Ascolese clears up confusion; McGowan stars in North-South
Two weeks ago, we wrote that both St. Peter’s Prep and North Bergen were going to play Ferris twice this football season. Well, veteran North Bergen coach Vince Ascolese called me to correct the error.
"Only your alma mater is playing Ferris twice," Ascolese said, always quick to bring up my allegiance to the fine school on Grand and Warren.
However, trying to find out the 2001 Hudson County football schedule is like trying to do a jigsaw puzzle without directions. All little pieces, no true solution.
Ascolese said that North Bergen has picked up a game against Passaic County Tech, a fellow Group IV school, for Week 7 of the season, which will help both schools in terms of collecting playoff power points. However, Passaic Tech plays in the Bergen-Passaic Scholastic League with smaller schools, so a win over that team will not benefit North Bergen in gigantic fashion.
However, on the other hand, it is a game against a Group IV opponent, and those are certainly hard to come by.
Ascolese also told my informant that the Bruins might be playing a team from Delaware to make up the full nine-game schedule. He also pointed out that there are a few Hudson County teams that don’t have full nine-game slates on tap for the fall, which is very sad.
Our apologies to the Bruin Wizard for getting the schedule snafu wrong and we appreciate him taking the time to point out my inaccurate assumption, even if it meant throwing a dig in about my beloved alma mater…
However, the confusion over the football schedule certainly gives the HCIAA’s one-division plan more credibility, because with the one division, every team in the league would be guaranteed nine games and one would have eight. That means every five years or so, a team would have to search for one game. That seems like the easiest local solution I’ve heard in a long time.
I know the one division hurts the league’s two small schools, namely Hoboken and Marist, both of which have expressed some intentions of leaving the league once the one-division plan goes into effect. But when you hear the nightmares that local teams have had in terms of securing a full nine-game schedule, the plan makes more and more sense, even if it inconveniences Hoboken and Marist.
The purest Hudson County grid fan can only hope that Hoboken and Marist continue to participate in the league, in order to give some stability to the entire league. But you could understand their decision if they decided to seek independent schedules. Those programs are truly stuck between a rock and a hard place…
The annual New Jersey Football Coaches Association North-South All-Star game last week at Rutgers University brought about a new star, namely Lincoln defensive back Brandon McGowan, who came away with the defensive Most Valuable Player award.
McGowan collected two interceptions, two blocked punts and made at least seven tackles, leading the North to a 24-7 victory.
The performance might have been downright shocking to some who never heard of the University of Maine-bound McGowan before the game, but it wasn’t shocking to one person – namely his high school coach, Tom Ferriero.
"I’m impressed with what he did, but I’m not surprised," Ferriero said. "People don’t believe how good Brandon is, but I always said that actions speak louder than words. At the game, people were asking, ‘Where did this kid come from?’ I told them that he played like that all year last year, before he got hurt."
McGowan was electrifying last fall, scoring 12 touchdowns and rushing for 700 yards as a running back and devastating people as a defender, making as many as 17 tackles in one game against Emerson from his strong safety position.
Then, McGowan hurt his ankle and missed the last four games of the season, so many of his accomplishments were somewhat lost and forgotten about.
"What else could the kid have done?" asked Ferriero. "He was having a great year. Unfortunately, he had a bad break. When people saw his films, they were amazed how good he was."
Maine assistant coach Bryan Hawkes, the former Prep standout, got wind of McGowan’s talents and instantly signed McGowan to a scholarship deal.
But before McGowan headed to Rutgers, Ferriero told his standout player that the North-South All-Star game was a chance to show the state how talented he truly was.
"I think I said something like that to him," Ferriero said. "I told him he had to take advantage of it, prove that Brandon McGowan could play with anyone. He most certainly did that. I’m very happy for him. I’m not surprised. I know Maine has themselves a very special player."
And it’s a career to watch closely over the next four years…