Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

9/29/2009 - Tough Start For ex-SCIL Teams

The look on Andrew Lowery’s face said it all.

And if there was any doubt about how the longtime Sparta boys soccer coach felt, his postgame comments after his squad’s frustrating 1-0 loss to Roxbury left no doubt that the Spartans were sailing in uncharted waters.

“I don’t know what to think,” said Lowery, who has over 320 wins and led the Spartans to the last seven straight Sussex County Interscholastic League titles. “I’ve never been 1-3 before.”

Yes, you read that right. After the loss to the Gaels, the mighty Spartans fell to 1-3 and since that loss Sparta dropped a 4-2 decision to Montville and sits at 1-4 for the first time in probably two decades or maybe ever.

Welcome to the new world of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference.

After three weeks of regular season play, the larger schools from the former SCIL-Vernon, High Point, Pope John and Sparta-- have not fared too well in the combined American/National Division of the NJAC, which is comprised of Group 3 and 4 schools from Sussex and Morris County.

The combined division is used for soccer and field hockey in the fall and only Pope John’s boys soccer team (4-3) at this writing has an over .500 record in boys and girls soccer, while the PJ field hockey team is off to a fast start at 5-1-1 for new coach Susan Blanchard, while the rest of the schools are hovering around .500.

And Pope John’s girls soccer team, the most dominant girls program the last six years in the SCIL is also on the wrong side of .500 and is 2-4.

On other hand, the realignment has been great for the small schools of the old SCIL—Hopatcong, Jefferson, Lenape Valley, Kittatinny, Newton and Wallkill Valley-- as the Freedom Division has been super competitive with the addition of Hackettstown in both boys and girls soccer and field hockey.

But it is shocking to see old SCIL soccer powers Sparta and Vernon, the two winningest soccer programs in the old league’s history sitting at bottom of the division along with High Point.

Vernon has yet to win and the Vikings, who have qualified for the state tournament every year since John Ryan took over the program back in 1980, look to be in danger of not making states as they sit at 0-6-1.

High Point started the season strong with a nice 2-0 win over Pope John, but the Wildcats have not posted a win since and are 1-5.

Incredible.

So is Morris County boys soccer that much better than the brand played in Sussex? Well, this year it looks like it, but past history indicates that the gap isn’t as wide as the old SCIL teams’ records indicate.

First off, the old cliché of timing is everything comes into play here. I would put my money on last year’s Sparta’s boys soccer team to win the National Division and be the best team in both top flights.

The Spartans proved it with a big win over Morris County power Delbarton last year, but the Spartans also lost to Roxbury in the state tournament, which brings me to another reason why the old SCIL teams are struggling—depth.

The depth of talent in NJAC is staggering. Out of the 15 teams in the American/National, 14 made the state tournament last year and the one that didn’t Mount Olive returned almost its entire lineup from a competitive team.

And this where both timing and depth come to play. Sparta was decimated by graduation, losing eight starters. So Lowery knew it would be a rebuilding year in the NJAC. If the Spartans were in the SCIL this year, they would be reloading.

You see, there are no breathers in the NJAC. In the old SCIL there were certain teams that you could circle on the calendar as wins if you were Sparta, even if you lost eight starters to graduation.

The depth of talent in the SCIL was no way near to that of the NJAC and thus Sparta, Vernon and High Point, which all have talented players, would have had much better records if the SCIL was still around. But that is something the schools all have to adjust to for at least this year and next.

An example of the depth of the American/National Division is Roxbury. The Gaels were killed by graduation, too, and they are a top five team right now in the division, but not the top dog. But the Gaels tied Newton 2-2, which is in the process of running away with the Freedom Division crown.

Like I said, Pope John’s boys team is holding its own, and that is a credit to Brad Cameron and his boys. Cameron, a Roxbury graduate, who played for coach Gary Irwin, told me he knew what PJ was getting into and he was excited about the challenge.

Cameron said the new league would be great preparation for the Non-Public A state tournament, which is a meat-grinder every year.

Lowery, on the other hand, was not a proponent of the realignment for many reasons, and when the final schedule came out, he said he hated the idea of playing 14 division games and playing each team just once.

Lowery feels that the NJAC should come up with a way to break up the combined divisions and have a format where everyone plays each other twice. He said the current format doesn’t allow for proper preparation.

Now, Irwin said he loves the way the NJAC is set up. He said playing everyone once is the best way to go and he loves the fact that he doesn’t have to play Essex County teams like Seton Hall Prep and Columbia any more.

But it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out for the larger schools. Maybe they will make a run or they will take their lumps for this season and get back at next season.

As I have said before, like beauty, realignment is in the eye of the beholder and right now the big schools from the old SCIL have a black eye.

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

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

9/29/2009 - Tough Start For ex-SCIL Teams