Rankings, never had a chance. If the Chiefs had any hopes of pulling off an upset, they were ended early. Soon after Mayers' points in the first half, and the game was all but over from there. Cherokee came to life early in the third quarter, crossing into Jackson territory for the first time all game when Letchford scrambled for 27 yards to put the ball on the 49-yard line.

With the help of a 27-yard pass completion to Keegan McCool, the Chiefs drove to the Jackson Jackson extended the lead to 24-0 on Mike Cortese's 39-yard field goal. In the meantime, Cherokee had no success against Jackson's big, quick defense. In the first half, the Chiefs ran only 27 plays for a net 24 yards. The situation didn't get much better in the second half on a day that belonged to Jackson from the start. 21, but ran out of downs.

Aside from the running of Castellano, who also had three sacks on defense, Jackson threw the ball well when necessary. Anzalone threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jim Miglori to run the score to 14-0 late in the first quarter and then followed that up with a 26-yard scoring pass to Kelvin Vaughn early in the second quarter. peated their title with their second straight 12-0 season. "I'm just so proud of my kids," said Jackson coach Reggie Lawrence, who ran his personal record to 24-0 since taking over the program two years ago. "Even though they had such a great season, they still came here feeling they had something to prove," said Lawrence, a former That championship feeling i 'hi! .1 'IT- mi Jk- v.

5 Tl 2k. PARIS L. GRAYCourierPost Woodrow Wilson's Jamil Evans dumps a cooler of water over Woodrow Wilson coach Mike McBride after Wilson's win over Egg Harbor Township for the South Jersey Group 3 championship. JOSE F. MORENOCourier-Post CHRIS LaCHALLCouner-Post Kingsway's Larry Thomas couldn't hold on to a pass as Hammonton's James Christopher defends on the play during Saturday's South Jersey Group 2 championship game.

Paulsboro coach Glenn Howard Is showered with Ice water by players Preston Paulsen (from left), Billy Damask, Frank Cullen and David Jiles during the final minutes of Saturday's game. Knee injury forces Garren to redshirt at N.C. State Purdue won the Navy Classic Purdue's Oscar Santiago in the back. He'll red-shirt this year and have two more years of eligibility." Garren, the Atlantic Coast Conference champion as a freshman, posted back-to-back seasons of John Vogeding quarterfinals, beat Purdue's Mark Groski in the wrestle-backs before being eliminated by Byron Lauer of Rutgers, who finished fifth. Amir Khan (Eastern) followed Barikian's path at 165, beating Groski of Purdue, losing to Piere Pryor of N.C.

State, beating Jake Waareing of Virginia Tech before being eliminated by Navy's Luke Lazzo, who finished sixth. Greg Austin (Ocean City) placed second to 149 for Rutgers in the Navy Classic. He had wins over Ben Guerrina of Virginia Tech, John Pagnotta of James Madison and Dan Jankowski of Purdue before losing to West Virginia's Billy Smith in the 140 and 145 pounds his last two years in the state tournament for Lenape, is starting at 149 pounds for N.C. State. He is 2-3 overall.

In the recent Navy Classic, Miller beat Pete Deignan of Rutgers, lost to Billy Smith of West Virginia in the quarterfinals, beat Anthony DelPriore of The Citadel and then was eliminated with a loss to Wayne Watts of The Citadel, who finished fourth. "He's had more losses this season than in his last two combined in high school," Wink-worth said. "But he's coming along. It's really a bigger adjustment than most people realize, going from the high school level to Division I in college. He'll be fine." Elsewhere Labe Black (Absegami), the all-time state leader in wins with a 142-3-0 record that included three state titles, will redshirt this season at The University of Buffalo.

He will be back on the mats next season and will have three years of eligibility remaining. Navy 174-pounder Jim Letchford (Cherokee) finished fifth in the Navy Classic. Letchford lost to Thomas Ovalle of Virginia Tech in the quarterfinals and Andrew Roy of Rutgers. But he beat James Rose of The Citdel to earn a rematch with Ovalle and decisioned him to finish fifth. Navy's Mike Barikian (Col-lingswood), competing at 165 pounds, defeated James Homestead of James Madison, lost to with Navy fourth, N.C.

State fifth and Rutgers seventh in the eight-team field. Bob Pizzuto (Edgewood) lost 24-9 at 184 and Greg Sawyer (Delsea) lost 114 at 197 as Rider was defeated by Nebraska, 26-16. Write or call The college wrestling notebook will appear once a week during the season. If you have a relative or friend competing on the collegiate level, call or e-mail some information and we'll use it. John Vogeding writes a weekly college wrestling notebook for the Courier-Post.

He can be reached at 856-486-2422 or by e-mail at i Whatever could have gone wrong in a knee injury did go wrong for North Carolina State sophomore Scott Garren (Paulsboro) last February. During the course of winning his bout against North Carolina, Garren blew out his knee. "It was a traumatic injury," said Bruce Winkworth, the sports information contact for N.C. State. "He tore the anterior cruciate ligament, the posterior cruciate ligament, the lateral collateral ligament and the medial meniscus.

It doesn't get much worse. And to do all that damage and finish his match and win against North Carolina was truly courageous. "He had successful surgery and will spend a lot of time rehabilitating the leg, but he'll be 23-5 and 24-7. After wrestling three years at Oakcrest, Garren finished his career with a perfect senior season at Paulsboro by winning the 160-pound state title and finishing with a career record of 1 16-5 (29th on the all-time win list in South Jersey history). Dave Miller, who compiled a 138-5 record which included third place finishes his first two years and first-place finishes at i.