Vol. 52 Issue 9 Saint Joseph Regional High School, Montvale, NJ Friday, January 30th, 2015

The GuardianMiss Saigon Returns to the SJR Stage

By Che Paul ‘16On Thursday, St. Joe’s students performed Miss Saigon three times. Local grammar schools watched a morning show, St. Joe’s freshmen and sophomores saw Act I after lunch and senior citizens the full musical in the afternoon.

Miss Saigon, the Tony-Award winning love story of an American G.I and a Vietnamese bargirl, is being put on by SJR for the second time. SJR previously produced it in 2006. At that time, it was the first non-professional production of the musical in the world.

“The biggest difference this year is the depth of our talent,” said John Asselta, the play’s producer and co-director. “The leads in ’06 were great and they’re great again this year but the ensemble this year is significantly stronger.”

Juniors Nick Berninger and Chris Cheeseman alternate playing U.S. Marine Chris Scott who falls in love with Kim, a 17-year-old Vietnamese girl. Seniors Ryan Doran, Joseph Murphy and Julio Sanchez portray the Engineer, a sleazy hustler and owner of “Dreamland,” the bar where Chris and Kim first meet.

Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boubil, the musical’s compos-ers who also wrote Les Miserables, were inspired to write Miss Saigon after seeing the picture of a mother selfless-ly giving away her child so he might live a better life.

The cast prepared for their roles in numerous ways. Dan Costello ‘17 interviewed his great uncle, a recip-ient of two Purple Hearts in Vietnam. He said, “Listening to Uncle Johnny made me realize what a serious thing the Vietnam War

was and how serious war is. He also explained the impor-tance of the support at home and how he felt unsupported with everything that was going on back home during that time.”

The cast was also asked two questions: “Is there anything you would be willing to die for?” and “What would you do if you were Chris … having an unplanned child and finding out about it three years later?”

Ryan Doran ‘15 said, “Something that we really take for granted in America is our freedom. I would die for my free-dom because I would rather die than live with someone else in control of my life.”

Chris Cheeseman ‘16 said, “If I were in Chris’s situation, I would have brought Kim to America because I made the promise to take her with me. It does not have to be as my wife, but I did make my promise to her and a true man never goes back on his word. I would set up a steady home for both her and Tam [their child]. I would be able to stop by and give Tam the paternal attention he needs.”

James Zitelli ‘17 (far right) with (L to R) Alex Birchwale ‘17, Conor Dickson ‘15, Raul Ortega ‘17, Bryan Moise ‘17, and Patrick Breen ‘17.

Photo by Mr. Donnelly

2 The Guardian, Friday, January 30th 2015

News

Mock Trial’s Case Closed

By Joe Inneo ‘16Expectations were high for this year’s SJR Mock Trial team. The squad was led by returning veteran lawyers, Matt Cast-erella ’15, Christopher McCann ’15, and Christopher Presti ’15. The team also included veteran witnesses Stephen Col-lins ’15, Thomas Murphy ’15, Willima Rappa ’15 and Steve Collins ’15. In addition, newcomers Piotr Lukaszek ‘15 and Matt Carpentieri ‘16 had all the tools to make an immediate impact. Alas, while the team performed very well, it lost tough matches to perennial powerhouses Frisch School and Bergen Academies, effectively eliminating the team from playoff contention.

The annual NJ Mock Trial Competition attracts many of the top students from schools across the state. The Bergen county matches take place at the Hackensack Courthouse, lending a sense of gravitas to the proceedings. As Mr. Ken-ny, the club moderator noted, “Many of the lawyers who act as judges comment how their participation in Mock Trial as students was a key to them pursuing careers in law.”

This year’s case was a civil trial, and one that school admin-istrators and students could relate to. It involved a lawsuit brought by a parent against a school district for negligence involving the supervision of his child while on a school sponsored Leadership Conference. The student left the hotel, ostensibly in search of food in response to a medical condition, and while out, he fell off a wall and ended up in a coma. The parent blames the school for faulty policies and lax supervision, while the school contends that the student willfully broke the rules and put himself in harms way.

In the opening match versus Frisch school, SJR came out firing, with Chris McCann delivering a great opening. He and co-counsel Matt Casterella methodically took apart their witnesses on cross-examination and as SJR introduced

its witnesses, they looked to be in good shape. As McCann pointed out afterwards, “The judges commented how it looked like we were going to run away with the match, based on the first half.”

SJR then presented the case for the defense, and it was here that their experience shone. Rappa, Murphy and Striegel had Frisch’s attorneys flustered and fumbling through notes, and it looked like the rout was on. After Casterella’s close, it appeared to observers from both sides that SJR had won, but in a shocking decision, the judges gave the victory to Frisch by a single point. McCann and Casterella pressed the judges for information in a post-mortem, but as McCann explained, “They did not seem to have much knowledge of the case or Mock Trial rules.”

The following week, Christopher Presti and Piotr Lukaszek led the plaintiff team against Bergen Academies. While every SJR participant exceeded expectations, the Academies team was too strong and seasoned, and SJR once again lost by a single point. The judges, who were terrific, cited Piotr’s “energy and enthusiasm,” Presti’s “organization and clear thinking,” Carpentieri’s “convincing manner as an expert witness,” and that Collins “should be a performing arts major.” They also gave kudos to Casterella who filled in as witness Casey Damon at the last minute, and was great. “I know the case by heart so it was no big deal,” was his hum-ble explanation.

The SJR team has been well served by alumnus and board member, Mr. Matt Rogers ‘72, who attended many practices and gave the students professional guidance and suggestions for their strategy, arguments, and courtroom navigation. Thanks to him, and to the experience of participating in the New Jersey Mock Trial competition, the SJR students are well on their way to successful careers in law, if that is what they choose. They already know that it takes a lot of focus, preparation and the ability to deliver in the crunch. They also know that while justice is supposed to be blind, it does not always work that way, so perseverance and hope are necessary tools for life as well. Editor-in-Chief: Nick CaramicoManaging Editors: Ryan Doran, Liam Glass, Christopher WalkerPhotography Editor: Jeff ChimentiSports Editor: Joseph MalfaLayout Editors: John Henry Da Silva, Andrew ZoltowskiPhotographers: Nico Blasucci, Stephen Chimenti, Greg De BiasioStaff Writers: Jack Battle, Chris Brennan, Chris Cheeseman, Steve Collins, Donny Cuttone, Conor Dickson, Jimmy Dronzek, Arkadius Goetz, Joseph Inneo, Greg Kaulfers, Cooper Miqueli, Che Paul, Julio Sanchez, Thomas Stewart, Ryan Soranno, Mike Tyrie, Alex WalshModerator: Mr. Mackie

The Guardian Staff

Chris McCann ‘15 (L) and Matthew Casterella ‘15.Photo by Nick Saccoliti ‘15

The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015 3

NewsSnow, Heater Disrupt Catholic Schools Week

Monday night’s snow and an emergency repair to the heat exchanger on the St. Joe’s boiler upended plans for Catholic Schools Week.

The Dodge ball Tournament and Mass originally scheduled for Monday and Tuesday were postponed until today; par-ent-teacher meetings scheduled for Thursday were delayed until Tuesday (2/3).

The heat exchanger will be replaced on Saturday, and the temporary heating hoses, which have kept student, faculty and staff warm this week, will be removed.

On Wednesday, January 21, the heat exchange started to malfunction. Mr. Czerpak, who maintains the building, jury-rigged the unit so St. Joe’s had heat through last week-end. (The boiler creates steam that goes into the heat ex-changer, which heats up the hot water that travels through the building.)

“Catholic Schools Week is one of the busiest of the school year,” said Mr. Donnelly ‘71. “The snow days and the heat exchanger complicated things, but fortunately C.J. Vander-beck will finish their work this weekend and Miss Saigon [this year’s SJR musical] will go on almost as scheduled.” (The senior citizen matinee was moved from Wednesday to Thursday.)

Mr. Czerpak said, “We were lucky the Vanderbecks were able to complete the repairs within a week, and that Dave Williams ’00 of Advanced Electric helped get Sunbelt Rent-

als in right away for the temporary heat. Sunbelt is the same company which provides air conditioning for the gradua-tion.”

1995 was the last time the boiler/heat exchanger required major repairs, when new tubes were installed.

Of today’s Dodge Ball Tournament, Senior Jack Walsh, who threw 23 touchdown passes for the football team last fall, said, “I’m looking forward to taking [juniors] Joey Neglia and Austin Triglia out of the game real quick.”

Triglia said, “We plan to let our performance speak for us.”

Neglia said, “We have nothing to say to Walsh except: bring it on! We’re going to use our speed to our advantage, unlike him.”

The annual Student-Faculty basketball game was post-poned. It may be played during Pride Week (March 16 – 20) or Friday, February 14, the day before the President’s Week break.

“I’m looking forward to dunking on Coach Hoffmann,” said senior Ugo Ezemma, who played wide receiver for Hoff-mann and caught 15 touchdown passes in his senior season. “I’m not sure coach’s looks and basketball game are equal.”

Hoffmann’s response: “Ugo knows that there is no shot of me allowing anything like that to happen. I’m not sure Ugo’s basketball game is as strong as his junk talk.”

Mr. Jan Czerpak with the ‘misbehaving’ heat exchanger. The new one will be installed Saturday.Photo by Jeff Chimenti ‘15

4 The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015

NewsCafeteria Installing Debit Card SystemBy Chris Walker ‘15SJR students may have noticed a slight change in their lunch routine over the past week or so. On the weekend of January 16, Maschio’s Food Service installed a computer system, replacing the traditional cash registers that had been used to complete lunchroom transactions. The computers come with a variety of new functions, and should bring a height-ened level of technology and efficiency to the cafeteria.

Although the computers were only installed recently, Maschio’s Food Service and their staff had been planning to install the system since the beginning of the year. One of the most advantageous new functions of the computers is their ability to keep an inventory of products and track sales. Mrs. Hurtt, who oversees the St. Joe’s cafeteria said, “This new information will allow us to stock up on the most popular items.”

Without a doubt, the most exciting aspect of the new system is its use of SJR’s already existing student ID cards. In the coming weeks, SJR students will be receiving a letter with information about the new system. Among other things, it will inform students and parents of a process that enables them to load money onto their student ID cards, enabling them to simply swipe their cards at the register, eliminating the need for cash.

Mrs. Hurtt explained that the ID will essentially work as

a debit card. SJR students will be able to load money onto their cards in the cafeteria with cash or check, or online with a credit card for a small fee. Money takes about two hours to transfer to the card, and students will receive warnings when their balances are running low.

Frank Rambala ’15 was particularly excited about the convenience of the new system. “I always have my ID with me, and it is much more convenient than carrying cash that can be lost.” He explained that some of his friends attend schools with a similar system in place, and was intrigued by the idea of the system coming to his school.

Mrs. Hurtt was hopeful that the new ID payment system will help ease long lunch lines, as swiping should be a much more efficient method than paying with cash and waiting to receive change. She explained that, if students have their ID out and ready to swipe for purchase, the transaction should take no longer than a few seconds.

When told about the possibility of shorter lunch lines, students were understandably excited. Erik Feeney ‘15 said, “A lot of times, I do not even have enough time to eat my lunch. I believe the new ID payment system will help solve the problem and increase lunch efficiency.”

Sean Regan ‘15 was also happy about the new payment sys-tem: “I am excited about not having to wait online anymore

as well as not being asked by other stu-dents for change.”

Saint Joseph Re-gional has made its commitment to update their facilities very well known. The new media center, up-dated science labs, and new athletic field are only some examples of the school updating classrooms and implementing technology. The cafeteria’s new computer ID sys-tem will definitely add to the schools’ continued dedica-tion to technology and innovation.Mrs. Michele LaRocca works with the new debit card register at Monday’s lunch.

Photo by Jeff Chimenti ‘15

The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015 5

Miss Saigon

Clockwise from top left:

Joseph Murphy (L) ‘15 and Joseph McDonald ‘16

Chris Cheeseman ‘16 and Emma Piazza of Northern

Highlands High School.

The G.I’s at the Dreamland Bar performing “The Heat is

on in Saigon.”

Dan Rodriguez ‘15 and Emma Piazza of Northern

Highlands High School.

Photo by Nick Saccoliti ‘15 Photo by Nick Saccoliti ‘15

Photo by Nick Saccoliti ‘15

Photo by Nick Saccoliti ‘15

6 The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015

The Oscars

Boyhood took 12 years to make and has grossed over $44 million.

Keaton, Pike, Simmonds, Arquette Best ActorsBy Liam Glass ‘15The season every cinephile anticipates is underway: Oscar season. With the nominees for the 2015 Academy Awards released last week, now is the time that all movie fans give their predictions. The movies Birdman and The Grand Bu-dapest Hotel tied for the most nominations, with nine. Mer-yl Streep received her 19th nomination this year for Into the Woods; she has previously won three Best Actress awards. Until the awards night all we can do is guess and debate with fellow moviegoers, so until then, enjoy the movies and make your own predictions!

Best Picture: Boyhood. There has never been a film like Boyhood. Boyhood tells the simple tale of Mason, and his life from the age of 5 to 18. Mason experiences everything a normal boy would do growing up.  What makes the movie special is that there are no flashbacks, no multiple actors, no special effects. Boyhood was filmed over 12 years, with a few scenes being filmed each year to show the actors’ aging. The perseverance it must have taken to consistently film a movie through the years, and with such a successful outcome in Boyhood, earns it the Oscar.

Best Actor: Michael Keaton. Keaton has been out of the spotlight for decades. Since his years of fame in films like Batman and Beetlejuice, Keaton has yet to return to Holly-wood in grand fashion. Taking supporting roles in comedies and starring in B-Listers has kept him financially stable for years. His role in Birdman was almost of himself. And he

played a performance proving he is ready to make a return.

Best Actress: Rosamund Pike. Up until 2014, Pike has never been a part of something that expressed her acting ability. Then Gone Girl came around. Pike gained and lost weight for this performance, her narrative was haunting, and Gil-lian Flynn’s script allowed for plenty of room for Pike to add some of her own character. Her performance came out of nowhere, and an underdog is certainly one to root for.

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmonds. Everyone knows this man as J Jonah Jameson from the original Spider-Man trilogy. He added comic relief to the trilogy, and since then, his career is filled with stellar comedic supporting roles and his ability to sport near-perfect comic timing. His role in Whiplash is far from that. Playing an extremely well-written villain who breaks the sanity of Miles Tellar, Simmonds’ sinister performance is clearly one worthy of an Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette Sticking with one film for 12 years could not be easy. It’s also even harder to put in a solid performance over the 12-year course of one film. Arquette outshone her co-cast by miles, playing the troubling mother of Mason in Boyhood. Arquette showed layers of depth in her character as she struggles to raise her children in multiple places with different people. Her char-acter matures over the years, as does her acting, which only grows stronger throughout the film.

The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015 7The Oscars

Category Liam’s PickBest Picture Boyhood

Best Actor Michael Keaton - Birdman

Best Actress Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl

Best Supporting Actor J.K. Simmonds - Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

Julio’s PickAmerican Sniper

Michael Keaton - Birdman

Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl

J.K. Simmonds - Whiplash

Meryl Streep - Into the Woods

American Sniper 2014’s Best PictureBy Julio Sanchez ‘15Best Picture: Best Picture is between Birdman and Boy-hood. Birdman is an excellent film from start to finish. It has a star-studded cast and the directing and writing are superb. Boyhood was a film that took 12 years to make. Each year a couple scenes of the cast, which remained the same, were filmed. Oscar voters usually select movies that are extremely experimental.

Actor in a Leading role: Mikael Keaton (Bird-man) was phenomenal and should win. It was the first time we really got to see Keaton play with so many different emotions. He really conveyed the message that his character believed everything he was doing was for the better. Also, why not reward an old batman with an Oscar?

Actress in a Leading role: Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) stole the spotlight from Ben Affleck in a story about their marriage and love life. She took the definition of insane and incarnated it for all to see on screen.

Actor in a Supporting role: J.K Simmons (Whip-lash) will win. He was intense and downright scary. He was a tough mentor in the film that por-trayed through the silver screen to the audience

Actress in a Supporting role: Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game) should take the Oscar home but something tells me Meryl Streep (Into the Woods) will win. Knightley is a very strong female supporting but Streepplayed a very good witch. She made Into the Woods that much more enjoy-able to watch, a movie that was already casted well and entertaining to watch.

Overall, the Oscars this year are a little surprising. Not as many movies are given their credit where expected. Also, a lot of rumors began to arise when American Sniper was nominated before even coming to theaters. The good thing is that American Sniper has made over $261 million.

American Sniper actually seems to be good and is getting a lot of positive reviews. We will see who actually gets to take home the Oscar on February 22nd. Make sure you turn the channel to ABC that Sunday at four o’clock to catch it live!

8 The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015 Sports

County Tournament for Bowling Saturday

By Chris McCann ‘15The St. Joe’s bowling team has a league record of 3-3 and an overall record of 3-8, after a tough 3-4 loss to Ridgefield Park and an expected defeat to Paramus Catholic who leads the league. Despite these loses, the team has been able to maintain its second place in the league. The team hopes to pick up more wins before the season ends in a few weeks so that it can maintain its ranking.

Coming up is the Bergen County Tournament in which St. Joe’s is predicted to do well after its ex-cellent performance in the 2015 New Year Team Championships. At that tournament, Nathan Tombo ‘17 bowled a 258, placing him in the list of top ten male bowlers at the tournament. Tom-bo said, “With the season wrapping up, we start to look forward to counties on January 31 and Sectionals on February 14. We hope to do well in these big tournaments.”

If the bowling team is able to place as one of the top two teams at counties, they will be able to compete in States.

Coach Salvano also looks forward to what’s to come. Coach said, “We look forward to the county tourna-ment.”

Everybody on the team is excited for the upcoming tour-naments in which they can spend their Saturdays having a good time and maybe even going far in the respective tournaments. There are a few more regular matches that the team can use to improve its record.

Pierre, Meli & Hayeks Win County 200m RelayBy Joe Malfa ‘16The winter track season is in full swing at the moment and the SJR track team has enjoyed a lot of success through the early parts of the season. That success continued last night at the county relay.

“The start of meet tonight was delayed an hour while Olym-pic silver medalist in the 10k in 2012 Galen Rupp and 6 time women’s national champion Jordan Hasay worked out,” said Coach Nick DeVito. “It was great for our guys to see such elite athletes up close.”

Perhaps seeing those athletes up close really helped the SJR athletes, as they enjoyed great success at the meet. The team of Andrew Pierre, Tyler Hayek, Hunter Hayek, and Jon Meli came away with a victory in the 4x200 relay with a time of 1:34.6. Pierre and Meli also won the long jump relay with a distance of 37 feet 10 inches.

The success extends beyond the lanes of the track, as throw-ers Max Garcia and Antonio Vilsaint combined to throw 85-2 in the shot-put, good enough for 5th place. On the night prior, Vilsaint placed 4th at the Garfield shot invita-tional.

Going forward for SJR track, there is one invitational left at FDU on February 10th, before they compete at the county championships on February 17th.

(L-R) Chris McCann ‘15, Matt Tuite ‘15, Daniel Di Fresco ‘15, and Nathan Tombo ‘17.

Jonathan Meli ‘15 completes the long jump.Photo by Karyn Ochiuzzo

Photo by Stephen Chimenti ‘17

The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015 9Sports

Hockey 10-4-2; Loses Overtime ThrillerBy Donny Cuttone ‘16On January 10th, the SJR hockey team took on Ridgewood, who they had lost to last season by a score of 5-2. Ridge-wood was able to get off to a good start and score a goal in the first five minutes of the game, but things evened out pretty quickly – at the end of two periods, SJR and Ridge-wood were tied 2-2. SJR took the lead on a Nick Andresini ‘16 goal with just four minutes left in the third period. This looked to be a sure win for the Green Knights, but Ridge-wood scored with six seconds left, causing the game to end in a tie.

“We outplayed them all game,” said Ryan Grieco ’16, “but we did not capitalize on all of the opportunities that we were given. If we want to beat teams like this, we’ve got to out work them and hold them out until the buzzer ends.”

The Green Knights bounced back strong with a 10-0 win over Fairlawn in the first round of the Bergen County Tour-nament, moving on to face Bergen Catholic that Friday in the quarter finals.

The game against Bergen Catholic was one with constant, end-to-end action that saw the Crusaders take a 4-3 lead late into the 3rd period. With under a minute to play and the goalie pulled, Nick Krasniqi ‘16 completed his hat trick, tied the game up, and sent it to OT. Unfortunately, with just 34.8 seconds left in OT, Bergen Catholic scored for a 5-4 win.

“Although it was a tough loss, it showed that we could play with Gordon Conference teams,” said assistant coach Frank Kern. “I think that playing a quality opponent ranked 7th in the state will enable us to storm through the rest of the season.”

In one of the greatest games in the history of the SJR hockey program, the Green Knights may have lost, but they won a lot of respect.

St. Joe’s is 10-4-2. There are a few regular season games left before the conference and state playoffs, which the Green Knights will surely be contenders in.

In less than a month the Districts tournament will take place. The winners of this tournament move to the Regions tournament which will ultimately decide who will wrestle at the Atlantic City States tournament. This year Head Coach Anthony Riotto ‘91 plans on taking eight of his varsity wres-tlers down to the States tournament to compete.

This team has accomplished a lot recently – defeating Ber-genfield, Collingswood, and Northern Valley Demarest. The team’s listed above all wrestled some of the toughest sched-ules in the state but couldn’t best St. Joe’s.

Jonathan Tropea ’16 is the #1-ranked wrestler in his weight class (106) in New Jersey; Matt Zovistoski ’15 is 3rd at 145; and Michael Carfagno ’16 is 7th at 195.

At the county level, Vin DiFilippo ’16 at 160 is ranked 5th; Dom Mainiero ’17 is 5th at 170; and Vincent Mainero ’15 is 4t at 182.

Recently SJR wrestled Paramus High School to raise funds for “Pinning Down Autism.” Though this match involved two rival teams it served a greater purpose. Both teams and

Riotto Hopes to Take 8 Wrestlers to StatesBy Arkadius Goetz ‘15

their fan sections raised a significant amount of money. Un-fortunately the Green Knights lost to the Spartans but did not falter having it been a very close match in score.

Tonight is Senior Night. The Green Knights will wrestle Northern Valley Old Tappan and honor the seniors and their families.

Alex Poltarakov ‘16 skates against Bergen Catholic.

Daniel Dal Cortivo ‘15 wrestling against Paramus.

Photo by Karyn Ochiuzzo

Photo by Karyn Ochiuzzo

10 The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015 Alumni Spotlight

Checking In with Jason McCourty ‘05By Jimmy Dronzek ‘17SJR hosted its annual alumni basketball game this on Janu-ary 17th, which gave graduates a chance to come together and play in a friendly game. One of the participants in the event was Tennessee Titans cornerback Jason McCourty ‘05. Jason and his twin brother Devin, New England Patriots safety, both enjoyed great football careers at SJR and Rutgers before becoming well-known NFL players.

Jason grew up in Nanuet, New York with Devin and his mother, Phyllis. After graduating Chestnut Ridge Middle

School, the family wanted to send the twins to SJR.

“A few guys ahead of us went to Saint Joe’s,” said Jason. “We made the visit and really liked the school, so we made the deci-sion to become Green Knights.”

Jason and Devin were key pieces of the defense in the second-ary throughout their careers, both receiving All-County hon-ors as seniors and graduating with multiple state titles. Playing along-side Andrew Romans, now a history teacher at St. Joe’s, and Junior Galette, now an outside linebacker for the New Orleans Saints, the team’s defense was the best in the state.

“Our work ethic and ability to

work as a unit really put us over the top,” said Jason. “Coach Karcich pushed us to get better and play well together, and we all continued to grow as players.”

This group effort earned the Green Knights acknowledge-ment on a national level in the first half of the 2000s as well as dominance over their Non-Public Division for four straight years.

Aside from football, Jason enjoyed success on the court as a basketball player: “I always loved basketball. It kept me in shape during the offseason of football and had that team-work mentality.”

With senior leadership from the McCourtys and classmate Gerald Inman, the Green Knights were able to win a county title – something they hadn’t done in over 20 years.

Returning to SJR for the alumni game helped Jason remem-ber all of the great times he had at the school.

“Some of my best high school memories were playing basketball. Overall, I love to remember the winning, on the field and on the court” he said. “In my senior year in football, we played a highly-ranked Don Bosco team, and beating them just brought so much joy amongst the team.”

This win helped Jason and the Green Knights become the 22nd ranked team in the nation and end his SJR football career on a high note. He also emphasized the fun he had off the field in high school as well.

“I built some great relationships here at SJR and coming to an event like this gives us all a great chance to catch up with guys and reflect on the great times we had,” he said. Currently, Jason is having a fun time watching his brother in the playoffs, as Devin and the Patriots will be in the Su-per Bowl on February 1st. Jason is on the ride with them.

“It’s a blast watching someone I grew up with make it all the way,” he said. “Whether he’s watching me or I’m watching him, it’s always a ton of fun.”

While Jason and Devin are great players on the field, they’re even greater guys off the field. They were both recently nominated for the 2014 Walter Payton Man of the Year award for their fight against sickle cell campaign. The chari-ty work performed by both Jason and Devin can be attribut-ed to their time at SJR.

“I’m a true believer in surrounding yourself with good people,” Jason said. “Coming here and having teachers and classmates that kept you in line definitely rubbed off on me.”

Jason McCourty ‘05 at the alumni basket-ball game Saturday. McCourty just com-pleted his sixth season with the Tennessee

Titans.

Photo by Dom Vlahinich

The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015 11

Malfa on SportsCoach John Ceccio ’09: Law in the Fall, Wrestling Now

If you were to take a close look at various coaching staffs in the SJR athletic program, you’ll notice that a lot of the coaches are alumni who have found their way back home, from head football coach Auggie Hoffmann ’99, to assistant football coach Sean Kavanagh ’94, to freshman basketball coach Dan

Davis ’99, to head track coach Nick DeVito ’97 – the list goes on and on. The latest alumnus to make his return to SJR is assistant wrestling coach, John Ceccio ’09.

In his four years at SJR, Ceccio was a multi-sport athlete. As a member of the SJR football team, he was a three-year letterman and two-year starter as an offensive guard. He won two state titles: one as a freshman who was called up to varsity for the playoffs, and one as a senior.

Ceccio’s football coaches advised him to take up wrestling in order to help him out on the field. He had never wrestled before, but by his senior season, through a lot of hard work, Ceccio became a very successful wrestler – as a heavyweight he placed 8th in the state, top 12 at senior nationals, and was the regional and district champion.

“My athletic career at SJR definitely taught me a lot of life lessons,” said Ceccio. “Being a part of the football and wrestling teams I definitely learned how to be a gentleman, work hard, and work towards a specific goal. It’s important to win and have a team environment, and sports at SJR gave me the foundation to be successful in college and beyond.”

Ceccio applied those lessons to Amherst. He was a four-year starter at center for the Lord Jeffs football team, but the academics didn’t come as easy to him. He struggled to get acclimated, initial-ly his GPA was below 3.0, but he adapted, worked hard, and brought it all the way up to a 3.7.

“The values I learned from SJR to just keep working hard and push-ing forward really helped me reach the point in my senior year where I was doing very well,” said Ceccio. “I ended up

graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English.”

Ceccio will attend law school this fall. Dating back to his days at Amherst, he had always wanted a career in either medicine or law. He was pre-med while at Amherst, work-ing summers at Columbia Urology and with a sports agent.

“In the time with the sports agent, I realized that my dream job would be working for the front office of an NFL team,” said Ceccio. “I decided to take sports law class at Amherst and I just fell in love with the material. I was fascinated by reading different cases and was very intrigued with how language can be very ambiguous. Even things as concrete as a law really aren’t that concrete – something as subtle as a comma in a sentence or the way something is said can change the whole meaning of what is being said, and that really fascinated me, prompting me to take a career path in law.”

Ceccio has already been accepted into the University of Miami (FL), but he should hear from Northwestern and Georgetown, his top choices, in the next couple of weeks.

In the interim, Ceccio hopes to pass some of the lessons he has learned, through sports or otherwise, along to the wres-tlers he coaches: “Coach [Anthony] Riotto ‘XX was one of my mentors growing up. He taught me a lot of life lessons, and I thought I could do the same for the current wres-tlers. Looking in the past is 20/20 – I see all of the things I could’ve done better, I’ve learned from those things, and I try to teach the kids life lessons to help them excel in a way I maybe didn’t.”

John Ceccio ‘09 (R) with Anthony Della Fave ‘15.Photo by Jeff Chimenti ‘15

12 The Guardian, Friday, January 30th, 2015

SportsBasketball 10-3; 2nd Seed in County TournamentBy Jimmy Dronzek ‘17The Green Knights have been dominating on the hardwood as of late. After losing to Don Bosco and Roselle Catholic in early January they have won six straight games improving their record to 10-3.

Last night’s 60-44 victory against Ridgewood earned St. Joe’s the 2nd seed in the Bergen County Jamboree and was Head Coach Mike Doherty’s 400th-career win.

SJR started its winning streak against Paramus Catholic. They led at half 37-23 and maintained that lead the rest of the way, winning 73-51. Seniors Sean McKinless and Andrew McGuire scored 20 and 17; sophomore Chauncey Hawkins 10.

During this winning streak, junior Nate Garvey, McGuire, Hawkins, and McKinless have all had multiple games scoring in the double digits. Seniors Pat Doherty and Joe Giles-Harris have played key role in the starting lineup by moving the ball, rebounding, and showing a tremendous amount of effort on the defensive end. Sophomore Joseph Radi has come in from the bench to provide scoring from both behind the arc and in the paint.

“We are just working hard as a team right now,” said Radi.

“We get at it every day at practice to achieve our goals and it has led to success”

One of the significant wins during this streak was against Bergen Catholic. The Green Knights could not find a way to get a lead early on as buckets were hard to come by, and they went into the half trailing 24-22. Things completely changed in the second half. The Green Knights hit their shots and moved the ball well along the perimeter.

In the fourth quarter, McKinless heated up and scored 11 point of his 24 points. Garvey also had seven of his 15 points in the fourth, while Hawkins made six clutch free throws to boost his point total to 12. After playing from behind most of the game, the Green Knights won 59-56.

Coach Doherty was modest after Wednesday’s win against Ridgewood: “The 400 wins are really a result of the tremen-dous support I have received from the SJR administration over the years to allow me to continue coaching for 26 years here. I have been fortunate to have a lot of great players to coach over the years and been equally fortunate to be surrounded by excellent coaches on my staff. When you are surrounded by great people, success is bound to follow.”

As the #2 seed in BCCA tournament the Green Knights hope to earn their first county champion-ship since 2005.

“It is one of our goals to win the Jam-boree and we are going to keep work-ing hard leading up to the tourna-ment,” said Radi.

“We believe that we have as good a shot as anyone in the county to make a run at the title,” said Coach Doherty.Joe Giles-Harris ‘15 drives against Hackensack.

Photo by Karyn Ochiuzzo