Bombers Coach Taking Assistant Coach Position at Another Alma Mater, Ramapo College
Sayreville boys hoops coach, John Wojcik pictured at the right along the Bomber sidelines in an opening weekend game against South River at the 2018 Friends of South Amboy Showcase. Wojcik recently stepped down after 10 seasons including 9 as head coach to take an assistant coach position at Ramapo College.
PARLIN, NJ—Last week, GMC Hoops learned via twitter that Sayreville boys basketball head coach, John Wojcik stepped down to take an assistant coach position at another school close to his heart, Ramapo College, where he played college hoops after his playing days at Sayreville.
Under Wojcik, Sayreville went 129-108 during his 9 seasons at the helm including a 75-47 record in White Division play. The Bombers won four GMC White titles, got to the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals twice, reached the GMCT Quarterfinals five straight times, and reached the GMCT Final Four twice including a 2017 GMCT Championship berth during Wojcik’s tenure.
Wojcik took over the Sayreville hoops program from Shawn Currie after Currie took an administrative position in the district in 2010. Within several years of taking the helm, Wojcik had rebuilt the program back to its winning ways with the likes of Rob Seraji, Corey Taite, Jehyve Floyd, Malik Pressley, and Myles Hartsfield. The Bombers, which finished the year at 16-11 overall, reached the GMCT Quarterfinals in 2013 before losing to East Brunswick.
The following season, the Bombers rose up to become White Division champions with an unblemished 16-0 mark after the division had been dominated by North Brunswick for the previous several years. Sayreville, which finished 24-4 in 2013-14, advanced to the GMCT semifinals, where the Bombers once again fell to East Brunswick. Both times Sayreville lost to EB in the GMCT in 2013 and 2014, the Bears ultimately reached the final before losing to St. Joseph’s.
In 2014-15, Sayreville had more of an up and down regular season, which was highlighted by a last second buzzer beater loss at Woodbridge on January 15th. However, in the 2015 GMCT, the 14th seeded Bombers pull off a surprise by going into South Amboy and knocking of third seeded Cardinal McCarrick, which had enjoyed a resurgence under first year head coach, Ben Gamble. Led by the Floyd brothers (Jehyve and Jahsim), Sayreville, which finished 12-14 overall, reached the GMCT Quarterfinals before once again falling to East Brunswick.
With 2015 GMCT Champion, Colonia losing a number of players to graduation, Sayreville, which had Ryan O’Leary transfer in from South Amboy, was once again a contender in 2015-16, but still had to get through a tough GMC White schedule led by Colonia and Woodbridge. All three teams battled it out to the final days of the regular season. Sayreville managed to earn a tie with Colonia for White Division honors by defeating Woodbridge in Barron Country after the Barrons dominated the Bombers at the Bomb Shelter in January.
Woodbridge would get the victory in the rubber match between the Bombers and Barrons with a win in the 2016 GMCT Quarterfinals. Sayreville would later come up with an amazing come from behind win over Montgomery in the opening round of the 2016 Central Jersey Group 4 State Tournament. Trailing 35-12 at the intermission, the Bombers rallied with a 43-17 surge in the second half including a 27-7 outburst in the fourth quarter to come away with the 55-52 victory. Sayreville would then lose to top seeded Hunterdon Central in the quarterfinal round, and finished 18-10 on the season.
Prior to the start of the 2016-17 season, Sayreville was ranked number one in the GMC Hoops Top 10. With the likes of Ryan O’Leary and Jahsim Floyd returning along with six other letter winners, and having Zac Kaczmarek coming up from the JV and Xavier Townes transferring in from St. Joseph’s, the Bombers had a good enough team to win it all. Sayreville would have its ups and downs during the regular season starting right away with a triple overtime loss on opening night at North Brunswick.
Despite the surprising loss to the Raiders, and a mid-season loss at J.F. Kennedy, the Bombers managed to win the rough and tumble GMC White Division, and overcome second seeded South Brunswick in overtime on the Vikings home court in the 2017 GMCT Semifinals. Sayreville appeared on its way to winning its first GMCT since 2000 when it jumped out to a 26-12 first half lead against top seeded St. Joseph’s. However, Letrell West, who went to the bench with two fouls and zero points late in the first half, turned in a second half effort for the ages with 19 points to lead the Falcons to a 50-44 victory, and another GMCT Championship.
The Bombers made a nice run in the states by reaching the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals for the second time in four years before losing to Freehold Township (76-66), and finished the season 22-8. A year ago, Sayreville won its fourth GMC White title despite a ton of losses to graduation including O’Leary, Townes, and Jahsim Floyd. However, after starting the season at 10-1 overall, the Bombers stumbled to the finish line and lost to 12th seeded Perth Amboy in the 2018 GMCT Round of 16, and fell to Hillsborough in the opening round of the 2018 CJ Group 4 playoffs, ended the season at 16-9.
Although Sayreville opened the 2018-19 season with a surprising win over Edison, came from behind to defeat Woodbridge at the Bomb Shelter on January 12th, and defeated Highland Park and Edison to advance to the 2019 GMCT Round of 16, it finished 6-18 overall including a 4-8 mark in the GMC White.
Wojcik has coached a number of players, who have gone on to have success at the next level including Jehyve Floyd, who just finished his four year career at Holy Cross. Corey Taite also had a successful run with Goldey Beacom of the CACC at the NCAA Division 2 level while Ryan O’Leary is playing at Rider University. Xavier Townes is playing at the NCAA Division 3 level at Rutgers-Newark while Bryant Webb was a 1,000 point scorer at Middlesex County College, and played Division 2 hoops at Felician of the CACC.