U.S. Army All Shore Gridiron Classic

We are just a couple of weeks away from the U.S. Army All Shore Gridiron Classic which is either the final football game of last season or the first game of next season. The annual mid-summer classic matches recently graduated seniors from Ocean County against their rivals from Monmouth County. The game will be played for the first time on a Thursday night, July 14th at Toms River High School North. Lacey’s Lou Vircillo will coach the Ocean team with Shane Fallon of Rumson heading up the Monmouth staff. We will be broadcasting that game on the Shore Sports Network with details to follow.

Barnegat High School football standout Ryan Morris can enjoy his senior year without having to worry about the burden of college recruiting. That’s because the 6’6, 250 pound tight end has verbally committed to Purdue University after making a recent unofficial visit to the campus in West Lafayette, Indiana. Morris said he liked everything about his visit and “it just felt right and was the right decision for me.” He chose Purdue over more than a dozen other schools including Syracuse, Duke and Central Florida.

It took a little longer than expected but Rob Dahl was officially hired last week as the new head football coach at Brick Township High School. A Brick graduate, Dahl was the offensive coordinator at Jackson Memorial last season. He replaces Patrick Dowling, who endured two tumultuous seasons as the replacement for Warren Wolf but was not re-hired. Dowling is now an assistant at Monsignor Donovan under Dan Duddy.

Free agent to be Jose Reyes is putting together a remarkable season for the New York Mets who after getting off to a horrible start are now over .500 for the first time since April 6th. Reyes went 4-4 with his major league-leading 15th triple last night in a rout of the Tigers which boosted his league-leading batting average to .349. The shortstop also leads the National League in hits and runs and is second in stolen bases. Reyes’ timing could not be better as he’s having a breakout season in the final year of his contract and having just turned 28 he is in the prime of his career. The Mets will have to find a way to sign him after the season or suffer a public relations nightmare that could set the franchise back even farther.