July 9, 2008
New faces in new places for the Cape-Atlantic League
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Things keep changing in the Cape-Atlantic League.
Last week we told you about rules changes that will affect some of the sports during the 2008-09 season. This week we'll
take an initial look at some of the personnel changes at the CAL schools. There will undoubtedly be more confirmed as
the summer progresses and we'll catch up with them at the beginning of the school year in September.
First of all, there is a new athletics director at Absegami. Steve Fortis has been named to succeed Scott Lodgek, who
left to assume the same position at Middle Township in the middle of the school year. Gami has been basically
functioning without an AD since Lodgek left. And Oakcrest is looking for an athletics director to replace Brian Currie,
who left after less than a year.
Absegami has replaced two head coaches. Dennis Scuderi Jr., who coached at Middle Township and has most recently been an
assistant at Rutgers, replaces Doug Colman as football coach. Colman has returned to Nebraska where he was part of two
National Champions And Meghan Tracey will succeed Greg Goodwin as head coach of Gami's girls basketball team. Tracey is
a longtime Goodwin assistant who played for Sam Botta at Egg Harbor Township.
At Millville, assistant coach Jason Durham has replaced Tom Wickward as head football coach.
Scott Douglass, the longtime assistant to Roy Wright, will replace Wright as Lower Cape May's girls basketball coach. It
is not expected that Douglass will inherit Wright's title as the "The GQ of the CAL". The early favorite for that honor
is Wildwood Catholic boys coach Dave DeWeese, though St. Joe girls basketball coach Jay Reed may be ready to accept the
challenge.
Ocean City will be replacing two highly-experienced head coaches who filled three positions. Bill Nickles, who has
coached OCHS wrestling for 30 years, has retired along with assistant Pat Lynch. The new head wrestling coach is former
Buena star Mike Castellini. He will be assisted by Angelo DiBartolo and Chris Clark.
The other retirement at Ocean City is Bill Moreland, the head boys cross country and indoor track coach. He had also
been head girls track coach but resigned that position last year and was succeeded by assistant Kevin Greene. The new
boys cross country coach is Matt Purdue, who just completed his first year as head boys track coach. And the new indoor
track coach is Debbie Cathcart, who will be assisted by Moreland.
In addition, OCHS has two new assistant football coaches - former Raider Joe O'Neill and Michael Hall replace Leo
Hamlett and Nick Bailey. And Trish Henry, the head girls cross country coach, returns to her other position as freshmen
girls basketball coach. She had taken a maternity leave of absence.
There have also been some changes among athletes.
Keep in mind that high school varsity athletes from New Jersey have until Sept. 1 to transfer under the current transfer
rule, the one that requires letter winners to sit out the first 30 days of the season. Any varsity transfer in September
or later without a change of address that includes a change in sending district will be faced with a one-year suspension.
So, if you're going to make the move, the next seven weeks is the time to do it.
Joanna Persiano, who won the Boo Pergament Award as the most improved basketball player in the CAL and was a second team
selection as a catcher in softball for Atlantic City, has enrolled at Holy Spirit. She will be a junior and must sit out
the first 30 days of both seasons.
Holy Spirit also lost its 6-2 basketball center, Hillary Drinovsky, who moved to Las Vegas.
Abby Logan, a 5-11 baseline player for the Middle Township girls basketball team the last few years, has transferred to
Ocean City. She will be a senior. And her younger sister, Georgia, a 5-10 eighth grader who played on the CAJr all star
team, will be a freshman at Ocean City. The family has reportedly moved, so Abby will not have to sit out 30 days.
Ocean City also got a transfer in the spring when Matt Lombardi, son of former OCHS athlete and current ESPN and Sports
Illustrated football analyst Mike Lombardi, moved from Denver. Lombardi made the conference second team in golf. Last
football season, Lombardi passed for over 1100 yards for Rock Canyon (CO) High School. In one game, he was 13 for 19 for
235 yards and three TDs. Because the family moved, he is not required to sit out.
There may be more significant transfers throughout the summer and more coaching or AD changes. If there are, we will
tell you about them. We will also examine the new transfer rule in more detail as we get closer to the fall season.
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Tom Williams' columns