Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

7/21/2008 - Trudgeon, Braves Had Great Run

Tom Trudgeon rubbed his forefinger and thumb around the picture frame as he peeked over his glasses.

The lifelong Sussex County resident surveyed the photo of his first team since coming back for a second stint as the head coach of the Newton girls basketball team in December of 1998.

“Boy, that was some group,” he said. “It was a core group from Green (Township), Alexis Johnson, Alison Buckley and Kaitlyn Davey. They were tough kids and good players.”

Trudgeon had taken over a program that was struggling, only winning one game the previous year. But as an assistant on that team, Trudgeon knew the potential the younger players had, and once he ran the show, the Braves never looked back.

In his first season he went 9-13 and he posted just one losing season after that in his 11 years at the helm. In that span he also guided the Braves to a school record three straight North 1, Group 2 titles from 2001-2003 and appearances in the Group 2 final in 2002 and 2003, the greatest run in team history.

But after a fine decade-plus run, the crafty veteran, who is in his early 70s, has decided to step down to address some health issues and will be replaced by former Newton star Bridget (Brennan) Jones.

I’m sure Jones, who has a terrific coaching pedigree considering that her father and all of her siblings coach in Sussex County, will do a great job. But I will miss Tommy Trudgeon.

Back when I worked at the local paper, Trudgeon was one of the coaches I always looked forward to talking with. But it didn’t start out that way. You see, with Trudgeon, you have to earn his respect, and rightfully so. I was lucky I was able to do that.

Trudgeon was one of the trailblazers in the county and was a driving force behind development of Hopatcong High School as an athletic director and an administrator in the 1960s and 1970s. So, when he came back to Newton (he had a short stint in the early 1990s), he was no fresh-faced kid looking to make his bones in the coaching ranks.

He was an established educator and coach, and as a result, he took the girls hoops program to heights it hadn’t known since the mid-1970s when Linda Cordes terrorized the fledgling Sussex County Interscholastic League with Sussex County Hall-of-Famer John Zamos working the sidelines.

But it all started with that first group. Alexis Johnson was known more for her prowess on the field hockey pitch, but the outstanding athlete was just as tough on the hardwood. Davey, who was tragically taken away from us a few years ago in car accident, was a hard worker and made herself a fine post player.

Buckley was the established player on that first squad and displayed great leadership, along with another field hockey star Courtney Dugan. That group laid the foundation for the future and what a future it was.

The Braves won their first section crown in 2001 when Liz Sisca, one of the top athletes to ever come out the county, stunned Harrison with a last-second shot at Secaucus High School. The Braves fell to Hanover Park in the state semifinals the next night, but the message was sent to the rest of the teams in the section---Newton was the real deal and the Braves were not going away.

And they didn’t.

Despite losing Johnson and Davey to graduation, the Braves defended their title the next season behind Sisca, and emerging superstar Sheakia Jackson. The Braves also sported a terrific supporting cast, like undersized frontcourt player Erica Dardaganis, point guard Laura Filan, 3-point sniper Lindsey Perigo and solid reserve forward/center Meredith Mayes.

Dardaganis propelled the Braves into the state final with a last second- putback in a wild 48-47 win over Rahway in the state semifinals at Montclair High School, a game I will never forget. After the bucket, it looked like time expired, but the officials said there was time left and Rahway almost pulled off a miracle with a desperation shot.

Now it was onto the final where the Braves, with eight losses, were heavy underdogs to Rumson and its star trio of Chrissy Fisher, who went onto a stellar career at Delaware, and the Golden sisters, Carly and Gatley.

But the Braves stood toe-to-toe with the Shore Conference titan and lost a heartbreaker, 44-42. The Braves had a chance to tie the game late, but missed some free throws and fell just short.

I remember after the game how dejected Trudgeon and girls were. They didn’t come to the Dunn Center in Elizabeth to put on a good show. They came to win, even if they were the only people in the cavernous gym who thought they could pull the upset.

The loss burned the collective belly of the Braves, and once again, despite now losing Sisca, the Braves were back at the Dunn Center, much to the surprise of everyone, except, of course, the Braves.

This time Northern Burlington ended the Braves’ state title quest behind Yale-bound center Erica Davis as the Braves fell 47-40. But the fact that Newton was back was incredible. Jackson and Dardaganis led the charge, but Amanda Sampey emerged as a 3-point threat, and along with Perigo, made teams honor their shooting ability which allowed Jackson and Dardaganis to roam under the basket.

Future 1,000-point scorer Whitney Dugan also had her coming out party that season and later would be one of Trudgeon’s top players.

Newton reached the final in one of Jackson’s best all-around efforts. The Braves ran Union County-champion Roselle out of the gym at Marist High School in Bayonne in a dominating 51-34 win.

Newton’s incredible section run came to an end in 2004 with a loss to Pascack Valley and its legendary coach Jeff Jasper and superstar forward Heather Zurich, who plays at Rutgers, in the section semifinals.

But what made the Braves’ run so impressive was that they were never a top seed and they never won a Sussex County Interscholastic League championship. They always had to go on the road and win in rough gyms in Bergen and Passaic County. Winning state tournament games on the road is a testament to the intestinal fortitude of the players and that is a direct reflection of their coach, the scrappy baseball player from Franklin High School.

The Braves had no fear, and never had a Division I player, either in those days. Chelsea Snyder will play at Virginia Tech this fall and was the only Division I player Trudgeon ever coached.

During the championship run, the Braves were a bunch of blue-collar kids who would just outwork and outhustle you. They had an inner will to win. Plus they had a secret weapon: the Amoeba.

The Amoeba was the match-up zone defense Trudgeon employed based on the defense Jerry Tarkanian ran at UNLV in its glory days. The teams in the SCIL got to see it twice a season, so they were used to it.

But once the Braves took it on the road, it dumbfounded teams. I remember hearing opposing coaches and players complaining to each other that they didn’t know what the Braves were in, and by the time they figured it out, it was too late.

It was fun watching Johnson, Sisca, Jackson and Dardaganis lying in wait in the zone and then pouncing and turning errant passes into easy buckets on the other end. Trudgeon loved it, too. He would just smile after the games when I asked him about his defense.

But now Trudgeon, who still works for the town of Newton’s recreation department, will concentrate on getting healthy and I wish him all the best.

I made a deal with him the other day when I interviewed him for the Sports Beat that we will meet again next summer to do a story on how he is coming back to coaching in some capacity, and with a laugh, he agreed.

And if there is one thing I’ve learned about Tommy Trudgeon, it is never count him out. So I will be waiting for you, buddy.

That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

7/21/2008 - Trudgeon, Braves Had Great Run