A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield L The Westfield L The Westfield L The Westfield L The Westfield Leader eader eader eader eader and THE TIMES of Scotch Plains – Fanwood Thursday, June 4, 1998 Page 13
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MANN SCORES THE HAT TRICK; MANSFIELD, GATES ADD 4
Blue Devil Laxers Advance; Eliminate West Morris, 8- 5
By STEVE ABELES
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
The Westfield High School boys' lacrosse team beat West Morris Central in a thrilling 8- 5 game on May 27 in Westfield. The win upped the Blue Devils record to 10- 8 while the loss dropped the Wolfpack to 10- 6. The win also propelled the Blue Devils into the quarterfinal round of the state tournament for the first time in four years. The Blue Devils will face the powerful Bridgewater squad.
In the first quarter of the game, the Wolfpack came on strong and had two shots in the first minute of the game. Both shots were rejected
by the mighty Blue Devil defense consisting of seniors Brenden Hickey, Steve Abeles, Dan Todd and junior Matt Krug.
Westfield's offense finally began to play up to their potential and pumped in a goal five minutes into the quarter. Senior Scotty Mann was credited with the first Blue Devil goal.
Mann said, "The defense came up big in the first two minutes of play. The fine plays made by the defense allowed the offense to settle down and run a few plays. My goal was the result of precise passing and effec tive pick setting."
Two minutes later, the Wolfpack scored off of a roll and dodge play from the middle of the crease. The Blue Devils refused to be silenced as senior Kevin Mansfield quickly responded by flipping in a goal off of a feed from senior Mike Baly.
"I saw Kevin out of the corner of my eye from behind the crease. I knew Kevin had beaten his defender so I rolled right and sure enough, Mansfield was in front of the crease waiting for me to feed him. It was a great play on his behalf," commented Baly.
After West Morris tied the game at two, senior Steve Kassakian decided to take matters into his own hands when he scored with three seconds left in the quarter. The first quarter ended with the Blue Devils on top by a score of 3- 2.
Kassakian said, "I think it was really important for us to come away with the lead at the end of the first half. I think our lead showed West Morris that we had control of the game and that we were going to work hard and win."
In the second quarter, the Blue Devil defense played to perfection, allowing the Wolfpack a modest four shots and no goals. Krug, Todd and Hickey used effective communication skills and accurate poke checks to stifle the Wolfpack attackmen. Abeles had four saves in the second quarter.
With four minutes left to go in the half, senior Bryan Gates ripped a shot past the West Morris goalie to make the score 4- 2.
Gates said, "I noticed that their goalie was baiting me to shoot low which meant that he might have been weak low. I took my chance and it worked, the goalie was weak low. I was right."
The Wolfpack attacked and scored on a man- up advantage to make the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
WOODWARD TAKES 2 1STs; DEVIL DODGE GRABS A 1ST
Raider Boys Share First With Camden in Group 3 Track By DAVID B. CORBIN
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
Scotch Plains- Fanwood High School junior Blair Woodward had the weekend of his life as he helped the Raider boys track and field team tie for first place with Camden High School in the Group 3 Championship during the NJSIAA group track and field championships at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield on May 29- 30. Each team totaled 52 points.
There was plenty of pressure on all the Raider boys to perform well, but the final brunt of the pressure laid on the shoulders of senior Adam Bowser who had to pull out a fourth place in the long jump on his final attempt. He had to leap further than 21- 4, and he did! Bowser flew 21- 7.5 before he "whooshed" the dirt with his heels. That leap was good enough to award Bowser with fourth place and to give the Raiders 52 points.
Woodward soared like Superman in the high jump, leaping 6- 10 in a
personal- best single bound to easily top Frank Kurlia of Toms River South who stalled at 6- 6.
"Before this, my personal best was 6- 6. My legs felt great and my form was down today," commented Woodward.
Senior Karl Jennings, an integral part in the Raiders' success this season in several events, cleared 6- 4 to place fourth in the high jump and to give the Raiders some muchneeded points.
Woodward, the man to beat in the long jump, wasn't beaten. He sailed 22- 4.5 and beat Jason Taitt of Sparta who jumped 22 feet. If that wasn't enough, Woodward also placed fourth in the 110- hurdles with a time of :14.42 and took fifth in the 100- meter dash with a time of :11.25.
Jennings did well, placing second in the 110- hurdles with a time of :14.2 behind Danyne Brown of Camden who crossed the line at :13.92. Jennings also finished second to Brown in the 400- intermediate hurdles, turning in a time of
:54.88. Senior James Canterbury recorded a fine time of 4: 26.94 which was good enough to take fifth in the 1,600- meter run.
At the end of the first day of competition, the Raiders held an expected lead, accumulating 24 points, because their stronger events were held on that day. At that time, Lakewood was second with 12 points and Camden, Mt. Olive and Egg Harbor followed with 10 points each.
"Our toughest competition will be Camden. They have a very strong 1,600- meter relay team which will run tomorrow. I sure hope it doesn't come down to that event," commented Raider Assistant Coach Bill Klimas on Friday evening.
There were several Raider boys who qualified for the Group 3 Championships but missed qualifying for the Meet of Champions. Nathan Jones in the 110- hurdles and in the long jump, Dan Harrison in the 400- intermediate hurdles, Dan Loomis and Jim Feeley in the shot put, Mike Grabel and Steve Cole in the pole vault and Lau'renn McDaniel in the 100- and 400- meters all put out their best efforts.
Raider junior Shawna Morgan
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
By DAVID B. CORBIN
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
Scotch Plains- Fanwood High School boys' tennis Head Coach Dave Blackman had many vacant positions to fill with his very youthful team at the start of the season. In the beginning, the Raiders took their lumps as they were gaining experience.
During the first half of the season, the Raiders were struggling to break .500. Westfield defeated them twice early on and Union Catholic defeated them for the first time in recent memory; however, the young Raiders gathered their experience, placed sixth in the Union County Tournament and finished strong with a 13- 7 record.
One veteran shining star, was senior Mike Bostwick who played first singles. Bostwick ended his season with a 20- 3 record and placed third in a highly talented and competitive class at the Union County Tournament. Bostwick was a Co- Captain and was selected as the Raiders' Most Valuable Player. Bostwick was a fouryear varsity starter and compiled a 73- 13 record. He played in every varsity match during his high school career.
Senior Co- Captain Ian Doebber started at third singles toward the
midpoint of the season and was partly responsible for the Raiders' strong finish. Doebber won a memorable match against Plainfield in the final week of the season which shifted the victory to the Raiders. Doebber ended with a 10- 5 record. He will be attending Bucknell University in Lewisberg, Pennsylvania this fall.
Junior Dave Hassan who played second singles, finished at 7- 11. Sophomore Chris Schlegel and freshman John Corbin paired up at first doubles in the second half of the season and shared sixth place in the Union County tournament. Schlegel finished with a 12- 8 record and Corbin finished at 12- 7.
Sophomores Shawn Lafkowitz and Paul Swedlund paired at second doubles and took fourth in the county tournament. Lafkowitz earned a 14- 6 record and Swedlund earned a 14- 7 record.
Freshman Doug Gillie had some varsity time at second doubles and finished with a 2- 2 record. Freshmen Amit Shoor and John Cameron finished with respective 2- 0 and 3- 0 records in the doubles arena.
Senior Eric Strong, who finished at 1- 1, will continue his education at Rutgers University. Senior Tom Pai, who will attend Cornell University, finished at 1- 0. CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
Raider Netmen Finish Season Strong at 13- 7
Blue Devils Drop East Side, 11- 1
The Westfield High School baseball team ended their season on a high note, defeating Newark East Side, 11- 1, in six innings in Westfield on May 27. After suffering a disappointing, one- hit, 10- 0 loss to Watchung Hills on May 26, the Blue Devil bats woke up.
The Blue Devils held a 9- 1 lead by the end of four innings and needed two more runs to slam the door on East Side by virtue of the 10- run rule. In the bottom of the fifth, Kevin Anton hit a chopping single to third, but he was left stranded when the East Side pitcher struck out two Blue Devils and got Jason Merritt to ground out to shortstop.
After holding East Side scoreless in the top of the sixth, the Blue Devils' offensive got into action. Lamont Turner steamed a single over short, then later, stole second. Bob Baykowski blazed a double to center and Turner flew home with the 10th run. The Blue Devil now needed only one more run to finish off East Side. Greg Freisen slapped a single to center and Baykowski trotted home with the final Blue Devil run of the season.
CERCHIO BOMBS A TWO- RUN HOMER
Roaring Raiders Declaw Tiger Baseballers, 14- 4
By DAVID B. CORBIN
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
The Raiders brought out the heavy artillery and shelled the shocked Linden Tigers, 14- 4, in Linden on May 27 in their season finale. Senior Luke Cerchio took the bite out of the Tigers by bombing a two- run homer in the top of the fifth inning.
Every active Raider took part in the shelling. Jim Buccola went twofor- three as he thumped a triple and drilled a double. Bucola scored two runs and drove in one. Aside from his home run, Cerchio also ripped a double, finishing two- for- four and driving in a total of three runs. Cerchio also scored three times.
Dave Gewirtz went two- for- two while whacking a triple, drawing a walk, scoring three runs and driving in two. Don Patterson cracked a double, drove in three runs and scored one.
Delmar Patterson went one- for- three and scored a run. Doug Bishop walked, stole second and scored a run.
Sophomore Dave Herrmann slapped a single, drove in a run and scored a run. First baseman Joe Franzone recorded six putouts, went one- for- three and scored a run. Kevin Vosseler went one- for- three, drove in a run and scored a run.
Senior pitcher Adam Baumwoll struck out three and walked four while picking up the victory as the Raiders completed their season with a 13- 5 record. Linden dropped to 12- 10.
"We finished on a good note, winning our last two games. We had some misfortunes, but overall, we had a good season," commented Raider baseball Head Coach Brian Homm.
Sc Plans- Fanwood 322 34 14 Linden 300 10 04
David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times LOW BALL IN THE DIRT… Blue Devil Kevin Anton refuses to swing at a low ball in the dirt, but later hits a chopping single toward third against Newark East Side on May 27 in Westfield.
David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times TURNING THE TIDE… Blue Devils Dylan Dupre, left, and Mike Baly, No. 12, used their aggressive play to help break a 1- 1 tie and turn the tide in Westfield's favor during the state game with West Morris on May 28 in Westfield. The Blue Devil won, 8- 5.
David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times HITTING PAY DIRT… Raider junior Blair Woodward plunges into the dirt and takes first place in the State Group 3 long jump event.
David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times SUCCESS UNDER PRESSURE… Raider senior Adam Bowser came through under pressure to place fourth in the Group 3 long jump event.
David B. Corbin for The Leader and The Times A SMASH… Raider senior Mike Bostwick prepares to smash his return at first singles.
David B. Corbin for The Leader and The Times CHAMPION… Blue Devil freshman C. J. Dodge zooms across the finish line to place first in his 800- meter event.
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