It was a lasting memory from a high school football game that seems like ages ago.
In 2003, St. Peter’s Prep was playing Hoboken in their traditional rivalry game at JFK Stadium in Hoboken and Marauder running back Rashawn Jackson took a handoff and made the move of a lifetime.
With a tackler coming to greet him, Jackson made a whirling 360-degree spin away from the would-be tackler, leaving the Red Wing defender in the dust and made everyone in attendance sigh in wonder, because 270-pound football players simply do not make that move. In high school football, 270-pound kids are linemen. This is what made Jackson a truly special player.
This weekend, Jackson’s special football life becomes a pinnacle, when the former University of Virginia fullback gets together with his family in the Greenville section of Jersey City to watch the NFL Draft and hear his name get called, more than likely within the first three rounds of the draft.
Jackson is projected as the No. 1 fullback in this year’s NFL Draft and he had a series of fine workouts for NFL teams over the last month and a half. It’s going to be a grand day, as the first Prep grid standout since Elnardo Webster Jr. in 1992 (Pittsburgh Steelers draftee that year) makes the leap into the NFL…
Former St. Anthony All-American Mike Rosario made it official last week. He is transferring from Rutgers to the University of Florida to play for the Gators and head coach Billy Donovan. Rosario will have to sit out a year because of the NCAA transfer rules, but he will have two years of eligibility remaining in Gainesville…
Speaking of former St. Anthony greats, former Friar Roshown McLeod, who went from Duke University to the NBA, has been named as the new head basketball coach at St. Benedict’s Prep, replacing another former Friar, Danny Hurley, who has become the new head coach at Wagner College.
McLeod, who last was an assistant coach at Indiana University, comes home to take over the Gray Bees’ program established by Hurley.
Somewhere in the great beyond, a guy named Brian Doherty has to be happy. The late attorney, who was a strong supporter of the St. Anthony program, always considered McLeod to be one of his favorites, almost like a father and son relationship. Doherty and McLeod were inseparable. It was Doherty who was influential in getting Danny Hurley the job at his alma mater, St. Benedict’s, nine years ago. You can rest assured that Father Edmund Leahy thought of Brian when he hired McLeod.
The school still has a Brian Doherty Foundation and a basketball tournament in his honor every year. It’s only fitting that Doherty’s memory lives on in the new coach at St. Benedict’s…
Hudson Catholic has hired a new football coach, but the announcement will not be officially made until next week. It’s someone of name quality and a professional football background. Stay tuned…
St. Peter’s College’s men’s basketball program will get a nice destination to start the 2010-11 season. The Peacocks have been selected to play in the Paradise Jam tournament in November in the United States Virgin Islands. Not a bad gig for head coach John Dunne and his team…
Congrats to the Dickinson boys’ track team for their fine early season performances, winning the Hudson County Track Coaches Association Relays last weekend, besting a field that featured 33 other teams…
Hudson Reporter High School Baseball Top Five: 1. North Bergen (9-2). 2. St. Peter’s Prep (8-4). 3. Memorial (6-3). 4. High Tech (8-2). 5. St. Mary’s (7-4).
Hudson Reporter High School Softball Top Five: 1. North Bergen (7-4). 2. High Tech (7-1). 3. Hoboken (7-1). 4. County Prep (9-2). 5. St. Dominic Academy (6-4).
One of the biggest surprises in the local high school baseball season has been the play of Lincoln, under coach John Gonzalez. The Lions are over .500 at 6-5, the latest they’ve been over .500 in about a decade. Fernando Chadon and Alex Santana are two of the reasons why the Lions are winning…
Angel Pena of High Tech had a career-game last week against defending state sectional champ County Prep, going 4-for-4 with a triple, two doubles and four RBI…
Is there any doubt who the two best softball players in the county are? Look no further than the same town. It’s Carla Arismendi of North Bergen and Erica Colon of High Tech. Everyone else pales in comparison.
Arismendi has the Bruins on a roll. She fired a two-hitter against Holy Family and had a double and two RBI in that game, then followed it up with a one-hitter against Union City with 11 strikeouts and had three hits, all doubles and two RBI in that game.
Colon fired a no-hitter against Bayonne, striking out 13 and had four hits, including a homer, in that win…
Now that Paterson Catholic has decided to close its doors, it should be interesting to see where standout basketball player Kyle Anderson Jr., the son of the former Ferris coach, ends up. When Kyle was in eighth grade and living in North Bergen at the time, he chose Paterson Catholic over St. Peter’s Prep.
Young Kyle, one of the top sophomores in the nation last season, is a prize wherever he ends up – and he won’t have to sit out the 30 days mandated by the NJSIAA’s transfer rules, because his former school has closed…
It’s amazing how many Parochial schools have closed in recent years. We were joking with recent Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Hurley, telling him that as the coach of St. Anthony, he has now closed three schools, sending three schools out with a loss to his Friars, namely St. Aloysius of Jersey City, St. Joseph of the Palisades in West New York, and now Paterson Catholic.
It’s a mark that Hurley really doesn’t want to have on his resume… — Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.