WNY Nationals fall in state sectionals; Guasconi leaves Weehawken

Although the West New York National Little League 12-year-old All-Stars lost in successive games at the Section 2 championships last week in Belleville, head coach Orlando Gomez was proud of the team's efforts.

"We had tremendous defensive and pitching efforts," Gomez said. "We knew going into the tournament that our weakness was our hitting. Once we got past the Districts to the next level, we knew we were going to have to manufacture runs and put the ball in play."

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The WNY Nationals fell 1-0 to Rutherford American in the first round of the tournament, then dropped a 4-1 decision to Union, which eliminated the youngsters and ended their Little League season.

"The pitching was great for both teams," Gomez said. "I never figured we would go out in two games. We just didn't hit the ball. Danny Rodriguez was in control in the first game, but we couldn't score for him. In the second game, we had our chances, but couldn't capitalize. Jonathan Cuevas didn't have his best stuff, but he was still tough out there."

Added Gomez, "But these kids have nothing to be ashamed of. I told them that they are champions and they are. There are like 90,000 Little Leagues in the country and they were one of the teams to win a district championship. They went to the sectionals and played their hearts out. They're going to be very successful down the road."

They already are...

The Weehawken High School football program took a serious blow when Mike Guasconi resigned as head coach earlier this week. Guasconi guided the Indians to an 8-3 record, the school's best ever, and the school's first-ever berth in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group I state playoffs.

"I think it's the best thing for the program for me to step down now, so they can find someone in the school who can be the head coach," said Guasconi, who had an 18-15 record in three years at Weehawken. "I loved being there. The people are first class. I'm going to miss the kids and miss coaching there. Everything turned out positive."

Except for Guasconi's departure, because the school will be hard-pressed to find someone who could have been so successful in such a short period. It's a gigantic loss for Weehawken...

Best of luck to Chipper Benway, who has been named as the new athletic director at Hudson Catholic. Benway, the former Hoboken High School standout, will now hold the titles of head football coach and AD at the school...

Say a prayer for North Bergen assistant coach and former all-time grid great Kenny Bello, who was stabbed in an incident recently. Bello had surgery, but is apparently recovering nicely from the wounds...

Chalk another honor up for St. Anthony point guard Elijah Ingram, who has been tabbed by the Hoop Scoop national scouting service as the No. 11 high school prospect in the nation. Talk about your rising stars...