GREG TUFARO

Most inspirational, memorable 2014 GMC sports stories

Greg Tufaro
@GregTufaro

The Greater Middlesex Conference had its share of triumph and tribulation in 2014, as student-athletes and teams from the league inspired and made history, while one member high school generated national headlines with a scandal.

In considering the most inspirational and memorable GMC scholastic sports stories of the calendar year, MyCentralJersey.com informally polled readers on social media and solicited input from reporters who cover the conference, relying more heavily upon the latter.

The story of Monroe hockey star Mikey Nichols, who has vowed to return to the ice after being paralyzed in a head-first collision with the dasher boards, and the Metuchen boys basketball team's ability to honor the indomitable spirit of captain Conor McCadden, who succumbed to bone cancer following a lengthy and courageous battle, moved readers.

Before the start of its 2014 season-opener, Metuchen high school basketball players touch the jersey of teammate Conor McCadden.

No less significant was the Spotswood football team paying tribute throughout the 2014 campaign to beloved former teammate Jeff Szatkowski while ending the school's 14-year division title drought.

Intentionally omitted was the arrest of seven Sayreville football players charged with the alleged hazing and sexual assault of four teammates inside the school's locker room as MyCentralJersey.com elected not to consider that ignominious event for this retrospective.

Following is a look at our staff selections of 12 stories that inspired or made an impact in and beyond the GMC this year.

'I'm going to stand back up on that ice'

Shortly after absorbing a body check that sent him crashing head-first into the dasher boards, former Monroe hockey star Mikey Nichols, who was left paralyzed from the violent collision, vowed to make a triumphant return to the ice.

"That ice I couldn't get up from the other night, I'm going back to it," said Nichols, who fractured his C5 vertebra in a Jan. 4 game. "I'm going to stand up on that ice."

Nichols underwent surgery Jan. 5 at Morristown Medical Center, where he remained hospitalized in intensive care for more than five weeks before being transferred to The Center for Spinal Cord Rehabilitation at The Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange.

Nichols, who returned home on June 5, is able to breathe on his own after needing a ventilator for months. He has some movement of both wrists and has wiggled his left thumb.

With each new milestone – whether it be the ability to more than quadruple the amount of time he can remain upright in a standing frame or extend the length he can sit unsupported – Nichols is constantly altering his goals while never losing sight of making a triumphant return to the ice.

Mikey Nichols back home with his mother Christine and father Steven.  A large crowd of friends and community members greeted him as he arrived.

Nichols has focused much of his energy since mid-October on being a spokesman for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation's "The Big Idea."

"Basically," Nichols said, "ever since I got hurt, it's been my goal to walk again. I believe a more important goal, however, should be to help paralysis come to an end completely, so no other kid or anyone this happens to feels the way I do."

Launched in October, "The Big Idea" focuses on groundbreaking research in the area of epidural electrical stimulation, which has improved the quality of life for four men living with chronic motor complete spinal cord injuries.

All four men can now lift their legs, flex their ankles and support their own weight while standing with the help of an epidural stimulator, an electrical devise implanted into the spine. The stimulator, which sends a generalized electrical signal to the spinal cord, also enabled the four men to regain bladder and bowel control, sexual function and to regulate their blood pressure and body temperature.

Nichols, who hopes to one day be eligible for implantation of the device, spoke about "The Big Idea" as an in-studio guest of Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton on their WFAN morning show last month.

The segment captured the quintessence of Nichols' personality, charisma, quick wit, sense of humor, indomitable spirit and love of hockey.

Courage

The Metuchen boys basketball team, reflecting the courage tri-captain Conor McCadden displayed during his lengthy battle with bone cancer, played its season opener just one day after the 16-year-old junior, who died on Dec. 13, was laid to rest.

"We have to do things in honor of Conor and just keep getting after it," Metuchen head coach Guy Jensen said a day after McCadden's untimely passing.

With McCadden's No. 2 blue road jersey hanging from a padded wall behind one of the baskets, Metuchen put 40 points on the board in last Friday's loss to Bishop Ahr, but registered a far greater number, raising more than $3,000 in McCadden's honor for charity.

In lieu of flowers, the McCadden family asked that donations be made in Conor's name to The Embrace Kids Foundation, which assists children with cancer and other serious disorders, and The Fuccile Foundation, which benefits local families in need.

Metuchen High School junior boys basketball player Conor McCadden died on Dec. 13 of osteosarcoma.

"A lot of nerves, a lot of emotions, but I tried to settle down," senior guard Thomas Chalker, another of the team's captains and one of McCadden's best friends who will be wearing No. 2 this season, said after last Friday's game.

"I really wish we got the win. I wish I played a little better. But I know he (Conor) would be proud of me. And I'm really proud to be wearing his jersey."

"It's very difficult here right now," Metuchen Athletics Director John Cathcart said of the atmosphere at school following McCadden's death. "It's just very subdued, very quiet. A lot of tears. He was their friend."

McCadden was a member of The National Honor Society and also played on soccer and baseball teams at the high school.

"He was just a terrific kid," Metuchen principal Bruce Peragallo said. "His one last kind of thing that he did was he did come in to address the basketball team captains. In my opinion that's a pretty heroic thing to do."

Jensen called McCadden, "As courageous as you could ever get."

Spotswood emotionally charged

The mood inside the Spotswood High School football team's locker room, which is usually loose during pregame, was understandably reserved.

The Chargers were a couple hours away from their 2014 season opener against Dunellen when head coach Andy Cammarano walked in on his players, who were about to take the field for the first time since former teammate Jeff Szatkowski and his girlfriend Nicole Surace were tragically killed in a car accident.

Szatkowski was a senior and Surace, a former Spotswood cheerleading captain, was a Monmouth University freshman at the time of the crash, which occurred Nov. 30, 2013, just two weeks after the conclusion of the 2013 campaign.

Chase Fee, wearing No. 7, looks for running room in division-title clinching win over Metuchen

A moment of silence for the teenage sweethearts, who are buried alongside one another, was scheduled to take place just before the opening kickoff, but Cammarano's players got an unintentional jump start on the show of respect.

"They were just really serious," Cammarano said of his team. "I know Jeff was on everybody's mind."

Senior running back Chase Fee was apprehensive about stepping onto the gridiron without Szatkowski by his side for the first time since he was 5 years old. The best friends began their football careers together as Pop Warner players.

Chase Fee (22) and Jeff Szatkowski as Pop Warner teammates

"I was thinking about him, hoping he would be able to help me out in the game," Fee said. "I thought he absolutely did."

Wearing Szatkowski's No. 7 game jersey, Fee finished with 202 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns, leading Spotswood to an emotional 28-14 victory that set the tone for the remainder of the season.

"The main goal was to win the game," Fee said, "but wearing that No. 7, I was hoping to make him proud with him looking down on us, and I hope I did that."

The Chargers, who in 2014 wore lime green helmet stickers, representative of Szatkowski's favorite color, with a black No. 7 in the center, went on to win the Blue Division championship, the school's first division title in 14 years.

Szatkowski's younger brother, Ryan, a sophomore who plays on the kickoff team, wore Fee's No. 20 jersey.

After defeating Middlesex 17-14 in overtime – Fee had a career-high 36 carries for 191 yards and two touchdowns in the win – Spotswood edged Metuchen 10-6 in the regular-season finale for the division crown.

After beating Metuchen, Spotswood players gathered for a team photo in front of the north end zone, where they posed with a Blue Division championship banner the cheerleaders made.

Using one hand, each player pointed an index finger to the ground while extending their thumb perpendicularly in the air to form a No. 7 in honor of Szatkowski.

"Jeff would have loved a game like this because he was a scrappy kid and played hard defense and I think he kind of imbued this defense with that kind of 'we are not going to let up' personality," Cammarano said, his eyes welling with tears.

Talk of the Towns

Led by Gatorade National Player of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns, St. Joseph became the first boys basketball team from the conference to win the prestigious NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title.

The Falcons, who returned four Division I scholarship players from the 2012-13 squad, which lost the T of C final to Roselle Catholic, finished 30-2.

The team's lone losses were a 79-70 decision to Montverde Academy (Fla)., which was ranked No. 1 in the country at the time, and to national power DeMatha (Md.).

St. Joseph, under the guidance of head coach Dave Turco, became the first GMC school to win 30 games in a season and the first to win five consecutive league tournament titles.

Karl-Anthony Towns celebrates playoff win over Paul VI  during NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title run

Towns, who is now a key member of the top-ranked and undefeated University of Kentucky men's basketball team, combined with teammates Wade Baldwin (now at Vanderbilt) and Marques Townes (now at Farleigh Dickinson) to score 5,260 career points.

The team's other top players were Raven Owen, a scholarship player at Canisius, and Breein Tyree, the lone underclassmen of the group who is currently a major Division I recruit.

The charismatic Towns graduated in just three years from St. Joseph with a 4.0 grade-point average.

The 7-foot-1 phenom ended his career with 1,160 rebounds, 484 blocks and 127 3-pointers.

The 'Hebrew Hammer'

Jonathan Schleifer, who spoke little English upon moving to East Brunswick from Israel as a fourth-grader, became the school's first state titlist in a quarter century, winning the 160-pound NJSIAA Individual Championship.

Jonathan Schleifer wins 160-pound state title

Schleifer committed to Princeton University after compiling an academic resume (4.3 GPA) as impressive as his career on the mat.

The parents of Schleifer, who entered East Brunswick Public Schools as an English as a Second Language Student, read countless books to him and encouraged him to watch TV shows with English subtitles, beginning his transition from ESL to the Ivy League.

Known as the "Hebrew Hammer," Schleifer was a four-time conference, district and region champion (only four others have won four Region V titles). He set school records for wins, pins and team points and ended a distinguished career with a 153-8 mark.

Schleiefer placed eighth in the state at 145 pounds as a freshman, fifth in the state at 152 pounds as a sophomore and second in the state at 160 pounds as a junior.

After defeating Bound Brook's Josh Ugalde 8-4 in the state final, East Brunswick teammate Michael Quintin found Schleifer jumping rope alone on the stage behind the bleachers at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

Quintin told Schleifer to stop jumping rope because all the matches were over.

"They are for today," Schleifer replied, illustrating the commitment that enabled him to become East Brunswick's first state champion in 25 years.

A Tiger tale

South Plainfield became the first boys soccer team from the conference to win a state title in two decades with a 4-3 victory over Princeton in the Group III championship.

Under the direction of head coach Anthony Perfilio, who won state titles in 1991 and 1992 as a player at Scotch Plains-Fanwood, the Tigers finished 20-2-3.

South Plainfield battles Chatham in North 2 Group III final

The state title was the first in school history and the first for a GMC squad since St. Joseph won a Non-Public A title in 1994 (North Brunswick was the last public school to win a state crown, claiming the Group III title in 1993).

With the score 2-2 in the 50th minute of the state final, South Plainfield was awarded a penalty kick on a handball in the box. Princeton's keeper stopped Jose Guardado's rocket, but Kevin Casteblanco hammered home the rebound for a 3-2 lead.

Guardado scored his seventh goal of the postseason and 23rd of the year in the 66th minute to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead. Princeton found the back of the net in the closing seconds to produce the final margin.

Princeton was only the second team to score two goals against South Plainfield all season.

Riding a Falcon's wing

Brandon Bielak turned in perhaps the finest all-around performance of any baseball player in GMC history, compiling an 8-1 record with a 0.58 ERA and batting .420 (37 for 88) with 24 RBI while leading St. Joseph to its fifth league tournament title in the last decade.

The right-handed pitcher, who is now at the University of Notre Dame on a full athletic scholarship, struck out 87 batters, walked just 13 and allowed a mere five earned runs in 60 and two-thirds innings.

His numbers were equally impressive at the plate, leading the Falcons in seven key offensive categories including slugging percentage (.625), on-base percentage (.495), doubles (8), homers (2) and walks (12). The lefty slugger fanned just six times in 103 plate appearances.

Brandon Bielak pitches in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament baseball final against South Plainfield at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater on May 28.

Bielak outdueled South Plainfield ace Kyle Moroney for a 1-0 walk-off victory in a memorable GMCT final.

Saving his best for last, Bielak, who graduated with a 4.2 grade-point average and whose fastball topped out at 92 mph, allowed one hit and threw just 76 pitches.

Bielak ended his career with a 16-4 record, a 1.27 ERA, 177 strikeouts in 140 innings, a .370 batting average (94-for-254), 61 RBI, 44 runs and 28 extra-base hits.

Township trifecta

For the first time ever, all three Woodbridge Township schools qualified for the NJSIAA football playoffs in the same year.

The teams combined for 13,379 yards – or 7.6 miles – of offense.

Colonia enjoyed the finest season in school history, compiling a school-record 11 victories before enduring a heartbreaking 28-21 overtime loss to Phillipsburg in the North 2 Group IV final at Rutgers University's High Point Solutions Stadium.

The Patriots were led by Home News Tribune Offensive Player of the Year Tenny Adewusi, who became the first league quarterback in 14 years to throw and run for more than 1,000 yards in the same season. He finished with 2,646 yards and 27 touchdowns from scrimmage.

Colonia's Tenni Adewusi is the Home News Tribune's 2014 Offensive Football Player of the Year.

J.F. Kennedy, which won its first playoff game since 1993 a year ago, became the first team in school history to win postseason contests in consecutive years. The Mustangs reached this year's sectional semifinal, where they fell to Colonia.

Woodbridge established itself as the league's most improved team, snapping a 10-game losing streak dating back to last year by winning six of seven games entering the playoffs.

Adewusi (1,576), Woodbridge quarterback Tracy Fudge (1,545) and J.F. Kennedy signal caller Andrew Roberts (1,145) combined for 4,266 yards and 34 touchdowns passing.

Sophomore wideout Quassim Glover moved into second place all-time among Woodbridge's single-season record holders with 50 catches and 709 receiving yards.

Colonia's Sam Pero was the league's leading rusher with 1,619 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Smith is top 'dog'

Cassie Smith is Metuchen's all-time scoring leader

Cassie Smith netted 810 points – the most in the state during the 2013-14 season – on the way to becoming Metuchen's career scoring leader and helping the Bulldogs win the Central Group I championship.

Smith, who set the school scoring record on Feb. 10 against Cardinal McCarrick, finished with 2,062 career points.

With a free throw near the end of the third quarter that produced her 1,774th career point, Smith surpassed 1992 graduate Emma Bascom on Metuchen's all-time scoring list.

The 5-foot-10 senior forward led Metuchen to a 19-10 record, averaging 27.9 points and 13 rebounds per game.

Metuchen defeated South River 45-43 for its second sectional title in three years.

A Shor signing

Ashley Shor's life changed drastically in the matter of split seconds on the morning of May 18 as she went from a happy, well-spirited teenage girl that loved softball on her way home from a post-prom party to having two strangers hold her hands as she laid on the side of the road in complete disarray, repeatedly telling those strangers, "I have to play softball."

Shor, a softball outfielder/pitcher for South Brunswick High School currently in her senior year, was sitting sleeping in the back seat of a car with her seatbelt on when all of a sudden the car was hit from behind, spun around and hit a pole.

She suffered a fractured back and ribs. She had two rods and six screws put in her back two days later and couldn't walk for four days as she spent six nights in the hospital feeling helpless.

"It was a struggle to do everything," Shor said. "I had to be showered, I had to be taken to the bathroom. I missed the last month of school, which my teachers had to work out with finals and things like that. I felt so helpless and useless, and I felt bad for my parents. They missed work that week and to be with me. It was just the worst feeling in the world. I thought I was never going to get out of the hospital."

South Brunswick's Ashley Shor signs her letter of intent to University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown

Last month, Shor signed a letter of intent to play softball at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.

"It was the best feeling in the world signing that," Shor said. "Once I got in the accident, my (travel) coach came to visit me in the hospital and all I did was cry to him because I thought I was letting him down, letting the team down. Playing softball, that's what I love to do and it was taken away from me for a couple of months and it was the worst feeling in the world."

With the help of her doctor, she was back on the field again in August, 10-and-a-half weeks after her surgery.

Brady's bunch

East Brunswick softball and girls soccer coach Kevin Brady reached the 300-victory mark in each sport this year.

East Brunswick's Sydney Rosa, right, gets a hug from teammate Michelle Popuski, left, after scoring a goal in the second half against Old Bridge during the girls soccer GMC Tournament Final in South Brunswick, N.J. on Sunday, November 9, 2014. East Brunswick defeated Old Bridge 1-0.

Brady earned career victory No. 300 as East Brunswick's softball coach on April 19, improving his record to 300-101 with an 11-0 win over Woodbridge.

Brady, who began his coaching career in girls soccer at Spotswood, earned career victory No. 300 on the pitch with a 1-0 conference tournament victory over Monroe on Oct. 27. The win improved Brady's girls soccer coaching record to 300-95-22.

In typical fashion, Brady, who always deflects attention from himself, said of his milestones, "It just means I'm getting old."

Including the 93 games he won as Spotswood's girls basketball coach, Brady owns more than 700 career victories as a mentor.

Brady led the Bears to conference tournament finals this year in both softball and girls soccer, winning the latter.

Going the distance

South Brunswick's Nick Neville, one of the state's top distance runners, proved his worth on track and field's big stage and on the Holmdel Park cross country course.

He was part of a quartet that broke a 40-year old Middlesex County record in the 4x800 at the Penn Relays and part of a quintet of scorers who finished second at the prestigious NJSIAA cross country Meet of Champions.

South Brunswick's Nicholas Neville heads toward the finish line in the 2014 NJSIAA Cross Country Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park.

The Vikings' 4x800 relay squad authored a masterpiece in the trials at historic Franklin Field, clocking 7:44.46 to earn the No. 3 seed for the following day's 12-team final.

In the final, Neville, Matt Tamasi, Christian Garrido and Morgan Murray bested their time of the previous day, running a 7:43.56 to place fifth.

Six months later, Neville placed eighth (16:00) as an individual while helping South Brunswick match the GMC's best-ever MOC cross country finish. The Vikings totaled 113 points and a 16:26 average to finish behind Christian Brothers Academy.

Teammates Matt Zamorski (16:08), Kyle McCann (16:25), Ryan Budhu (16:46) and Nicholas Cauley (16:55) rounded out South Brunswick's scoring.

The Old Bridge boys and girls squad both placed second in the 2001 cross country MOC.

Prior to the formation of the GMC, St. Joseph garnered the only MOC crown by a Middlesex County school, winning the title in 1973.

Contributing: Mike Becker