Champions Future and Past

The Ocean County Baseball Tournament championship game is scheduled for tonight at Toms River High School East and in what is an unlikely matchup a pair of Class B south rivals will meet in the title game with neither able to use their top pitcher. 

Sixth-seeded Central is going for its first OCT title since 1986 while #6 Barnegat is in the championship game for the first time in program history.

Golden Eagles senior ace Andrew DiPiazza and Bengals sophomore lefty Jason Groome pitched complete-game victories in the semifinals on Saturday so they are limited to just three innings tonight which makes for an interesting scenerio as Central tries to beat Barnegat for the third straight time this season.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 and the forecast calls for a 30% chance of rain showers.

Field conditions will not present a problem when top-seeded Rumson battles #2 Southern in the finals of the Shore Conference Boys Lacrosse Tournament as the Bulldogs and Rams will meet this afternoon (4pm) on the turf at Monmouth University.  Rumson is seeking its fourth straight SCT title and beat Southern in last year’s final as the Rams try to become the first Ocean County school to win the event.

The Brick Township High School Wall of Fame will induct four new members during a ceremony and banquet tomorrow night at 6:30 at the school.  Created in 2004 the Wall of Fame honors graduates or those affiliated with the Green Dragons for their achievements and service while promoting pride in Brick Township High School.

The new class is made up of 1974 graduates Donovan Brown and Steven Filippone, from the class of 1981 Peter Panuska and contributor Bill Lloyd.  All four are synonymous with the storied Brick football program.

Brown was an All State offensive lineman who had an outstanding career at Elon University and returned to his alma mater to coach under the legendary Warren Wolf for many years.  Filippone was right next to Brown on the line and has made his mark as an exceptional coach at Hand High School in Connecticut where he’s won 209 games and lost just 64 while producing 7 state championship squads.

Panuska is arguably one of the great running backs to ever play in the Shore Conference and was the New Jersey Player of the Year as a senior before playing at the University of Tennessee.  He would later teach and coach at his alma mater and is now an assistant principal.  Lloyd worked under Coach Wolf for many years as an assistant coach and later a film technician.  The new quarter brings to 46 the number of Wall of Fame honorees.