The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 16

PAGE SIXTEEN THE BERGEN EVENING RECORD, MONDAY, MARCH 24, 1947 FORT LEE AND ENGLEWOOD CAPTURE STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS rr "-rregsws TTT 4 Bersen Evening Record Photo Bergen Evening Record Photo. Englewood High's Oroup Ihree Champions, unbeaten in 25 Fort Lee High School Group One Champs are pictured in the dressing room immediately after their upset victory over Dunellen. (L. to R. kneeling) Joe Orsino, John Cer-vieri, Harold Groshon, Captain John Ottina, Ed Wheat, and Frank Raimondo.

(L. to R. standing) Joe Buda, Rich Brady, Assistant Coach Harry Allison, coach John Mardy, John Mullin, and Vince Chippari. Glens Falls Tourney Next Englewood Competes In New York Affair Thurs games, are shown immediately after their victory over Springfield Regional. (L.

to R. front) Dave Genberg, Mel McCoy, Co-Captains Al Hegelein and Sherman White, Bobby Drake, and Coach Tom Morgan. (L. to R. rear) Ian Lindsay, Bob Westervelt, Bill Dismus, Lou Tepe, Milt Jakofsky, and Harold Lawson.

For The Record By Al Del Greco Smartest Tourney Club? Make it Fort Lee! day; N. J. S. I. A.

A- Tourney Marked By Upsets WITH the 1947 Group Three State Title already tucked away, Englewood High's unbeaten Maroon Maulers will next train their sights on the Glens Falls Invitation Tournament which gets under way at Glens Falls, N. Y. this Thursday. Englewood is one of three New Jersey teams entered. The others are Emerson High of Union City, the defending Champion, and Seton Bridgemen Upset Dunellen, 39-34 Hall Prep of South Orange.

White Scores 24 In Maroon Romp Limited To Six Points In First Half, Big Center Runs Wild In Third Frame To Lead Englewood To 49-22 Win Over Springfield Regional I i State Champs The quarter-final round will be held Thursday, with the semi-finals Friday and finals Saturday. The last Bergen County team to be invited to the Tourney was Garfield in 1931. Englewood played in Precision-Like Fort Lee Quintet Impresses Crowd VTEWARK CENTRAL pulled a surprise by downing Union Hill for the Group 4 crown, Englewood is very likely the only school playing "modern" basketball which swept through clean and went on to win the Group 3 championship, and Weehawken Indians were soundly blasted by Merchantville lor the Group 2 crown but the team that was the talk of the smoking room was Fort Lee High School, Group 1 champions. The smoking room is where the coaches, officials and writers gather to grab a fast smoke. It's separate and distinct from the tiled room in the cellar of the Armory where other crowds file in and out.

The smoking room probably contains the brains of New Jersey basketball during the playing of the finals. I don't say positively because as Red Smith of the Tribune pointed out so much better the other day, there's something screwy Glens Falls in 1929. With Triumph Over Defending Group 1 Champs; Mullin, Cervieri Lead Scoring Parade With its precision-like offense working to perfection, SCHOLASTIC Group One Fort Lee. Group Two Merchantville. Group Three Englewood.

Group Four Newark Central. P'ROCHIAL By GERRY DE LA REE Single-handedly outscoring the opposition, big Sher Fort Lee High School's well-coached aggregation scored an OF UPSETS The 29th Annual New Jersey State Interscholastic A. A. Basketball Tournament was one marked by upsets. In the five final games played Saturday at the Elizabeth Armory, only Englewood High came through as expected.

impressive 39 to 34 upset over Dunellen High to capture the man White led Englewood High School to its first State basketball championship with a 49 to 22 rout of Springfield Class A Trenton CatUolic. Class St. Joseph's IW. N. Class St.

Patrick's (Elizabeth). 1947 Group One State title Saturday arternoon at tne Elizabeth Armory. Regional in the Group Three finals of the 29th Annual N. S. I.

A. A. Tournament held Saturday night at the Elizabeth Armory before a near-capacity crowd of 4,500 fans. Coach John Mardy displayed the smoothest crew of ball handlers seen in this year's N. J.

S. I. A. A. Tournament.

ment was Springfield Regional, The first game of the afternoon saw a small St. Patrick's team of which had all five starters over the six foot mark. The Regional quintet Leading by only three points early in the third period, Englewood came up with a rally that turned the game into a rout. It was the 25th victory for Coach Tom Morgan's un Spotting Dunellen a definite height advantage. Fort Lee made up for it with some brilliant passwork and heads-up ball playing that had the afternoon assemblage of 2,500 would probably have given Englewood a roughter time of it had Don beaten Maroon Maulers" the ninth straight year fans "oh-ing" and "ah-ing" almost continually.

At no other time this season did the Bridgemen's plays Belliveau. twin brother of the team's high scorer, Roy Belliveau, been in condition to play. As it was Don hobbled around on a bad ankle and that the Group Three title has gone to a Bergen quintet. White, greatest scorer in the history of modern-day was of little aid to the Regional Elizabeth, coached by the popular Jerry Mallory, come up with an overtime triumph over a tall St. Rose quintet from Belmar.

This was for the Class Parochial title. This was the roughest game of the Tournament with eight players being ejected on personal fouls. All five St. Rose starters left the contest before It was over. Between them, the teams sank 26 out of 53 foul shots.

Fort Lee's upset over Dunellen for the Group One crown was neatly executed. John Mardy's Bridgemen scholastic basketball in New Jersey, garnered 24 points to bring his season's total to 616 tallies and his five-game Tour cause. Both boys are 6-4 in height. click to near-perfection as they did Saturday. Repeatedly one or another of the Bergen boys would be set up under the boards with easy shots.

Had their accuracy on shots been a little keener, there is no telling to what count the score might have rispn. while younger brother Ken, who saw service as a sub, stands a mere 6-1. nament total to a record-breaking 126. White's play in the second half- As It was. Fort Lee completely out- THE BOX-SCORE THE BOX-SCORE Englewood (49) Fort Lee (39) There was talk in Westwood yesterday of putting in a "claim" for the Group One title.

West-wood's Cards were the only ones to defeat Fort Lee twice this season, turning in 61-50 and 48-37 victories over the Bridgemen late in the season. t.i I classed Dunellen, which was defending the Group One laurels it won last season. The Destroyers had plenty of trouble getting off shots from in close and it was mainly on sets that they scored their points. MULLIN MISSES SHOTS John Mullin, slim Fort Lee center, exhibited a well-coached offense that was far superior to Dunellen's. The Destroyers were bidding for G.

F. P. 4 3 11 Genberg, Drake, 1 5 Cervieri, Buda, Ottina, Mullin, their third Group One crown in six years, while -it was the first State Tepe, 0 0 basketball title for Fort Lee. 1 13 2 6 Englewood sank only one foul In 10 tries against Regional which may White, Hegelein, McCoy, Lindsay, was nothing short of sensational. Limited to six points in the first two periods by some close guarding on the part of the rangey Regional boys, the Fix-foot, five-inch Negro center suddenly broke loose with a1 rash of points.

WHITE STARTS RALLY Deserting his usual style of play. White started hitting with pivot shots from the side and at one point even stuck in a fancy set shot that brought a terrific cheer from the crowd. Only a few of the big boy's points came on under-the-basket shots this time and it was a tribute to his skill that he was able to roll up 12 field goals against the Regional quintet. In the early stages of the game the Regional team, led by 6-4 Roy Belliveau and center John Bunnell, bottled White up as he has never 0 Groshon, Raimondo, Wheat, Lennie Burns and His Protege walked away with scoring honors for the winners with 13 points. Mullin, however, experienced one of his worst days of the season when it came to shooting.

He broke under 0 4 well be a record for a Tournament final. White missed all six foul shots Totals 16 7 39 Totals he took against both Audubon and Regional. Regional (23) Dunellen (34) The major upset of the day was recorded by Merchantville, which tripped highly favored Weehawken 44-39. Led by big: Jim Wiggins and slim George Dempsey. the South Jersey five copped the Group Two title from the defending champs who boasted three veterans, Joey Booth, Bill Hogan, and Les Cos-grove.

the boards time after time, but was able to sink only six of the 27 shots he took. John Cervieri. who played his usual brilliant game, also found G. F. R.

Belliveau, Soltes, D. Belliveau, K. Belliveau. about a basketball coach who tears out tufts of hair and goes out into a tantrum when a ball fails to fall into a basket. Accolades for Fort Lee were flying right and left.

"The brainiest team in the tournament," said Lennie Bixrns, former coach of West New York. "They knew exactly what they wanted to do," said Howard Bollerman, Hacken-sack High coach. There were so many other compliments. John Mardy coached this swell little club which bounced favored Dunellen around by a 39-34 score. In 1931 and 1932 he played for Burns' West New York club.

trouble sinking tosses that ordinarily Fuchs, Berg, Fisher, Larsen, Stein, found their marks. A lot of credit should go out to Bunnell, Joe Buda, who undoubtedly played MoroU, CENTRALSNARES GR0UP4H0N0RS Union Hill, Weehawken Upset In Tourney Goldberg, the best game of his High School Newark Central scored a 40-37 up Galiscewski, Danneman, career. Used in the role of a substi set over Union Hill for the Group Totals 14 6 34 tute all season, Buda broke into the starting lineup against Dunellen and SCORE BY PERIODS Four crown. Negro Leroy Smith starred for the Central quintet as it Totals been bottled before. He got the ball only a few times and sank three of the five shots he was able to get off.

The third period, however, saw a different Mr. White step onto the court. The critics who had been pointing out all of Squirmin' Sher In Hollywood, the Bridgemen might be described as being colossal, terrific, super-duper and wonderful. Let me say they were good. Outside of Cervieri, the star of the club, the before fouling out in the fourth pe Fort Lee 9 11 9 1039 Dunellen 10 10 9 534 spotted the Hudson team an early score by r-Emons lead and then battled back to win Englewood 12 6 15 Referee Bowe.

Umpire Tomas- impressively. boys had no height. Yet they worked the ball to the basket riod had Impressed the crowd with his aggressive style of play. He scored only four points, but was, an all-important cog in the Fort Lee Regional 9 4 5 4 S. Five champions were crowned at ko.

Referee Bannigan. Umpire man's defects in the first half, were with such dazzling speed that players of Dunellen last year championship team were banging into each other as they Englewood's Squirmin' Sherman the 29th Annual N. J. S. I.

A. A. Basketball Tournament in Elizabeth Burns. machine. suddenly silenced as White swished back to tie the score at 27-27 and then took the lead on a layup by Saturday and two of them Fort three straight pivot shots through the nets.

And before the period was tried to follow Fort Lee around. An expert on such matters, tells me it's all a matter of screening and cross-checking. wood into a 12-9 lead at the end of the quarter. Lee and Englewood hailed from Bergen County. The boy who actually put the game on ice for the Bridgemen in the final period was harold "Chub-bv" Groshon.

Benched for two periods, Groshon, an All-B. C. S. L. selection, returned to action in the Berg.

Mullin's field goal knotted matters at 29-29 going into the last over tnose same critics were lauding the outstanding play of the duskv The first two minutes of tne Mr. Cervieri was no ball of fire in the finals. He and John Mullin were missing with disconcerting regularity. Had The uroup Four title went to a period. second period were scoreless before Genberg dropped in a cne- bean pole who has snapped more scoring records than any player in they been hitting, they could have gone on to win by 20 last quarter to score two field goals tne nistory ot Bergen County.

points. But there was a young fellow by the name of Harold ai wegeiein; snerman Dartner and a pair of fouls. His final DasKet cartie in the last 4 seconds of play Cervieri dropped in a layup to start the scoring, but after that Buda fouled out of the game and Fuchs sank the resulting shot. Groshon made an impressive return White set a few more records as he piled up 24 points against Springfield Regional. His five-game total for the Tournament was 126 snapping the mark of 121 set last year by Bill "Bucky" Hatchett of Verona.

White also topped the field goal record of 50 held jointly by Passaic's Johnny Roosma and Hatchett. White tallied 58 two-pointers in the Tourney. White's second half comeback against Regional was a familiar sight, for on many occasions this season the big boy has gone bad for half of a game, only to rally for a pile of points near the end. He took onlv 24 shots at the basket and nancier from front. Belliveau tap cut it to 14-11, but McCoy sank a set shot to put Englewood five points ahead.

A tap-in by White pushed the count to 18-11. but George Soltes sank a basket for Regional befors the half ended. and handed the championship to Groshon on the scene and he put in one of his finest games of the year. And the fellow who was keeping the team together in the first half was Joe Buda, who was ejected at trie start of the fourth quarter. Buda, my lads, started the sea scrappy Newark Central team that upset Union Hill of Union City 40 to 37.

Hudson County's favorites, Weehawken, took it on the chin 44 -39 at the hands of Merchantville in the Group Two final. In a Parochial Class game, played in the afternoon, St. Patrick's of Elizabeth defeated St. Rose of Belmar 48-44 in overtime. The box scores: in points against hapless Audubon last Thursday, experienced an off night.

Unable to hit with his set shots and generally outplayed under Port Lee from the bench with a driving layup. The game was a see-saw affair There was no more scoring until most of the way. Mel Stein caged a tne boards by big Roy Belliveau. after the automatic time out. Belliveau opened the second naif son as a sub but was good enough to nudge Captain John Ot tina out of a starting post.

negeiem sua maae nis presence With three minutes to go Groshon scoring with a pivot shot and th ien in tne game on several occasions. Dave Genberg and Mel "Skeets" The fact that Fort Lee scored an upset isn't the point. caged two foul shots and Cervieri drilled home a field goal for a 37-30 score was 18-15. At this poms White took over. His first pivot tos3 Upsets are a dime a dozen on the sports scene.

But the way iwcuoy more than made ur for foul and Al Berg a one-hander to give Dunellen 'a 3-0 lead. A tap-in by big Cervieri and a field goal by Mullin put Fort Lee out in front 4-3. Ed FUchs. Dunellen's veteran forward, and Mullin then traded field goals. With two minutes left in the period Cervieri slipped in a edge.

With two minutes left Fort whatever Hegelein lacked Genberir gave nim 600 Points for tnp Lee waived a foul shot and started to freeze the ball. Dunellen got pos the small-sized lads took over the situation and impressed their authority on bigger boys is a feather in the chapeau of this big Mardy boy, a rookie in the coaching business. nciu me ciuo logemer in the uh half by scoring three one-hanrier5 before Bellwenu broke tno session long enough to shake Fuchs while it was McCoy floor work in'ispe with a eoaL Ens'ewood lfte the second half that helped turn thpirolled 17 Points before Regional set shot to put Fort Lee three points loose for a basket. Seconds later Fuchs stole the ball and dribbled in GROW rOIR FINAL Nrirark (till In ion Hill r.r.t G. V.

P. G. P. P. Walsh, 1 Jl Strell.

4 O'Neill, 13 5 Draeonna. 0 0 0 fniilh. 6 1 13 Thompson. 12 1 5 Robiinson. 3 1 Rowan, I 0 0 0 Convissor.

0 0 Goslin. 5 1 11 Owens, 12 4 Ahl. (i Zaslavskl. 2 1 Innis, 3 2 8 Totals llf 8n Tntals 16 5 31 SCORE BV PERIODS Newark 9 8 10 134(1 Union Hill 12 5 1237 Referee Yahn. Umpire Jones.

CROl'P TWO FINAL was able to caee another field goal contest into a walk-awav to the good. LARSEN IS STOPPED for another score to make it 37-34 with half a minute remaining. Fort Lee waived another foul with 14 Dick Larsen, 6-4 Dunellen center who failed to connect with a field goal in the entire game, sank a foul BELLIVEAU STARS Royi Belliveau played a brilliant game for Regional. He was the club lone scoring threat, garnering 13 of its 22 points and up until the time he fouled out of action in the fourth period his play under the backboards had been quite impressive. Throueh- seconds left and 10 seconds later Groshon drove down the lane for a successful layup and the game was shot at this point, but Cervieri coun midway in the fourth period.

The score was 41-19 when Dick Danneman sank a lapup for the Sprine-field quintet. Soltes followed with a foul, after which White made his set shot and followed with a pivot. Two baskets by substitute Lou Tep wound up the scoring for the Marooa in the last two Fnllnwinir White in thp EncleWOOd Group 3 Vs. Group 4 Argument IHARLJE YENN1E, coach of Ridgewood High School, was one of the hundreds of coaches on the scene and he said what a lot of other men have been thinking for years. "The Group 3 champion in the State," he said, "Is invariably the best team in New Jersey.

It can take over Group 4 every year in this tournament. Englewood is 20 points better than any team in the State." Certainly, Englewood High looked far superior to Union Hill and Newark Central, the Group 4 finalists. And you can tered with a free shot of his own over. Merchantville O. Weehawken O.

P. Sudden baskets by Fuchs and Joe F. i 5 15 Dempsey. 8 2 Bottomly, 0 Fisher spurted Dunellen in front 10-9 at the end of the frame. I Mullin and Cervieri were high scorers for Fort Lee with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Fuchs paced the 2 siout the third period Belliveau had f'lfnnr nprconalc nn tii Booth, Stewart, Cost rove. Carlson, Hosan, Flynn. Perry, Dick Goldberg. Dunellen guard.1 3 10 Joya. 1 0 0 Wiprins; fi 1 7 ButTier.

0 1 1 Grant, 0 0 0 Conkhn. 0 S'derland, 0 caged a penalty toss to open the losers with 13. The foul shooting favored Fort: made 12 good. Southern papers please copy: Three of this year's State championship teams were captained by Negroes. Ket Buttler led the Group Two champs from Merchantville.

White co-raptained Englewood with Alan Hegelein in Group Three, while flashy Leroy Smith was the head man for Newark Central's Group Four titlists. The most emotional cheerleaders seen in this year's finals hailed from St. Rose of Belmar. The girls went through a whole series of antics every time one of their boys scored. When St.

Rose tied its game with crying. More tears were shed three seconds to go. one girl broke out crying. More teaims were shed three minutes later when St. Rose bowed in overtime, 48-44.

Allison King, vice-president of the N. J. S. I. A.

A. and director of athletics at Hawthorne High School, presented both Fort Lee and Englewood with their championship 'jiphies. The tallest fMm in the toiirna- fecond stanza, but Ed Wheat countered for Fort Lee with a sensational fade-awav shot from the left side Lee. which sank seven for 10. Dun ellen converted six for 13.

scoring column were Genberg and McCoy with eight and seven points, respectively. Belliveau was easu? tops for Regional with 13. JOE L0VAS HEADS SCHOOLBOY SCRIBES Total! 14 11 19 Tntalu 11 10 44 SCORE BY PERIODS Weehawken 14 7 1035 Merchantville 10 10 12 12 44 Releree Cooper. Umpire Rellly. to knot matters at 11-all.

A layup look back over the years and the same impression remains. Englewood High School won the Group 3 title as it pleased against Springfield Regional. Alan Hegelein was loggy in the first half and the team seemed to be in much the same mood but Dave Genberg sparked the second half drive u.i mis appeared to effect his play to some extent, for he no longer outiumped Hegelein and White under the boards. The first half was close all the way. Genberg opened the scoring with a field goal, but three points by Belliveau gave Springfield Regional a 3-2 advantage.

A jump shot by White put the Maroon back in the Bridgemen ahead, but Fisher LLAuUL Milt lb PAROCHIAL CLASS FINAL St. Patrick's iltll St. Hose 44 O. r. with his scintillating play and from then on, Tom Morgan's; ers.

Mullin's foul and stein's set tied boys breezed in under wraps. the count at 15-15. Buda and stein Burk. 7 12 Mnnilt LI. i Rliynheth.

TJ Mar. 24 tiP lnB front, but Bunnell tied the count New Jersev Scholastic Sports Writ- ft in 2 2 3 0 12 0 2 2 Carney. O. Furda. Hannah, R.

Furda. Ahnarns. Bopf. Al KMMU luMUHT The Bergen County Boys' Baseball League will hold its first meeting of the year tonight in the Sports Department of the Bergen Evening Record at 8:30 o'clock. Ail teams that were members last 0 Skidraore.

3 7 Leyh. 1 1 11 Gepp. 8 0 2 Armstrong, 0 1 0 Pyanoe. 1 4 4 Cassidy. 0 1 3 Herrler.

ft 0 Clark, 1 Lunney. 0 2 2 Sherman wnite proved he was an All-State player, as UK" uau usual, but the cause of Hegelein suffered for the big boy! EST uJM sSE wasn't one-tenth the player he proved to be in the semi -a set by Fuchs and a foul by Larsen finals when his work eclipsed that of White. If he doesn't made the haiftime score 20-aii. make All-State, hell come very, very close. If White isn't1 Fort Lee look a lead in the 4.1...

nt.t.i. -t. minutes of the third nnnr- with a foul toss. White and Belli-lers Association elected Joe Lovas veau then traded la yups, after which. of the Passaic Herald-News, McCoy stuck in a one-hander fori dent, at its annual meeting Sat-Englewood.

Fouls by Frank Moroli urday. Sam Siciliano of the As-and Belliveau retied the score at I bury Park Press was elected vice-8-8. Bunnell's free toss put the! president, and George Lucas of five ahead, but baskets byiFfcterson Morning Call was nam-Genberg and Bob Drake sent Englf-lscS-etary-treasurer. ason and new clubs interested in To'als j1S 411 Tom! 15 SOFE By PERIODS St. Rose A 9 11 12 in Referee Gri'liih.

Umpire Freez. IT baskets by Wheat.j joining should send representatives Buda, tnd Mullin. Dunellen fought to this meeting. aeaui..