Vineland

Serene Fiori Gana, 84, a descendant of Vineland's settlers and owner and operator of two family businesses for nearly 30 years, died Saturday at Newcomb Medical Center in Vineland. While Mrs. Gana lived in Vineland all her life, her grandparents came from Italy. They arrived in Vineland in 1880 - 15 years after its founding - when Charles Landis, a Philadelphia lawyer, recruited 11 families from Northern Italy to establish vineyards on 2,000 square feet of dense forest land. Her parents and grandparents settled in the area, and her grandfather established the first hardware store in Vineland, Fiori & Grahm Hardware.

Buena took advantage of four Vineland turnovers to win the season-opening Cape-Atlantic League inter-conference football game, 34-7, last night. The Chiefs scored three times after Vineland turnovers. The Clan fumbled on their first possession of the game, and Buena's Chris Scott recovered at the Vineland 37-yard line. The Chiefs scored five plays later on an 11-yard pass from quarterback Teman Bryant. On Vineland's next possession, Eric Parker picked off a screen pass by Vineland quarterback Vince Terenik and raced 75 yards for an apparent touchdown.

It was a decisive win, although Buena High's dominance was not reflected in the final score. Buena, appearing in midseason form, opened the South Jersey football season last night with a 6-0 win over visiting Vineland in a nonleague game. This was pitted as a David vs. Goliath matchup. Vineland is the biggest school in South Jersey, with 1,707 students in grades 10 through 12. Buena has 558 students. Yet the resilient Chiefs resoundingly beat Vineland on both sides of the ball.

Louis Levin, 102, a longtime merchant who started out working in a hardware store in Kiev and went on to run his own clothing store in Vineland, died Saturday at the Jewish Geriatric Home in Cherry Hill. Mr. Levin was born the son of a shoemaker in a little community outside Kiev. Because his father had a contract to make shoes for the Czarist army, Mr. Levin enjoyed more advantages than other youngsters growing up in Russia. But he fled in 1915, as World War I overtook Russia and two years before Lenin and the communists assumed control.

The South Jersey Soccer Coaches Association has announced the field for the girls' Coaches Tournament, and Vineland is steamed that it wasn't included. The single-elimination tournament includes 16 teams and will begin next week. First-round games must be completed by Oct. 30 and second-round matchups by Nov. 5. In both rounds, the higher seeds will host. The semifinals are scheduled for Nov. 7 at Gloucester Township Tech and the final is at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at West Deptford Park.

Most soccer games are decided by the players' feet. That wasn't the case yesterday as Paul VI and Vineland hooked up in a quarterfinal match in the South Jersey Coaches Association boys' tournament. The pivotal appendage in Paul VI's 1-0 upset wasn't a foot at all. It was Angel Casillas' right hand. The Vineland defender blocked Steve Gindville's header with 33 minutes, 7 seconds left in the game with his right hand, resulting in a game disqualification and a Paul VI penalty shot.

A year ago, when Paulsboro defeated Vineland in their annual wrestling thriller, Pete Brandt was one of the few Red Raiders who failed to win. In fact, Brandt was pinned by Vineland's talented Rich Scarpa. This year, Brandt got personal revenge, and Paulsboro once again demonstrated team dominance. Brandt's pin of Scarpa was the highlight as host Paulsboro - No. 1 in The Inquirer South Jersey Top 10 - handily defeated No. 2 Vineland, 36-15. Paulsboro raised its record to 14-0 and, with no other potential setbacks on the horizon, probably guaranteed its second straight No. 1 ranking.

The Eastern girls' soccer team, which has been on the brink of postseason elimination for nearly two weeks, finally enjoyed a laugher yesterday. The Vikings put themselves on the playoff doorstep with an 8-0 rout of Vineland in a nonleague game. Vineland, 10-3-1 and ranked No. 9 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, has long been qualified for the Group 4 playoffs. The win kept Eastern (5-6-1) in contention. If Eastern wins tonight's 7 o'clock home game against Holy Cross, it will be in the playoffs.

It took the playoff-bound Millville High football team more than a quarter to get moving offensively yesterday when it met Vineland in a Cape Atlantic League American Division contest. But that didn't wind up costing the Thunderbolts, because it took host Vineland a lot longer to put any points on the board. Millville (8-1), the No. 3 team in The Inquirer's South Jersey Top 10, used a three-touchdown second period as a springboard, and went on to a 31-16 victory. The win gave Millville a 7-1 league record and second place in the Atlantic Division behind Holy Spirit (9-0, 8-0)

Vineland has struggled all season for attention in the Cape-Atlantic American Division. It had to play three of The Inquirer's top seven teams - No. 3 Cumberland, No. 5 Mainland and No. 7 Atlantic - twice each and had two games with Holy Spirit. After such stiff competition, making a long trip to Pemberton for an opening-round playofff game didn't seem to intimidate the Fighting Clan. Vineland reaped the benefits of its brutal regular-season schedule and outscored host Pemberton, 25-13, in the final quarter en route to a 69-57 victory last night in an opening-round South Jersey Group 4 playoff game.