March 17, 2004
Prep, Goodman add to CAL reputation
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
The Cape-Atlantic League is in the headlines again.
Over the weekend, St. Augustine Prep surprised Nationally-ranked Seton Hall Prep to win its third state
championship, but its first in the larger Parochial A.
And Ryan Goodman, the current leader of Absegami’s phenomenal wrestling program, won his second
state championship and his 145th victory, an all-time New Jersey record.
St. Augustine won the 15th state basketball title by a CAL team in the last 15 seasons, the seventh by a
boys team, in an overtime thriller at the Ritacco Center in Toms River. And the championship was the third
for Paul Rodio, tying him with Ken Leary and Tom Feraco for the most by a CAL boys coach.
The Prep got contributions from everyone. Junior Anthony Farmer scored 34 points, including 13 of 15 free
throws. Mark Porter, headed to Wagner University, had 25 points and 10 rebounds. Ocean City resident
Ben Nwachakwu, who will attend Columbia University, was a force inside with 12 rebounds and five
blocked shots. Scott Pfeifer and Jarrod Frazier only scored five points between them but both did key jobs
on defense.
There is still work to be done for St. Augustine. Rodio will take his team to Rutgers in New Brunswick on
Friday to play Bloomfield Tech. A win there and the Hermits would become only the third CAL team to
reach the Tournament of Champions finals, joining the Middle Township boys and Egg Harbor Township
girls. In addition, a win on Friday would pretty much wrap up a No. 1 ranking in South Jersey.
Goodman’s 145th win on the mat broke the state record set by Bobby Stinson of Camden Catholic in 2002
and equaled by Camden Catholic’s Ed Giosa last season. The record was once held by OCHS assistant
coach Pat Lynch, who worked with Goodman as a sophomore and junior. Absegami’s Nick Bridge also
won an individual state title in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
Goodman’s record might not last too long, however. Andrew Flanagan of Bound Brook is a junior with 108
wins. And Delbarton sophomore Mike Grey, the only wrestler in state history to win state titles as both a
freshman and sophomore, is already 76-0.
Still, Goodman will go down into history as one of the all-time greats.
One final note about this season’s group basketball finals. Two schools won state titles in both boys and
girls basketball. Haddonfield (Group 2) and Bloomfield Tech (Group 1) were the double winners.
Haddonfield was the first South Jersey school to do it since Middle Township in 1994, the only time a CAL
school accomplished the fete. St. Rose reached the state final this year in both boys and girls basketball
but both teams lost.
The St. Augustine Prep basketball team and Ryan Goodman join Ocean City runners John Richardson and
Brittany Sedberry, Bridgeton runner Shameka Speed and the Mainland boys cross country team in helping
to keep the New Jersey sports spotlight where it belongs – on the Cape-Atlantic League.
Recent CAL State Basketball Champions
Boys
2004 ----- St. Augustine (A)
2002 ----- Middle Township (2)
1999 ----- St. Augustine (B)
1996 ----- Pleasantville (2)
1995 ----- Pleasantville (2)
1994 ----- Middle Township (2)
1993 ----- Middle Township (2)
Girls
2003 ----- Sacred Heart (B)
2002 ----- Wildwood (1)
2001 ----- Wildwood (1)
2000 ----- Wildwood (1)
1995 ----- Middle Township (2)
1994 ----- Middle Township (3)
1992 ----- Egg Harbor Township (3)
1991 ----- Wildwood (1)
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