Tag: Steve Mate

by Mike Pavlichko

Dean of GMC Coaches, Steve Mate, claims 500th career victory as Spotswood wins at Dunellen

Spotswood won by 18, Tyler VanLeeuwen scored 17, and the Chargers won their 14th game of the season Thursday.

But the number that really mattered last night was 500.

Spotswood head coach Steve Mate – in his 31st season there behind the bench, and 35th season of coaching overall – won his 500th game when they beat Dunellen, 66-48 at the Faber School.

And the night could be perfectly summed up by this: Mate had no idea.

To be fair, we had talked about it with him earlier in the season, prior to a road game at Highland Park on Central Jersey Sports Radio. That conversation detailed a back-and-forth we had with Athletic Director Mike DelAversano about what Mate’s actual win total was. While it was known beyond a shadow of a doubt what his record is at Spotswood, the four-years he spent at Verona were a question mark, with different numbers reported by different media outlets. A call to the Verona Athletic Department finally cleared it up.

But one would not expect Mate to follow and keep track. That’s just not his way.

But the man they call “Del” knew, so when the final horn sounded, out came the flowers and the balloons, and Mate was taken by surprise.

His overall record now stands at 500-388 – four years with the Hillbillies, nearly 31 complete with the Chargers – and yet, another milestone is right around the corner. He’s 466-339 at Spotswood, and the 500 mark at the school should come up in a couple of years.

Because, as we all know, Steve Mate isn’t going anywhere.

Click below to hear Spotswood head coach Steve Mate talk about his 500th win and 35-year coaching career with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood pulls away in second half for 78-43 win over Highland Park behind VanLeeuwen’s 21

Last season, Spotswood head coach Steve Mate called newcomer Tyler VanLeeuwen a freshman sensation.

“I see big things for him,” said veteran head coach Steve Mate.

His sophomore year? He’s even better, and what’s best is he knows there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

VanLeeuwen scored 21 points Tuesday night – ten above his average and five shy of a career high he just set Saturday against JFK – in a 78-43 road win over Highland Park in a GMC crossover game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

And he did it almost entirely on two-point field goals, with one three, and a trio of foul shots.

The game was tight early, with two lead changes in the first half, and Highland Park had a three-point lead as they bombed away from three. Evangelinos Kambitsis had 12 first-half points, all from downtown, and of their eight first-half field goals, seven were from beyond the arc, many from two or more feet behind the line.

But Spotswood took an 18 point lead into halftime, 48-30, and never looked back, clamping down on defense in the second half. The Owls only had three triples the rest of the way as the Chargers extended their defense.

Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage finished with 18 and Leo Carone added 15, including three treys. Spotswood (8-6) now has won four straight, their best stretch of the year as they jockey for position in the Central Jersey Group 2 power point standings.

Kambitsis was high scorer for the Owls (4-12) with 16, while Cooper Ballentine added 11, chipping in three treys himself.

While the two former GMC Blue Division rivals hadn’t played in four years, it was the Chargers’ eleventh straight win against Highland Park, dating back to January of 2012.

The victory also was the 494th of Steve Mate’s 35-year coaching career. He was 34-49 in four years at Verona before landing in Spotswood for the 1995-96 season, amassing a 460-335 record. The Dean of GMC coaches is now 494-384 overall.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with head coach Steve Mate and sophomore Tyler VanLeeuwen, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood, Highland Park renew old GMC Blue Division rivalry with Tuesday night crossover

Just about everything about Tuesday night’s Greater Middlesex Conference crossover meeting between Spotswood and Highland Park will have an old-school feel to it.

The two are longtime GMC Blue Division rivals. You know, before teams started going in every different division, moving up or down based on their recent success. But they haven’t played each other in four years.

The Chargers are coached by Steve Mate, who’s just seven wins away from 500 for his career, and his been at Spotswood for 31 of his 35 years as a head coach, the first four coming at Verona.

And the game – which can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – will tip-off at 7 pm. That’s when everyone played “back in the day,” until participation numbers dwindled to the point where some schools don’t even have JV programs.

So, yes, Tuesday night should be a fun one.

You can hear it live from Highland Park with pregame at 6:45, and Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen on the call. Click here to listen.

It could also be an intense one. Spotswood comes in at 7-6 with a very young team; the starting lineup consists of one senior – Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage – along with just one junior, a sophomore, and two freshmen. Mate is high on the group, but knows it may take some time before they get close to scratching the surface of their full potential.

And they’ll be looking to make a run and improve their 11th place standing in the Central Jersey Group 2 power point standings.

Highland Park sits at No. 21 in Central Jersey Group 1, but everyone between then and the top 16 – and a few in it – are below .500, so the question becomes, “Why not them?” A few wins strung together could really turn the tide, and catapult them up the standings.

They are more of a senior-laden group, led by Evangelos Kambitsis, scoring 11.7 points a game. Assistant Coach Matt DeCeglie – who’s filling in while head coach Colin Copperthwaite is on leave following the birth of his first child, a daughter named Kennedy – says he’s “as tough as they come.”

Two teams in search of some wins have all the makings of an old-time rivalry, renewed.

Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:

Highland Park assistant coach Matt DeCeglie wih Dylan Allen
Spotswood head coach Steve Mate
by Mike Pavlichko

Border rivalry takes center stage Monday as Monroe visits Spotswood in boys’ hoops

One of the great things about high school sports is when two rivals get together.

Of course, Spotswood is big rivals with South River, since students from the first of those used to attend high school in the second, up until 1976.

But a close second is the Chargers’ rivalry with the Monroe Falcons. The communities not only border each other, but many play youth sports with and against each other, and even have families in both communities.

Monday night, the two boys’ basketball teams face off in a Greater Middlesex Conference crossover game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame at 6:15 and tipoff at 6:30. Mike Pavlichko has the call; click here to listen.

The two appear to come in on opposite sides of the spectrum, at least on paper. Monroe has struggled to a 2-7 record through nine games, 0-5 in the GMC Red Division. They’re scoring just under 40 points a game, while Spotswood is averaging over 60 through eleven.

And while the Chargers struggled early, dropping their first three, and five of their first six, they have now won five straight since returning to GMC play and find themselves 5-6, 2-2 in the GMC Gold.

Spotswood has four players scoring in double figures, and head coach Steve Mate says it can be a different guy every night. Friday, in an 85-51 road win at North Plainfield, Joseph Nardino scored a career high 33, including four treys, while the team hit eleven. They also nailed ten in a win over South Hunterdon in their opener at the West Windsor-Plainsboro Holiday Tournament.

Monroe’s top scorer is Logan Fotiadis, an outstanding football player for the Falcons, averaging eight per game, with a team-high five blocks. Braeden Hoiberg has connected on a team-best 20 triples to provide a threat from beyond the arc.

Click below to hear audio previews of Monday night’s game from both head coaches:

Spotswood head coach Steve Mate
Monroe head coach Jeff Warner

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood boys sweep season series from South River, staying on pace in GMC Blue race

It would have been easy for Spotswood to have an emotional let down after Friday night’s thrilling overtime victory over Timothy Christian, one which pulled them even with the Tigers in the loss column in the GMC Blue Division race.

After all, that game didn’t end until after 8 pm Friday, which meant they’d be tipping off again less than 12 hours later.

But there was no let down. All the Chargers had was energy from the get-go, and they never trailed in a critical late-season game against their arch rivals.

Spotswood (12-5, 10-1 GMC Blue) had beaten the Rams by 30 in December in their first meeting. This time? The Chargers won by 29 in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, an 80-51 decision fueled by 20 points from senior Kiye Walker and 18 from junior Joe Nardone, who had five from downtown in that mix.

They jumped out to an early lead, and only lost it once, when South River(8-9, 6-6 GMC Blue) tied it around midway through the first eight minutes at 13-13. But the Chargers finished the first quarter up 21-15, led 41-28 at the half, and that was that.

South River senior Alex Grospe – one of the top scorers in the state – finished with 22 points, after he’d been held to 24 in the opener between these two teams. He came in averaging 30.7 points per game.

But as well as Spotswood played defense – frustrating Grospe all morning long – the offense continues to shine as it has all season long. It was the Chargers’ seventh time scoring more than 80 points in a game, two of them coming against the Rams. And they scored 80-plus in back-to-back contests, including Friday’s 84-76 overtime home win over Timothy Christian.

Spotswood has won seven straight, and eight of ten since the New Year.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!

Spotswood senior Kiye Walker and head coach Steve Mate
by Mike Pavlichko

With Friday’s South River-Spotswood game rescheduled, here’s what their coaches had to say about the Rams and Chargers

Mother Nature has been extremely kind, relatively speaking, to high school sports the last couple of years.

The 2023 baseball season hardly saw any rain, and even though football saw its fair share this fall, it was more of an annoyance than anything. They still played the games.

This January? That’s another story.

Of the last four scheduled broadcasts on Central Jersey Sports Radio, three have had to be rescheduled. That includes this Friday’s game in Spotswood, with the Chargers taking on arch-rival South River.

Spotswood (8-5, 71- GMC Blue) lost some key players to graduation and transfer, but has recovered nicely, and is only getting better. South River (6-7, 4-4 GMC Blue) had a Cinderella run last year, starting with an early upset of St. Joseph-Metuchen the day after Christmas, ending in the Central Jersey Group 2 finals in a packed-to-the-gills gym in South River, but they return perimeter sharpshooter Alex Grospe.

Friday night’s game might have been cancelled, but we already did our prep, and talked to both head coaches Thursday in advance of the teams’ second meeting of the season, which now has been rescheduled for Saturday, January 27th at 10 am. That game can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Spotswood won the first meeting between the schools on December 18th, 85-55.

In the meantime, here’s what both coaches had to say about their teams this week:

Spotswood head coach Steve Mate
South River head coach Brandon Walsh

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article made mention of the postponed game being their first meeting of the season. It will be their second.

by Mike Pavlichko

Mate takes mantle as Dean of GMC coaches, as Spotswood looks to deliver a title

Spotswood and South River met early last season in a game that would maybe define, in some small way, the rest of their seasons.

The Rams pulled out a five-point win, went on to knock off perennial power St. Joseph-Metuchen on the road during the Christmas break, and went all the way to the Central Jersey Group 2 final against Manasquan.

The Chargers had a highly-respectable year as well, but couldn’t get over the South River hump, either in two regular season meetings or in the standings.

This year, much of the Rams have departed to graduation, and Spotswood sees opportunity.

There are still some parts to work out for Steve Mate, now in his 29th season with the Chargers, the longest tenure of any basketball coach in the GMC after the retirement of North Brunswick’s Ed Breheney.

But even after all that time, he still loves being in the game, and doesn’t plan on being one to sit a few rows back in the stands for a long while.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko preview the upcoming season with Spotswood boys’ basketball coach Steve Mate:

by Mike Pavlichko

South River boys got their No. 3 seed. Can the Rams cash in and win it all?

Spotswood head coach Steve Mate has known Brandon Walsh for over a decade.

The South River skipper played against Mate’s Chargers when he was a Ram, and later worked under him at the Monroe Sports Center.

So for Mate to watch Walsh’s team have great success this year – despite it happening twice at the Chargers’ expense – it’s been something special.

Schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference Blue – in which which South River and Spotswood play – and Gold Divisions tend to stick together, and stick up for one another. Many on the inside – and some on the outside – feel they often take a backseat in some way to the White and Red Divisions.

That’s okay, because success and respect is earned. And this year, South River earned it, and got it.

The Rams were picked as the No. 3 seed this year in the GMC Tournament, which will begin for them at home on Thursday in the first round against the winner of Tuesday’s game between 14th-seed Edison and 19th-seed Middlesex.

We say picked – not awarded or given – because it wasn’t awarded or given. It was earned, by way of an eye-opening 74-66 win over St. Joseph in Metuchen the day after Christmas.

And despite an earlier loss to Piscataway, the Rams – now 20-2 after a non-conference loss to Ridge Saturday – are looking really good. They have gotten great guard play from Alex and Jeremy Grospe, an inside-outside game from Roman Santos, and a team-leading 15 points a game from Laz Rodrigez, a 1,000-point scorer. They can shoot, rebound, play pesky defense and get up and down the floor.

And now the question is, how deep can the Rams make a run in the GMC Tournament? Could they win the whole thing?

It might be an upset to the top-echelon teams in the GMC if they do, but it wouldn’t be to anyone inside the South River program. Even if this team is virtually all seniors, and enjoying the fruits of having played together for years as a group.

Everyone loves to root for the little guy. Throw in the fact that a public school has not won the GMC Tournament since Colonia in 2015, and that they’re the only team to do it since 2009 (Piscataway), well, there are going to be a lot of Rams fans the deeper they get in the tournament.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Spotswood head coach Steve Mate about fellow Blue Division foe and arch-rival South River’s chances in the 2023 GMC Tournament:

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood basketball, baseball teams will remember Matthew Carlson in their own ways

Matthew Carlson should have been on the jayvee basketball team at Spotswood High School this year, and would eventually have contributed to the Chargers’ baseball team as well this Spring. The sophomore was a great kid, a leader by example, and loved by his classmates and teammates.

Instead, they are all remembering him, a month after his tragic death in an ATV accident in Georgia.

According to published reports in numerous media outlets, the 16-year-old sophomore was in an ATV while on a family vacation in Georgia over Thanksgiving break when it crashed, and he was thrown from the vehicle the night before Thanksgiving. He was pronounced dead early Thanksgiving morning at a local hospital.

“E4M” – Everything for Matt – is written in the top left corner of the Spotswood basketball team’s whiteboard in the locker room. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

The news stunned the Spotswood community as word reached New Jersey.

The basketball team is remembering him by placing his jersey on a chair at home games this season, and with a message in the corner of their whiteboard in the boys’ locker room.

Matthew Carlson (Source: Spotswood Funeral Home obituary)

We talked to basketball coach Steve Mate and baseball coach Glenny Fredricks for their memories and recollections of Matthew Carlson.

Click below to listen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood poised for a “big” year with four returning starters, opens home slate tonight

Granted, it’s early yet, but there’s good reason to be optimistic about Spotswood boys’ basketball this year.

Despite the loss of forward Roman Carone and his 19 points a game last year, the Chargers return four starters. Better yet, they are 2-0 to start a season for the first time since 2018-19, and are led in scoring through the first two games by a pair of juniors: forward Kiye Walker and guard Rion Ahmetaj.

And yes, Spotswood is big, a luxury head coach Steve Mate – now in his 28th season on Summerhill Road – hasn’t always had. Ahmetaj is 6-6, his younger brother Albion – a freshman – is 6-8, and junior forward Daniel Yarus is 6-6, while senior Casey Cumiskey and Walker are both 6-3.

Follow Sportsplex at Metuchen on Instagram for the latest on open gym sessions on their courts and turf!

Monday night, their arch rival South River comes into town, in a GMC Blue Division game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino will call allt he action with pregame set for 6:15 pm, and tip-off at 7. Click here to listen live.

In addition to all that, Mate is just a win away from a major milestone: his 400th overall coaching victory. He’s 359-301 at Spotswood, and 399-334 overall, including a four-year stint at Verona where he was 40-33 before taking the Spotswood job – when this reporter was a senior in high school.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Spotswood head coach Steve Mate: