Battle of Falcons Slated for Tuesday Night’s Debut Postponed due to COVID Case
MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ—On Thursday afternoon, GMC Hoops learned from Mike Pavlichko of Central Jersey Sports Radio that the season opener between Monroe and St. Joseph’s has been postponed due to a COVID case involving one of the Monroe players. Both teams were scheduled to face off in what was supposed to be the kickoff to the inaugural season of hoops coverage by Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Both St. Joseph’s and Monroe were poised to be in the running to be in the GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top Ten. Although both teams lost significant players from a year ago with Andrew Turco graduating from Monroe and now attending Drew and K-Shawn Schulters and Tyree Ford graduating from St. Joseph’s, there was still plenty of firepower returning including Amari Campbell, Ethan Simmon, Myles Whye, Kody Robinson, Calson Goodwill, and Union Catholic transfer Eli Barlow for Joes and Chris Kobierowski, Aidan McLaughlin, Jake Labaska, Josh Okocha, John Okocha, Eli Okocha, and Nick Laughrey for Monroe.
St. Joe’s did lose another key player from last year’s squad. Forward Maurice Johnson, who averaged nearly 10 points per game for the Falcons in 2019-20, transferred to GMC public school power, Colonia, during the offseason. Nevertheless, the Falcons, under 2nd year head coach, Jan Coccozziello, figures to still be among the Top 5 teams in the conference this year, and could have been picked for another Final Four appearance. Joes, which has a sophomore class led by the likes of South Brunswick native, Danny Bellavia, won the 2020 Perth Amboy Freshmen Tournament.
Meanwhile, Monroe has been producing solid talent at the lower levels for the past several years with talented senior and junior classes that made back to back Final Four trips to the Perth Amboy Freshmen Tourney in 2018 and 2019. Many think that with the graduation of Turco, the Falcons will take a step back, but with incoming senior Chris Kobierowski returning after a season with over 400 points and 250 rebounds, and teammates like McLaughlin, a standout QB in football, Labaska, and the Okocha brothers, people may want to think again.
Monroe Township, a town that has grown significantly over the past several decades, now has a population of over 39,000 according to the U.S. Census. Originally known as a retirement community, Monroe has developed to the point, where its school district has became a Group 4 and Red Division school within the past five years. However, the town has also been hit quite hard by COVID.
As of January 21st, Monroe has had a total of 2,744 cases with 153 deaths, which gives it the highest mortality rate from the Coronavirus in Middlesex County at 5.6 percent. It has had about 7 cases per every 100 residents and four deaths for every 1,000 residents. Currently, Monroe has about 65 cases per square mile. Total land area of Monroe Township is just under 42 square miles.
During football season, Monroe had to go on quarantine from October 23rd to November 9th due to COVID. The Falcons actually returned to play against New Brunswick in a Monday night game, which they won 28-14. In that game, McLaughlin completed 18 of 28 passes for 242 yards and 3 TDs to lead the Falcons past the Zebras. Monroe finished the season at 5-1 after defeating both South Brunswick and Sayreville, which had never been done in the same season by the Falcons since they had joined the GMC Red in 2010.
In the place of the Monroe-St. Joseph’s match-up, Central Jersey Sports Radio is now scheduled to cover the opening night GMC crossover match-up between East Brunswick and Dunellen at The Faber in Dunellen. East Brunswick, which originally was slated to face-off against neighborhood rival, Old Bridge, had its plans changed when Old Bridge’s Board of Education voted to delay the start of its hoops season until February 1st. The start time of the game will be 6:00 PM.