In anticipation of Salem CC (30-2) receiving an at-large bid to the JUCO Division III national tournament Wednesday, here is a look at the eight teams holding automatic bids

AT-LARGE HOPEFULS
Salem CC (30-2): No. 1 lost in North Atlantic A finals
Dallas-Eastfield (20-9): No. 3 lost in South Central semifinals
Dallas-Richland (20-9): No. 4 lost in South Central semifinals
Virginia Peninsula (22-7): No. 11 lost in Mid-Atlantic finals
North Country (26-4): No. 12 lost in North semifinals
Union (22-9): No. 14 lost in North Atlantic B semifinals
Herkimer (18-7): No. 15 lost in North quarterfinals (tournament host)
Ridgewater (22-6): lost in North Plains finals, national leader in scoring (96.6 ppg)

For the sectional semifinalist Salem High bowlers, it’s all about brotherhood, energy and consistency to create a ‘generational run’ of a season

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BOWLING
Wednesday’s Semifinals
No. 5 Asbury Park at No. 1 Camden Catholic
No. 6 Doane Academy at No. 2 Salem

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Troy Carey is the consummate team player. He’s the best player on the Salem bowling team and he’s headed to college on a scholarship, but when he was approached by a reporter for an interview on the season he wanted to make sure his teammates and the accomplishments of the Rams this year were highlighted as well.

It’s a request leaders make. He values his teammates so much he asked the school’s vice principal if they could accompany him to next week’s Top 100 Tournament for the best players in the state. He went last year and missed the cut for match play by one pin, but it was only him and coach Kenneth Buck in the big bus and he thought it’d be nice to have the company and support.

It’s been another good year for the Rams and the senior wanted to spread the love in a sport where there is no defense and success hinges on finding the right line that day. Carey and Company are back in the South Jersey Group I semifinals looking to handle some unfinished business when they host Doane Academy today at Wood Lanes.

The Rams were in this same position last year and lost to top-seeded Clayton. But this time, with a year of seasoning and the swagger of a first-time division champion, they are the hunters and confident of extending what already has been a “generational run.”

All five of their projected starters – Troy (206), Semaj Carey (178), AJ Carlson (150), Rudy Perez (188) and Jacob Puni (170) – all have better averages than a year ago. Semaj is nearly 30 pins better.

Unsure whether their season-opening match was a scrimmage or a counter, the Rams didn’t bowl particular well and lost to Kingsway 3-1. When it was over, Troy gathered his teammates and delivered the line that has defined the season.

They won the next eight matches in a row and won the Tri-County Classic Division title for the first time. The only teams they lost to since delivering the line of the year were the No. 2 seed in SJ Group 2 (14-1-1 Lindenwold) and No. 4 in SJ Group 3 (13-0 Deptford). Both are semifinalists in their respective sectionals. They handed Lindenwold its only loss in their first meeting.

Riverview Sports News caught up with Troy and teammates Semaj Carey and A.J. Carlson on Presidents Day at Wood Lanes practicing for the big match. Here is the conversation. Let’s go 10 frames with the Rams.

Riverview Sports News: Troy, why was it important to you to make sure everybody on your team get recognized for the success it has enjoyed this season?
TC: Without them I wouldn’t be where I’m at now. The energy we bring as a team not only fuels one another but everything we do. Our energy is unmatched. When we put up our energy that’s when we do our best. Those days where we’re flat and lackadaisical that’s when we have all of our mishaps and mistakes happen. We are firm believers if we bring energy, we come ready to play, no matter how we play we’re ready to show up.

The two words we say before every match are ‘energy’ and ‘consistency’ because that’s when we bowl our best, when we’ve got energy because the energy is going to bring our consistency and that’s just going to let the brotherhood and rest of the team grow even more.

RSN: What did you think of Troy thinking so much of you guys to ask you be allowed to join him at the Top 100.
SC: Troy is a factor. He’s basically the leader of the team. He’s like the second coach. He didn’t have to do that. I guess he felt like if he made it, we’re a team, he might as well bring his team with him.

RSN: What is it that makes this team work?
SC: First, we’ve got a good coach, and everybody picks each other up. You make a bad shot and the next man picks you up. It’s always the next man up, help your brother out. It’s a brother sport, for real. If somebody does something bad, we pick them up.

And people stepped up and played a bigger role than they did last year. We have some people who played JV last year, now they’re averaging 170-180 on varsity. They really played a big role.

AJC: The thing that’s made us as strong as we are and consistent as we are is chemistry. We try to keep the energy up. We try not to get in our heads too much. Bowling, from my experience, is mostly mental. You’ve got to make sure to stay on your mark consistently and try to stay out of the negative headspace because the second you start getting in your head you start doing bad and then you bring the team down. We really keep the energy up by just being positive.

TC: Last year we were teammates and everything like that, but we weren’t as tight together as we are now. And that comes from just days when we don’t have practice, just going out as a team or some days before the season just going out with each other just bowling, laughing and joking and hanging out outside of this. We’ve got a bunch of classes together and we talk bowling all the time. At the end of the day I’m just glad I can be a part of a team like this.

There are days where not everybody is going to bowl amazing, but that’s why you’ve got teammates. We play not only a next man up mentality but your next ball be your best one. If you don’t throw a strike, it happens. You’re gonna miss spares, you’re not gonna strike on every ball, but that’s why you have teammates to back you up. That’s why you play for each other.

RSN: Is this team better just because it’s older together?
SC: I wouldn’t say better because they’re older. One, we’ve got a lot of knowledge. Everybody knows how their ball reacts. Nine times out of ten practice is serious. We’re trying to take it all the way this year, so we don’t like negative energy. We don’t like doubting each other. It’s a better run than last year. We had a solid team last year, but I think everybody in some way got better from last year.

TC: We’re firm believers whether you play JV, varsity or you’re just there to support everybody plays a role because at the end of the day we’re supporting each other. We try to stay like a brotherhood as best we can.

RSN: Because you’re basically the new guy, how concerned were you about fitting into the mix and not upsetting the chemistry?
AJC: I know a lot of the members already. My main concern was really just try to be consistent. I’m not exceptional at bowling, but the whole thing was make sure I stay a team player and try to contribute as best I can because you always need somebody who can be consistent.

RSN: Does the success you’re enjoying this year surprise you? I know you got to the sectional semis last year, but they were 5-8-1. Now you’re 10-3 and division champions for the first time with largely the same lineup.
SC: Before the season even started I knew we were going to be something special. It’s like what Troy said before the season. We’re on like Tour. We’re on a generational run. Next man, best man. Next ball, best ball. Pick your brother up.

RSN: Explain to me the origins of this “generational run” concept. Was it something that came off the top of your head that stuck or was it something you’d be thinking about for a while?
TC: We are the first team from Salem ever to win division champs and we’ve gone the farthest any team has. Last year we got to this spot and lost, but I feel like last year for us, yeah, it was a great year, but at the end of the day it wasn’t our full potential. We had great games and everything, but this year it’s really just showing and I just feel like that generational run is just speaking upon how we’re the best team in school history.

RSN: And it started after that first match, right?
TC: We knew at the end of it we’re going to face competition this year, but that kind of drove us that now whoever we play we’ve got to do us, we’ve got to have fun, because at the end of the day, another thing we preach is, if you’re not having fun then there’s no point in doing it. Once you start to lose that focus on just having fun and enjoying it then you’re going to lose the whole point of everything.

After that first game we came over to the huddle and I was like we’ve got to go on a generational run. We’re about to ball out and we indeed did that. I could just tell from the energy and how we were playing as a group that everything was clicking, everybody was just playing their role.

RSN: People come up with those things in sports all time hoping they stick and when they do it makes a great legacy, but could you sense it was going to be special?
TC: I’m not going to lie, after that first match of the season yeah we lost but you could see on the team nobody’s heads were down because we all just sensed the exact same thing: Whoever we play next, it’s personal. As a team that’s all you want to hear. For us, we don’t take losses as a burden, we take it as a learning experience.

RSN: What did you think when Troy brought up the idea of making a “generational run?”
AJC: We weren’t all bowling our best (in that first match) so we lost, but from there we took it as we’re going to keep winning from here. We’re not gonna lose and if we do lose it’ll be a loss because they were better, not that we were doing bad. The main thing was stay positive, take it game by game, and make sure we don’t take it personally, just keep doing the best we can and take it all the way.

GROUP I BOYS BOWLING
Wednesday’s sectional semifinals
SOUTH
No. 5 Asbury Park (6-10) at No. 1 Camden Catholic (9-3-2)
No. 6 Doane Academy (8-10) at No. 2 Salem (10-3)
CENTRAL
No. 6 Roselle Catholic (13-4) at No. 1 Middlesex (17-0)
No. 3 Roselle Park (6-9) at No. 2 Warren Tech (8-4)
NORTH I
No. 4 Butler (17-0) at No. 1 Kinnelon (15-4)
No. 3 Newton (14-3) at No. 2 Pascack Hills (15-0)
NORTH II
No. 4 Belvidere (14-5) at No. 1 North Arlington (22-3)
No. 6 Wallington (14-8) at No. 2 Rutherford (16-5)

Dragotta commemorates 10th anniversary of near-fatal heart attack with ceremonial dash to finish the soccer game he couldn’t before

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SEABROOK – It’s 7 a.m. and the November morning sun is barely rising over the acres of fields that spread out as far as the eye can see. The only people up are the kids getting ready for school and the folks taking them there. It’s so cold you can see your breath.

Out on the Cohansey Soccer Club pitch, readied in advance for one man’s approach, a solitary figure breaks the silence, kicking a soccer ball in an otherwise empty complex.

One man. One ball. One goal. No defense. Just the man against the world.

He dribbles from one end of the shortened field to the other, stopping just once, right around the 18 box.

He shoots. He scores. GOOOOOOAL. 

There was one around to cheer, but the roars inside the man’s head were as loud as any World Cup final.

He takes a picture of the ball in the back of the goal, quietly takes it from the net. Then heads off to Anderson’s Country Store, his inner circle’s favorite meet-up spot, for a big cup of coffee courtesy of his friends and carries on with the rest of his day.

It’s a ritual Pepi Dragotta has repeated every Nov. 18 for the last 10 years. He hasn’t missed yet – either the date or the goal. He’s scored every time.

“I’m just happy to be there, I’m happy to be on that field to finish the game every year,” he said. “Grabbing that ball out of that net is like taking a knee at the end of the (football) game and winning it. I made it, we won, I can go home and relax.”

It may not mean something to anyone else, and may seem an odd activity to anyone unfamiliar with the story, but it means the world to him. And Tuesday it meant even more … for it was 10 years ago to the day fast-acting friends made another kind of save. 

They saved his life.

It was during a kids against the parents soccer game that Dragotta collapsed on the field with a heart attack. But through the quick action of Doug and Deanna Volovar and others he’s here today to take on the challenges and successes of this game called life. 

And he marks the occasion every year, returning like a marathoner who finally gets to finish the race to finish the game and score the goal that never got to happen.

“That’s where I started the game and that’s where I’ve gotta finish the game,” he said.

The incident

Pepi Dragotta was headed home from work as a project manager for a large South Jersey electrical contractor on Nov. 18, 2015 – a typical Wednesday evening – when he got a call from his good friend Chubby Weber. They were going to have a game against the kids for the final practice of that year’s Cohansey soccer season and they wanted him to play.

He had been an active in athletics all his life, from high school football player at Cumberland Regional to longtime youth league coach to Sunday trainer to some of the top athletes in Salem and Cumberland counties. But nothing would have prepared him for what was about it happen.

The game had been going for only about four minutes — at least that’s what they told him later — when Dragotta, two months after his 39^th birthday, collapsed on the field with a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest.

But thanks to the quick action of longtime friend Volovar, his wife Deanna, and two others at the complex, he is here today.

Initially they thought he was having a seizure, but when they got to his side they discovered he had no pulse. The Volovars along with soccer dad Brian Stanker, a state trooper, and Jeanette Bokma, a coach on an adjacent field with medical training, performed CPR and other life-saving procedures to help their friend while emergency services were on the way.

“It was a shock, something that was unexpected and very scary,” said Volovar, now the athletics director at A.P. Schalick High School. “It was very hard to watch that happen. It was very difficult because I didn’t think it was something major at the time but then to watch it happen and unfold and being right there … it was very difficult.

“When you’re trained to do that kind of stuff you always think that it would be no big deal, I’d jump right in. I wouldn’t say it was traumatic, but it was close to something very traumatic.”

The EMTs, who included the nephew of Dragotta’s late business partner, shocked his heart twice. A medivac helicopter landed in the middle of the field to transport him to the hospital. They placed him in an ice bath for 24 hours. He underwent six bypasses.

Because of the quick actions of his friends, his chances of survival went from 6 percent to 28. Not great odds, but he had a fighting chance.

“The hospital was amazed,” Dragotta said. “They said I was one of the first patients that has ever survived out of hospital with a cardiac arrest. But it was because of Doug and Deanna and the other two people, because they kept oxygen going to my brain.”

“Everybody was kind of involved, it wasn’t primarily just the four of us, there were other parents that were there, too, helping out,” Volovar said. “We just started the life-saving procedures we were familiar with. I think we all had a huge role in it. If everybody who was there didn’t do something and contribute in some way he might not still here.”

They told him he was dead for seven minutes. He wasn’t ready for the final whistle. There was still so much to do.

Had he not survived he wouldn’t have been there to teach his soccer-playing son Hunter a new sport and watch him become a record-setting kicker for the Schalick football team. Or watch his daughter Natalee graduate at the top of her high school class. Or be there to help his wife Jen raise their special needs daughter Hailey. Not to mention all the graduations and birthdays and good times that would be missed. 

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it,” Dragotta said. “I travel a lot driving to football and work and different things and you think about it. Like, what happened. That’s what my boss asked me, when you died did you see anything. I said I think I just went to the Gates and said screw this I’m going back.”

Which brings it to this frigid Tuesday morning.

The Dragotta Dash usually takes place with little fanfare. Last year his cousin and a friend showed up to watch, but they stayed in the car and Dragotta carried on as usual. Friends told him over the weekend they’d be there Tuesday because it was a special anniversary, but whether it was the hour, the sub-freezing temperatures or other circumstances he was the only one there this time. And that was OK. 

“I scored the goal, then (Volovar) texted me and said ‘Happy Re-birthday, love ya,’ and I sent him a picture of the ball in the back of the net.”

What would he do if the community ever came out en masse to show their support?

“I would damn well make sure that I made that goal,” he said.

He’s never missed.

Paying it forward

When Dragotta first got out of the hospital, his friends wanted to hold a benefit through the Pittsgrove football and Cohansey soccer programs to help ease some of the financial burden of getting back on his feet. He declined the gesture, saying he wasn’t going to take any money.

His friends persisted and he gave his blessing, but told them he was going to make it big and donate all the money they raised to the local sports leagues. But he didn’t know the proper way.

It started with a series of scholarships for students in the two counties with the Volovars, Stanker and Bokma selecting the recipients.

But the night before the benefit Dragotta decided his way to give back was to buy as many portable defibrillators as he could and give them to as many youth recreation facilities as possible. They raised $12,000 that first year and he purchased 12 AEDs and distributed them throughout South Jersey.

The initiative was so well received the friends started Heroes Foundation NJ and to date has donated 150 devices to recreation facilities throughout the state. Dragotta, an electrician by trade, hooked up the unit on the scoreboard at the Schalick football stadium given in honor of former Cougars coach Mike Hars, who died of a heart attack in 2017.

Ironically, a few years back Dragotta and Stanker helped a soccer official in Marlton survive an in-game heart attack with their knowledge and access to an AED.

Since that fateful day in 2015, Dragotta has been all about his family and friends. He’s glad they’re a part of his life and he let them know during a gathering at his home to mark the occasion Sunday night.

“Honestly, I’m happy to be alive, man, I really am,” he said. “When I’m on these websites and I read things about sudden cardiac survivors and these things, I’m very fortunate. A lot of these people are really in bad shape.

“It’s not about me. It’s about my kids and my family and my friends and everybody else. I love my friends, my family, being able to be out there every Friday and Saturday with my son and spending time with my daughters. And my friends. There’s nothing better than it. Nothing better.”