St. Josephs wins state crown

St. Josephs wins state crown
By Fred Siegle

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - When the game, match, and state title were on the line and senior John Moll was in the back row, Drew Colon wanted to be the hitter.
"I hurt my finger pointing it into my chest, saying "give me the ball,''' said Colon, who had the final three kills for his team in St. Josephs' 29-27 third-game victory over Bridgewater in the NJSIAA Final on Friday night. "We go with who's hot, and it seemed like down the stretch, that was me and John.''

The first of the three kills gave his team a 27-26 lead. After a kill by Chris Allen tied the game, the second came from the left side on serve receive to make it 28-27 in favor of the Falcons (30-4). The third came out of middle with Moll also in the front row, so Colon had a single block after Keith MacDonald hand-passed a free-ball to give setter Matt Scott his choice in who to set. The Falcons used lessons they learned during the course of the season to carry them to the title.

"I think I play better when there's more pressure,'' Colon said. "Mr. Cabrita (the St. Joes coach) told us to keep swinging. In our loss to East Brunswick in the GMC's (Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament) we got near the end and played tentatively. We weren't going to do that again.''Moll and Colon each had 13 kills to lead the Falcons. Moll said his team was ready for the pressure of the back-and-fourth third game because they had played Bishop Hendrickson, the defending Rhode Island state champions, to a 30-28 victory in the finals of a tournament in that state in April.

"This was the same type of game,'' Moll said. "That one went to 30 points. We've been in this situation before, when you get to the end you have to keep siding out. We knew what we had to do.''The Falcons had won the first game 25-16, but Bridgewater-Raritan, which has won six overall state titles, roared back in the second to win 25-17. Senior star Chris Allen had 8 of his 22 kills in that game, while junior Chris Metzger contributed 5 of his 13. Allen finished with over 1000 kills for his career.

"I didn't think Chris could take over like that,'' Moll said. "But that team (Bridgewater) played great. Their defense was getting everything up.''
Bridgewater-Raritan came into the match with a 17-9 record and had battled its way to the NJSIAA North section title as the No. 7 seed. But St. Joes' players and coaches knew not to take the Panthers lightly."They played the kind of match you expect to see out of Bridgewater in the state final,'' Cabrita said. "(Bridgewater coach) Corey's (Romanak) team is always a legit team.''"After the first game, we just wanted to start the match over,'' Allen said. "We just went into the second game saying "Ok, we need to win two games. That second game was just completely different. We played with confidence, like we did in the semifinals (the win over Clifton in the North final), and we just tried to keep it going. In the third game, we just messed up on a couple of plays, and St. Joes played a great match.''By the second and third game, Bridgewater had eased into its strategy of getting the ball to Allen and Metzger. It seemed setter Andrew Conkin - or whoever set, since he made some of the digs, and some others weren't always controlled - could always find one of the go-to hitters after every defensive play.
"They were really scrappy,'' Colon said. "And it seemed like there was a magnet on the ball or something, they always got the ball to those guys.''

Bridgewater led the third game by as many as four points (14-10 after a block by Metzger), but two kills by Dan Deverin and a Bridgewater error left the score tied at 17. Bridgewater was two sideouts away from winning after a kill by Allen made it 23-21, but a Bridgewater player went under the net and Moll registered a kill to tie the game. Allen had a kill on a 10-ball, but another 10-ball hit was out by about a foot to tie the game at 24. St. Joes took the advantage on a Bridgewater error on the next play, then the teams traded sideouts until Colon's final two kills."We had some rough patches,'' Cabrita said. "But we held strong both mentally and physically and got the job done.''"This feels great,'' Moll said. "I remember as a freshman seeing our team lose in the final, and I didn't want to be in that same situation. And we did it against a great team, a team that's used to winning in this spot.''

"Coming off a state championship (in 2005), to make it back here after all the injuries we had this year, I couldn't be more proud of our team,'' Romanak said. "We kept our composure tonight, we not only made it to the final as an underdog, but we pushed a real good team to three games. That third game was a great final, it was back and forth the whole way. I couldn't ask more of my kids.''Senior libero Kurt Backlund had 19 digs for the Falcons - many off big hits from Allen and Metzger - while Deverin, a senior left side, contributed 7 kills and 8 digs. Setter Matt Scott had 42 assists and 8 digs, and MacDonald, a junior right side, had 7 kills and 11 digs. Senior Alan Zastrow (right side and left side), sophomore Paul Konopacki (middle) and junior Aidan Nemergut (serving specialist) also made some key plays in the victory."We've said all year we're a team,'' Cabrita said. "I'm really happy with the way my guys hung in there with all the pressure on them.''