Bernards Football and Cheerleading Banquet Tops Memorable Season

The Bernards High School Mountaineer football and cheerleading teams celebrated their memorable 2012 championship season with an annual awards banquet last weekend at Basking Ridge Country Club.

Hosted by the Bernards Football Club, the event celebrated the Mountaineers' many team and personal successes for this year.

The varsity football team finished with a 9-2 record and won the Mid-State 38 Union Division Championship during a season that brought many fans out to Bernards High.

The varsity cheerleading team also had first place finishes at the Voorhees and North Hunterdon competitions.

The senior football players that were honored included RB Cameron Broughton, OL Jason Debalso, OL Phil Garubo, WR Jackson Kotwick, DL Juan Rodas, LB Greg Bolto, WR Sayre Hoover, and DL Matt Whitlock.

The Don Ferry Memorial Award for the Top Lineman went to senior OL/DL Zach DeLeon. Ferry had coached the Mountaineers from 1964-1968. He taught history at Bernards High for more than 50 years, and spent time as athletics director. He passed away in spring 2012.

The Gary Novello Memorial Award went to Sr RB/LB Jon Diamond. Gary Novello was a Bernardsville resident who had two sons who excelled at athletics at Bernards High. Novello donated countless hours of his free time before, during, and long after his sons had left the school. He constructed numerous projects that shape the BHS facilities to this day. The award was created after his passing to celebrate and honor the way he lived. He was described as very upbeat, passionate, and positive and never stopped donating time to BHS.

The Jerry Modugno Award for team MVP was split between QB Devin Ray and WR John Maddaluna III.

The Jerry Mogduno Award was started by legendary coach Al Jacobsen in 1964.  Mogduno was a lineman and the captain of the undefeated 1954 Bernards football team; he was an outstanding football player and wrestler who died a premature death in his early twenties. His family lived in Basking Ridge and had many ties to BHS. He also was instrumental in starting youth recreational football and wrestling leagues in the Somerset Hills area at the time.

More than half of the senior football players have already committed to colleges with several scholarship offers. An update of players' commitments should be available following national signing day on Wednesday.

_ Eric Simoneau