Moorestown

Moorestown boys' soccer coach Mike Sutcliffe had a rooting interest in Saturday's Central Jersey Group 2 final. Sutcliffe was pulling for Princeton, where his brother, Wayne, is the head coach. Neither of the Sutcliffes got their wish, as Somerville beat Princeton, 1-0. Now Moorestown, one of three teams from the seven-county South Jersey area still alive in the public school state tournament, will have to beat Somerville to earn a trip to the state Group 2 championship. Moorestown and Group 1 Haddonfield are in state semifinals today, and Shawnee will play its Group 4 state semifinal tomorrow.

There are no stands surrounding the grass field at Shawnee High School. The 400 or so in attendance Tuesday afternoon were mostly sitting on the ground or standing, several deep in some spots, craning their necks to see the nation's most storied girls' lacrosse rivalry. Emotions always run high when Shawnee plays Moorestown in girls' lacrosse. The intensity on the field is different, something separate even from what you'd feel in a postseason game. But that still doesn't quite explain what the annual matchup means to the players.

More than 100 Moorestown residents, who say a proposed office building would ruin their neighborhood, last night asked the township zoning board to deny the variance needed to construct the building in South Jersey's most affluent community. Landmark Development Group wants to build the office complex on a 3.7-acre triangular lot just west of Route 38 near Church Road. Hooton Pond, an extension of Strawbridge Lake, forms the western boundary of the site. David Brandt, an attorney representing the developer, said the building would blend into the neighborhood and be hidden from nearby homes by a 60-foot zone of trees.

It was an opener in which Moorestown's football team didn't quite live up to its passing reputation, but nobody in Quaker land is complaining. All off-season, we heard that Moorestown would be among the most explosive passing attacks in South Jersey. So what happens? The team that throws the ball with a no-huddle offense found a way to run, and more importantly earn what will surely be one of the biggest victories in the first week of the South Jersey football season.

Moorestown was in familiar territory yesterday at the NJSIAA girls' tennis Tournament of Champions final. The ending, however, was as strange as it got this season. After 27 straight victories, Moorestown lost to Newark Academy for the second year in a row in the championship match at the Inman Racquet Club. Late in the 4-1 defeat, Moorestown found itself fighting off elimination, a situation the Quakers had not experienced all season. With Newark Academy leading, 2-1, after Kristen Carlin's loss at No. 1 singles for Moorestown, the match came down to the No. 2 and No. 3 singles players, Amy Huah and Kristen Klepacki.

The Moorestown girls' lacrosse team looms like a skyscraper amid rowhouses in the Burlington County League. So when another team in the league flourishes, it almost goes unnoticed. Holy Cross is such a team. The Lancers have run their overall record to 13-1 and 7-0 in the league that has been dominated by nationally recognized Moorestown since it entered nine years ago. Holy Cross coach Joey Hanners has not beaten the Quakers during her eight years at the helm, but she and her players will not stop trying.

FLEMINGTON, N.J. - Amanda Currell waited a long time to see some action on the lacrosse field. She got more than her share in the Group 3 state title game. Currell made 13 saves, several of the spectacular variety, to lead Moorestown to a 13-8 victory over Mendham on Thursday at Hunterdon Central. Haleigh Dalmass scored five goals and Stephanie Toy added three goals and two assists for Moorestown (24-0), which won its 19th state title and 12th in the last 13 years.

John Patrick McGarvey, 60, of Moorestown, a coordinator of the Job Training Partnership Act in Burlington County, died of leukemia Wednesday at Memorial Hospital of Burlington County in Mount Holly. "He was very concerned with helping those who needed help, for whom maybe lady luck wasn't so kind . . .," said his wife, Jeannine. "Whenever anyone asked him for his time, he always found that time. " The father of seven, Mr. McGarvey was a founding trustee of Burlington County Birthright and a member of the advisory committee of the Burlington County Special Services School District.

The shapers of Moorestown's future are a curious mix of humble grass-roots groups and high-powered professionals. These are some of the people - a developer, the leader of a church housing council and two civic leaders - whose opinions and efforts will affect the course of development in the township. In the mid-1970s, when Renee Boulis was working on her master's degree in environmental education, she volunteered for an exhaustive mapping project undertaken by the citizen group Save the Environment of Moorestown - STEM.

Wes Kerr's growth involves a lot more than his height. The Moorestown guard stands taller than ever in many ways - skill set, command of the game, confidence on the court. Kerr's remarkable jump from role player as a junior to leading man as a senior for one of South Jersey's most underrated teams was on full display in Moorestown's impressive 84-62 victory over Cinnaminson on Thursday night. Kerr controlled the fast-paced Burlington County League interdivision clash from the opening tip, scoring 19 of his 23 points, grabbing five of his seven rebounds, and dealing four of his six assists in the first half as the Quakers broke to a 49-28 lead.