It was the first week of November in 2008 and the high school football season ended all too uncharacteristically early for the granddaddy of all Hudson County high school football coaches, Vince Ascolese, ending what was a year to totally forget for the legendary coach.
The Bruins ended that season with a 3-7 record, the first time that they failed to qualify for the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV playoffs since 1987.
It was also a year where Ascolese was diagnosed with bone cancer and began the grueling regimen to treat the hideous disease.
At the same time, several of the Bruin players, who were sophomores at the time, were determined that losing was not going to be a part of their legacy.
“I didn’t want to be a part of any losing team,” said senior quarterback Peter Ramanand, who was the starting signal caller two years ago. “It was very frustrating being on that 3-7 team. It wasn’t good enough.”
It was even more frustrating for Mike Mentor. The talented tight end/defensive end missed all of that season due to a horrific knee injury, an injury that required two surgeries and kept him on the sidelines for the entire 2009 season as well. Mentor, who played varsity as a freshman in 2007, had to helplessly watch his teammates suffer through the lost season.
“I did a lot of watching and not a lot of playing,” Mentor said. “I’ve been through a lot.”
So had the coach, who received the cancer diagnosis in October of that year.
“You know what was good about it all?” Ascolese asked. “I never even thought about it. We just had to get ready for the next game. I didn’t think of all the little problems because I had to keep busy coaching the kids.”
The Bruins put that lost season in the rear view mirror and rebounded in 2009 to make a return to the state playoffs after a one-year absence.
In early September, as the Bruins were making preseason preparations, Ascolese received some words of encouragement from his player that had been through the proverbial ringer.
“Mike Mentor told me that he was going to correct our problems and lead us to the state playoffs,” Ascolese said. “If I needed anyone to make me feel good, it was him.”
“I’ve been telling him for years, since I was a little boy, that I was going to start for him as a senior and I promised him we’d go to the state playoffs,” Mentor said. “I promised him that our team would be special my senior year.”
The Bruins started the season with tough losses against Montclair and St. Peter’s Prep. After three games, they owned a 1-2 record.
“We preached to them that we had a tough early schedule and that we had to win our games,” Ascolese said. “I think those games made us a better team. We played well against Prep [losing 28-14]. The kids did it. They were determined. We just guided them. They did it.”
The Bruins have won their last six games to get to 7-2. They have earned the No. 3 seed in the Group IV playoffs and will face Passaic County Tech in the first round at home – the Bruins’ first home game in the state playoffs since 2005.
“I told the kids that it was a great job by them,” Ascolese said. “They’re the ones who put the time in. You bet your life I’m proud of these kids.”
The Bruins defeated Peddie last Saturday, 21-7, to give Ascolese a new milestone. It was the veteran coach’s 350th career victory, a total that has only been reached by two other high school football coaches in New Jersey state history, Warren Wolf (Brick Township and now Lakewood) and Vic Paternostro (Pope John of Sparta).
“I think it’s a sign of longevity more than anything,” Ascolese said. “I’ve had some good assistant coaches over the years and good kids to work with. I’m happy about it. I didn’t even know until after the game that it was 350.”
Neither did the Bruins, but they were overjoyed for their coach.
“It really meant a lot to me to get that for Coach A,” Ramanand said. “It’s pretty amazing when you think of it. It’s a good achievement. I know what he’s been through and he keeps going.”
Ascolese said that this current crop of Bruins represent a special bunch.
“They’re such good kids,” Ascolese said. “They’re in the school every other day at 6 a.m. to lift. I received a great compliment from a janitor at the school recently, who said that he had to tell me he didn’t mind opening the school and turning on the water for them that early in the morning, because they’re good kids and that he appreciated them. That says a lot. It makes me happy to hear that from people like the janitors.”
Ironically, Ascolese reached his 350th win on the same weekend that Penn State coach Joe Paterno collected his amazing 400th win, when the Nittany Lions defeated Northwestern. Not only are Ascolese and Paterno tied together by ethnic backgrounds as Italian-Americans, but Ascolese sent his most prized player ever, Mark D’Onofrio, to play for Paterno in 1985, before D’Onofrio, now the defensive coordinator at Temple University, went on to play for the Green Bay Packers.
“I’m glad I was able to achieve something like him, because he’s an icon,” Ascolese said.
So is Ascolese, no doubt.
Now, they have a bigger challenge at hand. The Bruins have not won a single NJSIAA state playoff game since they won the state title in 1997. That’s 12 straight losses in the playoffs. It’s a distinction the Bruins would like to eliminate forever.
“I remember when my brother [Jean] played [in 2005] and they were supposed to win [against eventual sectional champion Clifton in the first round],” Mentor said. “I know I don’t want that to happen again and lose at home. I was there for that game and I remember that feeling. We’re ready to go. We’re on a good win streak and we’re ready to make things happen.”
“We’re back in it again and we have a good team,” Ramanand said. “We have to get out of the first round, that’s for sure. I think we’re confident playing at home. We’ve come a long way, from 3-7 two years ago to this year’s big improvement. We have an opportunity to do something special.”
Something that the head coach has done 350 times since he began his coaching career nearly 50 years ago – win.
“It would be nice to get out of the first round for a change,” Ascolese said. “We have to take the first step with that one. I had confidence in these kids and they rewarded my confidence. They really deserve this.”
Now it’s time to remove that first-round albatross that has been hanging on the Bruins’ collective necks for 13 long years.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.