An Epicurean lesson courtesy of a hard year

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013, 11:15 AM

BY  STEVE JANOSKI

"This is a year we'll never forget."

Every December, someone inevitably says this, but rarely is it true. 2012, though... this one might deserve it. Especially in New Jersey.

It started inauspiciously enough, I guess; no great, snowy winter, no wildly rainy spring to raise the floodwaters. All was serene, quiet.

It was summer's heat, though, that felt as if it brought the madness: the Aurora shootings, the burning of the Libyan embassy, the never-ending talk of economic collapse and a second recession. Hurricane Sandy and the subsequent blackouts. The absolutely brutal presidential campaign.

Then, as if that was not enough, there was the final blow: the bloody massacre at a Newtown elementary school that is still so difficult to comprehend, so horrifying, that no possible combination of adjectives can do it justice.

I will say it frankly: I have seen enough of this year. By far. And even though I do a moderate job at coping with it - mostly by writing this column - 2012 has proved as unnerving to me as it has to anyone else. Sometimes I too wonder if the world is going mad, or why so often the bad news seems to outweighs the good.

But even in this year that was blanketed in the worst that humanity had to shovel, there were moments of awe that proved we are still (I think) moving forward as a whole. Thank science for this.

The Mars Lander, appropriately named "Curiosity," landed on an alien planet and sent back information every day about a world that human eyes will one day look on firsthand. The Large Hadron Collider in Europe continued to amaze and performed test after test to slowly unlock the mysteries of the subatomic world and further blur the line where science and philosophy meet.

And in late October, a former Austrian paratrooper amazed the world by making a 24-mile freefall that proved that the human spirit is every bit as present (and important) as our intellect.

Then, of course, there were the smaller, more personal epiphanies that many of us came upon as a result of 2012's hardships. I learned that a world without electricity is not all that daunting (and not wholly unattractive) and that candlelight casts a far more gorgeous glow than an LED ever could. I remembered how dark the night actually gets and that nature not only does not really give a damn about us, but also has quite a bit more power than I recalled.

I learned that I need to get away from technology and Twitter and Facebook and phones, even though I love them, in order to quiet my own mind.

Now, as our calendars flip to 2013, let us not make the ridiculous resolutions that we won't keep or the promises to do that which we will never do; after last year, that should seem trivial and stupid.

Instead, let us pause just once to appreciate what is around us, whatever that may be - our youth and our strength, our age and accomplishments, our knowledge or wisdom. Just today, while things are still calm, because our lives so often end "en media res."

"Dum vivimus, vivamus," as the saying goes - "while we live, let us live."

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

http://www.northjersey.com/news/186260272_An_Epicurean_lesson_courtesy_of_a_hard_year.html

Football: Fake field goal sparks Pequannock

By Steve Janoski

PEQUANNOCK — It may have taken four weeks of struggle, but things finally fell together for the Pequannock Panthers on Friday night as a powerful running game combined with a suffocating defense to lead the team to a 21 – 7 victory over the Boonton Bombers.

That running game, which was led by back AJ Adamcyzk (15 carries, 89 yards and a touchdown) and quarterback Luke Foukas (10 carries, 145 yards and a touchdown), was a result of the Pequannock offensive line finding its stride, Adamcyzk later said.

"The line blocked amazing tonight, the holes were there… it was an all around good effort," he said.

After a slow start, the Panthers fell into a rhythm late in the first quarter as five straight runs by Foukas and Adamcyzk took Pequannock from the Boonton 41 down to the 11. From there, they set up to attempt a 28 yard-field goal — or so everyone thought, until holder Anthony Rosano tucked the ball and dashed for the endzone in a well-masked fake.

After the game, Rosano said that he and head coach Ed Kopp had spoken about the play beforehand and agreed to give it a shot.

"(We) were talking about that before the game and we said that if we got inside the 10 or 20, we'd definitely run our fake field-goal," he said. "We executed it, and it worked out well."

The play put the Panthers up by seven, a lead which they added to late in the second quarter on a long drive that was kept alive by Foukas, who, on a second and two from the Pequannock 28, turned a broken pass play into a 55-yard gain when he took off down the center of the field. He was stopped from scoring only by a shoestring tackle by Boonton safety Isaac Spann.

Two plays later, Adamcyzk saw a huge hole open for him on a second and eight from the Boonton 15, and after what he called "a few arm tackles" that barely slowed him down, he broke through for Pequannock's second score of the night. Going into halftime, the Panthers held a surprising 14-0 advantage.

"(The line) blocked, the hole was there, and I saw the endzone and I went for it," Adamcyzk said. "If I see that thing (the endzone) I'm going for it."

Boonton struck back quickly, however, with Spann taking the opening kickoff of the second half 63 yards for a touchdown. In the past, this is where Pequannock might have faltered, but instead, they rallied on the following drive to take the ball 69 yards over six plays and score, this time on a 17-yard Foukas touchdown run.

It was that drive, Kopp said, that might prove to be the turning point in the season.

"This was the first time our team actually responded, and we drove the ball down the field and punched it in… that takes an awful lot of belief and confidence in each other," he said.

Pequannock's defense then took over, forcing Boonton to punt on the ensuing drive and stopping them on fourth down twice in the following two.

The win means everything not only to the Panther seniors, the coach said, but also to the younger players, of whom there are many on the inexperienced squad.

"This is huge in terms of building the (winning) habits and making it through the grind of the season," he said. "Every little thing that goes right gives you a little more confidence to do it well the next time…and we finally came out on top."

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

Football: Pequannock roughed up by Wallkill Valley

By Steve Janoski

WALKILL VALLEY - It was not, by any means, the way the Pequannock Panthers wanted to open the season: a 40-0 thumping at the hands of the Walkill Valley Rangers that left few bright spots on either side of the ball for Panthers head coach Ed Kopp to ruminate on.

Simply put, his team, which has just four seniors on it, is "not playing at a varsity level" yet.

"We're still not 100 percent confident in what we're doing," he said. "We've got such a young team, and we're not playing fast yet and because of that, everything looks like it's in slow motion."

Unfortunately for Pequannock, Wallkill Valley's running back combination of Nick McLean and Mike Buvis played at a blistering pace and accounted for five of that team's six touchdowns. Four of those occurred on runs of 30 yards or longer.

The Rangers jumped out to a quick lead on a 25-yard Calvin Kassarate touchdown run, and added to it later in the quarter when McLean broke off a 36-yard scamper that also ended in the enzone.

Pequannock's next drive would end in a punt, and Walkill Valley would score seven plays later on a 2-yard dive by Buvis in front of the goal line. Buvis would add a 57-yard touchdown run before the half to put the Rangers up by four scores. The team would add two more touchdowns in the second half (but miss one extra point) to bring the final score to where it stood.

From time to time the Panthers would be able to exploit cracks in the defense, and quarterback Luke Foukas and running back AJ Adamcyzk broke several short runs that seemed to show promise. However, the Ranger's swarming defense would stifled any progress the offense made.

"They're big, they're physical, they fly to the football…and their inside linebackers are studs," Kopp said. "The game comes down to blocking and tackling. They out blocked us and we couldn't tackle."

From here, it will be Kopp's job to make sure that his young team full of sophomores and juniors does not lose hope after week one.

"The game is won on each play, one play at a time, and you can't let a half of football…or a game of football, ruin your season," he said. "We've got two months left and there's still a lot of work to be done. We have a young team, and we still have a lot of potential, and we've just got the try and realize some of that potential as fast as possible."

Some of that potential lies with Adamcyzk, who somehow managed to amass 80 yards over 17 carries.

"AJ did a really nice job tonight, he ran the ball hard," Kopp said. "But (he) needs to be able to anticipate where the openings are going to be…and that's only going to come through repetition."

Pequannock hopes to rebound next week when they face Hopatcong on their home field.

Football: Defense will be a key for Butler Bulldogs football team in 2012

By Steve Janoski

BUTLER — In Group 1 football, one great player can have an immeasurable impact on the outcome of a season. And, as Butler Bulldogs head coach Jim Matsakis is finding out, the absence of that one great player can leave quite a mark on the following years as well.

So, as the countdown to opening day continues, it does so in the shadow of the recently-graduated premier running back Mike Tenned, who scored over 30 touchdowns while leading the team to an 8-3 record and a playoff run last season.

Finding someone to replace him, Matsakis said, has been impossible; therefore, the Bulldogs aren't going to try. Instead, they're changing their entire philosophy, and moving away from the flashy barnburners of Tenned's days and towards a more blue-collar, back-to-basics approach that will stress a strong defense, low turnover numbers, and a grinding style.

"We have nobody that can replace him, that's a major void on both sides of the ball," said Matsakis. "This is a completely different team… he's gone, and they've gotta' move on and hope that these other kids can step it up and do some good."

There is a quartet of players that the coach is looking towards to provide not only leadership, but touchdowns as well: senior quarterback Chris Heredia, sophomore running back Ryan Cirillo, junior receiver Nick Ballistreri, and senior receiver Kirk Bargamento.

This foursome, Matsakis said, could come up with the 28 or 30 touchdowns the team needs, and together, provide the offensive firepower that the Bulldogs so sorely lack at the moment.

There is also some imposing size on the Butler roster, with several linemen measuring up at well over six feet tall. As Matsakis said, they're "tall and rangy and look good in shoulder pads," and the combination of the Butler colors on some large guys gives the team a psychological edge right off the bat.

Eight starters are returning on defense — a far cry from the three that came back last year — and of those eight, two are especially important: senior offensive/defensive tackle Billy White and junior center/middle linebacker Ryan Mack.

With the focus being on defense this year, as these two go, so goes the team. But with such a strong core surrounding them, Matsakis said, the Bulldogs could be in for a better year than many think.

"If they can play the way they're capable of, they're going to be very good defensively," he said. "It should be a good unit."

A new offseason conditioning program designed by Austin Wall of the Pompton Lakes-based Cannonball Gym was also instated, and Matsakis has already seen the dividends of that training.

Wall, he said, taught seniors like Heredia a thing or two about leadership, all the while putting players through grueling workouts designed to forge not only iron lungs, but an iron mind.

"Eighteen kids went there for five months…and one thing I noticed is that our conditioning and mental toughness is a lot better than we've ever been, and a lot of it is because of going to Cannonball," he said.

With the new blue-collar-Bulldogs' philosophy, that mental toughness will be of the utmost importance as his team begins to realize that Tenned "is not coming over the hill," to save the team.

"Of my ten years in Butler, this is probably the one year that the mental aspect means the most," he said. The first test will happen fairly quickly, as the Bulldogs' open the season against North Warren — a team they've never played before, and one who has "no fear" of the Butler name.

"I say to the guys sometimes that the yellow helmet is seven points right away…but they've got no history (with us)," Matsakis said. "That game, which will teach the seniors how to win without the players who have gone before, will be crucial."

Football: Pequannock Panthers counting on many new faces

By Steve Janoski

PEQUANNOCK — It's been nearly nine months since Luke Foukas' futile Hail Mary sailed over the head of Matt Jachera in the Butler Bulldog endzone, ending a rough-and-tumble Pequannock season that defied all preseason expectations and brought the team within 35 yards of advancing to the second round of the playoffs.

As this season begins, the current cast of Panthers resembles last year's squad in more ways than one as the school is stricken once again with the eternal plight of the Group 2 high school — while just four seniors return, several Pequannock residents who would undoubtedly be starters are playing for private schools like Delbarton and DePaul.

This leaves a lot of gaps, and the ranks will be filled with those who don't yet know the burning pressure of Friday night's lights. But still, with two of the most important starters in Foukas and inside linebacker Dan Mormillo (107 tackles in 2011) returning, a base has been set up around which a team can build on.

"Those two positions are vital on any team, and even though we've had huge graduation losses, it's comforting to know that we have the quarterbacks of offense and defense back to build around," said head coach Ed Kopp.

And much of the attention will be focused around that quarterback of the offense as third-year starter Foukas returns for his final year. His big-game experience and physical talent have made it clear that he will be the cornerstone of the team.

"Right now, he's the franchise…he's our Captain America," Kopp said. "When defenses play against us, their objective is to stop Luke…and make somebody else on the team beat them."

Foukas is as much a threat running as he is passing, and he'll be the focal point of an offense anchored by tackles Dan Kica and Vinny Parrotta on the line. Kica, who blew out both his ACL and MCL during the Butler playoff game, had offseason surgery on his knee and, regardless of the lingering effects of the vicious injury, will be good to go on game day.

But big questions at key positions remain, and Kopp said that the Panthers are still in the process of determining who will take over for departed playmakers like running back Anthony Rubino and receivers Matt Jachera and RJ DeGeorge.

One player who has been using the initial scrimmages to show off his talent has been junior AJ Adamcyzk, who may be asked to fill the void at tailback left by Rubino; Kopp said the back reminds him of last year's workhorse in both his build and style.

Also joining the mix is senior Tommy Zaher, a quick young receiver who's breaking of Pequannock's baseball hit record last year makes evident his athletic ability.

After that, Kopp said, it is a toss-up as to who will pick up the other starting spots as a number of receivers battle it out on the fringe. Showing his leadership skills, Foukas has begun taking the young ends out for private, early-morning throwing sessions long before the other team activities take place.

Although the young corps must still work on its overall physicality, the coach said that there are some naturally gifted individuals present, such as 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior Shpepjim Dauti, who's "decent moves" may land him a spot on both sides of the ball, and Ian Campbell, a 6-foot-5 sophomore tight end who will bring a conspicuous presence to the middle of the field.

"We've never had a prototypical tight end that we can use as a big target over the middle of the year; we've made a living on the outside," Kopp said.

He's not expecting the team to click right away, but he does expect them to follow the example of the last few Panther teams and be a "much, much better team at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year."

But with the first game of the year against an unfamiliar Wallkill Valley team, this may not be the time for early-season struggles; Kopp worried that the psychological effect on his young players of starting the season 0-1 might be severe.

But he's hoping that a new, more laid-back approach that the coaching staff has taken this offseason might pay dividends, and his attempt at avoiding that boiler-room atmosphere so prevalent in the most successful of high school football programs will have a calming effect on the players.

There's been more weight room time, more chalk talks, more tape review, more conditioning, and less hammering away on the field as the team readies itself under a truncated practice schedule owing to state laws that have outlawed double practices.

If it works out as planned, and the team makes a repeat trip to the playoffs, the coach said that maintaining strength both mentally and physically will be what carries them through.

Although he has turned the school's program around – from 0-10 in his inaugural season six years ago to 7-3 and a playoff berth — the ultimate goal of winning the state championship has eluded him.

But in the end, he said that's not really what counts; in a game like football, the relatively small number of contests means that each one, in its own right, is "monumental," and that the season is always more about the journey than the final scores.