It was a milestone that sort of snuck up on Lyndhurst High School girls’ basketball coach Perrin Mosca.
“My assistant coach Danny Kesack was the one to figure it out,” Mosca said. “I don’t pay much attention to things like that. Danny checked it out. I didn’t even realize it.”
But the Lyndhurst players all knew that their coach was approaching the prestigious 100-win milestone. Mosca is in his seventh season as the head girls’ coach at Lyndhurst, sandwiched by a four-year stint as the head coach at Hackensack, his alma mater.
The 100-win milestone only includes the wins at Lyndhurst. Mosca entered last week’s contest against Butler with 99 wins.
“The girls all knew,” Mosca said. “They planned all the little things.”
Sure enough, before the game, the confident Golden Bears printed “100” banners and signs to have for the ready, which of course became reality, when they defeated Butler handily.
So on the 100-win signs that the girls all held, they then wrote personal notes to Mosca on the back of the signs.
“That was a really nice thing,” Mosca said. “I think it’s a great thing that the kids did that for me. I don’t think this is about me. It’s more about the kids that played. I don’t coach to reach milestones. I coach for them. It’s all about them.”
Mosca is really pleased with the way the Golden Bears are playing right now. The Golden Bears own a 10-8 record despite starting and playing three freshmen.
Sam Mayer is one of those freshmen. Mayer is currently playing the point for the Bears and averaging nine points and six assists per contest. The other rookies are Asya Akar and Jolie Paz-Garcia.
Senior Meghan Docherty is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 11 points and eight rebounds per contest. Lexi Augustyniak, the soccer standout, is averaging 10 points per contest. She has the ability to go off at any minute.
Francesca Castagnetti leads the team in steals, collecting nearly five steals a contest.
The Golden Bears have lost only three games within the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference-Liberty Division to divisional frontrunners Secaucus and Dwight-Englewood.
“We played both of those teams close,” Mosca said. “I think we’re playing really well now. We weren’t playing well in the beginning of the season, but we turned things around.”
The Golden Bears are now playing for a higher seed in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group II playoffs. They are currently projected to be a No. 5 seed and getting a home game in the playoffs, a total rarity. They also have a shot of qualifying for the Bergen County Tournament, another goal.
Mosca is the father of six children. He also added another role to his resume, that being the mayor of Rochelle Park, where he resides. Mosca took office Jan. 2 and he has already presided over three council meetings.
“I like it,” Mosca said. “I didn’t know if I’d like it, but I really do. I’m a people person and I’m getting to meet new people. I didn’t want to be a mayor with everything in place, so we’re in the process of hiring some new people and getting them into place. It’s been exciting.”
But that’s a brutal schedule, especially with six kids at home.
“It is a lot, with school and coaching and the six kids,” Mosca said. “It’s tough, but I can schedule it all out. We have practices and games right after school. Most of my stuff with my kids is at night. So is my mayor stuff.”
For now, it’s the first milestone of perhaps others.
“It’s really great,” Mosca said. “I told them it was fun to win 100 with them, The girls are very close and fun to coach. There is no drama.”
How can there be drama when there’s no time to do anything else?
CAPTION
Lyndhurst head girls’ basketball coach Perrin Mosca celebrates with his team, who honored their coach with signs for Mosca’s 100th win as the head coach of the Golden Bears. Photo courtesy of Perrin Mosca
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Jim Hague | Observer Sports Writer
Sports Writer Jim Hague was with The Observer for 20+ years — and his name is one of the most recognizable in all of sports journalism. The St. Peter’s Prep and Marquette alum kicked off his journalism career post Marquette at the Daily Record, where he remained until 1985. Following shorts stints at two other newspapers, in September 1986, he joined the now-closed Hudson Dispatch, where he remained until 1991, when its doors were finally shut.
It was during his tenure at The Dispatch that Hague’s name and reputation as one of country’s hardest-working sports reporters grew. He won several New Jersey Press Association and North Jersey Press Club Awards in that timeframe.
In 1991, he became a columnist for The Hudson Reporter chain of newspapers — and he remains with them to this day.
In addition to his work at The Observer and The Hudson Reporter, Hague is also an Associated Press stringer, where he covers Seton Hall University men’s basketball, New York Red Bulls soccer and occasionally, New Jersey Devils hockey.
He’s also doing work at The Morristown Daily Record, the very newspaper where his journalism career began.
During his career, he also worked for Dorf Feature Services, which provided material for the Star-Ledger. While there, he covered the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.
Hague is also known for his announcing work — and he’s done PA work for Rutgers Newark and NJIT.
Hague is the author of the book “Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man.”