For the fourth straight year, the Patriots of Colonia High School won at least a share of the GMC White Division crown. This year, it was an outright championship as Colonia emerged the winner in what turned out to be quite a horse race. It was also the tenth division championship the Pats have won since the Greater Middlesex Conference was formed back in the 1985-86 season. In addition, Colonia reached its 14th GMCT Final Four in the 22 year history of the tourney including its 8th berth in the last ten seasons. On top of all that, CHS made its fourth sectional finals berth in the past ten years as well as their eighth sectional Final Four berth since 1998.
Although Colonia did not win the GMCT, nor did it repeat as the North Jersey Section 2 Group III Champions, it still did accomplish a lot more than was expected of them after losing one of its starters early in the season. Nnamdi Usuwa left the team due to disciplinary reasons back, and the team struggled at mid-season with close losses at Woodbridge (69-66 on January 3rd), and at home to Sayreville (55-52 on January 8th), and Cardinal McCarrick (46-44 on January 16th). The low point then occurred two nights after the McCarrick loss when the Patriots traveled to Carteret, and were handed a 58-46 loss to the Ramblers, which were on a hot streak and appeared headed to its first division championship since joining the GMC White in the 2002-03 season. However, the Patriots showed what a top flight program it was. Unlike many programs, which would have mailed it in for the rest of the season, Colonia showed the heart of a champion by winning 10 of its last 13 games.
Included in the strong finish were victories over J.P. Stevens in the GMCT Elite Eight, Union Hill in the North Jersey Section 2 Group III Quarterfinals, and Rahway in the sectional semifinals. Obviously having Brandon Hall at the point guard position helped provided much needed leadership and stability during the difficult times earlier in the season. However, the improvement of juniors such as Mike Nweme played a helpful role as well. More importantly though, the fact that Colonia has been such an established program that has enjoyed tremendous success, and received a great deal of support from former players as well as the community also proved to be a key ingredient. Let’s not forget the work of second year head coach, Chris Chiera, who has learned plenty from his predecessor Ken Pace, and had the experience of the 1992-93 season as a player under the direction of former Metuchen head coach, Jack Krieger, to inspire the players to keep going when times got tough. In that 1992-93 season, Chiera along with teammate, Gene Derkack, and the rest of the Pats started the season at 0-12 before winning seven of their last eight to finish at 7-13.
Over the course of time one will find that there are many good programs in high school basketball, but what separates the great ones like Colonia from the rest is their ability to adapt not only from season to season, but during the course of a given year in order to maintain its high level of success.