Average underclassmen often toil in obscurity with scholastic athletics.
The few freshmen and sophomores talented enough to compete with juniors and seniors are elevated to the varsity level while contributing a couple of quarters of playing time to the underclassmen contests.
Their classmates during the school day, those perhaps not as quick or tall enough to move up, joust in half-empty gyms with spectator unfriendly 4 and 5:30 p.m. tip-off times. They are the opening act before the headliner takes over.
But this was no ordinary season for the freshmen boys at Cape May Technical High School. The eyases dominated their peers by registering a 16-0 record.
“This group of freshmen had a real desire to succeed and learn and actually apply what they were being taught,” said freshmen coach John Longinetti. “They put in the hard work and were a well-rounded and balanced squad. We had five players score at least 100 points on the season.”
Over seven seasons at Tech, Longinetti, a mathematics teacher, has toggled between the rookie and junior varsity programs under hard-driving head varsity coach, Bob Ridgeway. This season Longinetti was assisted by Bob’s brother, Andy.
“Coach Andy and I also stressed defense from day one and the players really responded,” said Longinetti, a civil engineering graduate and hoops player for The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Arts.
The coach realizes the challenges of working with players just entering the high school experience.
“Getting them to adapt to the time demands of playing high school basketball is vital,” said Longinetti, a Pinelands Regional graduate. “We had six players that split quarters throughout the season, so there were numerous games where juggling the lineup was somewhat of an issue.”
Longinetti is fully aware that victories are not often the measuring stick for freshman and JV programs.
“I measure a freshman player’s success by whether he improves as the season progresses,” said the coach. “I can say that all 11 of my players clearly improved and continued to work hard throughout the year.”
No one can predict a 16-0 season in September, but ambitions can be established.
“Our goal at the beginning of the season, as always, was to further teach the freshmen the game of basketball and help them prepare for the JV and varsity levels,” said Longinetti. “As the year progressed, it was clear we were achieving something beyond that.”
Team members included Kyle Clark, Conor Cormican, Jake Heminway, R.J. Kelly, Mark Kunkle, Richie McHale, Conor Mulville, Ulysses Rodriguez, Danny Torres, Tim Van Trieste and Mike Veltri.
The season included two victories each over Buena, Wildwood Catholic, St. Joseph’s, Middle, Lower, Pleasantville and Sacred Heart along with wins over Holy Spirit and Bridgeton.
Long-time Tech varsity coach Bob Ridgeway has seen the lean years and is more than ready for a consistently winning program.
“I am extremely excited about the future of Cape May Tech boys’ basketball,” he said. “Jake Heminway, our 6-6 freshman, played mostly varsity and our junior varsity won the most games it ever has.”
Will Wareham is the Tech junior varsity coach.
Ridgeway’s varsity squad started the season undefeated and won nine of 11 in one key stretch. The upperclassmen Hawks finished at 14-9, third best in the CAL National Conference.
“Cape May Tech’s enrollment is soaring and we’re now getting the athletes to continue to have successful seasons,” said Ridgeway. “Our boys’ swim team finished the season ranked 20th in South Jersey and our golf team has won the CAL two of the past three seasons. The future is bright.”
Reach Rossi at joerossi61@comcast.net.
.
.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
