A New Coach For Central, HS Basketball Milestones

Willie Jacobs was named head football coach at Central Regional during Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting.

Jacobs, a 1990 Central graduate, replaces Vince Casale, who held the position for 5 years while also serving as Athletic Director and will remain as the school’s AD.

Jacobs spent the last two seasons on Casale’s staff as defensive coordinator and among his stops before that was at Long Branch where he worked under Dan George.  A College of New Jersey graduate and former player who teaches Health & Phys Ed at Central, Jacobs told me last night that being named head coach at his alma mater is a “dream come true” and he’s looking forward to building a program.

The 41-year is the only African American head coach in the Shore Conference.

Scoring a thousand points in a high school basketball career is a noteworthy milestone and often marked by an on-court celebration and later earns that player a spot on a wall of fame or in a trophy case.  More often than not the milestone is reached during a senior season although some do it as a junior.

Rarely does someone college 1000 points while a sophomore but it happened last night for Marina Mabrey of Point Pleasant Beach.  Needing just 2 points coming into the game she erupted for 32 to help the Garnett Gulls blast Keyport and advance to the Central Jersey Group 1 semifinals.  Mabrey, whose older sister Michaela is a freshman at Notre Dame, could challenge Kelly Hughes before her career is over as the leading career scorer in Shore Conference history.  Hughes just earned that distinction this week and is still playing at nearby Point Boro.

Speaking of milestones, Joe Montano of Red Bank Catholic collected his 500^th coaching victory Thursday night when the Caseys beat Holy Cross in the state tournament.  In his 22^nd season with the Caseys Montano has 500 wins and 128 losses to go along with six Shore Conference Tournament Championships and a pair of Tournament of Champions titles.