The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 4

"I1 XT NOVEMBER 24. 1991 THE SUNDAY RECORD S-17 Bfflnl Jim Kl siv sap; fcastside savors its victory ui ii.iunii.iiiii. I. I 'Ijft if Runner's strategy pays off By Paul Schwartz Correspondent HOLMDEL Vanessa Mc-Clure finished eighth in the State Group 4 cross-country championships last week, but Saturday her determination to do better resulted in a fourth-place finish in the Meet of Champions. CROSS-COUNTRY Last week, the Knights senior and Passaic champion raced up the opening hill at Holmdel County Park for the early lead, but she later paid the price as Monal Chokshi and six others charged by.

Saturday, McClure hung back with Chokshi and then moved up to finish fourth behind the Bridgewater-Rari-tan junior, who claimed her fourth consecutive title. "I didn't want to go out too hard this time," said McClure, whose finish was the highest by a Passaic County runner since Wayne Valley's Jen Van Horn was fourth in 1985. "I wanted to work the bowl midway through the race and get up to the front then. McClure was one of three Passaic County girls in the top 20. Freshman Amy Mizzone of Wayne Valley was 17th and sophomore Deanna Gastrock of West Milford was 20th.

They were the only three Passaic representatives in the girls race. Shawnee edged Toms River North and Northern Highlands for the team title, 99-100-107, in one of the closest races in state history. Brendan Heffernan of North Hunterdon ran the second-fastest time in the 13-year history of the Holmdel course to win the boys title easily in 15 minutes, 31 seconds. Northern Highlands senior Rob Reeder had a stirring finish to hold off Tom Keefer of Paul VI for second. CBA of Lincroft repeated as the boys champion, defeating Ridgewood, 63-102.

The only Passaic entrant, DePaul junior Ed Conn, was 103rd in a field of 167. McClure's time of 19:34 was the seventh fastest ever by a Passaic runner at Holmdel. Mizzone, whose older sister, Jen, was sixth in 1987, was the Eastside's Michael Franklin preventing the ball from being stripped By Ron Fox Record Staff Writer PATERSON The combatants grew amiable once Eastside's 19-7 victory over archrival Kennedy was completed Saturday. The players even started making plans for a reunion. "See you all again," Kennedy guard John Bush said as he shook hands with the Ghosts in Hinch-liffe Stadium.

"Let's get together," Eastside linebacker Teshon Lowery said to the Knights. All along the postgame reception line, their teammates echoed those sentiments. The Paterson teams could meet in the State Group 4, Section 1 championship game Dec. 5. fifJJIL ATLANTIC "Since freshman year, all we've talked about is winning a State championship," said wide receiv-er-cornerback Corey Wilson of Eastside.

"We have all the ingredients now. And this is the main game because we never beat them since I've been in high school." Wilson had a major hand in the turnaround. The 160-pound senior scored one touchdown, was the middle man in another one, set up the third with a fumble recovery, and prevented a touchdown with an interception. Eastside's decision to abandon conservatism early was another key. The Ghosts broke the big play on their first play from scrimmage on the old hook lateral.

Sophomore quarterback Michael Franklin hit Wilson with a 15-yard pass, and Wilson flipped a perfect lateral to Curtis Benning, who had a defender on his heels as he took the pitch. Benning took it the rest of the way on a 53-yard touchdown pass. "That was our Thanksgiving Day Special," Eastside coach Donald Davis said. "The kids were excited about it, and we said if the ball was past the 30, we'd do it. I just don't know how to chart it." WPC is By Mark J.

Czerwinski Record Staff Writer WAYNE Now the William Paterson football team knows how the rest of the New Jersey Athletic Conference teams feel when the Pioneers get through with them each week. The Pioneers, who rode the Wing-T offense to their first postseason appearance, got a taste of their own medicine Saturday at Wightman Field. Frostburg State's Wing-T proved too much to handle as the Bobcats walked away with a 46-16 victory in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Southeast Championship game. The 46 points were the second most scored in an ECAC postseason game. Wagner set the record in 1983 with a 48-7 victory over St.

John's. "This was just a good old-fashioned butt-kicking," said WPC co- respectively, on offense, and the regular inside linebackers. Davis suggested that the loss of co-captain Collins took some of the life out of the Knights, but Bonadies refused to adopt the ready-made excuse. "You have to believe you can win with the team you put out there," Bonadies said. "Donald said he was going to pull out all the stops, and he did." A crowd of 3,500 saw Kennedy tie the score in the second quarter on an 8-yard tackle-breaking run by Joe Gorga.

Kennedy drove again on its next possession, but It'll all go as passing yardage in the postgame breakdown. On the rushing side, Benning had 94 yards on 11 carries against the team he played for the last two years. The transfer said he felt no rancor. Quite the opposite. "I still love 'em," he said.

"They're good friends, the players, Coach Frank Bonadies, everybody. This all passes for family," he added, looking around the stadium. Because of injuries, Kennedy played without a pair of two-way players Shawn Collins and Andrew Gayle, a fullback and guard, crashed by Frostberi VANESSA MCCLURE Fourth in Meet of Champions leading freshman finisher, duplicating her Group 3 time of 20:20. Mizzone was eighth in the Group 3 race last week. "We went out really fast in the beginning, but I stayed back," said Mizzone.

"I was sort of nervous because I was running with a lot of people I didn't know, but I just worked hard all through the course." Gastrock, 59th as a freshman last year, ran a personal-best time at Holmdel of 20:23 to improve by 39 places. And unlike past races at Holmdel, Gastrock finished this race in good health and great spirits. 11 I didn't want to go out too hard this time. Vanessa McClure "I'm much more relaxed than I was last week and last year," said Gastrock, who collapsed at the finish of two prior Holmdel races. "I feel like I belong here now." Ridgewood's Jenna Rogers was seventh and Caroline Preece of Northern Highlands was 10th in the girls race.

The Highlanders probably would have taken the girls title, but No. 5 runner Charlotte Halvor-sen fell and was unable to finish. Ridgewood placed its top five in the top 63, in a 45-second pack, and easily outdistanced 16 of the other 17 teams. But CBA, winners of four of the last six years, placed their top five in the top 50 with a 49-second pack to defend their title. Sophomore Bob Keino led the Maroons in 14th place with junior Sadek Alsaidi 25th.

GIRLS SOCCER That, however, was all the offense the Crusaders could produce in the first half, which didn't surprise Racine. "We're a young team, and it takes the kids a while to settle down," said Racine. "We've been a second-half team all year, and this game played true to form." It didn't take long to secure the victory as Emily Rogic put Morris Catholic up 2-0 off an assist from McLaughlin less than six minutes into the half. McLaughlin scored two minutes later, drilling a shot into the corner of the net from 20 yards out. The final goal came less than two minutes later when the Bordentown goalie came out to stop a breakaway by Rogic, who slid a pass over to DaCosta to deposit into an open net.

Bordentown's best scoring chance came in the second half when sophomore Kristen Cloutier blasted a shot that required goalie Gina Lazaro to make a diving save. It preserved Morris Catholic's eighth shutout in State playoff history. half as Ewing's big scorer, Misty Cregar, was awarded a penalty kick after being knocked down inside the box. Cregar beat Northern Highlands goalie Cassie Abodeely to the right side as the senior forward completed her career with 112 goals, 34 in 1991. Northern Highlands (20-1-4) tied the game with 6:37 to play in the first half as junior center midfielder Anny Madden buried a direct kick from about 25 yards over the goalie's head and into the net.

JOHN MAYER Morris Catholic cruises to No. 4 pass WPC's big-gain play all season and it was intercepted by defensive lineman John McKenney. On the next play, Jones fired a 36-yard touchdown pass to Ariel Bell, and the Bobcats had a 25-8 lead. "We moved the ball at times, but not consistently enough," Gallagher said. "We gave up more big plays in this game than we did in the rest of the season combined." Jones, who was named Most Valuable Player, fired two more touchdown passes in the second half.

Jones completed nine of 10 passes for 214 yards and carried eight times for 125 yards. "We got our butts kicked," said sophomore defensive back Craig Paskas of Rutherford. "It was breakdowns. At one time or another, everyone cut there had a breakdown." ECAC FOOTBALL cah Gerry Gallagher. "I don't think we came to play, and they made all the plays.

It was as simple as that." Actually, the Pioneers (8-2-1) lost the game in the final three minutes of the first half. Tied 8-8, the Bobcats (8-3) turned their game up a notch and scored 17 points to break the Pioneers' hearts. The onslaught began when Corey Phalen booted a 24-yard field goal with 3:03 to play. The Pioneers punted seven plays later, setting up a 64-yard touchdown run by Frostburg quarterback Mike Jones with 49 seconds left. The Pioneers tried to get a quick touchdown to close out the half, but things backfired.

Senior quarterback Brian Leary tried a shuffle ED HILLTHE RECORD by Kennedy's Derrick Brown. Wilson came through with a text- book interception at his 10. On first down, Benning swept to the right, faked two dips inside, and sped 63 yards to set up his own 3- yard score. A bad punt snap set up the last score, Wilson's 19-yard pass recep- -tion. The Eastside defense took care of the rest with four sacks sophomore safety Henry Baker had 1V4, Lowery and Micah Pierce had one each, and Mark Simms had half a sack.

"I don't think we were sacked all year long," Bonadies said. "East-side came to play today." The Pioneers didn't fare much better against the Frostburg State defense. Leary threw for 202' yards, but was intercepted three-times. Sophomore tailback Al White, the NJAC Offensive Player of the Year, was held to 30 yards rushing on eight carries. "This doesn't spoil our season," Gallagher said.

"The first thing I told the players was not to let this, overshadow all the good things this team accomplished this sea-' son." NOTES Leary fired a 20-yard touchdown pass to Matt Trepple on the first play of the second half. -Kevin Harmon scored the other -WPC touchdown on a 10-yard run in the third quarter. Frostburg senior fullback Rory McTigue rushed for 78 yards and two touchdowns. IIBIL DIVISION 1 Lawn credit. They did a nice job' with their offensive packaging and especially their passing.

But we were able to make the big playi when we needed it." The Patriots started fast with: the first of their long gainers when! Sek went left and scored on a 57-c yard ramble 3:39 into the Later in the first period, Wayne Hills struck again when Seamus Donohue returned an interception' 75 yards to set up Kyle Hughes'' 14-yard touchdown run, made it 14-0 with 6:09 left in the; first quarter. After a Fair Lawn touchdown, Sek's 47-yard run around the rights end led the way to Jon Reiss' 22-yard field goal on the final play of the first quarter to up the count to i 17-7. -ii "To be part of building this kind of football tradition is special," said Sek, who gained 112 yards onU eight carries. "Fair Lawn played --very well, but when the game was on the line we came through." The Cutters put up a valiant struggle, aided by junior end John LaDuca, who caught six passes for 107 yards, including two downs. Wayne Hills gets just what it needs By John Mayer Correspondent EWING TOWNSHIP Morris Catholic made New Jersey girls soccer history Saturday, and it did it in decisive fashion.

The Crusaders blanked Bordentown, 4-0, in the Group 1 final to become the first, team to win four straight State championships. "Each one has been special in its own way," said Morris Catholic coach Steve Racine. "What makes this one special is that we have several people who have played on all four teams." The most notable of those is senior forward Kate Vedder, who tallied the first goal of the game 12 minutes into the contest when she headed a ball in off a long pass from teammate Jen McLaughlin. The play began as a corner kick, taken by Dina DaCosta. Instead of kicking long toward the goal, Da-Costa simply tapped the ball over to McLaughlin to make the crossing pass.

"We had heard that the Bordentown goalie would cover the near post on corner kicks, so my job was just to run head-on toward the far post, and it was a perfect ball," said Vedder, who finished her career with 103 goals. ft '-re -zs 1 By Ed Mills Correspondent WAYNE Chris Olsen would have preferred more ball possession and fewer big plays, but he was more than satisfied with the result. Olsen's Wayne Hills team rallied from a 21-17 deficit by scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown to beat Fair Lawn, 24-21, Saturday. The victory clinched a second straight Northern Bergen Interscholastic League Division 1 championship for the Patriots (7-2, 5-0), who will play at unbeaten Hoboken in the first round of the North Jersey Group 3, Section 1 playoffs next weekend. Quarterback Brian Sek scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 6:50 remaining to lift the Patriots past the proud Cutters, who began the season 0-3-1 but won four of their last five to finish 4-4-1.

The eight-play, 50-yard winning drive was set up when Wayne Hills' A.J. Vaccarino recovered a Fair Lawn fumble at midfield. "These are the first two conference championships in Wayne Hills' football history, and that is a solid achievment," Olsen said. "Usually we are able to control the ball and the clock with our ground game, but I've got to give Fair Highlands gains share of title EWING TOWNSHIP Teams usually become despondent when allowing a goal, but Northern Highlands took the opposite approach in Saturday's Group 3 State girls soccer final. The effort earned the Highlanders a 1-1 tie with Ewing and a share of the title.

"We haven't been behind that much, but when we do fall behind, the next 10 to 12 minutes after the score seem to be the best we'll play all day," said Northern Highlands rookie coach Greg McDonald. The wake-up call came with just under 10 minutes left in the first Kyle Hughes of Wayne Hills is looking to keep his balance after eluding Fair Lawn tacklers In Saturday's NBIL game won by Wayne Hills. IX.