Last August, it seemed like a marriage made in scholastic heaven, the idea that former Rutgers assistant football coach Chris Demarest would be the perfect replacement to Rob Stern as Hudson Catholic’s new football coach and athletic director.
“Chris has the right approach in terms of student/athletes,” said Hudson Catholic president Rev. Warren Hall at the time. “He has the right approach when it comes to academics. He wants to make kids more responsible academically. Chris had the experience in coaching in college and could tell a kid the right approach in terms of recruiting for college. With his background and experience, it made sense. I think we’re going to be even better now with Chris. People can see his passion and enthusiasm right away.”
Well, that apparently all changed within a span of six months, because the school announced last week that Demarest’s tenure at the school is over. The school and Demarest have agreed to part ways, effective this week.
“It was amicable,” Hall said last Tuesday. “We got together and discussed the program and Chris’ style of approaching situations. Bottom line, he’s a college guy and this way, we’re going to allow him to pursue other things on the college level. That’s the agreement we reached.”
“I have other stuff I am working on,” said Demarest, who led the Hawks to a 2-8 season in 2009, a year after the Hawks played for the NJSIAA Non-Public Group 2 state championship. “I wanted to give them an opportunity to find another football coach that’s going to be there for a while. I wanted someone to be there for them. It was unfair to them. It looks like my situation has changed and I’m moving on. I’ve been very open and honest with them. I didn’t want to stand in their way, at a time of year where they’re trying to bring kids in.”
Hall said that in light of Demarest’s departure, the school will not hire a new athletic director in the future.
“We’ve been throwing some ideas around and we decided that we will coordinate our athletic program without a director,” Hall said. “We’re counting on [former athletic director and current dean of admissions] Terry Matthews to take the lead, but we also have [former long-time coach] Frank Becht still on the staff. We’ll put our heads together and we think it’s a good way to approach things.”
In terms of football, there were rumors that the school might consider discontinuing the sport, but Hall vehemently denied those claims.
“We’re committed to football,” Hall said. “It’s a key sport. It’s not going away. We’re going to conduct a search. I’ve been in touch with board members and faculty and we’ll conduct a search to get a new head coach. We have to get someone in soon.”…
Speaking of getting a new football coach, we’ve learned that the search for the new Union City football coach has come down to two final candidates, former Hoboken coach Ed Stinson and former Secaucus High and University of Cincinnati standout lineman Zach Naszimento.
As of press time, the Union City Board of Education had not determined which way they were leaning. Ironically, Stinson and Naszimento, the son of former Emerson head coach and current Secaucus assistant Bruce, worked together for the last two years at Queen of Peace in North Arlington. Now they’re battling for the same position. Strange how things work out. People say that a decision is imminent…
Speaking of Union City, the Soaring Eagles’ bowling team secured another NJSIAA state sectional championship, tying Kearny for the top honors in the North Jersey Section 1-B, Group IV bracket last weekend at T-Bowl in Wayne. It was the third straight year that a team from Union City earned sectional honors. Two years ago, it was Emerson, then last year, the first for Union City High…
Incredibly, the area crowned two state sectional bowling champs last weekend, as Secaucus, led by Dante Iyer, captured the title at North Jersey Section 1-B, Group I, also at T-Bowl. Iyer rolled a 668 high series and was one of the top nine individuals to move on to the overall state championships this week. Ricky Cheung of Marist also earned a berth to the states with a 674 series, good for fifth overall at the sectionals…
St. Anthony had a big win the other night over Linden, winning 36-20. Wait a minute! Twenty points in a high school game? Was there a peach basket involved? Laces on the basketball? Was James Naismith there himself to referee? You may have to go back more than 50 years to find a lower scoring game. The fabulous Friars play extraordinary defense and have for years, but holding a good team like Linden to 20 is absurd. If Phil Colicchio, the coach at Linden, had hair, he would have yanked it from his skull.
Speaking of St. Anthony, the NJSIAA did the Friars a major favor by removing St. Patrick of Elizabeth from the upcoming state tournament due to violations. Because if St. Pat’s was still in the Non-Public B North bracket, the Friars didn’t stand a chance. Now, all they have is Paterson Catholic in the way, the same team that sent the Friars packing last year. But the Friars are a much better team this year than they were last year…
Speaking of the state basketball playoffs, the idea that sub.-500 teams can actually qualify for the tournament now because the state wants each bracket balanced out to 16 teams is totally ridiculous. You can’t have teams with one or two wins going to the state playoffs. What about those teams that worked hard to get to .500 this season just to have the state playoffs as a reward? They get the short stick, because if a sub-.500 team gets in, it diminishes the achievements of the ones who worked hard to get in…
Secaucus’ Zac Schlemm scored 35 points in a 79-66 win over Wallington last week, which gave him 1,000 points for his career at Secaucus. It’s quite an accomplishment, because the Patriots haven’t exactly enjoyed a lot of success over the last couple of seasons. Schlemm has done his gigantic family proud. We can’t even begin to fathom how many relatives in Secaucus the kid has…
Hudson Reporter Boys’ High School Basketball Top Five: 1. St. Anthony (20-2). 2. St. Peter’s Prep (18-3). 3. North Bergen (18-3). 4. High Tech (17-6). 5. Marist (15-5).
Hudson Reporter Girls’ High School Basketball Top Five: 1. Bayonne (17-4). 2. Secaucus (18-2). 3. Marist (16-7). 4. Holy Family Academy (16-2). 5. St. Anthony (16-3)….
In closing, condolences to the family of long-time basketball, football and baseball official Pete Amoruso, who died last week after a battle with cancer at the age of 67. Amoruso was a fixture at many Hudson County sporting events over the years and was an affable, loving official, a dedicated member of Local Board 33 and just a great guy who was a joy to be around. Rest in peace, Peter… — Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.