Scott Millar looks back fondly on getting to play in the Hudson County All-Star Game following the conclusion of his senior soccer season at Kearny. And as the year passed and with virtually every other league or county having an all-star game, the now Kearny boys soccer head coach had a simple question – ‘Why doesn’t Hudson County do this?’
It’s a question that no longer has to be answered.
This past Tuesday, for the first time in more than a decade, there were Hudson County Boys and Girls Soccer Senior All-Star Games with a double-header held at Harrison.
“In our preseason (HCIAL coaches) meeting, we’re always talking about ways to improve the product and improve what we do as a league and what we’re doing as a group of coaches together. And one of the discussions that came up was why are we not playing an all-star game?” Millar said. “It’s something I played in when I was a senior and there’s many other coaches that also played in it. And we just said, we need to bring it back and whatever needs to be done, we’d be willing to do it. There wasn’t a good reason why we weren’t having one, and we needed to make sure that we put it together, ended the season the right way.”
According to Millar, plans for the game really picked up in early October when the county tournaments were seeded. Millar and Harrison’s Mike Rusek became the main coaches involved with organizing the boys game, while athletic directors Sean Dolaghan and Vincent Almeida helped put together the games on the AD level. Millar credited BelovED Charter head coach Zach Peterson for being instrumental with getting the girls game together.
These visions became a reality when Michael Mara of Soccer Post in Kearny and the Executive Director of Paisley Athletic FC and the Thistle Football Club, signed on to sponsor the event.
“Without him, this event doesn’t get off the ground and it sits as a great idea that we could put together in a league meeting or a county meeting,” said Millar “Without him stepping his foot through the door and being willing to help out. It doesn’t happen.
“Mike and Sean and Vinny, they did a great job of clearing some of those hurdles for us and making sure we were able to make this work.”
In total, six players from Kearny – Gerard Bocanegra, Jeckson Rivera, Gabe Gomez, Augusto Vieira, Aaron Ocana and Andres Toldeo – as well as Harrison’s Cristian Caranza, Yusufu Jaite, Joe Rueda and Nick Vergary played in the game. Frank Barrera was also selected from Harrison, but was unable to play due to injury.
In total, between both games, more than 65 boys and girls competed, representing 15 different schools in the county in the event, which was also attended by several area college soccer coaches.
By any measure, the games were considered a success and will remain a staple of the late November senior all-star game circuit.
“It was a great night and a special night for all the players, and it has to happen every year, and it’s the right thing to do for the kids,” Millar said. “It’s the right thing to do for the communities that have pretty good teams. Everyone else is doing it. When you look around there and you see pictures and video of other counties and other leagues having something in years past, the question that initially was asked is, why aren’t we doing this? And we need to be doing this.”
Harrison wasn’t the only place where a new senior showcase was taking place on Tuesday night. In Wood-Ridge, 44 girls from across the NJIC competed in the inaugural Senior Showcase Senior All-Star Game.
Among those selected were, from Lyndhurst, goalkeeper Kieran Meehan and midfielders Julia Marnik and Skyler Montilla. North Arlington midfielder Maddie Goncalves was also selected.
All four locals were a part of the “Elite” team roster, which was composed of girls from the NJIC’s National and Meadowlands divisions.
“It was pretty awesome to see all the girls from our conference come together and play one final time,” said Lyndhurst head coach Kim Hykey. “The girls were great and they really enjoyed themselves.
Hykey was one of the coaches heavily involved in helping make the event possible, which began with her proposing the idea to the conference at the end of the 2023 season.
“To be able to take the idea and see it come to life was so gratifying,” Hykey said. “We were happy to help make the opportunity happen for the girls and are so looking forward to next year.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)