Monmouth University

Semifinals Friday at Monmouth University, West Long Branch. No. 2 St. Augustine (28-2) vs. No. 3 Plainfield (21-7), 6 p.m. No. 1 St. Anthony (32-0) vs. No. 5 Newark Central (30-4), 8 p.m. Final Monday at Izod Center, East Rutherford. Semifinals winners, 8 p.m.

Holy Spirit linebacker Ethan Gambale has committed to attend Monmouth University on a football scholarship. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound senior led Holy Spirit with 145 tackles last season as the Spartans went 8-3 and won the Non-Public 2 state title. It was Holy Spirit's second state crown in a row. Gambale will join teammate Zach Fabel, a tight end, at Monmouth, a Division I program in West Long Branch, N.J., that plays at the Football Championship Subdivision level in the Northeast Conference.

Andre Williams, the first Bishop Eustace player to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds in boys' basketball, has announced that he is leaving Monmouth University after one year. "Socially, it was more like a commuter college. Basketball-wise, I didn't expect to play center," Williams said yesterday of his reasons for leaving the Northeast Conference school, a day after taking his last exam and returning to his home in Clayton. Williams said he played more in the post position than anticipated because 6-foot-10 Kevin Owens, a freshman from Camden Catholic, was redshirted.

Mike Reagle, a senior lefthander from Sterling High, has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Monmouth University. Entering yesterday's game against Haddon Township, Reagle had compiled a 16-3 career record in his four years as a starter, including a 3-0 mark and a 2.17 ERA this season. Reagle received a partial baseball and partial academic scholarship to Monmouth. He became the second Sterling pitcher to sign with a Division I school. Adriano Petrutz has signed with St. Joseph's, though he could be selected in major-league baseball's first-year players' draft next month.

Jen Storione, a midfielder and defender at Paul VI, has accepted a combination soccer and academic scholarship to Monmouth University. The four-year starter made an oral commitment this week; she visited the campus last weekend. According to NCAA rules, she can't sign a national letter of intent until Feb. 6. Storione and Monmouth have been courting each other since her sophomore season. "I played there with my club team as a sophomore and loved the campus," Storione said yesterday.

Voters seem to have more than a fleeting crush on Republican gubernatorial nominee Christopher J. Christie, according to a poll released yesterday. Christie has maintained his lead over Democratic Gov. Corzine since the beginning of the year, said Patrick Murray, Monmouth University polling director. "The lead has been consistent, which we've never seen for a Republican," he said. "This is a little different than when we see Republicans surge in late summer. " Among 484 likely voters surveyed between last Wednesday and Sunday by the Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll, 50 percent said they favored Christie, compared with 36 percent who preferred Corzine.

THE CONSTITUTION Center may have the Bruce bling, but those looking for a thorough written record of Springsteen's storied career are pointed in the direction of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. Inside what appears to be a typical suburban house located on the campus' eastern edge are scores of cardboard boxes containing photocopies of some 15,000 articles that comprise the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection. "There are articles from newspapers, magazines, yearbooks and fanzines," said Eileen Chapman, the university's assistant director of performing arts and the person in charge of the archive.

Keith Pareti, a first-team all-South Jersey midfield selection by The Inquirer, has signed with Monmouth University. Pareti, who helped lead Cherokee to the Group 4 state soccer championship, said he has earned a partial soccer and academic scholarship to the Division I school. He made his commitment to Monmouth earlier this month. Last season, Pareti scored 11 goals and contributed 18 assists for the Chiefs, who finished 18-4-3 and were ranked No.2 in South Jersey by The Inquirer.

Six months ago, after his team suffered a hard-fought loss at Drexel, Monmouth University basketball coach Dave Calloway praised the play of freshman 6-foot-5 center Andre Williams: "He's a warrior. We're counting on him to help us build this program to where it used to be. " After a 5-21 finish this past season, the rebuilding at Monmouth will continue. Unfortunately for Calloway, it will be without Williams. Williams, a Bishop Eustace grad who is the only player in the school's storied basketball history to surpass the 1,000 mark in points (1,272)

THE CONSTITUTION Center may have the Bruce bling, but those looking for a thorough written record of Springsteen's storied career are pointed in the direction of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. Inside what appears to be a typical suburban house located on the campus' eastern edge are scores of cardboard boxes containing photocopies of some 15,000 articles that comprise the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection. "There are articles from newspapers, magazines, yearbooks and fanzines," said Eileen Chapman, the university's assistant director of performing arts and the person in charge of the archive.

Holy Spirit linebacker Ethan Gambale has committed to attend Monmouth University on a football scholarship. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound senior led Holy Spirit with 145 tackles last season as the Spartans went 8-3 and won the Non-Public 2 state title. It was Holy Spirit's second state crown in a row. Gambale will join teammate Zach Fabel, a tight end, at Monmouth, a Division I program in West Long Branch, N.J., that plays at the Football Championship Subdivision level in the Northeast Conference.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - The speech that could have clarified it all did anything but. In front of 1,000 devoted Republicans, a national TV audience, and Nancy Reagan herself in the front row, Gov. Christie could have said Tuesday night: "I am not running for president in 2012. " Instead, the surging non-candidate-of-the-moment charmed, joked, and answered the "Will you run?" question by referring the audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum to an online video compilation of his previous declarations against running.

Semifinals Friday at Monmouth University, West Long Branch. No. 2 St. Augustine (28-2) vs. No. 3 Plainfield (21-7), 6 p.m. No. 1 St. Anthony (32-0) vs. No. 5 Newark Central (30-4), 8 p.m. Final Monday at Izod Center, East Rutherford. Semifinals winners, 8 p.m.

A MAN from Michigan wants him to "restore the light. " Campaign T-shirts and bumper stickers are already for sale on the Web. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have been going gaga for months now, beckoning their modern-day "George Washington" to boldly cross that river into the realm of 2012 GOP presidential candidates. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 48, is a conservative superstar right now, and his devotees are hoping the blunt politician will realize - quickly - that he was born to run against their archenemy and restore their Reaganlike glory days to Washington.

TRENTON - As Gov. Christie approaches rock-star status within certain circles of the Republican Party, candidates nationwide are turning to him for inspiration and advice for November's midterm elections. The Republican Governors Association is so taken with its new poster boy that it is producing a 20-minute movie, to be released online Sept. 8, about Christie's upset victory over a millionaire Democratic incumbent, Jon S. Corzine, in a heavily blue state, and his first eight months in office.

At its heart, Gov. Christie's guiding philosophy boils down to simple supply-side economics: reduce taxes and cut red tape to create more jobs and wealth. The Republican governor has spent his first 100 days in office doggedly hewing to that principle, come what may. Since his inauguration on Jan. 19, Christie has brawled with one of the state's most powerful unions, temporarily suspended property-tax rebates, proposed a $29.3 billion budget while facing a projected shortfall of about $10.7 billion, chopped state aid to schools and municipalities by more than $1.2 billion, and worked with the Legislature to pass changes to public employees pension and benefits.

If there has been a theme to Gov. Christie's first two weeks in office, it has been this: Get ready for a fight, especially when it comes to money. Christie already has blasted school-spending overruns, mismanagement in local government, high public salaries, and even Atlantic City voters. Executive orders and his first veto were followed by verbal smackdowns that conveyed their message in ways a simple signature cannot. The governor has set himself up for battle with influential public-employee unions, and on Friday he flouted a long-standing Trenton tradition by skipping the state Chamber of Commerce's schmoozy train ride to Washington with lobbyists and lawmakers.

Since the day he announced his candidacy, New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher J. Christie has been pitching himself as the corruption-busting lawman who will return ethics to state government. But lately, the former U.S. attorney has spent less time vowing to clean up Trenton than responding to allegations and defending his actions. This week, after a report on NJN public television, Christie acknowledged that he had failed to properly disclose lending a subordinate in the U.S. Attorney's Office $46,000.