Sports

Marine Corps Sponsoring First Basilone Bowl

Football game will be in honor of famed Sgt. John Basilone.

To celebrate a late Marine who means a great deal to Somerset County, and give graduating seniors one last opportunity to play football with their peers, the Somerset County Coaches Association is joining with the Marine Corps for the first ever Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone Bowl Game.

The event will be held at 6 p.m. June 28 at the Basilone Field at Bridgewater-Raritan High School. Pre-game ceremonies will begin at 5:30 p.m.

“We are proud to work on the first annual game that celebrates academic excellence and quality of character,” said Maj. Michael Ogden, commanding officer at the Recruiting Station New Jersey, in a Tuesday press conference announcing the event. “It is bringing 85 athletes together from across Somerset County.”

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The game is being sponsored by both organizations, and will honor Basilone, of Raritan, who was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, in recognition of heroism at Gudalcanal, when he used a machine gun and pistol to kill 38 of the enemy. And at Iwo Jima, Basilone destroyed a Japanese blockhouse while going up against a bombardment of enemy fire.

Basilone was killed in action on D-Day, Feb. 19, 1945, and was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.

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The athletes participating are those who have demonstrated success both on and off the football field, Ogden said.

“The players are among the most talented,” he said.

The game will feature athletes from Bernards High School, Bound Brook High School, Bridgewater-Raritan High School, Franklin High School, Hillsborough High School, Immaculata High School, Manville High School, Montgomery High School, North Plainfield High School, The Pingry School, Ridge High School, Somerville High School, Watchung-Hills Regional High School and Delaware Valley High School.

The students will be broken into two teams. First is the Devil Dogs representing Bridgewater-Raritan, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, North Plainfield, Ridge, Watchung-Hills and Delaware Valley.

This team will be coached by BRHS football coach, and president of the Somerset County Coaches Association, Scott Bray.

The second team is the Leather Necks, and will be made up of students from Manville, Bernards, Franklin, Immaculata, Montgomery, Pingry and Somerville. They will be coached by Pierce Frauenheim, former coach at Immaculata.

All the student athletes will be recent graduates from their respective schools.

Bray said the selection process involved coaches nominating five players from each school. Some of the schools have a few more players based on the number of students in the school, and the positions represented by senior students.

“We are combining athletes in a way that is competitive,” he said. “That’s why the teams are not geographic names. And we had to make sure we had a good team position wise.”

“But this is not a north/south game,” he added.

Bray said he knows the students at BRHS are feeling privileged to be chosen, particularly because they are well-versed in the accomplishments of John Basilone.

“Some see this as their moment, and one last opportunity to play if they are not playing college football,” he said.

Practices for the game will begin the Monday before, and athletes will participate in practices every day, in addition to guided drills with two Marines and discussions on honor, ethics and working as one unit.

In addition to the game itself, there are several spirit competitions being held and sponsored by the U.S. Marines to get everyone involved in the celebration.

Ogden said the first will be a Marine Corps pull-ups competition. They will be setting up a pull-up bar at the school, he said, and whichever school logs the most correct Marine-sanctioned pull-ups on average will be the winner, announced during half time of the game. The competition will last from now until game day.

“It will usually be during lunch times,” he said.

The second spirit competition, Ogden said, is for school bands. The Marines are asking bands from the schools to submit 1- to 3-minute videos of their bands to the Recruiting Station New Jersey Facebook page, and the band that receives the most Likes on Facebook will be chosen to play during the game.

“We are trying to get the 14 school bands in a competitive nature,” he said. “We will give the winners a plaque.”

Tickets for the game are $8 per person, and veterans get in for free. All money collected will go toward wounded veterans and the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Program.

The program itself came together as Bray and Montgomery High School football coach, and Somerset County Coaches Association vice president, Zoran Milich were trying to come up with one more way for students to play football together before they headed off to college. Plus, they were looking for a way to honor Basilone.

“The Marine Corps was doing workouts at Basilone Field and Mr. Bray said to us he wanted to do something to honor Basilone,” Ogden said. “We said we thought it was a great idea.”

The participating schools and Marine Corps are excited for the upcoming opportunity.

“Anytime the Marine Corps sponsors everything, you know it will be done right,” Milich said. “It is an honor to be involved in this game.”

Bray said he sees many of Basilone’s characteristics in his students.

“This gives athletes one more opportunity to display their skills, and it is a privilege to have it done in honor of John Basilone,” he said. “The characteristics he had we see in our athletes, and they are ones all athletes should strive for.”


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