500 Palisade Avenue, Garfield, NJ 07026

Friday, December 30, 2011

BOYS BASKETBALL:Third quarter spurt gives Garfield its own tournament title

Garfield's Josh LeClerc.

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

GARFIELD – The Garfield boys basketball team is Exhibit A for the case against preseason preview stories. Those articles, from a journalistic standpoint, are tedious and usually include asking a coach to project how well unproven players will do over a nearly four-moth varsity season. If you had asked Garfield head coach Chris Annibal to handicap his team before this season began and his answer would have been quite different that what has been the reality through the first two weeks. “If you talked to me a month-and-a-half ago I would have thought it was going to be a rebuilding process for sure. We lost Richie Colon [to graduation] and we had some pieces back, but we didn't have any idea how they would come together,” said Annibal. “We also knew that we had a tough schedule to open the season. We had Elmwood Park on opening night, then we had to go to Rutherford. We won both of those games close and that gave us something to build on and then it just became...'Who's next?” What was next came on Thursday night in the final of the Garfield Holiday Tournament and with a 13-1 run in the third quarter against Ridgefield Park, the Boilermakers took control on their way a 51-48 win, their fifth straight to start the season. MORE...

MORE GARFIELD HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS COVERAGE

Garfield's Shaunteriah Douglas.

DECEMBER
GIRLS BASKETBALL:Freshmen help keep Secaucus unbeaten

OCTOBER
VOLLEYBALL:Haines and Garcia lead RP to sweep at Garfield