New Division Highlights Start of Johnson Crusaders Varsity Lacrosse Season

CLARK, NJ-  The Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders varsity lacrosse team came off one their better seasons in program history in 2017. They posted their third straight winning season and won their first state tournament game since the 2014 season.

Johnson finished the 2017 season with a 12-5 record and captured the NJILL Kimber Division championship in a 6-4 win in the regular season finale at Livingston HS on May 10.

In the NJSIAA South Jersey, Group 1 state tournament, the Johnson Crusaders were the fifth seed, defeating 12-seeded Holmdel on May 17 in a 12-5 win, before losing to Haddonfield in the quarterfinals round 6-4 on May 20.

However, as the 2018 season comes around, Johnson has a tougher task on hand. The Crusaders were moved up from the NJILL Kimber Division to the NJILL Bianchi Division, which includes a set of tough and lacrosse programs, featuring Bernards, Voorhees, Delaware Valley, New Providence and Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

“We didn’t have a choice in going up, with having success over the last couple of years, so we knew we were going to have to go up,” Johnson ninth-year head coach Lou Van Bergen said. “We know that it’s going to be an increase in competition this year and we’ve played some of those teams [last season].”

“We play New Providence and we play Scotch Plains every year,” he added. “Scotch Plains has had our number for a number of years now. With New Providence, we traded punches with them last year. We know it’s going to be tough, but when you get to May, maybe it’ll benefit us and basically playing a tougher schedule when we get to the state tournament.”

The 2017 seniors lost to graduation included four-year starters in defenders of Jon Duffy (playing Division III lacrosse at Kean University) and Vin Campbell (playing Division II lacrosse at Mercy College), along with offensive producers in Brett Roessle, Nick Fischetti, Joe West and Jack Lomeli.

“The biggest thing you do when you look at what’s gone and trying to replace,” Van Bergen said. “The offense isn’t what you necessarily are worried about because you have a big amount of goals and assists that are returning.”

“The problem that we have with the newer guys are the guys that we picked up from other sports that are playing for the first time in a long time,” he added.

The seniors leading the team include Mike Bruno, Greg Zukowski, Dylan Bohm, Ryan Palmer, Anthony Petruzzelli and Nick Rabeno.

Van Bergen touched upon the little areas of the game that aren’t looked at as majorly as the goals, assists and points part of the game are.

“They have to be able to do the dirty work, in between the restraining boxes, to be able to pick up ground balls and get them from the defensive end to the offensive end and play defense,” he said. “Those are things that Jon Duffy, Nick Fischetti, Brett Roessle did,” Van Bergen said about the holes needed to be filled.

“I’m not worried about the goals being replaced, I’m worried about the intangible things that mostly everybody else doesn’t see, [such as] the ground ball they don’t notice, they notice the goal, they don’t notice the ground ball, they don’t notice the pass that’s made to get to the right spot. Those are the things I’m worried about.”

Returning players who were major producers include the team’s leading scorer, sophomore Evan Parenti (34 goals, 16 assists), senior Mike Bruno (28 goals, 16 assists) and juniors Brandon Hund (27 goals, 23 assists) and Eric Bretz (24 goals, 33 assists).

Parenti’s productive first year at the varsity level has him ready to get after it in his sophomore season of lacrosse.

“It was good because it was a lot of more goals and more winning,” Parenti said of his 2017 season. “I’m looking forward to more this year.”

With a tougher competition coming around, the players know they need to play at an absolute high tempo to achieve successes like the 2017 season.

Johnson scrimmaged Caldwell on Wednesday, March 15, coming up short in an 8-7 loss. Caldwell reached the NJSIAA South Jersey, Group 1 Semifinals, but a stretch in the third quarter was a major factor in the goals scored.

“It’s going to be a lot tougher with losing our seniors last year,” Bretz said. “We’ll be getting a lot of newer kids in this year. It’s going to be tougher, but what we did last night, it might not be as bad as we originally thought.”

Junior Tom Bizzoco, seniors Nick Rabeno, Anthony Petruzzelli and Ryan Palmer will help to anchor down the Crusaders on defense.

The Crusaders also have both their goaltenders, junior Josh Hill and senior Dylan Bohm.

Hill recorded 211 saves, while allowing 109 goals on the season.

Johnson started off the 2017 season with a 2-3 record, with early wins against West Orange and Hightstown, with losses to Robbinsville, New Providence and Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

The Crusaders followed that with an eight-game winning streak, which effectively turned around their season. Among those wins included a 10-9 double overtime win over Cranford on April 15.

Wins came against Columbia, Cranford, Oratory Prep, Verona, Hightstown, Newark Academy, Governor Livingston and New Providence had Johnson off and flying in the standings.

In the 2017 Union County Tournament, Johnson defeated Governor Livingston in the first round 11-5 and defeated New Providence 10-6 in the quarterfinals round, before bowing out to top-seeded and fifth-ranked Summit 15-2 in the semifinals round.

“The togetherness [powered us in that winning streak],” Bruno said. “We all became brothers right around that time during that eight-game winning streak. We cared for each other and played for each other.”

The 2018 season kicks off for the Crusaders with their home opener against Scotch Plains-Fanwood on Wednesday, March 28 at 4:00 p.m.

2018 Johnson Crusaders Schedule: