Oct. 22, 2014 Mercer County 12th Man TD Club Notebook
Trainers and support staff receive their praise as behind-the-scene heroes
By Tony Piscotta
Fish4scores.com
Oct, 22: The 12th Man
Touchdown Club honored
athletic trainers and support
staff at Tuesday night's meeting
at Leonardo's II in Lawrence,
while the big talk football-wise
was about some of the big
showdowns coming up this
weekend.
Nottingham head coach Jon
Adams honored two long-time
members of his booster club —
Lynn Churchman and Donna
Stout, who have had five
players go through the
Northstars' program between
them — with their youngest
sons in their senior seasons thisHamilton coach Tom Hoglen (left) and Nottingham coach Jon Adams (right) flank
three valuable members to their programs. To Hoglen's right is Hornets trainer Jen
fall.
Bauer, while to Adams' left are booster club members Donna Stout (center) and Lynn
Churchman (Photo by Steve "The Legend" Tuckerson).
Hamilton West head coach Tom
Hoglen honored the Hornets' athletic trainer Jen Bauer while Steinert's Dan Caruso made mention of
trainer Chris McLaughlin, who couldn't be on hand due to other commitments.
"If you've been to a Nottingham event Lynn is the woman who's getting all the women organized putting up bows for Breast Cancer Prevention and decorating for the kids and really is an outstanding
person," said Adams, who also had praise for Stout, who serves as the booster club treasurer. "She's
right there with Lynn, tailgating and doing all kinds of good things taking care of the boys."
Bauer, who is in the messier side of the office she and Hoglen share (according to the coach), is far
more than just an athletic trainer.
"I've nominated her for Player of the Week every season. She finally won," Hoglen said. "She's like a
mom to a lot of our kids. She helps them with their homework. She helps them with SAT's. She helps
with their highlight tapes. She goes above and beyond and tries to do everything to help our kids out."
Caruso praised McLaughlin while claiming that he still is not quite trusted.
"He does a great job for us," said Caruso before joking. "He's an old Hamilton West guy and we
absolutely hold that against him."
One other former Spartan on hand was Lawrenceville trainer Jason Larson, who also presides over
one of the senior dorms at the private school. Steinert has scrimmaged the Big Red the past few
seasons and unfortunately Larson has had to treat a couple of serious injuries.
WEEKLY HONOREES: Nottingham had the only weekly award winner for the three Hamilton schools
as senior Anthony Cordero was named the Defensive Lineman of the Week. The senior, who
transferred from Notre Dame this season, had six tackles and one sack in the Stars' 12-0 win over
Steinert.
"When I first met him my first words to
him were, 'Where's your son?' recalled
Adams. "I thought I was talking to a
father. They told me somebody big was
transferring in and we don't have really
big guys at Nottingham. Anthony comes
walking over and it was like, 'Wow, this
is going to be good.' He had a great
game on Saturday but really he's been
playing well all year."
Trenton head coach Tarig Holman, while
praising all of the honorees made
special mention of Cordero.
"I'll have the displeasure of seeing you
this week. I'm not looking forward to it,"
he joked. "You won't have that many
tackles because we're not going to run
that way."
The 12th Man committee could not
come to a consensus on an Offensive
Back of the Week after last Friday
night's wild shoot out between West
Windsor-Plainsboro North and Notre
Dame; splitting the award between
Northern Knights quarterback Kevin
Murphy and Notre Dame running
back/linebacker Alex Roman.
Murphy was 14-for-19 for 304 yards and
five TD's as North defeated Notre Dame
for the first time in school history, 35-32.
Roman rushed for 246 yards and three
touchdowns on 27 carries.
"That evening both offenses were
flying," said first-year North head coach
Jeff Reilly. "They were running the ball
down our throats. We were able to do
some things like throwing the ball deep
down the field and make plays when we
needed to. We were very fortunate. We
were the last team to score."
The Hornet football team was well represented in the Homecoming Court
Lawrenceville wide receiver Grant Smith last Saturday, including (starting top photo at the left and going clockwise)
Simmons (11), Kyle Bohn (10), Mo Manuel (77), Malik Snead (2)
had a monster day in his team's 42-14 Freddie
and the always-stoic Tyleer Wrenn (1). Unfortunately for the grid team they
win over Peddie and won this week's
went 0-for-5 when it came to being named King (Photo by Donna “The
Offensive Lineman of the Week honor. Trooper” Brihn).
"The only time he's on the line is when he's running off of it is to catch a pass," quipped O'Dea of the
post-graduate, who caught 12 passes for 147 yards and four TDs. .
According to Smith, another quarterback-turned-receiver, former Cleveland Browns, Syracuse
University and Hamilton West star Kevin Johnson had high praise for the former Hill School
quarterback.
"Once you've been doing this long enough you can spot the kids who have "it"," said Smith. "As my
assistant coach Kevin Johnson says, 'I don't know what ‘it’ is, but he's got it.' You make plays on both
sides of the ball so we definitely have to know where you are."
Trenton High's Keishaan Jackson had "it" last week as well, running a punt back 65 yards for one
score and then setting up a field goal with another big return — finishing with 160 yards on four returns
in a win over Hamilton. He was honored as the Special Teams Player of the Week.
"We talked to the seniors about stepping up and leading," said Holman. "We were trying to figure out
how we were going to get some points on the board when your best offensive player goes down."
Brandon Gosling from the Pennington School was honored as the Defensive Back of the Week after
breaking up two passes and intercepting a ball in the Red Raiders' 34-26 loss to Riverdale Country
Day School. He was equally impressive on the offensive side of the ball, rushing for 160 yards and two
TD's and throwing a 35-yard touchdown on a halfback pass.
Pennington assistant Blair Thompson, known for his weekly literary references, offered heart-felt
praise for the senior from Brooklyn.
"I'm his advisor and I've been able to watch the growth in him," Thompson said. "He's got a little of the
puppy in him. He wants to bounce off the walls at times but he's really grown up and matured and I
could not be more proud of him."
CRUNCH TIME: The final weekend of October generally features several games with either playoff or
league title implications and this year that is once again the case.
Adams dubbed the West Jersey Football Conference’s Colonial Division "the league of monsters" at
the beginning of the year and that has proven to be the case.
All three of the Stars (3-3) losses have come to division opponents. Trenton (4-2) has likewise suffered
both losses in league play. The two renew their rivalry on Saturday at Trenton's Harvin Field and, while
neither can win a league title, both are still in contention for playoff spots.
The Stars (Central Jersey Group III) and Trenton (CJ V) are both tied for sixth in their respective
playoff brackets but would likely clinch a berth with the huge haul of power points a win on Saturday
would bring.
Adams feels Nottingham will need to be much better than they were against Steinert in Saturday's
game with the Tornadoes if they are to come away with their first Colonial Division win.
"We got a win but we're not happy," said Adams to the assembled audience. "We need to clean up the
penalties and the mistakes we're making if we're going to continue along at the pace and the level we
want to play at."
Hamilton, currently 1-4, sits at 13th in CJ III. Despite their record the Hornets are very much alive in
the Valley Division race. Both Princeton and West Windsor-Plainsboro North are first in the league at
3-0 while Hamilton is 1-1. The Hornets lost to Princeton in their season opener but host North this
Saturday and would be right in the mix with a win.
"We have our hands full but our kids are going to come out and play hard," said Hoglen. "Hopefully
we'll not make those mistakes that have cost us the last few weeks and we'll find a way to get it done."
Two other big games with both playoff and division implications are Rancocas Valley at Allentown and
unbeaten Hopewell Valley at Ewing.
With Lenape and RV both currently unbeaten in Colonial play, Allentown (5-1, 2-1 Colonial) could put
itself into the mix for a co-championship but more importantly all but wrap up a top-seed in the South
Jersey Group III bracket with a win over the Group V Red Devils.
“They're every bit as good as their undefeated record," said Allentown head coach Jay Graber. "We're
just going to put together a game plan and try to do our best to execute it and see the way it works."
Hopewell Valley (5-0) leads the Patriot Division at 2-0 and sits third in CJ III behind Long Branch and
Carteret. Ewing (3-3, 1-2) is currently ninth, two points behind Lawrence (2-3, 1-1) for the final playoff
spot but could possibly move all the way up to fifth place with a win over the Bulldogs.
The Cardinals play at Northern Burlington and with a game in hand would be in good shape if they can
pull of an upset win.
In the prep ranks arguably the two top football teams in Mercer County — Hun and Lawrenceville —
meet at Hun on Saturday afternoon. Both are 2-0 in MAPL league play and the winner would control
their own destiny in the six-team league.
"They are extremely big, extremely physical. They do a lot of great things," said Lawrenceville head
coach Dan O'Dea, who will be facing former West Windsor-Plainsboro head coach Todd Smith for the
first time. "He does some tremendous stuff with that team. He's got a lot of great kids."
"Lawrenceville is an outstanding, outstanding football team," said Smith, the Raiders' first-year head
coach. "Coach keeps saying we're big. You've got a kid going to Michigan — he's 6'8" — so you're
pretty big too."
MORE TRAINER TALES: Due to the nature of the game football inevitably is a large part of the
athletic trainer's work load and almost all of the coaches on hand had special praise for their
respective trainers. Perhaps nobody was more deserving of praise then the dean of Mercer County
trainers, Trenton's Poppy Sanderson.
"I don't think Poppy has a title except Poppy. He does everything," said Holman. "He looks like he's
about 20 years old but he's been at Trenton since it was erected. Pop's a great guy and I really
appreciate him."
Mike "Stewey" Stewart has been at Lawrence High for about a decade but according to assistant
coach Macus D'Amelio, who was filling in for head coach Nate Jones, his services are not limited to
the Cardinals athletes.
"I told our player, ''We're going to do this drill where you're going to catch the ball and squeeze it real
tight and I'm going to hit you with this shield bag to try and knock it out of your hands,’” D’Amelio said.
“He grabs the ball and jukes and his helmet hits me right in the face. I said 'Call Stew. A coach in the
trainer's office with a bloody nose.’"
According to Caruso, both he and Adams have a bit of expertise when it comes to injuries.
"At one point in the middle of the game one of our kids gets the wind knocked out of him and coach
Adams is out there checking him out too," explained the Steinert coach." And I said, "It's the worst
feeling in the world getting the wind knocked out of you.' Coach Adams said, 'That or getting hit in the
groin.' Sure enough, four plays later one of my kids…. .and 'There's that other bad feeling you're
talking about.' "