3 minute read
Sports
Sports & Recreation
WITH Jim Hague
Observer Sports Writer OGSMAR@AOL.COM
Kearny/NA co-op looks to move forward
The Kearny High School ice hockey cooperative, shared with neighboring North Arlington and Secaucus, won only three times in 10 games last year in the COVID-19 shortened season.
“It was rough for us,” said Kearny middle school teacher Tim Firth, who is in his sixth season as the head coach of the co-op. “We had some young players who were trying to bond as a team. We had so many things working against us. We didn’t get done what we wanted to get done. We knew we had a lot of new guys coming in.”
Now, as the Kardinals move into the new calendar year, they own a respectable 2-1-4 record. They own wins against Bayonne and Passaic Valley, with ties against Bayonne, West Orange, Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Newton with the lone loss coming at the hands of Edison.
“We’re fortunate to have some younger brothers of former players coming in,” said Firth, who has also been blessed with an influx of talented newcomers from Secaucus. “Secaucus has a very good youth league, so we had an idea of what we had coming in.”
Firth said that he was optimistic about the team coming into the 2021-2022 season.
“The idea coming in was that we would be better with a full season,” Firth said. “We were hoping to provide a full season we didn’t get last season.”
And then the omicron strain of the COVID-19 virus reared its ugly head two weeks ago, bringing the season to an abrupt halt.
“But I’m glad to have this group for the next two seasons or so,” Firth said.
The goaltending duties are being shared by senior Jack Logue and junior Morgan Iachetta. Logue is a four-year player who volunteered to return to action at center before climbing back between the pipes this season.
“He’s very athletic and very versatile,” Firth said of Logue.
Iachetta has been getting a lot of work in this far. Both goaltenders hail from Kearny.
The Kardinals have only three defensemen in the rotation in senior Sam Francisco from Kearny, sophomore Kevin Zidiak, a native of North Arlington and freshman Ian Fu, who
Nutley girls’ hoops ready for challenge ahead
Jim Hague photo
Photo courtesy of Larry Mitschow
The Nutley girls’ basketball team finished second in the recent William Masopust, Jr. Memorial Lodi Holiday Tournament. Front row, from left, are Riley Sebastiano, Alex Twomey, Anna Green and Mackenzie Albert. Back row, from left, are Mina Shaw, Stephanie Luberto, Morgan Dolaghan and Grace Christie. Far back row is head coach Larry Mitschow.
By Jim Hague
ogsmar@aol.com
NUTLEY – The Nutley High School girls’ basketball team hasn’t played a game in almost two full weeks, but the omicron-forced layoff isn’t about to dampen the spirits of veteran head coach Larry Mitschow.
The Maroon Raiders own a 2-3 record, but finished second to Indian Hills in the tough William Masopust, Jr. Memorial Holiday Tournament at Lodi, having defeated local rival Lyndhurst and host Lodi in the tourney.
“We were lucky enough to play in the Lyndhurst summer league,” Mitschow said. “We had about 12 or 13 girls there for every game. So I had high expectations coming into the season. We struggled last year with the schedule. It was tough. But we knew it was going to be a little rough for us. So we had no goal to set. We didn’t focus on our record. We just went through some growing pains. I knew we were going to be more competitive this year.”
Mitschow said that he has liked what he’s seen thus far.
“We went to the finals of a good tournament,” Mitschow said. “The effort was there. If we play like we did in this tournament, we should be okay.”
But the shutdown to the COVID-19 strain didn’t exactly come at an opportune time.
“It was really frustrating,” Mitschow said. “We got shut down without warning. I was surprised and aggravated. We needed to be in school and playing basketball. The kids wanted to get back in the gym right away. I understand what the district was trying to do, but we needed to be playing.”
Mitschow said that the Maroon Raiders are ready to come back to action this
