White Beats Maroon In Alumni Game Nail-biter
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This year’s Alumni Game and Family BBQ was held at the Prep on Saturday with over 25 alumni coming back to the Prep to prove that they still got it out on the field. More alums and alumni parents cheered from the sidelines for what ended up being a nail-biter to the last whistle. As an added wrinkle this year we introduced a yellow “golden ball,” worth two points, which was brought out a few times during the game. Tom Maxwell ‘95 stepped into some large shoes taking over the refereeing responsibilities which Len DeLucia P’09 dutifully executed for years.
Teams were split by even/odd graduation years but with the newest group of 2023 alums representing the largest class, we split those youngsters up. This year we had five sets of brothers competing out on the field - Patrick Coughlin ‘15/Eamon Coughlin ‘15, Matt Casella ‘11/Jack Casella ‘16, Paul Olivo ‘26/Peter Olivo ‘28, Jack Freel ‘23/Will Freel ‘26, and Hudson Marciano ‘24/Nicholas Marciano ‘26. After some good natured smack talking we were ready to go with the White team represented in goal by Sean Miller ‘21, Will Rice ‘20, and JT Rausch ‘22, while Maroon had James Corasaniti ‘18 and Olivo ‘28.
Future Ram Olivo ‘28 was our youngest player representing the Class of 2028, getting a special dispensation from the Top Corner Club to play in place of his lax alumni dad Paul Olivo ‘94. Same was done again for the Marciano brothers, representing their lax alumni and JV coach dad Anthony Marciano ‘90. Will Freel ‘26 was also given the nod to suit up with his alum brother. With the plethora of goalies in attendance Damien McGough ‘95 and James Werner ‘14 stepped out of position to play LSM, both scoring goals and once again proving goalies are always the most athletic players on the field.
The White team took an early 2 - 0 lead and looked like they were going to run away with it holding a 5 - 2 lead at the half, but Maroon stormed back scoring the first “golden ball” and eventually taking an 8 - 6 lead. Goals then started flooding in from both sides, including White notching its first “golden ball,” retaking the lead 11 - 8. With time winding down the demands by Maroon for another “golden ball” opportunity were answered as referee Maxwell ‘95 re-entered the yellow ball into play and Maroon immediately took advantage, getting to within a goal with 15 seconds remaining. A controversial faceoff infraction on the ensuing faceoff gave the ball to Maroon. But a final shot from Jack Dougherty ‘18 ricocheted off a White middie and into the chest protector of JT Rausch ‘22 for the save to preserve the 11 - 10 win for White. Having spent this season doling out the Prolific Sports Lab Player of the Game awards to various high school players in the area, it was fitting the Alumni Game MVP award went to Prolific founder Nick Coppola ‘15 for winning, by our count, 85% of the faceoffs.
The much needed postgame BBQ gave all involved some time to catch up, tell some stories, and talk about how good they were back when they played for the Prep. Thanks to all who came out to make it a fun and successful afternoon. We’re looking forward to an even better turnout for next year!