Posted 1/26/2010 - Venom finishes 2nd in the Montreal Goalball Tournament January 22nd-24th 2010. Next Up will be Kalamazoo Michigan 2/27/2010.
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6/15/09
They Said It Couldn’t Be Done
After trying but failing miserably by coming in 4th place at the 2008 Nationals, Venom started the new season with high hopes as usual. But their hopes were quickly dwindled when they came in 4th in New Jersey as well. So when Venom players Josh Schwartz, John Mulhern, Andy Jenks, Matt Shields, and Mike Coughlin took flight for the 2009 Nationals in Colorado Springs they were hoping for the win but knew it would be a long battle.

The first game pitted them against a rival they knew all too well New York. After starting off slow and being down 2-1. Venom fought hard and was leading 15 to 6 in the middle of the second half when Mike Coughlin scored his first national goal to envoke the mercy rule and end Game 1. This worried them however because they weren’t expecting the game to go so poorly. The next morning they played Arizona. Again starting off slowly only being up 2-1 Arizona tried to put up a fight but Venom eventually took the lead to make it 13-4 at which point Matt Shields put in the goal to envoke their second mercy and secure victory. Their third game would pit them against the Michigan Wrecking Crew. Venom tried a different strategy by playing John Mulhern at center instead of the starter Josh. But this would be no mercy as Venom fought and clawed their way to a 6-3 win. This gave them a number two seed for the quarter finals which had them paired up with Illonois. Venom started off strong being up 3-1 at the half but things looked bleak in the second half when Illonois came within a goal of tying it up at 5-4. But Venom came out on top and advanced to the semi finals.

This surprised nobody because it wasn’t a big deal for Venom to make it to the semi finals where they would play Florida. This game was by far the toughest game as they traded goal after goal in the first half to make it a tie score 3-3 at half. But Venom figured out their game especially with John at center again and won a trip to the championship game with a score of 5-3. They would be playing Utah.

Now this was the 4th year in a row that PA was playing Utah in some form of a final four game. The previous 3 years had been in the semi finals and both teams had stepped up their game to bring this farmilliar matchup to the next level by playing for a national championship. Utah had made it to the finals the year before by beating PA in the semi finals and had lost to Florida. And the last time PA was in the finals was in 2007 against Wrecking Crew where they had lost.

Now at the beginning of the tournament most of the people there had expected to see PA versus Utah in the finals but everyone had expected Utah to win comfortably.

What can only be described as a gut feeling acting coach John Mulhern decided to put Josh at center to give himself more of an offensive help to the team. Now Josh had never played starting center in a national championship game so he was a bit nervous. However nerves disappeared and what was replaced can only be described as poetry in motion as Venom played what could be one of the best games since the original Venom back in 2003 and 04. Utah took the first blow with a shot to Andy’s corner on right wing. But John retaliated with a goal the very next throw to tie it up. From then on PA didn’t look back that half and scored a goal to give them the lead 2-1 at halftime. Venom was calm cool and relaxed and most importantly confident. When the second half started Venom knew they were only 600 seconds away from a national championship. But could they hang on for the win. With John and Andy scoring one more goal a piece within the first 5 minutes of the second half Venom knew that all they had to do was defend their way to a victory. But it was no easy task as Utah fired everything they had at Venom. They focused mainly on John to tire him out and Josh because they knew normally he was weak in the gaps.
This turned out to work to PA’s advantage because with a 4-1 lead John didn’t need to play anymore and played some of the smartest goalball ever as he passed it off to Andy who proved to be quite an offensive threat this tournament. With one second left PA called a time out and gathered in the center to hold the ball and when the officials called play and the buzzer went off they threw the ball in the air with a triumphant cry as they had just become the 2009 national champions.

With Andy and John throwing some of their hardest balls this weekend and Josh playing his best defense ever in that final game. PA achieved what no other men’s team had which was 5 national championships in 10 years. With this goal gone their new goal will be to defend the title in 2010 where Nationals is being held in none other than Philadelphia.
10/29/08
BSO / PA Goalball Boys come in second place.
The BSO Boys goalball team had high expectations to live up to heading into this past weekend’s High School National Goalball Championships.  As defending champions they were expected to finish well.  Play went great on Friday for the boys as they beat New York 11-5, Arizona 12-6, Utah 8-3 and Atlanta 10-0 in a mercy rule game.  This meant that BSO was at the top of their pool and would cross-over against Michigan on Saturday morning.  Some early sloppiness showed on the part of the guys but they always held at least a 2 goal lead and won the game 8-6.  This win set them up for a game in the quarterfinals against Utah.  The guys played superbly in this game and beat their opponent 7-2 with the last goal given up occurring just a minute before the end of the game.  This now meant that the boys would face the home team of Florida.  The Florida team had only one returning starter but with some fresh talent looked hard to beat.  They had walloped last year’s runner-up, Illinois, 9-1 in the semis and would play in front of a packed house that was cheering them on.  This didn’t mean that BSO had a lack of support though.  The numbers were only slightly greater for Florida and the BSO cheers were just as loud.  The game went back and forth early with a new member of the team, Donnie Buie scoring the first two BSO goals.  The defense started to lack however and the team was down 6-3 early in the second half when they started making an effort to come back.  Buie put another one in the net to bring the game close but not a few plays later Florida reopened the score with a goal of their own to make it 7-4.  This was when the BSO center, Andy Jenks, and last year’s MVP wanted to help his team go for broke.  Committing a handful of high ball penalties was not helping and he straightened out his game throwing balls that the Florida defenders were hardly able to handle.  The score eventually drew even at 8-8 after the 4 late goals were scored as well as one was conceded.  Yet with 36 seconds left on the clock the BSO defense gave up a goal to allow Florida its first win at Youth Nationals since 2004.  The team played far above its expectations, however, as only one member, Andy Jenks, had been on the team before.  The team of Jenks, Buie, Matt Shields and Mike Coughlin represented BSO well and may not have won another title but sure did try to.  Jenks went on to receive MVP honors as well as being named to the All-American Team.  Goal totals included 40 for Jenks, 14 for Buie, 5 for Shields and 4 for “little” Mike Coughlin. 
7/5/08
Venom Write up for Nationals
Venom Write up for Nationals
After winning a gold medal in Michigan and taking a silver in New Jersey, Venom went to the 2008 National Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah with the desire that most championship caliber teams have. However would desire be enough or would they fall short of their goal? Dedicating this year to their fallen teammate Darryl Green, Josh Schwartz, John Mulhern, Steve Mulhern, Andy Jenks, and coach/player Greg Gontaryk wanted to go out with a bang. They looked to do just that as they beat New Jersey 10-0 in the first game. Going home Thursday night from the gym Venom felt more alive than most. However the next morning they came to their first wall. Playing Utah in their home town was no easy task as they found out when they traded goal after goal but eventually fell short 10-7. Their 3rd game against New York later that afternoon, they went in with a fiery vengefulness and made short work of their opponent 14-7. This would seed them #2 in their division which meant that they would face California, the #3 seeded team from the other division. After taking a 5-1 lead at the half Venom thought they had this in the bag. However this turned out to not be the case as California slowly but surely caught up to eventually take an 8-7 lead! But PA held tough and eventually came out the victor 9-8. This would seed them #3 overall and put them into the semi finals the next morning where they would have a rematch against Utah. This would be the 3rd year in a row that Utah and Venom had faced off in the semi finals at nationals. Venom started off strong taking a 5-3 lead but Utah was ever so persistent and eventually caught up. What happened in the 2nd half can only be described as gut wrenching as PA and Utah literally traded goals back and forth, back and forth. When one team scored the other would score and then score again to take the lead and then the 1st team would score and then score again to take the lead. Eventually when it was 9-9 though, Utah broke through and finished what they had started winning 14-9. This would put Venom in the bronze medal game against Michigan Wrecking Crew. Again Venom started off strong taking an early lead. But Michigan again was ever so persistent and eventually caught up by halftime to take a 7-4 lead. The 2nd half was very bad as Venom was exhausted and upset and a plethora of other emotions. As Michigan's lead kept increasing Venom was starting to lose hope. And sadly with less than 2 minutes left, Michigan scored a goal to put the final nail in the coffin by making it 15-5 thereby delivering a mercy on PA. This was the first time in 11 years that PA hadn't placed. However it was kind of ironic since PA took 4th and Darryl Green was #4.
3/8/08
Venom wins an Emotional Championship In Michigan.

After getting trounced in Canada venom came to Michigan vowing to do well. Many critics agreed that after their abysmal performance the previous month Venom wasn’t even a contender and wouldn't even make it to the top 4. Bringing with them a full arsenal of 6 players including Steve Mulhern, Greg Gontaryk, Andy Jenks, Derren Daly, Josh Schwartz, and John Mulhern. They started off with a mercy against Kentucky 15-5 and then went on to beat Illinois 12-4.

They then played their toughest game of the day which was Crew black where they still pulled off the win 7-5. This put them 3-0 in their pool and would advance them to the quarter finals to play GLASA. Being that this was a group of high schoolers they decided to bench starter John Mulhern. Even in doing so they pulled off a 9-1 victory which would take them to Sunday morning’s semi finals where they would play Crew Red. Venom took an early 3-0 lead but crew red would not be dismayed as they caught up. After catching up they traded goals. However it would be Venom who would come out on top at the half 5-3. At the start of the 2nd half 2 consecutive penalties thrown by John Mulhern would tie the game up 5-5. From this point on it was goal after goal as both teams went back and forth. However in the end Venom would come out the victor 8-7.

This would advance them to the finals where they would play the Ontario All blacks who had torched them 5-1 a months previous. After grueling first half Venom lead Ontario 2-1. At the start of the 2nd half on the first throw Ontario scored on Josh to tie it up. But then on the very next shot John Mulhern scored to take the lead again. This would be the theme of the 2nd half as it showed that every time Ontario scored Venom would retort with a goal of their own on the very next shot. Finally with about 1:30 left in the game Ontario scored to take the lead 5-4. With little hope left Venom kept fighting as they didn’t want to lose to All Black twice in a row. With 40 seconds left on the clock John Mulhern put it in the net to tie it up 5-5. However no more goals would be scored in regulation as we moved to overtime. Venom won the toss and elected to throw. Now in overtime the first team to score wins. John tried on two unsuccessful attempts to put the ball in the net but failed. After his brother Steven took a turn John asked for the ball back and did what he had set out to do. With a swift throw he willed that ball into the net to give Venom the victory and the gold medal!

This was a tremendous win for Venom as they were playing for Darryl Green who, as Josh Schwartz said afterwards, “Darryl would’ve been proud of us. Venom vs. All Black was one of his favorites and he loved the close games.” Venom stays undefeated on US soil for now and takes the first of 3 tournamts by storm. Next stop…NEW JERSEY

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