Needless to say, it hasn’t been a year to remember for veteran North Bergen boys’ soccer head coach John Belluardo.
The current granddaddy of all Hudson County soccer coaches, Belluardo had to endure his fair share of obstacles this past year.
Belluardo, who has spent the last 33 years coaching the Bruins, suffered a horrendous fall last spring, one where he landed directly on his face, causing several facial fractures and injuries. He had to undergo a handful of grueling surgeries to his face and jaw to correct the injuries. There was some thought that Belluardo would not be able to return to the sidelines.
But Belluardo would not allow a simple fall to end his brilliant coaching career, especially since he knew that the Bruins had a chance to be far more competitive than they had been in recent years.
“The last two years, we’ve been struggling,” Belluardo said. “But the kids stayed together.”
Togetherness is the main theme with the Bruins, despite their family backgrounds.
For example, Walter Salmeron and Erick Munguia are from El Salvador. Michael Mejia’s origins are in Honduras. Gerson Paz’s family is from Argentina. Come World Cup time, those South American countries are fierce rivals. Chances are that the Bruins players are battling big time when it comes to pride in heritages.
But not now. The Bruins won nine times in 2013. They wanted to be better this season. So the movement for improvement began when the 2013 season ended.
“I grew up with these guys,” Paz said. “They are like my brothers. We played soccer all the time together. Chemistry plays a big part in a team’s success. We all hang out together, spend time together. We know each other so well. We’ve grown up together as a team. We’re all together in soccer.”
Last Sunday, the Bruins collectively went to Harrison High School to face St. Peter’s Prep in a Hudson County Tournament semifinal game that no one in their right mind thought the Bruins stood a fair chance to win.
After all, the Bruins have been somewhat downtrodden in recent years and the Marauders have been perennially the best team in Hudson County on the eastern side of the Hackensack River, meaning excluding state-ranked power Kearny and Harrison.
And after all, the Marauders manhandled the Bruins, 4-0, a few weeks ago in a regular season matchup. Things didn’t exactly point in North Bergen’s favor.
The Bruins, winners of just nine games last year, went to Harrison with nine wins, facing a Marauder team that had its sights on a county title showdown with either Kearny or Harrison.
But the Bruins collectively prevailed. Salmeron, who had missed time recently due to injury, returned in time to score the game’s lone goal and the Bruins shocked the Hudson County soccer community to its roots, collecting a 1-0 victory and advancing to this weekend’s championship game against the undefeated Kardinals of Kearny.
Still, the Bruins are there – and they now have one more win than they earned all of last season.
The Bruins have a chance to capture their first Hudson County championship since winning the playoffs against Memorial in 2008.
Belluardo believed that the Bruins had a better chance to play in Harrison because of the softer FieldTurf surface and because of the prevailing wind that howled all Sunday morning.
“We wanted to keep the game in the midfield,” Belluardo said. “We wanted to control the ball in the midfield and took the wind against us in the second half. That’s the gamble we had to take. We had the advantage in the style of play.”
Belluardo knew that having a healthy Salmeron was going to be a major difference.
“He’s our middle person, like the quarterback is in football,” Belluardo said. “He was huge.”
Salmeron was pleased to be back on the field and able to help his close knit team.
“I believe in my team,” Salmeron said. “We lost to them, but I was looking out from the bench and wanted to do something to help. But I couldn’t because I was injured. So we just had to stay positive in this game. We just had to go all out and stay positive.”
“Even though we lost to them the first time, I felt good about this game,” Paz said. “What’s better than getting revenge?”
“The hardest thing is getting to the finals,” Belluardo said. “After all what has happened over the last six months to me, this just makes me feel fabulous.”
“We stepped up when we had to,” Paz said. “Walter is a big asset to the team, so having him back was huge. We’re going to face Kearny with the same mentality. No one thinks we can win. We had them tied the last time we played them at 1-1 and then lost in overtime. So we can take them. At least, we’re there.”
That they are. The upstart Bruins are playing for a Hudson County Tournament championship, beating the odds in the process.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com. You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.