Three juniors who gained over 1,000 yards rushing and a senior quarterback who broke all the records at his school highlight one of the most talent-rich CVC Offensive all-star teams ever. Led by Penn State-bound Brett Brackett, The Trentonian CVC Player of the Year, this collection of offensive standouts is the cream of the crop of the 2005 Colonial Valley Conference season.

Named first team are running backs Ryan Lupo of West Windsor South and Alexz Henriques of Princeton, who were 1-2 in the CVC in rushing yards this season. The other 1,000-yard back is a third junior, Steinert’s Jim Costello, who was the pick as the All-Purpose player after he ran for 1,109 yards and led the CVCin scoring with 18 touchdowns.

Also selected to the first team were the league’s top three receivers -- Lawrence tight end Jim Gorski, another junior, and Ben Guervil of Princeton and Tyrone Prewitt of Trenton. The all-star blockers for this talented team are headlined by the CVC Lineman of the Year, Paul Figueroa of Nottingham, his linemate Ed Gore, Hamilton junior Marcus Ponder, Notre Dame’s Alex Jenkins and Drew Lachenmayer of Valley Division champ West Windsor South.

Capping off the all-star list is Lawrence’s record-setting kicker and punter Pat Stanger, the most special of the CVC’s special teams players this fall.

Nottingham High’s Jon Adams was named CVC Coach of the Year after leading his Northstars team to a school-record 10-win season and its first trip to the Central Jersey Group III finals.

The statistics this group of offensive skill players compiled in a memorable 2005 season may not be topped for years to come -- even though the CVC’s top three rushers were juniors.

That’s because Brackett piled up some of the finest numbers in CVC history with his 1,579 yards and 19 touchdowns by hitting on 52.7 percent of his passes-- 96 for 182. His 42 career touchdown throws and 3,823 yards are the all-time records at Lawrence and second most in CVC history.

With those kind of numbers it’s no surprise he was a unanimous pick as Player of the Year after also leading his Cardinals squad to an 8-2 record and its first CVC Colonial Division title.

Lupo was the offensive leader of a young WW-P South team that made tremendous strides in its first year under Todd Smith, another excellent Coach of the Year candidate in the CVC. Lupo’s 1,295 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns were second most in the CVC in each category as he rushed for over 100 yards in eight games and had a record 258 in the CVC Valley champion Pirates’ C.J. III playoff win over Colts Neck.

Henriques became the most potent running back at Princeton since All-American Paul Miles in the 1980s with his dazzling runs from scrimmage. After rushing over 650 yards as a soph, he almost tripled that as he became the No. 2 single season rusher in CVC history with 1,705 yards. He ran for over 200 yards three times and scored 15 touchdowns with a 9.7 average gain per run.

Costello turned a hard-luck and win-starved season at Steinert into one to remember as he piled up 1109 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. Costello seemed to put up big numbers any time he touched the ball as he also scored on kickoff returns of 81 and 78 yards and caught a TD pass for a 76-yard score.

When it came to scoring TDs with pass completions, no CVC players did it better than the talented trio of Gorski, Guervil and Prewitt. Gorski led the conference with his 37 receptions and 13 scores and just missed being the second CVC receiver ever to gain over 1,000 yards on receptions. He finished with 995. While Henriquez was the go-to guy on the ground in the Princeton offense, it was Guervil who made the Little Tigers’ air game one of the CVC’s best. His 35 receptions resulted in seven touchdowns and 735 yards.

Over the three years Brackett was putting up the best passing numbers in Lawrence history, it was Stanger who was rewriting the kicking and punting records. Stanger, possibly headed to an Ivy League program, was the top punter in the CVC with a 33.7 average, with a long of 48. But it was his kickoffs and place kicks that spread his name around the state. He converted 43 of 47 extra point kicks, averaged 53 yards on his kickoffs and he put 17 into the end zone. In the Cardinals’ two straight playoff seasons, he kicked 10 field goals and 90 extra points to become the only player on the offensive list to repeat as a first team All-CVC selection.

©The Trentonian 2005