ND’s Perone captures 500th career victory
ROBBINSVILLE >> There’s a reason Mike Perone can be called the Sir Alex Ferguson of Mercer County scholastic boys soccer.
For virtually all his life, Perone has been winning soccer games, and, as a result, he was able to reach a very impressive milestone Monday with his 500th victory as Notre Dame’s head coach.
Making the afternoon even better was the fact this was no ordinary victory.
Rather, the Irish pulled off an upset by beating Robbinsville by the score of 1-0 on a beautiful goal by Bennett Morrell with 5:04 remaining.
For those not familiar with Perone, he became the head coach at Notre Dame 40 years ago after first making a name for himself at Trenton High and at what was then named Trenton State College.
He has been assisted for all 40 of those years by the legendary Ziggy Zegarksi, and during that span, Notre Dame has won six state championships.
So, coach, what does it mean to become a rare member of the 500-win club?
“It’s not something you really think about because you are always just trying to win every game,” replied Perone. “To me, it was really just a number, but once you do it, it’s like, ‘Wow,’ I guess this really is something special.”
It’s only fitting Perone was able to reach 500 in a season that totally reflects his style of positive coaching.
After getting off to a rough 1-6 start, Notre Dame has improved dramatically and is now within one game of .500 with a 7-8 record.
And truth be told, his team outplayed the Ravens (11-4-1) on their home field.
Looking dangerous on crosses throughout the game, Notre Dame had the better scoring chances and an 8-2 advantage in corners. Unfortunately for the Irish, they kept heading the ball over the crossbar or wide.
When Notre Dame did get the ball on target, Robbinsville goalkeeper Walter Romanow made a couple of sensational saves in the second half. One was on a point blank shot by a wide open Sam Stephan in the box and another was on a diving save of a header by Chris Hawkins.
Just when it looked like it would end in a scoreless regulation, Notre Dame broke through when a through ball set up Stephan on the right side of the pitch. After a couple of touches, Stephan centered the ball into the box.
Morrell did the rest by redirecting the pass back across the goal mouth and into the far corner of the net. Not even Romanow was going to stop that one.
Following the game, there was a real sense of communal satisfaction in Perone reaching the 500win mark.
“We’re like a family here,” said Perone, who is assisted by Zegarski, Pete Gaeta, Rich Leedom and Bruce Henry. “In addition to Ziggy, two of my assistants have been with me for 30 and 20 years. I can’t thank all those guys enough.”
And how has he changed as a coach over four decades?
“Oh, I have definitely gotten more mellow,” Perone said. “I used to get worked up, but once you have grandkids, you become mellow.”
Although they may not be related, you could say all those players Perone has coached give him a whole plethora of grandkids. Morrell (ND). Stephan (ND). 16 (ND), 11 (R). THogan 9 (ND), WRomanow