Catching Up From Vacation

A couple of local tidbits I wanted to pass on which I missed while on vacation last week:

Southern Regional football coach Chuck Donohue Sr. was inducted into the South Jersey Football Hall of Fame last week during a banquet in Glassboro. Donohue has won 218 games in 38 seasons at St. Joseph of Hammonton, Haddon Heights, Buena Regional and Southern and is the only coach to lead four different schools into the NJSIAA Playoffs.

Donohue took over the Rams program in 1998 and has turned Southern into one of the shore’s top teams…they won their first-ever Class A South title last season. The numbers are impressive but even more impressive is the man himself…Chuck is a true gentleman in addition to being a very good coach.

It was quite a softball season for Toms River East senior shortstop Corey Schwartz, who capped it off by being named 1^st team All-State by the Star Ledger as well as the Ocean County Player of the Year. The University of Maryland-bound Schwartz batted .547 with 34 RBI’s for the Raiders where she earned 12 varsity letters over her high school career. Teammate Jordan Weed earned 2^nd team All-State honors after going 26-3 on the mound with 208 strikeouts in 183 innings in her junior season.

Monsignor Donovan football standout Brad Henson ended his college recruitment by verbally committing to the University of Virginia. The 6’5, 290 pound Henson plays center for the Griffins but most likely will be a guard in college. He chose the Cavaliers over a host of other schools who had offered him scholarships including South Carolina, Boston College, Connecticut, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Miami. Henson returns to lead Donovan, coming off a 6-4 season last year.