The New Jersey Scholastic Football Coaches Association will hold its annual North-South All-Star Classic Thursday night at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, and three local products and two coaches have been selected to represent the North squad in the game.
First, St. Peter’s Prep’s electrifying running back Kee-Ayre Griffin will get to represent the Marauders one final time. Griffin, the All-State back who led the Marauders to the NJSIAA Parochial (Non-Public) Group 4 state championship last year, will head to Temple in 2007 after he completes his high school requirements at the Prep. Griffin will not play football this fall, but will enroll in Temple in time for the second semester and in time for spring football in 2007. So the North-South game will be Griffin’s final football game for quite some time. Expect the speedster to make a big splash in the game in his final tune-up before college.
Hoboken’s fine two-way performer Rashawn Brown has also made the North squad. Brown, who is headed to Delaware State in the fall, will get a chance to show his talents on both sides of the ball during the contest in his final appearance as a Red Wing. Brown led the Red Wings to the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I state title last season.
The final local product to play in the game is North Bergen’s standout lineman Saul Garcia, who was recently added to the roster after a slew of injuries along the North’s offensive front. Garcia has been a solid performer for the Bruins over the last three seasons, and his appearance in the All-Star Classic is a fitting reward for a hard working kid.
The other representatives come from the North’s coaching staff, where St. Peter’s Prep’s Rich Hansen and Hoboken’s Lou Taglieri have been selected to be among the coaches on the North sidelines.
It should be an excellent night for the locals and we’ll have more on the game and the participants in coming weeks…
Congrats to New Jersey City University baseball player Keith Naylor, who signed a free-agent professional baseball contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and has been assigned to the Johnson City (Tenn.) Cardinals of the Appalachian League.
Naylor becomes the eighth NJCU player to be either drafted or signed to a professional baseball contract since 1976. Jonathan Thomas was the last two years ago with the Kansas City Royals and now Thomas plays for the Newark Bears.
Incredibly, Naylor is the half-brother of former Seton Hall standout Martese Robinson, who played at the Hall with famed players like Craig Biggio, Mo Vaughn and Jersey City’s John Valentin.
Robinson is currently the director of professional scouting for the St. Louis Cardinals, the team that signed Naylor…
Rumors continue to persist that Jersey City’s Jerry Walker will become an assistant coach at St. Peter’s College under new head coach John Dunne…
North Bergen native Greg Herenda, who lost out to Dunne in the SPC head coaching hunt, is now considered the frontrunner to become the head coach at Clark University in Massachusetts…
What’s with coaches padding stats to ridiculous levels? In putting together All-Area and All-County teams, we stumbled across totals that were downright absurd. Coaches, stop fudging numbers, because sportswriters might not be the brightest cats in the world, but we weren’t born last night…
It’s time for some added baseball and softball coverage. Which means that EXTRA INNINGS will make a return appearance, beginning next week.
The EXTRA INNINGS weekly feature focuses on the best stories that come from local baseball and softball leagues throughout the area. If you have any noteworthy information to contribute to the EXTRA INNINGS, feel free to contact Jim Hague by voice mail at 201-798-7800, ext. 751, by general mail at 1400 Washington Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, or via e-mail at OGSMAR@aol.com. Please include a telephone contact name and number, in order to secure further information for a possible story.
–Jim Hague