Boys Volleyball: St. Joseph rallies to win Group 2 title
SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Things sure didn’t look good for the St. Joseph volleyball team in Saturday’s NJSIAA Group 2 final.
The Falcons trailed 24-21 against Summit in the third game with all the momentum and crowd noise swinging towards the Hilltoppers way.
“Most teams pack it in at that point,” Falcons coach Miguel Cabrita said. “They quit. They close down. Our guys just went in there and said one point at a time. One point at a time.”
What else could one do at that point?
Senior Nick Drake gave a pep talk in the timeout huddle and the Falcons gave their fans a time capsule memory.
St. Joseph rallied for the rousing 27-25 win to end the three-game match for the state title at host South Brunswick High School.
The Falcons took an epic first game, 25-23. Starting at 16-16, there were eight ties until the end. Back and forth they went with neither team able to gain an edge.
The second game was tied at 14-14, but Summit seized control and opened a 20-15 lead en route to the 25-18 win to force the third game and set up the dramatic ending for St. Joseph.
St. Joe’s 7-foot star Scott Schmitt delivered power shot after power shot with his teammates picking up the slack all the way to the trophy celebration.
What does it mean
St. Joseph captured the program’s fourth state title. The Falcons also won in 2002, 2006 and 2008.
St. Joes faced question marks in the beginning of the season with Drake and Schmitt being the only returning starters. But they came together with players like seniors Bobby IIcyn, Aarav Zutshi and Nathaniel Yee; juniors Shlok Patel, Noah Stout and Johan Vaidyan; and sophomores Dean Buckley, Sam Contursi stepping up to play key roles.
St. Joseph (21-8) reached the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final and the South Group 2 sectional crown in a memorable season that saw Cabrita win his 500th career game.
Key points
Down 24-21 in that third set, Drake faked a pass and got the point over the net to make it 24-22 and St. Joseph earned another point to cut it to 24-23.
Summit was on the verge of winning with the ball about to hit the ground, but Sam Contursi dove and kept the ball alive. Schmitt got it over the net for the point and a 24-24 tie. Zutshi had an ace for St. Joe’s to make it 25-24, but Summit stayed alive.
IIcyn's point gave the Falcons a 26-25 lead and Schmitt fired an ace in the right corner for the win and the St. Joseph’s victory celebration was on.
Game balls
Schmitt led the way with 17 kills and some of his shots ricocheted off Summit players as they attempted a return. IIcyn chipped in seven kills and a team-high nine digs and Patel had five kills. Drake at setter had 25 assists. Additionally, Contursi added eight digs, Zutshi had six digs and Stout finished with five digs.
They said it
Cabrita on the team’s mindset down the stretch, “They came into that last timeout huddle. They ran that huddle themselves, which was just awesome to see them take that ownership, the seniors and they blasted right though onto the court.”
Cabrita on the Falcons’ deep lineup that’s been able to produce when opponents key on Schmitt, “Teams know coming in that’s the guy, right? So they double up, triple up on him. So our other guys have to be ready to produce points as well. And I think everybody added to that aspect of the game today. Our backer, our defensive players, scrapping up some of the balls. Jumping over barriers just to keep everything in play. That’s the kind of no give up attitude that we like.”
Schmitt on the team huddle in the third game down 24-21 during a timeout, “Nick Drake really gave us a pretty inspiring speech in there. He told us, ‘Hey, it’s not over. It’s not over. Like we know we could beat this team. We know we’ve come back before. We know that we won the first set and we can hang with these guys. We know that we can beat them.’ And that really resonated with a lot of us. Nick Drake was the one who really inspired us.”
Schmitt on the team’s mental toughness, “We really have a good way of just staying in games and never letting a big run deter us or a big game get us down and stop playing well. We’ve been really good at just digging our feet in and playing on.”
Schmitt on his ace to win the game, “I knew when it was 26-25 and I had the serve in my hands, I could feel that I could hit something special here and I went out there and did it. I went out there and served as hard as I could and it landed in.”
Drake on what he said to the team in the final huddle at 24-21, "I told them, I’m like, 'We are not out of this game. We are not losing. We could do it.' ... We knew we had to win and we had so much heart. I’m so proud of my team.”
Drake on the presence of Schmitt, "It opens it up so much. Everyone plays back. Everyone’s expecting the ball to go to Scott. So it opens up our other hitters and my job is just to get the ball to everyone.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Boys Volleyball: St. Joseph rallies to win Group 2 title
