SPORTS

North Brunswick's Paul Liddy is the HNT All-Area Boys Soccer Coach of the Year

Andy Mendlowitz
@andy_mendlowitz
South Brunswick celebrates its GMC Tournament championship on Oct. 29, 2016.

It was one of those magical nights where nobody from North Brunswick wanted to leave. The 10th-seeded Raiders just upset South Brunswick in overtime to win the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament title on Oct. 29. There were hugs and smiles and poses for pictures.

Right in the middle of the milling around was head coach Paul Liddy.

“As coach, my dream was always to win a county tournament,” Liddy said. “The second year I was here, in 2009, we got to the final against South Brunswick. They had beaten us. And at that point, you’re kind of thinking, ‘Well you know what, I’m at North Brunswick. We’ll get there again.’ But it took some time to get there again. And then finally, after all the years of coaching, when you’re able to win that — for me, it was the best feeling in the world.”

READ: MONROE'S MISCHLER IS THE HNT ALL-AREA BOYS SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR

RELATED: HNT/GMC ALL-AREA BOYS SOCCER TEAMS

It’s a season few at North Brunswick will forget. Liddy is the 2016 Home News Tribune All-Area Boys Soccer Coach of the Year for guiding the Raiders to their first GMC Tournament championship since 2005 and a 16-4-3 record.

What makes the season even sweeter, and perhaps surprising, is that North Brunswick went a combined 10-24 over the previous two years. Well, maybe the resurgence was surprising to outsiders, but Liddy sensed his close-knit team was on the verge with talented upperclassmen and underclassmen that had success on the freshman and JV levels.

“I couldn’t tell you what the record would have been this year, but I knew we were going to definitely put a better soccer team on the field this year, for sure,” he said. “I felt we would have success at some point, but I didn’t realize that we would win a county title so early.”

The team mirrored Liddy’s coaching style. Senior goalkeeper Pawel Dzielski said that Liddy was “high intensity, high expectations all the time.”

“He wanted 110 percent out of everybody,” Dzielski said. “He didn’t allow anybody to slack off. When everybody got kind of rowdy, he wouldn’t yell, but you would know it was time to get more serious. … The way coach did it, I feel like that’s what got the best out of us, just in his own way.”

Liddy, a U.S. history teacher at North Brunswick, would also check in with his players beyond the pitch.

“I could definitely say he’s just a great person, too, just to go to,” Dzielski said. “Talk about anything. He’s definitely helped me make some decisions throughout my high school career. He’s just a great guy all-around, I would say. Whenever I see him in the hallways, going to class, he asks you how your day is going. How’s school? I feel like, especially with the younger guys, that’s really important because that builds a bond. Building bonds outside of the game, I think, is what makes coaches and players connect more and makes this kind of season happen. I definitely enjoyed playing for him. A lot of the younger guys tell me they enjoyed it.”

Their bond was shown during the 29-team GMC Tournament, in which North Brunswick entered as the 10th seed. In a tournament of upsets — No. 1 Monroe, No. 2 New Brunswick and No. 4 Old Bridge all lost in the first round — the Raiders emerged as the biggest Cinderella.

North Brunswick advanced with wins over No. 26 Perth Amboy (1-0), No. 7 Spotswood (3-2), No. 15 Metuchen (4-0) and No. 3 South Plainfield (1-0). In the final against No. 5 South Brunswick, things didn’t look good. The Vikings led 1-0, but sophomore midfielder Chris Scariano scored with 4:27 remaining. In overtime, junior midfielder Fabrizzio Reyes booted the winner to set off the celebration.

“The way that we won it, that was the most exciting part,” Liddy said. “They never gave up."

Two days later in a Central Group IV first round game, the sixth-seeded Raiders again beat No. 11 South Brunswick on penalty kicks, 4-3. It would have been easy for the Raiders to still mentally be celebrating, but the team played focused and nipped a Vikings team looking for redemption.

On Nov. 3 in the second round, North Brunswick lost to No. 3 Marlboro 3-2 in double overtime after leading 2-0 in the first half. Liddy said, “they could have scored two or three more goals. … I felt like, ‘Uh oh. OK, I guess our season is over now.'” Instead, North Brunswick rallied with goals from Alusine Kamara and Scariano to force the extra session.

“I was just totally exhilarated by the fact that the kids fought back from 2-0 down and scored two goals,” he said. “It kind of just showed me just how much determination that they have. To me, that said a lot about the character of the team.”

Liddy, 57, played defense at Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark and at Montclair State. He initially worked for a bank for about 10 years, and juggled assistant coaching jobs. Finally, he said his love of coaching led him into getting a teaching certification. His stints included stops at Johnson, St. Joseph, Union Catholic, Rahway, Roselle Park and J.P. Stevens, as well as being the head coach at Colonia and St. Peter's.

Now, he has a home at North Brunswick and memories he will never forget.

“They were so excited when they won it,” Liddy said. “I don’t think they wanted to leave the field that day. They just wanted to stay at Woodbridge and kind of celebrate. They were very happy. I was very happy.”