'We plan on putting on a show': cheerleaders unite for Marisa Rose Bowl
WOODBRIDGE – The cheerleaders hadn’t yet arrived to Monday’s Bellamy and Sons Paving Marisa Rose Bowl practice except for one – Perth Amboy’s Nyron Odom, and he wasn’t about to waste any time.
Not with so much work to be done. So Odom slid on his white headphones and stood alone on the track by the end zone to rehearse the choreography. With the steps just right and hips moving in rhythm, he nailed it.
Soon, his other cheerleading teammates trickled in and the unit looked crisp during its two-hour practice.
The charity all-star football game features an intra-Middlesex County contest among the county’s top graduating seniors. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Thursday at Woodbridge High School.
Cheerleading has been a vital part of the event with all-stars coming together from county high schools. This year they’re performing a 2-minute halftime show and doing about 25 sideline cheers – all learned in less than a week.
The team had four practices to nail everything and it was improving each day. The key is mastering the count and then applying it to music.
The game’s longtime cheerleading coach Colleen Meyers told the squad as they practiced a dance routine, “Perfection is not the option today. Progress is.”
The team includes Sayreville’s Kaylee Pesci – whose mother cheered in the game – and Woodbridge’s Kaylee Russo, whose father Brian formerly coached in the game.
It also includes Odom and J.F. Kennedy’s Akiva Lewis-Allen, the first males to cheer for Middlesex in the nearly 30-year history of the event.
Meyers describes both of them as “enthusiastic.”
“Both with ideas,” she said. “Here earlier than most people are. Practicing on their own. They’re phenomenal. Akiva and Nyron are just great individual people. They’re just great young people. … It’s just the athleticism that they have and the energy is just really contagious.”
Deeper meaning
The event goes beyond just sideline chants and touchdowns. Proceeds 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 and game’s namesake is 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.
Lewis-Allen used to live in Edison and attended Lindeneau Elementary School when Cyndi Tufaro was principal. She is now the principal at James Monroe Elementary School in Edison.
“I actually know Mrs. Tufaro from when I was younger so that’s really nice,” he said. “She’s one of the nicest principals that I’ve had.”
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.
“We’re just honored to be a part of this every year being such close friends with Greg and Cyndi Tufaro,” Meyers said, “and knowing Greg from his days when he used to be the head writer for this game. There’s just this added importance in that we want to do well for them. We want to do well for Marisa’s memory and we plan on putting on a show.”
‘Break the barrier’
The cheerleaders are certainly doing their part. While there are two sideline cheerleading teams, they’ve coming together for one halftime show.
Lewis-Allen said the experience has been exciting and he’s gotten to reconnect with friends from Edison. It’s that type of camaraderie that helps make cheerleading fun.
“Apart from tumbling, one of my favorite things is definitely the atmosphere,” said Lewis-Allen, who has been cheering since his sophomore year. “I like the competition but then I also like being able to celebrate the victory with your teammates and with your coaches and being able to see how far you’ve come from when you first started the season to where you are now when you ended the season.”
Odom, meanwhile, enjoyed dancing and doing flips, and remembers his gym teacher encouraging him to try cheerleading his freshman year because those skills translates well.
“My sister did competition cheer, but I didn’t really get into it because it was like cheerleading is for girls,” Odom said. “And I’m glad that I’m here to break the barrier and show them … you can do whatever you want with what you got.
“… At the end of the day for guy cheerleaders, they look up to people. Like I know when I was younger, I used to watch "Bring It On" and stuff and there would be guy cheerleaders and I’d be like I want to do that. So, it’s coming up here and just like breaking the barrier. It’s just empowering.”
Odom, who plans on attending Keystone College (Pa.) and cheering, said his Perth Amboy coaches Vanessa Stankovitz and Cindy Cardona were encouraging.
In turn, Odom hopes to be a gym teacher and a cheerleading coach one day and noted he brings energy to his teams. He was asked why is cheering so fun for him?
“Why it’s so fun is that I just love feeling the lights and performing,” he said, “and I love people just watching me and letting people know this is what you can do when you put in work.”
Sayreville’s Pesci a legacy
Sayreville’s Kaylee Pesci didn’t have to go far to ask someone for advice about the game – her mother is quite familiar with the fanfare.
Pesci’s mom, whose maiden name is Jennifer Newsome, also cheered for Sayreville and participated in the 2002 contest then known as the Snapple Bowl when Middlesex played Union County.
Meyers couldn’t recall another mother-daughter combo that she coached in the game.
“She’s the one who was like, ‘Yeah, you definitely have to do it,’” Kaylee said. “She had such a good time and she said she still has friends to this day from meeting them here.”
Jennifer went on to coach Sayreville and Pesci remembers going to the Bombers games as a kid and getting to cheer with the older girls on Junior Bomber nights.
Now, she’s enjoying her own all-star experience.
“I’m just happy I get to cheer one last time,” said Pesci, who is attending Rutgers but not cheering, “and coming together with all of the Middlesex girls. It really is a great feeling and meeting all of these new friends.”
Woodbridge’s Russo continues family name
As a kid, Kaylee Russo would look forward going to Woodbridge football games. Not so much to cheer on the Barrons’ gridiron play, rather, she got to hang with the cheerleaders.
They were the real stars.
“I always looked up to them,” Russo said. “It was really cute.”
Her father, Brian, was a Woodbridge star in the mid-1990s and later coached the Barrons. He’s now Rahway’s head football coach. His plaque sits on the wall in Woodbridge's hallways with his accolades.
Kaylee said it’s always cool walking past it. However, she’s making her own name now.
Russo started with competition cheer in Pop Warner, played softball in middle school but returned to focus on cheering in high school.
Russo, whose mom is also a Woodbridge alum, is pleased that she’s representing the Barrons red and black colors along with teammate Caroline Ruiz.
“It’s really nice to be back here,” she said.
Cheerleaders
Team Marisa
Kyara Buckmire, Piscataway
Mackenzie Caffrey, Edison
Allison Dima, Edison
Laney Dwyer, Spotswood
Leah Guevara, Carteret
Cameran Lowery, Piscataway
Noel Lowery, Piscataway
Jade Mason, Piscataway
Adrianna Monforte, Carteret
Arionna Orozco, Edison
Megan Perpente, Spotswood
Caroline Ruiz, Woodbridge
Kaylee Russo, Woodbridge
Madeline Taub, Edison
Milan Trapp, Edison
Team Rose
Ariana Alvarado-Velasco, North Brunswick
Destiny Codrington, Perth Amboy
Bianny Galan, Perth Amboy
Jamie Gorel, Middlesex
Dominic Hilario, Perth Amboy
Emma Hochron, Sayreville
Mya Jackson, Sayreville
Laura Kozub, J.F. Kennedy
Harlee Larsen, South Plainfield
Melissa Leon-Tamara, South Plainfield
Akiva Lewis-Allen, J.F. Kennedy
Gabriella Maynard, Middlesex
Nikki Neumann, North Brunswick
Nyron Odom, Perth Amboy
Kaylee Pesci, Sayreville
Alexandra Sacco, South Plainfield
Giana Staikopoulos, Middlesex
Caitlin Ticas, J.F. Kennedy
Sydney Ward, North Brunswick
Karli Zamora, Middlesex
Coaches
Colleen Meyers, Spotswood
Darlene Robinson, South Brunswick
Sara Yocum, Metuchen
Georgeann Larsen, South Plainfield
Courtney Macdonald, Middlesex
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: 'We plan on putting on a show': cheerleaders jell for Marisa Rose Bowl
