Bouncing around from parades to sports

Some random thoughts today as I bounce around a bit.

I walked down the street from my office yesterday to watch the Veteran’s Day parade and was pleased to see a pretty good turnout with many school children in attendance with their teachers and all the marching bands from the Toms River School District. What I also noticed more than anything was the pride displayed by those veterans who marched or rode in the parade. You can see the look on their faces that serving their country was something they relished then and still do today.

The Toms River South boys soccer team has advanced to the South Jersey Group 4 championship game for a second straight year and to win that elusive title they’ll have to beat the team that ended their season last November. On Wednesday the Indians got a pair of goals from senior Cameron Geerinck while Dylan Parks added a goal and an assist in a 4-0 shutout of Lacey. Gerrinck has scored a goal in ten straight games and his 25 this season ties the school single-season record set by the late Dave Mitchell. South will host Ocean City Friday afternoon as they seek to avenge last year’s sectional final loss. For Matt Manley’s compete recap and video highlights visit shoresportsnetwork.com.

Meanwhile the girls soccer teams from Toms River South, Toms River East and Point Boro will all play today in sectional finals. South will host Seneca, East visits Colts Neck and Boro is home against West Deptford with all three matches scheduled for 2pm.

Brick Memorial High School has a new basketball coach but one who is very familiar with the program. Jason Bloom was recently approved by the Board of Education to replace Ed Sarluca, who was promoted to Athletic Director at the beginning of the school year. Bloom had been a Mustangs assistant since the 1999-2000 season and was part of three divisional championship teams while working under Kurt Fenchel, Ron Gerlufsen and most recently Sarluca.

The NJSIAA Football Playoffs get underway this weekend and tonight several teams will take part in what’s now called Crossover games but are really consolation games for teams that did not make the playoffs. Southern, Toms River East and Manchester all have home games tonight which for the Rams & Raiders will mark the end of their seasons.