By Dan Cleary

4/4/2008 - Lacrosse Teams Riding the Wave

Do you hear it? C’mon, listen closely. Now do you hear it? Okay, by now you are probably thinking what is this madman talking about. The sound I am referring to is the roar of the wave of momentum that the sport of lacrosse, especially on the boys’ side, is riding in Sussex County these days.

Now I’m not saying the teams in Sussex are ready to rival their neighbors in Morris County in statewide supremacy, but the steady improvement in the quality of play and the spike in overall interest from the youth level to the high school varsity playing fields has sent a clear signal that lacrosse is here to stay in Sussex County and will only get better.

Currently, there are six schools in the Mugs Media area that have varsity lacrosse programs—Sparta, Jefferson, Vernon, Pope John, North Warren and Blair Academy. But that number will rise in the coming seasons as Wallkill Valley, Kittatinny, Lenape Valley and High Point have joined the ranks and should be varsity in the near future.

That is a great sign for a sport that was as foreign to most Sussex County residents as a bear sighting in Hoboken. Growing up in the county in the 1970s, lacrosse was never even discussed, let alone played, on the youth level. Baseball was the undisputed king, and for the most part still is in the county, but lacrosse could challenge the throne.

My first exposure to the sport was in college when I was talking with the guys I played football with and they spoke of this game where players wear helmets and pads and carry sticks like hockey, hit like football, and use basketball and soccer strategy with officials that look like football referees who use the same penalty flag.

At first, it seemed to me the sport was born of a bored physical education teacher who wanted to mix things up and he invented a game that incorporated all sports. Which wasn’t a bad theory, but as most fans of the sport know, it was started by the Native Americans and adopted by the French settlers who dubbed it “lacrosse.”

After college, I only had a passing interest in the sport due to the fact it wasn’t being played in Sussex County. My feeling was that lacrosse was relegated to the realm of fancy private prep schools and affluent suburban schools like Mountain Lakes and Montclair, which have been major players in lacrosse for many years.

But that all changed in the mid-1990s. When I was working at the local paper, we received a call that there was a grassroots movement in Sparta to start a lacrosse program at the high school. Several parents, including Jeff Milliken, who played in high school on Long Island and in college at Adelphi University on the Island, led the charge and footed the bill and the “Lacrosse Revolution” was on in Sussex County.

Now mind you, Sparta wasn’t the first school to have lacrosse in Sussex County. Newton many years ago had a program and it was disbanded in the 1970s. George Morville, the Pied Piper of lacrosse in Sussex County, played for the Braves before going onto a stellar career at Plymouth State University (Mass.). Morville was an assistant coach at Sparta for years and is now trying to get the fledgling program at Kittatinny afloat. Morville is also very active in many indoor lacrosse leagues and programs.

But the sport was dormant in the county until the folks in Sparta got the wheels turning and woke up the sleeping giant. Jim Hague, a former outstanding player at Montclair and current head coach at Ramapo High School, was the first varsity coach at Sparta before Pat Brennan took over the reins 12 seasons ago and molded the Spartans into a Rizk Division power.

Over the years, the Spartans have produced numerous quality players that have gone onto to play on the collegiate level. Since 2000, the Spartans have produced such standouts as Luke and Alan Wikander, Martin Convey, Jason Cook, Stew Gilson, Alex Heckman and Nic Heckman.

Before the Spartans got untracked, Blair Academy, located in Warren County, was the only team in the Mugs Media area. The Bucs established their program in 1972, and in terms of prep schools, they are New Kids on the Block as far as longevity. Schools like Lawrenceville, Pennington and Rutgers Prep have been around forever.

Over the last couple of years, however, the other teams in the area have made a big push with Vernon posting its first-ever win over Sparta last year when Mugs Media Player of the Year Mike Deutch of Vernon went off and scored seven goals in the biggest win in the Vikings’ short history.

Seeing teams like Jefferson, which has bumped up to the B Division and is playing with Sparta in the Rizk Division, is great for the sport. Teams in lacrosse, like hockey, are grouped into divisions based on ability. There are three divisions, A,B,C, with the A Division sporting some of the top teams in the state, like Mountain Lakes, Delbarton and Chatham, for example. Sparta and Jefferson are in the middle, while the rest of the teams in the area are in the C Division.

After playing in the Pooley Division, which is comprised of C-level schools and was won by Pope John last year, Jefferson coach Harry Shortway felt the best thing for the program was to bump a division in order to see better competition and make the Jefferson program stronger in the long haul. Shortway is a coach that gets it. He feels the Falcons are ready to make that jump, and he knows they might take some lumps, but they will be better for it. His kids and program won’t get better when they are beating teams 15-2, so that is a great move by Shortway.

As for the other teams, they are making great strides as well. With the new multi-purpose stadium at Vernon Township High School completed and the fields at Maple Grange Community Park, lacrosse is growing like wildfire in Vernon. Shortway, a Vernon resident, along with guys like Randy Mills and Wayne Werner, have brought the sport to the forefront.

Vernon coach Mike Bocech, who played at Montclair State for current North Warren coach Spencer Williard, said when he leaves Maple Grange after a varsity game, he sees all the youth level teams taking the field, which warms his heart.

And the other thing about lacrosse in the area, it is in very good hands as far as the coaches are concerned. Brennan has done a terrific job at Sparta and I already mentioned Shortway, Bocech and Williard, who was inducted into the New Jersey Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame this year for his 40 years in the game. The veteran had a great run at Montclair State from 1977-83, winning six Knickerbocker Conference titles.

Pope John, which has made the states six out of the last seven years, has benefited under the guidance of Tom Manning who played at the Naval Academy. So they are all great coaches.

Hopefully as the sport grows the teams will have some sort of county tournament just like in hockey in which the teams play for the Sussex Cup. If the Sussex County Interscholastic League is still in existence and is not blown up by the state in the name of realignment, it would be great to have a SCIL Tournament when Lenape Valley, Kittatinny, High Point and Wallkill Valley hit the varsity level.

The game could be played under the lights at Vernon with a girls-boys doubleheader championship night. It would draw a lot of attention to the sport and really give it the showcase it deserves.

Lacrosse has come a long way, in a short amount of time, not only in the county, but in the state over the last decade. In 1999, there were 75 high school teams in the state, now there are 156 and growing.

I’m glad I got on the lacrosse bandwagon when I did because it looks like its going to be a helluva ride.

That is it for now, see you on the sidelines.