NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
HERKIMER over ESSEX

NJCAA SEMIS:
ESSEX over #1 ONONDAGA
HERKIMER over NASSAU

May 15, 2005

Queener, Zuder-Havens Lead Generals

Baltimore - Scott Barnard, the young Herkimer coach, a champion for only moments, after beating tournament host Essex 10-5, gathered his team around him just before the trophy ceremony. He began well enough "Men, We've been through a lot of adversity this year and..." He stopped, choking on his words as his eyes teared and he lowered his head to hide them, unsuccessfully. From the silence, "We love you too coach!" was proclaimed by one of the huddled players and the group errupted in agreement and cheers. Barnard's speech was over and the celebration began. And these Herkimer Generals, more than any other team before them had so much to celebrate. Mostly because two days earlier they had so much to prove.





For 22 years in succession, Herkimer had won the regional final and an automatic bid to the JUCO playoffs, but this year, after Barnard took over for the legendary Paul Wehrum, they slipped and fell to Onondaga in the regional final. They were the tournament's sole at-large entry and as such were supposed to lose. Barnard had the Herkimer reputation and tradition riding on his shoulders this weekend, "For the first time in 22 years, I lost the regional final and we came as an at large team. I had a lot of pressure on me, replacing a hall of fame coach. It was all about working through the tough times this year. We had to take that focus and say, that's okay, I'm going to challenge you as men to put that behind you and to grow from the experience. I mean, that is the story of every champion."





Barnard was as gracious in victory as his opponent, Essex's Brian Duncan was in defeat. Duncan walked the post-game handshake line exclaiming the virtues of Herkimer's efforts to each kid he greeted. "Well earned." he would say, or "This one was all you, guys. You are truly champions." At the end of that procession Barnard hugged Duncan and they shared personal words resulting in broad smiles and another hug. "Brian and I, we have something in common. He replaced Timmy Puls and I replaced Paul Wehrum. Brian wins a national championship in a wonderful game (in 2004 over Herkimer, 17-16 in overtime) and I win a national championship today", explained Barnard, "I said [to Duncan after the game] 'Brian, you didn't lose today. It's just 1 to 1'. There is no shame in what his team accomplished this year. Of all the coaches, we are both young, we both had monkeys on our backs and worked through them."





The coach wasn't the only Herkimer cast member that achieved redemption over the weekend. The defensive player of the tournament, goalkeeper Brett Queener, brother of Georgetown's Bryce, transcended from a weak student and defeated keeper [Broome and Onondaga losses] into a champion with a bright academic future. Just hours earlier Queener learned that his G.P.A. for the semester was a 3.5 after a poor showing at Penn State last year and a not so great Fall at Herkimer. The Penn Yan High grad's prospects are bright now, as the stands were loaded with top DI college coaches and with just one more successful semester at Herkimer, he will be eligible to play next Spring on the big stage again. His coach, a teacher too, beamed with pride at Brett's accomplishment and the school's ability to help him get where he wants to go, "It's not about wins and losses for Brett. For the first time in Brett's life he succeeded in college. He had two bad semesters at Penn state and one here but last night, he learned he got a 3.5 G.P.A.. Today I'm more proud of him for that than winning a championship here. It's the first time he's ever passed a semester at college. That's a fantastic feeling. At Herkimer, we have an unbelievable system and a full time academic advisor. That's what junior college is all about; making boys become men and getting them that experience academically and on the lacrosse field."





Queener wasn't just a man in the final. He was THE man. In fact, the game was a goalie battle, as the keeper across the field, Billy Sadtler, played one of the best semi-finals seen in recent history only the day before and went save for save most of the game with Queener today. But Queener was probably the ground ball leader today too. It seemed like every time the ball was loose in his end and the offensive and defensive player matched up in the battle for possession, pretty evenly, Queener would sweep through from nowhere controlling the ball and moving it upfield. He was omnipresent throughout the action and opaque in the cage with at least 20 saves against the defending champions. Essex could not buy a goal, scoring only once in the second half, after Queener's standing ovation and departure and far too late to matter, after holding the early lead into the break.



"My only problem with Brett", says Barnard in good humor, "is he likes to come out of the cage all the time. I only let him come out when he has the ball. He had a separated shoulder earlier in the season against Monroe. He didn't play for a couple of weeks. We had to rehab him and he is still not at 100%. They scored seven goals in the second quarter while he stood in the cage, holding his stick with one hand because he had a separated shoulder and I didn't know it!"



NJCAA Executive Director Wayne Baker Awarded the trophies

The Herkimer offense, led by offensive tournament MVP Adam Zuder-Havens (2g, 3a) was held to ten goals, but that was perfect, says Duncan. "My job and our whole goal today was to hold them under 10. Every game that we have held a team under 10, we have won. I've had three overtime losses as a coach all with the other team scoring over ten. We wanted to get up and down the field. We know how deep our bench is. We've got 40 kids deep. We want that pace and what I did is I made our defense become real simple. I just did one defensive package and that was it. Keep it simple and execute. Because I think in championship games it's not about the plays, but about doing the basics and fundamentals. I felt today on the defensive end, we were pretty near perfect."





Essex, who was led all weekend by the spectacular play of Sadtler in the cage, had star performaces by Jonathan Beard, Adam Wade and Matt Healey, who each scored in the final but dominated number 1 Onondaga on Saturday. Saturday posed a unique challenge for the Generals, as well. "We beat Nassau 10-2 in the regular season and held them scoreless for the first three quarters." says Barnard, "It's hard to get a team up for that next game against them. You know the next time you see them they [my players] think they're going to roll. If there is one coach in junior college I respect the most it's Speckman (Nassau's Richard). Speckman is in my mind the mentor in junior college. 36 years, 22 national championships. So I know he is going to be ready. So my biggest job was to mentally prepare them yesterday and then, once that was accomplished, to get them ready for today."





Barnard couldn't stop smiling after the game, interviewing with his daughter perched happily on his shoulders, "Herkimer is a family. Today for the first time we broke out the gold jerseys. We have not worn gold all year. We had them special delivered Thursday. And the difference between our white and our gold is on the gold there are no names on the back. We are not individuals we are a team. They came into the locker room before the game today and all the jerseys were laid out on the benches with no names. And I said, today, you become a team and you will be champions."





Details of the action follow in the video coverage below. ENJOY!



TALE OF THE TAPE

Essex's Billy Sadtler


Essex's Billy Sadtler


Herkimer's Adam Zuder-Havens


Essex's Matt Healey to Adam Wade


Essex's Andy Bishop


Essex's Adam Wade


Herkimer's Brett Queener


Essex's Billy Sadtler


Herkimer's Brett Queener


Essex's Billy Sadtler


Essex's Jonathan Beard


Essex's Aaron Flood to Jim Kaleb


Herkimer's Brett Queener


Herkimer's Brett Queener


The smallest Herkimer fanatic on hand





Essex's D


Herkimer's Brett Queener


Essex's Billy Sadtler


Herkimer's Zach Heyl


Herkimer's Zach Heyl again


Herkimer's Adam Zuder-Havens again!


Herkimer's Tyler Burton to Rob Renetta


Herkimer's Brandon Butler


Herkimer's Brandon Butler to Derek Franzen


Herkimer's Jared Garcia


Herkimer's Brett Queener


Herkimer's Brett Queener again!


Essex's Billy Sadtler again!


Herkimer's Adam Zuder-Havens to Chad Henry


Herkimer's Andy Bozymowski


Herkimer's Rob Renetta to Adam Zuder-Havens


Essex's Dan Carmack


Pile on!






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