Marisa Rose Bowl football players show versatility

Joseph Lepore set his feet, got in the stance and looked for the right launch angle.

No, it wasn’t connected with the Bellamy and Sons Paving Marisa Rose Bowl charity all-star football game. Rather, it was his prep for the Greater Middlesex Conference Frank Gavigan Senior All-Star baseball game.

The South River stalwart was slated to play all-star games in two sports in a span of five days. He also wrestled for the Rams.

He's just one of many versatile and well-rounded student-athletes competing in the bowl, which held practices last Friday and Saturday. The training sessions continue Monday and Tuesday with the game's kickoff June 29 at 7 p.m. at Woodbridge High School’s Nicholas A. Priscoe Stadium.

Lepore is playing for Team Marisa against Team Rose in the intra-county showcase featuring Middlesex County’s top graduating high school seniors.

More than football

All proceeds will benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, whose mission is to assist pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.

The foundation honors Marisa Rose Tufaro. The lifelong Edison resident survived six open-heart surgeries and a heart transplant before succumbing to a rare form of cancer in 2017 following a valiant battle. She was just 13 years old.

She was the daughter of longtime Edison Township Public Schools educator Cyndi Tufaro and former Home News Tribune and Courier News sports writer Greg Tufaro, an integral part of the all-star game since its inception in his role as a reporter.

The nonprofit will be donating funds from this year’s contest to PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital of New Brunswick and the Lakeview School, a program of the New Jersey Institute for Disabilities. Both were the initial beneficiaries of the event, formerly known as the Snapple Bowl and Autoland Classic.

Since its inception in 1994, the contest is New Jersey’s most successful charity all-star football game, having raised $736,000 for children in need.

Here is a look at some of the players on Team Marisa.

Lepore shows versatility

Going from season to season has just felt natural to Lepore.

“Not a lot of people do it,” he said. “A lot of people like to focus on one sport so that they are able to perfect it all year round. I like doing three because I was able to take things from each sport and use it in the other sports and I think that really helped me.

"I definitely have considered just playing one sport, but it would feel weird if I didn’t do the others because I really did love all three of them.”

He noted that baseball helped with having a short memory and going on to the next play with a clear mind, while the speed he developed in football translated to patrolling center field in baseball.

But it might have been his time on the mat that was most helpful. He wrestled at 132 for South River in the winter.

“Honestly, I think wrestling helped me get the most out of all three of my sports on the mental aspect, the discipline and just being able to train my mind and being able to focus on making myself better and keeping me in shape with the other sports,” he said. “I think it helped my gas tank a lot with football and with baseball.”

The Lepore name is well known in Middlesex County sporting arenas. Joseph’s brother Nicholas was a quarterback and second baseman for the Rams and graduated in 2015. His father Steven played baseball and wrestled for South River.

Joseph played baseball this spring for his uncle and South River head coach Michael Lepore Jr., whose father Michael Lepore Sr. was a legendary baseball coach. He had stops at Middlesex County College, South River, Cedar Ridge and Madison Township.

Joseph went to South River games as a kid and “always wanted to put that uniform on.” He’s certainly continued the family legacy while donning the maroon and white.

This past fall he did a little of everything for South River from filling in at quarterback because of an injury to playing safety on defense to being a member on the special teams units.

He mostly played receiver, though, and caught 32 passes for 562 yards and seven touchdowns to lead the Rams.

In his three-year South River baseball career, he had a .431 average with 65 stolen bases, 88 hits and 106 runs scored.

The 5-foot-8, 155-pound Lepore has decided to play football at the next level and committed to Albright College (Pa.), where he said he’ll likely play slot receiver.

First up, he has the GMC senior all-star baseball game that was slated for Sunday, June 25, and then it was onto Thursday’s football game.

“I really did want to play in this game – a lot,” he said. “The football part is always one thing. That’s always fun but it’s more. It’s a lot bigger than me. It’s a lot bigger than football.”

Lepore and the game’s participants visited the Lakeview School in Edison during the first week of June to inspire the students. The school is one of the nation's largest day programs for children with multiple disabilities.

Lepore helped students make American flags on construction paper.

“That was a great experience,” Lepore said. “I got a lot out of it. We went and we got to sit with kids. There are kids of all ages and we got to really see that they’re not that different from us and that everyone has different ways of expressing themselves. It was a great experience. You learned a lot and you saw things from different points of view. I think it’s definitely something that everybody should experience.”

Old Bridge wrestling stars

Area wrestling fans know the success of Old Bridge on the mat last winter, in which the Knights broke into the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association statewide Top 20. Two key wrestlers Dan Hennessey (RB) and Rob Orzol (DE) are playing on Team Marisa.

Wrestling success often translates to football and vice versa.

“I just think it’s good to see a new sport over a different season,” Orzol said. “I think it makes you a well-rounded athlete. I just think if you wrestle, you’re going to be good at football. It just happens.”

Spotswood's Bandoy plays big

Football players come in all sizes and Spotswood’s Brandon Bandoy knows he sometimes gets overlooked because he’s not a giant. In fact, he’s listed as the smallest player on the roster at 5-foot-6, 130 pounds.

No worries.

“I feel like people underestimate me sometimes,” he said. “They see me walk on the field. They’re like, 'Oh he’s a small kid. You don’t got to worry about him.' I do what I got to do and I show them that, hey, you have to worry about me."

Namely, the receiver uses his speed to rip through defenders.

“I take pride in it,” he said. "I try to use it to the best of my ability.”

Bandoy played soccer his freshman year but some friends convinced him to try football and the rest is history.

The well-rounded Bandoy is also an Eagle Scout and noted, “I’m an outdoors-kind of guy, so that’s one thing that scouting kind of helped with.”

Bandoy will compete in track at SUNY Oneonta and intends to have a dual major in engineering and physics. His events include the 100 meters and long jump.

He’s joined on Team Marisa by Spotswood teammates and two-way linemen Connor Manacle (6-4, 300) and Patrick Petscavage (6-0, 240).

The trio helped the Chargers finish 7-3. As someone who understands physics, Bandoy is sure to credit the big guys who helped him catch 16 passes for 450 yards and three touchdowns by providing protection.

“I give it up to them,” he said. “I feel like there would be times where I would have been pancaked on the ground somewhere if it wasn’t for them.”

Woodbridge proud host

From changing in the familiar locker room to walking out on the field with a red W, it just feels like, well, home for the Woodbridge football players.

The Barrons football players take pride in hosting the game.

“To us, to me at least, it feels like one last game,” Kaelyb Barahona said. “One last dance at our home field. It’s been a couple months since we’ve been in pads or anything. So even being able to put a helmet back on it feels great. … It feels great also to play with my high school friends, obviously for the last time before we go off to college.”

The Barrons selected for the game were Milton Davis (LB), Kaelyb Barahona (DE), Lazarus Lisojo (LB), Julian Tavares (DE), Dennis Smith Jr. (CB) and Michael Darkwah (RB).

Lisojo said playing at home “bring back good memories from football season. Bring it back full circle.”

Edison’s victory lap

The memories from Edison’s football fall will be talked about for years at reunions. The Eagles had several memorable wins and captured the program’s first sectional title in 30 years with a victory in the Central Group 5 final.

Lineman Adekunle Shittu said the championship was “refreshing” after the team improved each season.

The fanfare sure lasted for a while.

“It was amazing,” said Shittu, who will continue his career at Fairleigh Dickinson. “Of course, our principal made an announcement on the loudspeaker that following Monday. And even me, I got an email from my seventh-grade gym teacher. That was really crazy. That really showed me the town embraces the fact that we won a championship and it felt really good. All my teachers were saying congratulations.

"... My mom was so excited. I came home, I told her we won and I’m getting a ring and she squeezed me. That felt real good."

He’ll be joined in the game with his Edison teammates Jon Baio, Jameel Parrott, Israel Rodriguez, Selbin Sabio, Michael Strachan and Matt Yascko Jr.

“It definitely brings back memories that were great for the team and it was just fun coming back out here and playing football with people you played against,” he said before Saturday's practice. “It’s been something I looked forward to for a while. Just coming together, so many different talents coming together and doing something great. We plan to really play hard and put on a show and just play for charity, really."

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Marisa Rose Bowl football players show versatility