At the full-time whistle in an NJSIAA Group IV South quarterfinal match held at Barchuk Field, the end of one of the most remarkable state tournament streaks in scholastic sports history has been confirmed.
Woolwich Kingsway (N.J.) 7, Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) 0.
Through 23 years, four head coaches, and hundreds of young women coming through the doors of Eastern Camden County Junior and Senior High School’s campus just adjacent to Coffins Corner, the Vikings built a dynasty of skill, quickness, and teamwork that won the last 22 consecutive state championships on offer; 23 consecutive sectional titles when you factor in the COVID-19 season of 2020.
Eastern’s reign of excellence was not limited to the state of New Jersey. Starting in the early 2000s, the Vikings scheduled interstate matchups — first with Emmaus (Pa.), then against the likes of Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) and Louisville Sacred Heart (Ky.) on traveling weekends, then at the National High School Invitational.
It was a foreshadowing at the NHSI this year when the Vikings showed up and dropped a 4-0 defeat to Mechanicsburg (Pa.) and a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Ann Arbor Skyline (Mich.).
These two games were the heaviest defeats the Vikings program had suffered until a brilliant NCAA championship-winning coach named Danyle Heilig started coaching the team in the fall of 1999, and changed everything.
Now, Eastern had been a pretty good program for most of the 1990s, often offering the stiffest of tests for teams either going through the Group IV South bracket or against the Group IV Central champions on the way to the state final. Eastern, however, would turn the postseason into their own personal playground, winning every single playoff game within their group classification for more than two decades, falling only against competition in the Tournament of Champions.
Indeed, it was in the T of C when the Vikings learned of a committed and excellent group of players from the northern half of the state which were seemingly the “yin” to Eastern’s “yang.” That team, Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.), met up with Eastern 11 times in the regular season and in playoff competition in a rivalry we’ve started calling The Garden State Firm because of how close the two sides werek.
One year ago, Eastern fought from three goals down to win on an untimed corner at the end of regulation. But this year, having graduated a number of outstanding players including a current member of the U.S. senior women’s national team pool, the Vikings were stopped by a good Kingsway team which might be the best public-school team in the state.
The Vikings, and their collective excellence, effort, and pure joy of playing the game, will live long in the memory. Yes, this phase of domination may be over, but it is instructive to note that sport, as in life, there are new games to be played and new history to be written.
And if any team can rebound from this, it is Eastern.
