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Cranford's head girls basketball coach Jackie Dyer will continue to try and inspire her second-seeded Cougars as they prepare to meet top-seeeed Governor Livingston in Sunday's 5 p.m. final of the Union County Tournament at Kean University's Harwood Arena. (Photos by JR Parachini)
Cranford's Morgan Miller (right), here guarded by G.L.'s Bari Machado in regular-season game between the two Union County girls hoops powers, will be working hard to help her Cougars generate an effective offensive attack against Highlanders in Sunday's UCT championship game.
G.L.'s Erin Ferguson (22), here shooting a free throw in game this season vs. Dayton, will be one of the Highlanders hoping to help lead the top-seeded team from Berkeley Heights to UCT title.
G.L. head coach Andy Silvagni has continued to map out a solid game plan for Highlanders
Two Winningest Teams In Union County
Set To Do Battle In Sunday’s UCT Final
37th ANNUAL FRANK J. CICARELL GIRLS’ HOOPS UNION COUNTY TOURNEY
Previewing the championship game . . .
2-Cranford (22-3) vs. 1-Gov.Livingston (23-1)
Sunday, Feb. 26, 5 p.m. At Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union
By JR Parachini
For sidelinechatter.com
UNION – While there have been many fine teams this season and no shortage of tantalizing stories as another campaign is about to reach the fourth quarter, perhaps it’s only fitting that the teams most perceive as the top two will be playing for the county championship.
It will be the two winningest teams in the county battling each other Sunday at 5 p.m. at Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union when second-seeded Cranford (22-3) takes on top-seeded Governor Livingston (23-1) in the 37 th annual Frank J. Cicarell girls’ basketball Union County Tournament championship.
“Cranford is a very good team and we match up well with them,” GL senior point guard Alyssa Polimeni said.
“You can’t afford to force anything and you have to play with a lot of confidence against a good team like GL,” Cranford senior guard Morgan Miller said.
The last time both teams lost was to each other in Union County Conference-Mountain Division play. On Thursday, Jan. 19 at Cranford’s Martin Gymnasium it was GL defeating the Cougars 42-38. On Friday, Feb. 3 in Berkeley Heights it was Cranford besting the 17-0 Highlanders 49-44.
Cranford has won 13 in a row since falling to GL. The Cougars have lost three games by a total of eight points, including a 46-43 loss at Dayton and a 44-43 setback at Linden. Cranford, which finished second in the Mountain Division at 12-2, came back to beat Dayton the next two times the teams played, both by double digits.
“We’re all really excited,” said Cranford junior forward Jessica McCoy after she scored a game-high 22 points in her team’s commanding 62-48 semifinal win over Dayton. “We want to send Morgan out with a championship.”
GL, which won the UCC’s Mountain Division title for the first time and with a 13-1 record, has won six straight since its loss to Cranford.
Both teams have lost just once so far at home this season – to each other – and both will begin state tournament play at home next week – Cranford in North 2, Group 3 and GL in Central Jersey, Group 2.
Both also have excellent chances of winning their sections. Cranford has been in a sectional final each of the last three years, winning N2, G3 in 2010.
Cranford is in the UCT final for the first time since the only year it won the championship, which was 2006. The Cougars won the tournament that season as the top seed.
GL reached the final last year as the third seed, falling to top-seeded and two-time defending champion Roselle Catholic 33-26 in the first championship game played at Kean. The Highlanders are seeking to become the 16th school to win the UCT.
“We’ve worked really hard since last February to get back here,” Polimeni said. “Last year we didn’t expect to get to the final and just took it game by game. This year we knew that we wanted to get back here and win it this time.”
Both teams returned all five starters – Cranford sparked by Morgan, McCoy, juniors Kaitlin McGovern and Jenna Goeller and sophomore Mairead McKeary and GL by Polimeni, seniors Sam Dowling and Rebecca Johnson and juniors Erin Ferguson and Mallory George.
Cranford is winning by an average score of 48-34 and GL by a 51-34 count.
“We have to take control of the game,” said Ferguson, who is, arguably, the top rebounder in Union County. Summit would have no argument with that after Ferguson grabbed 17 boards in Monday’s 61-35 semifinal victory over the Hilltoppers.
“If we do what we want to do, which is focus on our game plan, then it’s going to be very difficult for someone to beat us,” Ferguson said.
Cranford likes to limit the opposition to one shot and then grab the rebound and go. When the Cougars up the tempo and get into their transition game, they are very difficult to handle.
Polimeni will look to get the ball inside to Ferguson, Johnson and George and that was how the Highlanders delivered the knockout punch against Summit the other night. GL doesn’t rely so much on the three-point shooting of 2-guard Dowling, but when Dowling is in a groove, she can be deadly from long-range.
When the game gets to the fourth quarter and the championship is on the line, look for Polimeni and Miller – arguably the top two players, overall, in the county – to do their best to will their teams to victory.
“I’m sure both teams feel that they should have won both (division) games (against each other),” GL fifth-year head coach Andy Silvagni said. “We expected to get back to the final with the talent we have here.
“Cranford has a very good defense, maybe better than ours. We feel that we have a bit more depth than they do.
“We were here last year, so we’ve been here before. However, that won’t mean anything if we’re not scoring and also preventing Cranford from doing what it does offensively.”
Cranford fifth-year head coach Jackie Dyer, two wins shy of 100, guided Cranford’s junior varsity team to a UCT championship in the second of her two years as the JV coach in 2007. Her Cranford team defeated GL in the final.
“The key for any team to beat GL is to out-rebound them, which is not easy,” Dyer said. “The first time we played GL we allowed 11 offensive rebounds. In the second game we gave up only six, three in each half.
“It all starts with ball pressure, with Mairead and Jenna pressuring their guards and making it not so easy to pass the ball. Then we try to screen their other three players and when the shot goes up we need to turn around and box out. It’s a whole team effort.”
The question is, how does a team box out someone who can dominate the middle like Ferguson?
“You do the best you can,” Dyer said. “You put your butt in her gut and try to push her away. You have to try your hardest to outhustle her.”
Cranford has rebounded the ball very well in its last two UCT wins against Oak Knoll and Dayton.
“Morgan and Jess are getting 8-12 rebounds each,” Dyer said. “We’re boxing out and opening more room for them to get rebounds and they’re doing it.”
Here’s a look at the two Mountain Division games played between the two teams. GL scored the game’s final four points in the last minute to win the first one, while Cranford played its best quarter of the year – a 24-6 second period – to win at GL in the second one:
Thursday, Jan. 19 at Cranford - GL 42, Cranford 38: With 50 seconds left, Rebecca Johnson grabbed one of GL’s most important offensive rebounds of the season. Positioned underneath the basket on the left side, she was in the right place at the right time to grab the rebound of a missed layup by Polimeni and put the ball right back in for what turned out to be the game-winning basket, snapping a 38-38 tie after McGovern tied the game with two free throws with 1:14 remaining.
“We always want to crash the boards, so I was looking for a possible rebound,” said Johnson, who tied Polimeni for the team lead in points with 14 and also grabbed nine rebounds, three of them on the offensive end.
In addition, Johnson - after getting fouled by Miller, which was her fifth - made two free throws with 15.9 seconds remaining. Johnson ended up scoring the game’s final four points and poured in 10 of her 14 in the second half.
“We’re all working really hard,” Johnson said. “It was just a matter of who was going to get it (the rebound for the winning basket) for us.”
“Rebecca was great,” Silvagni said. “She came down with a big offensive rebound and gave us a great finish. Her free throws sealed the game.”
“I thought we played well defensively, but their offensive rebounds really hurt us,” said Miller, who paced all scorers with 15 points, including a game-high three three-pointers.
“We allowed too many offensive rebounds. To me that was the difference,” Cranford head coach Jackie Dyer said. “GL is a very aggressive team. We don’t play teams as aggressive as they are.
“Our defense was good and I thought we shut down (Mallory) George (five points) and (Erin) Ferguson (four points). We didn’t stop their rebounding.”
GL had to overcome a first quarter that saw them fall behind 5-0, not take a shot until almost three minutes into the game, take only four shots for the entire period and eventually get outscored 7-4.
GL made it 5-2 when Polimeni scored on a layup – which was GL’s first shot – with 5:12 left in the first quarter.
“This was a big game and we might have had a few jitters early on,” Silvagni said.
“It was a little uncharacteristic of us to take so few shots in the first quarter,” said Polimeni, who also grabbed three rebounds and came up with three steals. “We had to stay patient and eventually we calmed down and made easier passes.”
GOV. LIVINGSTON (11-0, 6-0) 4 9 15 14 - 42
CRANFORD (9-3, 4-2) 7 9 7 15 - 38
GOV. LIVINGSTON HIGHLANDERS (42):
21-Rebecca Johnson, senior, 5-0-4-14
15-Mallory George, junior, 1-0-2-4
14-Alyssa Polimeni, senior, 6-0-2-14
42-Sam Dowling, senior, 0-2-0-6
22-Erin Ferguson, junior, 2-0-0-4
24-Cat Quinn, senior, 0-0-0-0
3-Bari Machado, senior, 0-0-0-0
Starters: Polimeni, Dowling,
Ferguson, Johnson, George
Totals: 14-2-8-42
CRANFORD COUGARS (38):
22-Kaitlin McGovern, junior, 1-1-6-11
20-Jessica McCoy, junior, 5-0-0-10
3-Morgan Miller, senior, 1-3-4-15
4-Jenna Goeller, junior, 0-0-2-2
13-Mairead McKeary, sophomore, 0-0-0-0
10-Kerry Wischusen, sophomore, 0-0-0-0
Starters: Miller, Goeller,
McCoy, McGovern, McKeary
Totals: 7-4-12-38
Friday, Feb. 3 at Gov. Livingston - Cranford 49, GL 44: Although Cranford won only one of the four quarters, that eight-minute sequence in the second period was its best this season. The Cougars received a better-than-average team effort and a superstar performance from their top-player, Miller, in handing GL its first and only loss of the season.
With Cranford ahead 47-44, Polimeni - who paced the Highlanders with 17 points, but did not score in the fourth quarter - drove through the middle of the lane for a layup that missed.
The difference this time was that there was a Cranford player there for the defensive rebound, which was Miller. Of Cranford’s 14 second-half points, Miller scored 12 of them, including all seven in the fourth quarter.
After grabbing that important rebound, Miller was fouled with 15.4 seconds to go. Miller made two free throws to put Cranford up 49-44.
Polimeni, Dowling and then Polimeni again fired three-point shots in the final seconds that all missed.
“Defensively, we were pressuring the ball and we were helping well and then we were finishing out possessions by boxing out,” Miller said.
The game was even in the first quarter and tied for the third time already at 8-8 before Polimeni scored her first nine points – all in a row – to put GL in front 17-8. Polimeni made a righty layup, her only 3-pointer - which came from the right side - a lefty layup and then banked in a shot off the glass from the middle of the lane.
Then, without anyone covering her, Miller took a shot from half court that banked in hard off the glass for a first quarter-ending three-pointer that pulled Cranford to within six at 17-11.
It was the first of a game-high five three-pointers by Miller and her first points of the game.
Little did anyone know that it was going to be the precursor to Cranford’s finest eight minutes of basketball this season.
“I never made a shot like that in a game, maybe in practice,” Miller said.
Miller began the second quarter by hitting a three-pointer from the right side. Then Polimeni followed with a layup.
Cranford - which began to speed the contest up behind a transition game that had the Highlanders a bit on their heels - then went on a 10-0 run, receiving scoring in the surge from starters McKeary, Goeller, Miller and McCoy.
After a layup by George halted the run, Cranford scored the game’s next 11 points, beginning with an inside basket by McGovern.
During a combined 21-2 run, Miller scored seven points, McKeary, McCoy and McGovern four each and Goeller two. Earning assists were McCoy with three and Goeller and McKeary with one each.
Cranford’s biggest lead of 14 was at 35-21 before George hit a shot in the lane to make the score 35-23 at intermission.
GL was never behind by that much in a game this season.
“We made a lot of shots in transition and we pushed the ball up the floor because their heads were turned,” Miller said. “We got good shots, we weren’t forcing anything and we played with confidence.”
“We had to shut them down on the boards, which was our main focus,” said McCoy, with Cranford doing a fine job of limiting George, Johnson and Ferguson from dominating the glass.
George finished with 12 points and Ferguson with eight, but they were not able to grab as many rebounds as they are accustomed to.
The Highlanders made only three-of-10 field goal attempts and did not go to the free throw line in a second quarter that Cranford dominated to the tune of 24-6.
“That was definitely our best quarter,” McCoy said. “We were firing on all cylinders. We were hitting everything, moving well and playing tight defense. I’m really proud that we came through like that.
“We knew we had to drive a lot and draw fouls, but I think rebounding was the biggest thing. Getting Ferguson and trying to stop Polimeni from driving was important.”
“We couldn’t miss a shot,” Dyer said. “We do a lot of that in practice – non-stop running – so we’re accustomed to that in the game. That’s one of our biggest strengths.”
McKeary covered Polimeni the entire game and received a rave review from Dyer. It’s not many times that Polimeni does not score a single point in the fourth quarter when the game’s on the line.
“Mairead is our best all-around defender,” Dyer said. “She’s the one that if I say, ‘I want you on her and I don’t want the ball back,’ the ball’s not coming back. She doesn’t back down, she’s in their face all day long and she really aggravates them. She’s a very, very tough kid.”
Polimeni and GL appeared as if they might be on their way to another victory before Miller hit the final shot of the first quarter.
“The momentum was kind of going our way in the first quarter and then that shot (Miller’s first three-pointer) switched it over,” Polimeni said. “In the second quarter we were kind of running around and not in control of the game.
“We weren’t all on the same page. When you get into a huge deficit like that it’s hard to come back from it.”
GL won the third quarter 13-7 to pull to within six at 42-36. Polimeni scored her final six points in that period to give the Highlanders a shot in the fourth quarter.
“We never gave up the entire game and showed a lot of heart,” Polimeni said. “In the fourth quarter I tried to get to the basket, but wasn’t really finishing. I tried to get some shots for my teammates too, but the ball wasn’t really going in the basket.”
Ferguson fouled out with 49.8 seconds left and Cranford ahead 47-44.
“Two of her fouls were over-the-back calls,” Dyer said. “McGovern did a good job of boxing her out.”
CRANFORD (16-3, 11-2) 11 24 7 7 - 49
GOV. LIVINGSTON (17-1, 12-1) 17 6 13 8 - 44
CRANFORD COUGARS (49):
3-Morgan Miller, senior, 4-5-2-25
13-Mairead McKeary, sophomore, 3-0-3-9
20-Jessica McCoy, junior, 3-0-0-6
22-Kaitlin McGovern, junior, 2-0-0-4
4-Jenna Goeller, junior, 1-1-0-5
15-Carly Maucione, sophomore, 0-0-0-0
Starters: Goeller, McCoy,
McKeary, McGovern, Miller
Totals: 13-6-5-49
GOV. LIVINGSTON HIGHLANDERS (44):
3-Bari Machado, senior, 0-0-2-2
15-Mallory George, junior, 5-0-2-12
22-Erin Ferguson, junior, 3-0-2-8
42-Sam Dowling, senior, 0-1-0-3
14-Alyssa Polimeni, senior, 7-1-0-17
21-Rebecca Johnson, senior, 1-0-0-2
Starters: Ferguson, George,
Machado, Johnson, Polimeni
Totals: 16-2-6-44
GL HEAD COACH ANDY SILVAGNI ON MORGAN MILLER’S PERFORMANCE IN CRANFORD’S WIN AT GL: “Before Miller hit the shot at the end of the first quarter I thought we had them on the ropes a bit, momentum-wise. It was one of those shots. She’s a good player and she had it lined up and we didn’t pressure the ball enough. We should know to bother the ball there a little bit more and not let her get a clean look like that, but it was a great shot by her. I thought Morgan was outstanding all night. We shouldn’t leave her and we were leaving her and she was making us pay for it.”
CRANFORD HEAD COACH JACKIE DYER ON ALYSSA POLIMENI’S GAME: “She’s a very tough kid. It doesn’t matter if they’re up 10 or down three, she will give 100 percent and make sure her team is where it’s supposed to be. She is very good at controlling the tempo offensively.”
NOTES: Dyer - known then as Jackie Huber - played on UCT championship teams as a freshman in 1998 and as a senior in 2001 for head coach Kathy Matthews at Union Catholic. Those are also the last two years that the Vikings have won the title. Union Catholic has captured the most UCTs, with eight.
Dyer played with her older sister Lauren – a senior that year – on the 1998 team.
This could have been another quick exit for Cranford. The Cougars had their hands full with 15 th-seeded Hillside before downing the Comets 61-55 in a first round game at Roselle Catholic.
Cranford only led by three going into the fourth quarter. Hillside is much-improved and won the Valley Division with a perfect 14-0 record. However, only one team from the Valley Division defeated a team from either the Watchung or Mountain divisions, with Rahway beating a down Roselle team.
Hillside came close to producing what would have been one of the biggest upsets in UCT history.
“That game was nerve-wracking,” Dyer said. “We like to play up-tempo and we weren’t used to the way Hillside plays. We were also coming off a week where we had not played really strong teams.
“We had to really focus at the end to get the victory.”
2-CRANFORD COUGARS
2011-2012:
3-Morgan Miller, senior
4-Jenna Goeller, junior
20-Jessica McCoy, junior
22-Kaitlin McGovern, junior
13-Mairead McKeary, sophomore
10-Kerry Wischusen, sophomore
11-Hannah DeMars, sophomore
12-Erin Meixner, freshman
15-Carly Maucione, sophomore
21-Alyssa Curry, sophomore
23-Vienna Stivala, freshman
24-Megan Pringle, sophomore
25-Jennifer Carovillano, freshman
Head coach: Jackie Dyer, fifth season
2012: (22-3).
2011: (22-6).
2010: (21-8).
2009: (18-11).
2008: (15-8).
Total: 98-36 (.731).
2011-2012 SEASON:
Dec. 16 (H) Cranford 55, Oak Knoll 37
Dec. 20 (H) Cranford 44, New Providence 35
Dec. 27 (H) Cranford 50, Nutley 28
Dec. 29 (H) Cranford 38, West Orange 32
Jan. 3 (A) Cranford 47, Johnson 31
Jan. 5 (H) Cranford 38, Union Catholic 15
Jan. 6 (A) Dayton 46, Cranford 43
Jan. 9 (H) Cranford 43, Metuchen 29
Jan. 12 (H) Cranford 61, Bridgewater-Raritan 45
Jan. 13 (A) Linden 44, Cranford 43
Jan. 17 (H) Cranford 51, Brearley 7
Jan. 19 (H) Gov. Livingston 42, Cranford 38
Jan. 20 (A) Cranford 43, Elizabeth 31
Jan. 24 (A) Cranford 47, Oak Knoll 38
Jan. 26 (A) Cranford 43, New Providence 25
Jan. 27 (H) Cranford 49, Johnson 26
Jan. 30 (A) Cranford 44, Union Catholic 19
Feb. 2 (H) Cranford 54, Dayton 36
Feb. 3 (A) Cranford 49, Gov. Livingston 44
Feb. 7 (H) Cranford 49, Elizabeth 30
Feb. 9 (H) Cranford 57, Benedictine 26
Feb. 10 (H) Cranford 61, Scotch Plains 44
Feb. 13 (N) Cranford 61, Hillside 55 – UCT first round at RC
Feb. 16 (N) Cranford 42, Oak Knoll 31 – UCT quarters at RC
Feb. 20 (N) Cranford 62, Dayton 48 – UCT semis at Johnson
Overall record: (22-3)
UCC-Mountain Division: (12-2), second
Coaches vs. Cancer at Cranford: (2-0), champions
Home: 13-1
Away: 6-2
Neutral: 3-0
Overtime: 0-0
Points for: 1,212 (48.48 average)
Points against: 844 (33.76 average)
Cranford gave up 422 points after 13 games
and then 422 after its last 12.
1-GOV. LIVINGSTON HIGHLANDERS
2011-2012:
14-Alyssa Polimeni, senior
42-Sam Dowling, senior
22-Erin Ferguson, junior
21-Rebecca Johnson, senior
15-Mallory George, junior
3-Bari Machado, senior
5-Marielle Jankowski, junior
10-Alyssa Cranston, junior
11-Kristen Soranno, senior
12-Chrissy Dilly, junior
23-Patrice DiTommaso, sophomore
24-Cat Quinn, senior
Head coach: Andy Silvagni, fifth season
2012: (23-1).
2011: (19-6).
2010: (11-12).
2009: (15-10).
2008: (14-8).
Total: 82-37 (.636).
2011-2012 SEASON:
Dec. 16 (A) Gov. Livingston 35, Johnson 31
Dec. 20 (H) Gov. Livingston 40, Union Catholic 28
Dec. 22 (H) Gov. Livingston 52, West Morris 44
Dec. 27 (N) Gov. Livingston 55, Morris Catholic 52 (OT) – at RC
Dec. 29 (N) Gov. Livingston 42, Roselle Catholic 25 – at RC
Jan. 3 (H) Gov. Livingston 46, Dayton 34
Jan. 6 (H) Gov. Livingston 52, Elizabeth 41
Jan. 12 (H) Gov. Livingston 52, Union 30
Jan. 14 (H) Gov. Livingston 47, New Providence 23
Jan. 17 (A) Gov. Livingston 67, Rahway 29
Jan. 19 (A) Gov. Livingston 42, Cranford 38
Jan. 20 (H) Gov. Livingston 61, Oak Knoll 38
Jan. 24 (H) Gov. Livingston 50, Johnson 33
Jan. 27 (A) Gov. Livingston 46, Dayton 28
Jan. 28 (A) Gov. Livingston 59, Union Catholic 28
Jan. 31 (A) Gov. Livingston 44, New Providence 28
Feb. 2 (A) Gov. Livingston 50, Elizabeth 26
Feb. 3 (H) Cranford 49, Gov. Livingston 44
Feb. 7 (A) Gov. Livingston 49, Oak Knoll 38
Feb. 9 (A) Gov. Livingston 61, St. Mary’s, Elizabeth 31
Feb. 13 (N) Gov. Livingston 60, Kent Place 17 – UCT first round at Johnson
Feb. 16 (N) Gov. Livingston 58, Union 44 – UCT quarters at Rahway
Feb. 20 (N) Gov. Livingston 61, Summit 35 – UCT semis at Johnson
Feb. 22 (H) Gov. Livingston 50, Watchung Hills 41
Overall record: (23-1)
UCC-Mountain Division: (13-1), champions
RC Holiday Tournament: (2-0), champions
Home: 9-1
Away: 9-0
Neutral: 5-0
Overtime: 1-0
Points for: 1,223 (50.96 average)
Points against: 811 (33.79 average)
37TH ANNUAL FRANK J. CICARELL GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT
SEEDS: 1-Gov. Livingston. 2-Cranford. 3-Dayton. 4-Roselle Catholic.
5-Summit. 6-Linden. 7-Oak Knoll. 8-New Providence.
9-Union. 10-Johnson. 11-Scotch Plains. 12-Plainfield.
13-Westfield. 14-Union Catholic. 15-Hillside. 16-Kent Place.
17-St. Patrick. 18-Rahway. 19-Elizabeth. 20-Roselle.
Roselle Park, Brearley, Benedictine Academy and
St. Mary’s of Elizabeth did not enter.
PRELIMINARY ROUND
Friday, Feb. 10
At Rahway
Kent Place beat St. Patrick – no score was reported.
Westfield 42, Roselle 30
Saturday, Feb. 11
At Johnson
Hillside 63, Rahway 40
Union Catholic 37, Elizabeth 28
FIRST ROUND
Monday, Feb. 13
At Johnson girls’ gym to the right
Union 42, New Providence 35
Dayton 57, Union Catholic 35
At Johnson boys’ gym to the left
Linden 61, Scotch Plains 54
Gov. Livingston 60, Kent Place 17
At Rahway
Summit 44, Plainfield 38
Roselle Catholic 36, Westfield 18
At Roselle Catholic
Oak Knoll 50, Johnson 29
Cranford 61, Hillside 55
QUARTERFINALS
Thursday, Feb. 16
At Rahway
Summit 34, Roselle Catholic 24
Gov. Livingston 58, Union 44
At Roselle Catholic
Dayton 57, Linden 56 (OT)
Cranford 42, Oak Knoll 31
SEMIFINALS
Monday, Feb. 20
At Johnson
Cranford 62, Dayton 48
Gov. Livingston 61, Summit 35
FINAL
Sunday, Feb. 26
At Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union
2-Cranford (22-3) vs. 1-Gov. Livingston (23-1), 5 p.m.
FRANK J. CICARELL UCT GIRLS' BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS
2011 - Roselle Catholic
2010 - Roselle Catholic
2009 - Roselle Catholic
2008 - Westfield - first time
2007 - Scotch Plains
2006 - Cranford - first time
2005 - Scotch Plains
2004 - Scotch Plains - first time
2003 - Roselle Catholic - first time
2002 - Roselle - first time
2001 - Union Catholic
2000 - Union - first time
1999 - Summit - first time
1998 - Union Catholic
1997 - Elizabeth
1996 - Elizabeth
1995 - Elizabeth - first time
1994 - Linden
1993 - Linden
1992 - Union Catholic
1991 - Linden - first time
1990 - New Providence - first time
1989 - Union Catholic
1988 - Union Catholic
1987 - Union Catholic
1986 - Union Catholic
1985 - Hillside - first time
1984 - Plainfield
1983 - Plainfield
1982 - Plainfield
1981 - Plainfield
1980 - Plainfield
1979 - Plainfield - first time
1978 - Mother Seton - first time
1977 - Union Catholic - first time
1976 - Benedictine - first time
Championships: Union Catholic 8; Plainfield 6; Roselle Catholic 4;
Linden, Elizabeth, Scotch Plains 3;
Benedictine, Mother Seton, Hillside, New Providence,
Summit, Union, Roselle, Cranford, Westfield 1.
