RED BANK: GRANT TO FUND SOLAR BOOST
Hot chocolate made with an assist from the sun? The concession stand at Count Basie Fields in Red Bank is set to get a juice boost, thanks to the borough Environmental Commission.
RED BANK: NEW TRACK, NEW DEAL FOR BASIE
Workers removed the track at Count Basie Fields last week to prepare for the installation of a new surface. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Catholic High School will increase its contribution for upgrades at Count Basie Fields under a new cost-sharing arrangement approved by the Red Bank council last month.
Payments by the school, which uses the facility as its home football stadium, will help fund replacement of the cushiony running track, a project that got underway last week.
RED BANK: GROWING TOURNEY RAISES $15K
A Fair Haven ball carrier looks for an opening against Rumson, and cheerleaders go airborne, below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
A flag-football tournament that grew out of a pickup game in Little Silver marked its 17th anniversary last Friday with gridiron contests for kids, women and men from eight towns.
Along the way, the event, now held in Red Bank, raised $15,000 for Lunch Break, the social services organization based just a block away.
RBR: CHEERLEADER PUSHUPS REINSTATED
Red Bank Regional cheerleaders, led by Coach Kristy Finck, at left, drop for pushups after the Bucs’ second touchdown Friday night. (Video by John T. Ward.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a one-week interruption, Red Bank Regional’s cheerleaders were back to doing pushups in support of the football team Friday night.
RBR: CHEERLEADER PUSHUPS AT ISSUE
Red Bank Regional cheerleaders in an undate photo on the school website. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In the wake of a complaint, Red Bank Regional High has temporarily halted cheerleader pushups after every score by the football team, redbankgreen has learned.
FOOTBALL: RFH WINS FOURTH STRAIGHT TITLE
Rumson-Fair Haven topped South Plainfield in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III championship game to claim its fourth straight state title Saturday night.
The cameras of Shore Sports Zone were at Rutgers University’s High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway to capture all the highlights on video. Check them out here. (Video courtesy of Shore Sports Zone)
FOOTBALL: RBC, RBR AND RFH HIGHLIGHTS
On the final regular-season Friday night of the 2016 high school football campaign, Manasquan topped Red Bank Catholic at Count Basie Field in Red Bank, Raritan beat Red Bank Regional in Little Silver and Rumson-Fair Haven topped Carteret at home.
Shore Sports Zone caught the highlights of that game and more on video. (Video courtesy of Shore Sports Zone)
FOOTBALL: RBC BLANKS RBR, 35-0
In high school football action on a chilly Friday night, Red Bank Catholic welcomed back quarterback Steve Lubischer to the lineup as he threw three touchdown passes in the Caseys 35-0 home win against Red Bank Regional.
Shore Sports Zone caught the highlights of that game and more on video. (Video courtesy of Shore Sports Zone)
FOOTBALL: DAWGS TOP BUCS; SJV TOP RBC
Friday night football highlights from the Greater Red Bank Green…
Led by backup quarterback Jack Volker, who threw two touchdown passes, Rumson-Fair Haven Regional beat host Red Bank Regional, 24-7 to claim victory in this year’s Battle of Ridge Road.
CASEYS SOAR LB AS BULLDOGS FALL TO SJV
In local high school football action Friday night, undefeated Saint John Vianney of Holmdel continued its 2016 juggernaut with a 28-3 win at Rumson-Fair Haven, which fell to 3-2.
Meanwhile, on the road against Long Branch, Red Bank Catholic went to the air to produce a 35-20 win that improved the Caseys’ record to 4-2. Third-string quarterback Nick Brusca found his groove as a thrower, tossing his first — and second, third and fourth — touchdown passes of his varsity career while racking up 206 air yards.
Rich Chrampanis and crew have the highlights of those games and more at Shore Sports Zone. (Video courtesy of Shore Sports Zone)
RBC FALLS TO WALL; RFH SHUTS OUT MATAWAN
Rich Chrampanis and the video cameras of Shore Sports Zone once again delivered video highlights of some great Monmouth and Ocean county high school football games this weekend.
M’SOUTH EDGES RFH; RBC SQUEEGEES COLONIA
Rich Chrampanis and the video cameras of Shore Sports Zone got to seven rainy games in Monmouth and Ocean counties Friday night, starting at Middletown South, where the Eagles hosted Rumson-Fair Haven in a matchup of unbeaten 2016 state champs. In the end, a missed point-after-touchdown, lost fumbles and a swarming Eagles defense made the difference in the 14-13 outcome, with the Eagles now 4-0.
Across the river at Count Basie Field, Red Bank Catholic played host to Colonia, and quickly established dominance on a fumble recovery that led to a one-yard TD. Third-string QB Nick Brusca was dominant, posting three running TDs. Final score: 35-0.
As previously reported, the Holmdel v. Red Bank Regional game scheduled for Friday at Little Silver was postponed due to illness on the Holmdel squad.
(Video courtesy of Shore Sports Zone)
RBR: FRIDAY GAME OFF DUE TO HOLMDEL VIRUS
Red Bank Regional’s week-three football game at home against Holmdel, scheduled for Friday, was postponed Wednesday due to an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease among Holmdel players, Shore Sports Zone reports.
RFH , RBC COME UP BIG; RBR GETS PASTED
We’ve got the highlights and lowlights from Friday night’s action in local high school football thanks to Rich Chrampanis and Shore Sports Zone
RUMSON: STADIUM SECURITY BOOSTED
New security measures will go into effect at Borden Stadium beginning with tonight’s football game, school officials said. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Rumson-Fair Haven Regional football fans, stripped of their signs and giant heads for the first home game of the season, won’t be able to bring backpacks and bottles to the second and future games, school officials announced Thursday.
Citing last weekend’s bombing spree in Seaside Heights, New York City and Elizabeth, school officials have imposed new restrictions at Borden Stadium, officials said in a letter sent to community members Thursday.
RUMSON: BATCHLER RESIGNS AS RFH TEACHER
Former RFH head football coach Bryan Batchler, seen here working out with college players at Red Bank’s Count Basie Fields in June. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Ousted Rumson-Fair Haven Regional football coach Bryan Batchler has resigned as a teacher in a secret settlement with the school, redbankgreen has learned.
In a statement issued Thursday, the school’s board of education said it had accepted Batchler’s resignation on August 9.
RUMSON: RFH CELLPHONE POLICY CHALLENGED
Rumson-Fair Haven senior James Rue before the start of Tuesday night’s school board meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Rumson-Fair Haven Regional senior wants the school to drop a ban on student use of cellphones in school hallways between classes.
James Rue, 17, of Fair Haven, presented the school’s board of education with a petition Tuesday night calling for changes to the policy, which administrators said is being enforced anew after some unintended laxity.
Students, however, contend the crackdown was triggered by an incident last year in which a male student took “upskirt” videos of female students in stairwells without their knowledge.
RBC TOPS NORTH; RBR STOPS MATAWAN
Week two of the 2016 high school football season on the Greater Red Bank Green produced a pair of nail-biters Friday night.
REELING AND ROCKING: 2016 HS FOOTBALL
Sportscaster Rich Chrampanis and the video cameras of Shore Sports Zone are once again seemingly everywhere as this highlight reel from the the opening weekend of year 2016 high school football on the Greater Red Bank Green illustrates.
RUMSON: BATCHLER BACKERS DEMAND ACTION
Former R-FH head football coach Bryan Batchler at Tuesday’s board meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Five months after former Rumson-Fair Haven Regional football coach Bryan Batchler was cleared of criminal wrongdoing over alleged inappropriate contact with a student, several dozen supporters demanded Tuesday night that he be reinstated.
Batchler, who has been on paid administrative leave from teaching for eight months and was stripped of his coaching job in February, told redbankgreen that Superintendent Pete Righi is now trying to oust him, via a tenure-revocation case, from the job he’s held since 2008. Read More
RED BANK: RBC FOOTBALL COACH RESIGNS
After seven seasons at the helm and a state championship under his belt, Red Bank Catholic head football coach Jim Portela has resigned. Check out Shore Sports Zone for the full story. (Image courtesy of Shore Sports Zone)
RED BANK: BLOCKING AND TACKLING IN CHINA
Mario Williams demonstrating a block to football newbies in China, above. Below, Williams at the Danish Cafe in Red Bank last November. (Photo below by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
redbankgreen received the following dispatch last week from Mario Williams, a Red Bank Regional graduate who’s now spending a semester at Kean University‘s campus in Wenzhou, in southeast China:
My trip in China has been amazing so far, and I still have 3 months in the semester left. I have so many great stories to share. Today was one of my favorites! My name was apparently mentioned in a conversation recently to someone and, from that, I was invited to Jiù Shān Stadium to help run practice for the newly formed Wenzhou Redbucks Football Team.
RUMSON: BATCHLER WON’T BE PROSECUTED
Former R-FH head football coach Bryan Batchler. (Photo courtesy of Shore Sports Zone. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Ousted Rumson-Fair Haven football coach Bryan Batchler has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing for what his attorney said were allegations of an inappropriate relationship with student.
“The evidence was insufficient to support criminal charges,”acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said in a prepared statement reported by the Asbury Park Press Wednesday. “However, we referred the matter to the New Jersey Department of Education Investigations Unit for any administrative investigation or other action within their jurisdiction to conduct.”
“Essentially, Coach Batchler was falsely accused of criminal conduct and the prosecutor’s office didn’t even find that there was probable cause to believe that any criminal conduct was committed,” Batchler’s attorney, Mitch Ansell, said in a statement.
RUMSON: SCHULTE NAMED BULLDOGS COACH
New head football coach Jerry Schulte at Tuesday’s R-FH board of ed meeting, where his appointment was approved. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Without so much as a murmur from the sparse audience, Rumson-Fair Haven Regional’s board of education named a new football coach Tuesday night — while remaining mum on the ouster of the last one.
Jerry Schulte, who spent the last decade running the defense for the high-achieving Bulldogs, was chosen by the board to replace Bryan Batchler, who was put on administrative leave in December for unexplained reasons and was later removed as coach.