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The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES
A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION
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THE WEEK
IN
SPORTS
BOUCHOUEVA GOAL OVERTURNED, ALJ’s VILL SCORES
By DAVID B. CORBIN
Strict adherence to the complicated
rules of the game preserved a 1-0
victory by the seventh seeded A. L.
Johnson Crusaders over the sixth
seeded Westfield High School field
hockey team in the first round of the
Union County Tournament at Gary
Kehler Stadium in Westfield on September 30.
With her team trailing 1-0 ten minutes into the second half, Blue Devil
senior co-captain/midfielder Valeria
Bouchoueva, after a penalty corner,
lifted a shot that buried into the upper
right side of the Crusaders’ net. However, it was ruled as a no goal.
“For penalty corners, the initial
shot, if it’s a drive on goal, needs to hit
the backboard of the net, which is 18
inches. And it didn’t. It went above
that. We could have argued that it was
not a drive, that it was a lift, but the
second official said that the ball never
originally came out of the circle. So
the ruling on a corner is the inserter
inserts the ball and the ball needs to
leave the circle and then be brought
back into the circle in order to score a
goal. There’s a lot of technicalities
there,” Blue Devil Head Coach Caitlin
MacDonald explained.
The 4-6 Crusaders managed only
two shots on goal in the first half,
while the Blue Devils took three, but
one of them hit the mark when senior
co-captain Janet Vill connected on a
left-to-right shot with 20 minutes on
the clock. The 3-5-1 Blue Devils also
took three penalty corners to the Crusaders’ none.
“Janet has been around their team a
couple of years. She is a very talented
player. She is apparently talented skill
wise, but she also takes control of the
field. Her teammates feed off of her.
They know where they are supposed
to be, because she knows where she’s
supposed to be,” Coach MacDonald
said.
The Crusaders did outshoot the
Blue Devils, 6-3, in the second half
and Westfield sophomore goalkeeper
Christina Seery made five stops during that time period. The Crusaders
also took four penalty corners to the
Blue Devils’ one.
“We were the sixth seed. They were
the seventh seed, so we knew it was
going to be a tight game. We played
them earlier in the season and we lost
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
Page 11
Sports Section
Pages 11-17
More photos at goleader.com
Ballyhoo Sports
Crusaders Nudge Blue Devils
In UCT Field Hockey, 1-0
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Courtesy of Charles Mulrooney for The Westfield Leader and The Times
TRYING TO HEM IN A TIGER...Blue Devils Sid Douglas, No. 4, and Jackson Simcox, No. 44, close in on Linden Tiger
running back Tymir Hinton, No. 1, in the defense dominated game at Linden on October 2. The Tigers won in OT, 15-14.
CURRY 109 YDS, SIMCOX TD, ELLIOTT 8-YD TD CATCH
Tigers’ 2-Pt. OT Conversion
Scorches Blue Devils, 15-14
By DAVID B. CORBIN
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
Down to the final play and faced
with the decision of kicking the point
after for a tie or going for the twopoint conversion for the win, Tiger
quarterback Juwan Dolbrice went for
the later and hit wide receiver Corey
Ampey in the end zone to give the
Linden High School football team a
15-14, overtime victory over the
Westfield Blue Devils in Linden on
October 2.
The Tigers came into the game
with convincing wins over
Immaculata, Plainfield and Montgomery, while the Blue Devils, who
lost their opener to Montgomery then
defeated Scotch Plains-Fanwood,
were coming off a bye week, but this
showdown was ruled by downright
stubborn behavior, effective rugbystyle punting and key plays on the
part of both defenses.
When it came to a running game, the
Tigers were a triple threat with Dolbrice,
Guirvenson Guillaume and, especially,
Kyle Phipps. The Tigers totaled 190
yards rushing on 42 carries, and Phipps
managed 101 yards on 14 carries.
Dolbrice carried 13 times for 37 yards
but had the team’s only touchdown in
regulation with a two-yard plunge in
the third quarter. Guillaume carried
eight times for 29 yards, including a
three-yard touchdown in overtime.
Dolbrice also completed nine of 14
pass attempts for 120 yards.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 13
More photos at goleader.com
Ballyhoo Sports
David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times
TENSION NEAR THE NET...Crusader senior attacker Gina DiNucci, No. 36, attempts to get around Blue Devil defender
Alison Krakauer, No. 4, as Blue Devil goalkeeper Christina Seery prepares herself at Kehler Stadium on September 30.
THOMAS SIX-YARD TD RUN, WHITE 10-YARD TD RUN
No. Hunterdon’s McDonald
Torches SPF Raiders, 45-14
By ALEX LOWE
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
North Hunterdon senior quarterback Ryan McDonald proved to be
an unstoppable force as the host Lions shredded the Scotch PlainsFanwood defense on their way to a
45-14 victory in Annandale on October 2. McDonald threw for 222 yards
and a touchdown and rushed for 64
yards and added two more scores on
the ground It was the second straight
week in which the Raider defense
allowed 45 or more points to the
opposition.
“That kid, McDonald, is really
good,” said Raider Head Coach Jon
Stack. “He was the difference, really!
It is always tough to come back on a
short week and prepare for a superior
player. I know it seems odd to say
this, but our guys were always around
him. He broke contain several times
and hurt us on plays where we had
him dead to rights.”
That is certainly true. McDonald
showed what kind of a night the Raiders’ defense would be in for late in the
first quarter. With the score tied at 77 and facing a third-and-six from
their own 45 yard line, McDonald
spun out of a sack attempt by Raider
defensive lineman Alex Mirabella,
then rolled to his right and heaved a
perfect strike down the middle of the
field to Luke Fogel, who hauled it in
at the Raider 10 and ran in for the
score and a 14-7 lead.
“Their quarterback is a heck of a
player,” said Raider senior linebacker
Kevin Maxwell. “He is probably the
best one I’ve played against, certainly
this year anyway. He made a lot of
things happen with his feet and we
did not get it done in containment. He
is an accurate thrower too.”
McDonald marched his team down
the field 70 yards in eight plays before sneaking the ball in from one
yard out on a fourth-and-goal to give
North a 7-0 lead. Scotch Plains pulled
even with 2:07 remaining in the opening quarter on a six-yard run off tackle
by Emendo Thomas. The score was
set up when Lion punter Fogel
shanked an eight yard punt off the
side of his foot giving the Raiders
possession at the Lion 31 yard line.
After McDonald hooked up with
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
Alex Lowe for The Westfield Leader and The Times
DISCUSSING THE PLAN OF ATTACK...Raider Head Coach Jon Stack, left, discusses a plan of attack with members of
his defensive squad in the game against North Hunterdon in Annandale on October 2.
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