St. Joes reigns

By Fred Siegle

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - At some point early in the season, St. Joseph's found it's "A'' game. And after that, the Falcons played at that level day after day, match after match, as the wins piled up.

On Thursday, the Falcons won their 43rd straight match, as they finished the season again playing their best, beating St. Peter's Prep 25-14, 25-18 to win the state championship.

"We knew as long as we brought our "A'' game, we'd do well,'' said setter Steve Brandenburg. "When we play like this, we're not getting beat.''

"We were really prepared for this,'' said senior right side hitter Marcin Midura, who finished with 11 kills and 10 digs. "Every aspect of the game, we were perfect.''

The Falcons took control right from the start, jumping out to a 9-1 lead in the first game. Senior middle blocker Paul Konopacki had three kills and two blocks during that stretch.

"We started really strong, everything was on,'' Midura said. "Our serves were strong, Paul was blocking, the defense and passing was very good, and Steve's sets were awesome.''

"We didn't want to get a start like EB (in their south section final win over East Brunswick, the Falcons had fallen behind by 6 points early in the first game), that would allow their fans to get into it,'' Brandenburg said.

Prior to the game, coach Miguel Cabrita had emphasized serving tough to his team as a key to victory. The Falcons did just that, forcing the Marauders out of their game and making it easier to stop the Marauders' top hitters, Miles McCann and Jake Blicharz.

"He (Cabrita) guaranteed us that if we served tough, it would start to wear them down, and it definitely worked,'' said senior libero Eddie Rossiter, who had 13 digs. "Their passing broke down, it forced them to give us free balls, which we converted. Everything clicked for us.''

The closest St. Peters was able to get in the first game was a 6-point deficit, 14-8.

"Our passing killed us,'' said Blicharz, who finished with 7 kills and 11 assists. "We knew coming in St. Joes would be tough, but we felt like we had a chance. We were well prepared, but I don't think we left it all on the court. I loved being here, but when you come this far and don't get the title, that's tough ... I'm not saying it wasn't worth it, but it was definitely disappointing.''

The Marauders were able to regroup and held a 6-3 lead in the second game. But kills by Midura, Konopacki, and Midura again gave the Falcons a 12-8 lead and St. Peters never got closer than 3 points.

"We had a little drop off at the start of the second game, but we got it back at around 10 points and then just kept going,'' Midura said.

Brandenburg finished with 23 assists and 6 digs, while Konopacki had 8 kills. Danny Vaccariello had 3 kills and Kyle Ditmars had 2, while Bobby O'Grady contributed 2 blocks.

The Falcons won 43 matches in a row after losing their first match of the season, on April 1, to arch-rival East Brunswick.

"That was a wakeup call for us,'' Rossiter said. "We didn't like how we played, and we got down on each other. But we talked about it afterward, and we promised each other it wouldn't happen again. It's been an amazing season, everybody on this team played up to their potential.''

"We worked hard for this all season,'' Midura said. "Everything we did wrong in that first match, we talked about it and tried to eliminate the mistakes. For us, it wasn't just about the skills, it was the mental part, also. That was our biggest challenge all season, the mental game.''

McCann had 8 kills and Al Yasneski had 4 kills and 4 digs for St. Peters, which finished with a 32-8 record. Jeremy Bonafe had 3 digs and 9 assists, while Ben Brenneis and Peter Jimenez had 2 kills each.

The Marauders repeated as NJSIAA North champions with a win over Vernon on Tuesday, and were in the state final for the second straight year.

"We have practically a whole new lineup, Jeremy is a first-year setter, I had never set before, everything was new for us this season,'' Blicharz said. "But we pulled together fast, we know we did well after losing all the seniors from last year.''