St. Joseph head coach Dennis McCaffery on wild GMCT title win, plus the “glue” that held it all together: longtime assistant Jerry Riporti

Look at any sport, any level, and it’s not just about one player, or the head coach. Winning teams, programs, franchises are all a team effort.

Mookie Wilson didn’t win Game six on his own. Mark Messier’s guarantee doesn’t happen without everyone chipping in.

And that’s the way it is at St. Joseph-Metuchen, too.

The Falcons didn’t just win the Jim Muldowney GMC Championship with one swing of the bat from JP Zayle, although it was the most obvious, easy-to-see reason why. But it was just one of the reasons why.

Talk about the pitching from Richard Zangara, sticking with it after, to be honest, a brutal first inning. Why wants to give up four runs and face nine hitters in the first inning of a championship game? But he allowed just one hit through the next five and one-third innings, keeping his team in the game.

Talk about the hitting, all through these playoffs. Even if their first two GMCT wins were 1-0, walkoffs, it was the timely hit that mattered.

And don’t forget about Dom Erbafina, who got the win in relief – yet again, his third in this GMCT – in just 2/3 of an inning.

Speaking of timely, it might not have been ideal timing when Mike Murray decided to step away from the program. Sure, it was good for him, with the Murrays about to have a baby, and no one could fault him for that. But what about those St. Joe’s seniors?

They could have left. The NJSIAA allows them one free transfer without sitting. But they didn’t. And one big reason why was Jerry Rippori.

At the tail end now of his 11th season at the Metuchen school, Riporti has spanned three coaches now at St. Joe’s, and that consistency has been key to their success. And as first-year Falcons’ skipper Dennis McCaffery tells it, if it wasn’t for Riporti, he might have been home Saturday afternoon watching baseball on television.

Instead, after retiring from Cranford with more than 500 wins under his belt, he’s still adding to that total, because Riporti thought enough when the head coach job opened up not to seek it himself, but to seek out McCaffery.

That’s the mark of a “team player,” or – in this case – a “team first coach.”

Click below to hear McCaffery talk about St. Joseph’s win in the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament final, as well as Riporti on his part in keeping the team together, and bringing McCaffery in as coach: