Chimeras

Fittingly, it was Roger Lawyer who crossed the finish line and put Willingboro into the history books yesterday. The great senior coasted home first in the 800-meter run and officially clinched yet another dual-meet win for the Chimeras. The final score yesterday was Willingboro 103.5, Kennedy 23.5. But the score of the meet was hardly the story. The television cameras and newspaper photographers weren't there to see the cross-town rivalry between sister schools. They were there to record The Streak, an event now referred to in the same hallowed tones as V-J Day. The victory was the 122d straight for Willingboro and established a New Jersey record.

The players in Willingboro-Kennedy Part VI were following a familiar script. Except for the ending. No way was the script supposed to include four straight third-quarter jumpers from Kennedy's Brad Jones, a 6-foot-5 senior forward known more for his inside work. No way did it figure to have Kennedy coach Bob Vernon and his assistant, Paul Drayton, giving each other an I don't want to let go 10-second hug in the closing seconds. No way was it supposed to include the voices of the Kennedy fans, who rocked the Willingboro gym with chants of "Boro Busters . . . Boro Busters," after last night's startling South Jersey Group 3 quarterfinal was over.

As most milers do when running against Shawnee, Jamila Jorden found herself at the wrong end of the procession hurtling around the track. This was back when Jorden was a freshman competing in a dual meet for Willingboro. Chimeras coach Robert Tull had put her in the race hoping that Jorden might sneak in and grab a point or two. She did better, passing three Renegades in the last lap to take second place. "That helped us to win that meet," Tull said. "Someone else could have given up, but she didn't.

If confidence was the intangible the Willingboro girls' basketball team was seeking going into last night's meeting with Pemberton, the Chimeras succeeded in obtaining it. The Chimeras handed the Hornets their first loss of the year, 58-46, in a Burlington County League Liberty Division matchup. Willingboro, ranked No. 4 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, improved to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the Liberty. Ninth-ranked Pemberton fell to 5-1, 3-1. There were some jitters on Willingboro's bus before the team met the undefeated Hornets, but senior point guard Kia Nealy had an inkling that her team would prevail.

At game's end, Nelson Hayspell, Willingboro's first-year football coach, coolly made his way down from the press box at Carl Lewis Stadium on a hot afternoon. The Chimeras, celebrating a 35-8 win over Triton, had a surprise for Hayspell as he reached the field. A few of them grabbed a bucket of ice water and gleefully drenched him. Coach Hayspell, you have arrived. If the way the Chimeras dominated is any indication, a team that was supposed to be rebuilding this year after having gone 10-1 in 2001 is for real.

Rancocas Valley did it to Willingboro again yesterday. The Red Devils, who on Wednesday handed the Chimeras only their third dual- meet loss in the last 18 years, won the boys' competition at the 56th annual Burlington County Open track championships held at Maple Shade, just ahead of bewildered Willingboro. The Chimeras girls' squad, however, was a bit more fortunate as it won in impressive style. Coming off its 66-65 win on Wednesday, Rancocas Valley won the boys' meet with 70 points, just ahead of Willingboro, which placed second with 66 1/2. Delran finished third with 65 points.

Willingboro coach Jeff Haddock was a little concerned about how small a crowd that had gathered in the Chimeras' gym last night to see them play a Burlington County League Patriot Division game. So the sixth-year head coach told his players to come out with more energy against Cinnaminson, a team they had dispatched by 19 points the first time they played this season, on Dec. 18. The first-place Chimeras listened to their coach, didn't let up, and cruised to a 73-60 victory to up their record to 14-1 overall and 7-0 in the division.

Paul Collins saw something he hadn't seen in a month. Not since his Willingboro boys' basketball team was 1-4. "I saw on the faces that a couple people were annoyed a little bit, annoyed with each other," Collins said. "It was disappointment in the way we were playing as a unit, and I hadn't seen that it in a while. " The disappointment didn't last. Willingboro clamped down on defense, which reignited its offense, and rallied for an intense, foul-filled 62-57 victory at Rancocas Valley yesterday in a battle for first place in the Burlington County League Liberty Division.

In the second half, when the opportunity is often left for the experienced players to come to the forefront, the Willingboro girls' basketball team thought otherwise. This time, playing in their biggest game of the season to date, the Chimeras relied on their youth. And, after their 73-62 victory last night over Wildwood in the semifinals of the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions at the Dunn Center, the Chimeras hope to ride that youth all the way to a tournament title. The Chimeras, with three underclassmen in the starting lineup, ignored the assumptions about a young team.

Maybe it was because his team had gone a week without playing a game, but Rancocas Valley coach Dave Riley didn't buy that theory. He said it was simply too much Willingboro. Rancocas, ranked No. 1 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, was bounced from the unbeaten ranks yesterday, stunned by the visiting eighth-ranked Chimeras, 18-6, in a Burlington County League interdivision game. Willingboro (4-1-1) took a 10-0 lead in the first half, and its defense shut down the Red Devils in the second half to hand them their first loss in six games.