A Look Back At The 2007-08 CAL Basketball Season
Posted by Tom Williams NJ Shore Sports at 4/12/2008 4:58 PM and is filed under Basketball,Winter Sports 
Here is our winter sports buffet, a list of the best of the just completed season from one point of view.
All Cape-Atlantic Boys: Ryan Brooks, Holy Spirit; Alex Nelson, Oakcrest; Josh Thompson, St. Augustine Prep; Travis Washington, Hammonton; Norman White, St. Joseph.
All Cape-Atlantic Girls: Tara Booker, Absegami; Ashley Durham, Sacred Heart; Sara Mostafa, Absegami; Victoria Wermuth, Lower Cape May; Nancy White, Ocean City.
Players of the Year: Ryan Brooks and Tara Booker.
Early 2009-10 Boys Team: Muji McBride, Atlantic City; Tom McKeefrey, Lower Cape May; Isaiah Morton, St. Augustine; Rashaun Rasheed, Atlantic City; Winston Rolls, Egg Harbor Township.
Early 2009-10 Girls Team: Tiana Cannon, Atlantic City; Alicia Cox, Vineland; Jade Howard, St. Joseph; Tenisha Mobley, Holy Spirit; Joanna Persiano, Atlantic City.
All Transfer Team: Hillary Drinovsky, Holy Spirit (from Barnegat); Tom McKeefrey, Lower Cape May; Brandon Pascucci, St. Augustine (from Wildwood Catholic); Mike Shaughnessy, Mainland (from St. Augustine); Matt Whitworth, Ocean City (from Chestnut Hill PA).
CAL Boys Coach of the Year: Nobody likes ties. But on rare occasions, a tie is the only answer. Because Atlantic City’s Gene Allen brought his young Vikings together after a terrible start and won a third South Jersey championship. And because Hammonton’s Joe Martino brought his school its first CAL basketball championship in 58 years. Because of their respective success let’s make it a tie for this year’s selection.
CAL Girls Coach of the Year: Paul Baruffi took the Ocean City girls as far as they have ever gone, replacing some valuable players who graduated and blending the new players into a second straight CAL champion and the school’s second South Jersey titlist. Special mention to Wildwood’s Dave Troiano who is no longer part of the CAL but whose six South Jersey titles and four state titles are still the league’s records. This year he notched his eighth career South Jersey title.
3 Is The Magic Number: It is sort of rare for a team to play another team three times in one season. But, this year, it happened all the time. In boys basketball, Holy Spirit-St. Augustine, Atlantic City-Vineland and Atlantic City-Mainland were match-ups that happened three times. Among girls teams, Ocean City-Lower Cape May, St. Joseph-Sacred Heart and St. Joseph-Wildwood Catholic all played three times. And, outside the CAL, the Wildwood girls won the South Jersey title by beating Pitman, Gloucester and Salem. In all three cases, it was the third time this year the teams had met.
Best of the Pool: There is a lot of talk about how good the CAL is in basketball. And for good reason. At least one team from the league has won a South Jersey champion for 38 straight years. But what about swimming? St. Augustine won another state title, Egg Harbor Township took a South Jersey championship, both South Jersey coaches of the year (Prep’s Jon Stinson and EHT’s Chris Denn) were from the CAL and 13 of the 28 swimmers selected All-South Jersey were from the Cape-Atlantic League.
Injury of the Year: When Eric Williams went down in the first quarter of Mainland’s game with Shawnee, the Mustangs were winning. They lost that game to drop to 0-2 on the season and were 1-6 when Williams finally returned. Mainland went on to an eight-game win streak, reached the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals and finished 17-10. But with Williams in the lineup they were 16-5.
Shot of the Year: It was January 29, a few days before the New York Giants would put together a big upset win in the Super Bowl. Vineland seemed to be on its way to a win over Atlantic City. But Leavander Jones threw in a 27-foot shot at the buzzer to give ACHS a 64-63 win. If Jones’ shot does not go in, Vineland wins the division championship on the tiebreaker and ties Hammonton for the conference title. But the shot went in and the Vikings won both of those championships.
Sad Farewells: Two of the Cape-Atlantic League’s most dedicated girls basketball coaches will not return next season. Absegami’s Greg Goodwin will leave with a 277-54 career record, including 11 division titles, nine conference championships, five overall CAL titles, five South Jersey championships and two state titles. He took an average program and has built it into the CAL program to which every other team is compared. And Roy Wright, who fittingly ended his Lower Cape May career in the South Jersey championship game, was 133-119. He worked as hard at the job as anyone and he did it 12 months a year. He developed many players into college players and, more than any coach before or since, brought fashion sense to the sidelines. It will not seem the same without them.
The Cape-Atlantic League was great again in the 2007-08 winter season. There are many young players returning, so things figure to be just as good next year.
All Cape-Atlantic Boys: Ryan Brooks, Holy Spirit; Alex Nelson, Oakcrest; Josh Thompson, St. Augustine Prep; Travis Washington, Hammonton; Norman White, St. Joseph.
All Cape-Atlantic Girls: Tara Booker, Absegami; Ashley Durham, Sacred Heart; Sara Mostafa, Absegami; Victoria Wermuth, Lower Cape May; Nancy White, Ocean City.
Players of the Year: Ryan Brooks and Tara Booker.
Early 2009-10 Boys Team: Muji McBride, Atlantic City; Tom McKeefrey, Lower Cape May; Isaiah Morton, St. Augustine; Rashaun Rasheed, Atlantic City; Winston Rolls, Egg Harbor Township.
Early 2009-10 Girls Team: Tiana Cannon, Atlantic City; Alicia Cox, Vineland; Jade Howard, St. Joseph; Tenisha Mobley, Holy Spirit; Joanna Persiano, Atlantic City.
All Transfer Team: Hillary Drinovsky, Holy Spirit (from Barnegat); Tom McKeefrey, Lower Cape May; Brandon Pascucci, St. Augustine (from Wildwood Catholic); Mike Shaughnessy, Mainland (from St. Augustine); Matt Whitworth, Ocean City (from Chestnut Hill PA).
CAL Boys Coach of the Year: Nobody likes ties. But on rare occasions, a tie is the only answer. Because Atlantic City’s Gene Allen brought his young Vikings together after a terrible start and won a third South Jersey championship. And because Hammonton’s Joe Martino brought his school its first CAL basketball championship in 58 years. Because of their respective success let’s make it a tie for this year’s selection.
CAL Girls Coach of the Year: Paul Baruffi took the Ocean City girls as far as they have ever gone, replacing some valuable players who graduated and blending the new players into a second straight CAL champion and the school’s second South Jersey titlist. Special mention to Wildwood’s Dave Troiano who is no longer part of the CAL but whose six South Jersey titles and four state titles are still the league’s records. This year he notched his eighth career South Jersey title.
3 Is The Magic Number: It is sort of rare for a team to play another team three times in one season. But, this year, it happened all the time. In boys basketball, Holy Spirit-St. Augustine, Atlantic City-Vineland and Atlantic City-Mainland were match-ups that happened three times. Among girls teams, Ocean City-Lower Cape May, St. Joseph-Sacred Heart and St. Joseph-Wildwood Catholic all played three times. And, outside the CAL, the Wildwood girls won the South Jersey title by beating Pitman, Gloucester and Salem. In all three cases, it was the third time this year the teams had met.
Best of the Pool: There is a lot of talk about how good the CAL is in basketball. And for good reason. At least one team from the league has won a South Jersey champion for 38 straight years. But what about swimming? St. Augustine won another state title, Egg Harbor Township took a South Jersey championship, both South Jersey coaches of the year (Prep’s Jon Stinson and EHT’s Chris Denn) were from the CAL and 13 of the 28 swimmers selected All-South Jersey were from the Cape-Atlantic League.
Injury of the Year: When Eric Williams went down in the first quarter of Mainland’s game with Shawnee, the Mustangs were winning. They lost that game to drop to 0-2 on the season and were 1-6 when Williams finally returned. Mainland went on to an eight-game win streak, reached the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals and finished 17-10. But with Williams in the lineup they were 16-5.
Shot of the Year: It was January 29, a few days before the New York Giants would put together a big upset win in the Super Bowl. Vineland seemed to be on its way to a win over Atlantic City. But Leavander Jones threw in a 27-foot shot at the buzzer to give ACHS a 64-63 win. If Jones’ shot does not go in, Vineland wins the division championship on the tiebreaker and ties Hammonton for the conference title. But the shot went in and the Vikings won both of those championships.
Sad Farewells: Two of the Cape-Atlantic League’s most dedicated girls basketball coaches will not return next season. Absegami’s Greg Goodwin will leave with a 277-54 career record, including 11 division titles, nine conference championships, five overall CAL titles, five South Jersey championships and two state titles. He took an average program and has built it into the CAL program to which every other team is compared. And Roy Wright, who fittingly ended his Lower Cape May career in the South Jersey championship game, was 133-119. He worked as hard at the job as anyone and he did it 12 months a year. He developed many players into college players and, more than any coach before or since, brought fashion sense to the sidelines. It will not seem the same without them.
The Cape-Atlantic League was great again in the 2007-08 winter season. There are many young players returning, so things figure to be just as good next year.
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