Cherokee

The Inquirer TOP 10     BOYS' LACROSSE Team   Record Records are through Tuesday. Last week's rankings in parentheses.   1. St. Augustine (1)   10-4 2. Moorestown (2)   8-4 3. Shawnee (5)   10-5 4. Haddonfield (3)   11-3 5. Lenape (4)   9-4 6. Eastern (6)   10-3 7. Kingsway (7)   11-4 8. Seneca (8)

Zac Gallen was the bat boy who sat in the front row for the photo when Bishop Eustace Prep won the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic title in 2004. His older brother, Jay, was a star as a junior pitcher for the Crusaders in those days. "I thought, 'Wow, this is big time,' " Zac Gallen said. "I knew I wanted to get one of these one day. " Like his brother eight years ago, Gallen sparked Bishop Eustace to the championship of the prestigious 16-team invitational tournament.

Cherokee was looking for a dream ending to its field hockey season. Yesterday, in the Group 4 state final, another team found it first. The Chiefs fell, 2-1, in sudden-death overtime to North Jersey II champion Morris Knolls at the College of New Jersey. Golden Eagles defender Heather Redlich ended Cherokee's season when she scored the game-winner with 3 minutes, 12 seconds left in the first overtime. "It's a bad way to end it," Cherokee coach Sharon Tinucci said. "It's not fun to lose in overtime.

Highlights of Thursday's contests can be found at: www.philly.com/rally Baseball BURLINGTON COUNTY LIBERTY Burlington Township 3, Northern Burlington 0 Rancocas Valley 8, Pemberton 2 BURLINGTON COUNTY PATRIOT Delran 22, Medford Tech 8 Cinnaminson 7, Willingboro 6 CAPE-ATLANTIC LEAGUE NATIONAL Wildwood Catholic 10, Bridgeton 9 COLONIAL CONFERENCE ...

The South Jersey High School Ice Hockey League will pay tribute tonight to former player Jeffrey Burd, the 16-year-old Cherokee junior who died Feb. 12 of bacterial meningitis. Cherokee will play its first game since Burd's death tonight when it meets Moorestown in a playoff game at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Before the game, the league will have a player from each of the league's 23 clubs stand with the Cherokee players during a moment of silence and the national anthem.

The Olympic Conference American Division is one tough boys' soccer circuit. There's Shawnee, perched atop The Inquirer's South Jersey rankings. There's Lenape, one rung below the Renegades. Next there's Cherry Hill East, at No. 3, and Cherokee comes in at No. 8. With a cast like that, there will be a lot of key matches this season in the American Division. Cherry Hill East, which has won the American Division title for six consecutive years and seven times since Karl Moehlmann took over in 1989, will play at Cherokee at 3:30 p.m. today.

It started raining harder at halftime. For Cherokee, it was like a splash of cold water in the face. "We just came out with more intensity in the second half," senior attack TJ Ahern said. "We were much more focused. " Cherokee pulled away from a 3-3 halftime tie and scored an 8-6 victory over Eastern yesterday in an Olympic American boys' lacrosse game in the driving rain in the Chiefs' football stadium. Ahern and senior attack Frank Garvey scored three goals for Cherokee (2-1, 1-0)

A spry sophomore who had only carried the football in junior varsity games before last night is a big reason Cherokee avoided its first 0-3 start since the program's inaugural year in 1976. Sean Mayers rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries - all in the second half - to spark the Chiefs to a 23-21 win over Willingboro. His fresh legs and nifty feet produced a couple of highlight-reel runs as well as the touchdown that put Cherokee up for good. Pat Davitt also helped kick the Chimeras (2-1)

This was the game that Williamstown wanted to play. The Braves wanted to get on the bus - every other year in the regular season, not just now and then in the playoffs - and travel to Marlton to face Cherokee. Williamstown pushed for the creation of the West Jersey Football League for games such as this. The Braves wanted to be part of the American Division for games such as this. "They are the most solid program in South Jersey," Williamstown coach Frank Fucetola said of Cherokee.

With 4 minutes, 27 seconds remaining in the game, Shawnee coach Joe Kessler emptied his bench. The Renegades had only 36 points at the time, including just one field goal in the second half. Cherokee's tenacious defense made the difference yesterday in an imposing 69-46 victory over Shawnee in a tournament cutoff-day battle between school district rivals and teams that are ranked in the top 10 in South Jersey by The Inquirer. "We have depth at every position and we demand that they play defense," Cherokee coach Ron Powell said after the victory in front of a near-capacity crowd in the Chiefs' gymnasium.

Highlights of Wednesday's contests can be found at: www.philly.com/rally Baseball SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 3 FIRST ROUND Timber Creek 4, Manchester Township 1 Moorestown 15, Winslow Township 7 SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 4 FIRST ROUND Toms River South 7, Shawnee 6 CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP 1 FIRST ROUND Keyport 8, Riverside 4 BURLINGTON COUNTY FREEDOM Burlington City 8,...

Jordan Rizzo was looking for an inside pitch. He found two of them. "That's what I was working on during practice [Sunday]," Rizzo said after leading Williamstown to a 9-1 victory over host Cherry Hill West on Monday in the first round of the South Jersey Group 4 tournament. Rizzo, a junior first baseman, hit a pair of home runs, and senior Mike Mosley pitched a two-hitter for ninth-seeded Williamstown (14-8), which advanced to face top-seeded Washington Township (22-2)

Zac Gallen was the bat boy who sat in the front row for the photo when Bishop Eustace Prep won the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic title in 2004. His older brother, Jay, was a star as a junior pitcher for the Crusaders in those days. "I thought, 'Wow, this is big time,' " Zac Gallen said. "I knew I wanted to get one of these one day. " Like his brother eight years ago, Gallen sparked Bishop Eustace to the championship of the prestigious 16-team invitational tournament.

Zac Gallen was the bat boy who sat in the front row for the photo when Bishop Eustace Prep won the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic title in 2004. His older brother, Jay, was a star as a junior pitcher for the Crusaders in those days. "I thought, 'Wow, this is big time,' " Zac Gallen said. "I knew I wanted to get one of these one day. " Like his brother eight years ago, Gallen sparked Bishop Eustace to the championship of the prestigious 16-team invitational tournament.

The Inquirer TOP 10     BASEBALL Team   Record Last week's rankings are in parentheses.   1. Bishop Eustace (9)   17-6 The Crusaders have gone 17-4 since starting the season 0-2. 2. Cherokee (1)   18-4 The Chiefs have pitchers Colin Perro and Sean Kelly rested for the South Jersey Group 4 tournament. 3. Washington Township (2)   21-2 Junior Matt Long has a 5-0 record on the mound.

BASEBALL Team Record Last week's rankings are in parentheses. 1. Bishop Eustace (9) 17-6 The Crusaders have gone 17-4 since starting the season 0-2. 2. Cherokee (1) 18-4 The Chiefs have pitchers Colin Perro and Sean Kelly rested for the South Jersey Group 4 tournament. 3. Washington Township (2) 21-2 Junior Matt Long has a 5-0 record on the mound. 4. Millville (3) 14-6 The Thunderbolts hope to ride righthander Andrew Biggs all the way to the South Jersey Group 4 finals, just like last year.

Jim Rossi was at his best when it mattered most. Rossi pitched a three-hitter as Cherokee beat Millville, 2-1, Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic at Deptford. Rossi, a senior righthander, struck out five and walked four in facing just 28 batters in the briskly played game between teams in the top three of The Inquirer's South Jersey rankings. "When we threatened him, he got better," Millville coach Roy Hallenbeck said. "We made him bend, but we couldn't make him break.

Luke Pease scored four times and set up five goals for 10th-seeded Haddonfield, which recorded a dozen assists in sinking No. 23 River Dell, 20-11, Saturday in the opening round of the NJSIAA state Group 1 boys' lacrosse tournament. State Group 4. Quinn Mehigan picked up two of his three goals in the first quarter for No. 14 seed Cherokee, and the Chiefs parlayed a fast start into an 11-6 victory over No. 19 seed Morris Knolls. Colin McDonald had a hat trick along with one assist to lead Rancocas Valley's balanced attack, and the 10th-seeded Red Devils used a 10-4 spree over the second and third quarters to pull away from No. 23 Randolph, 13-7.