Photo: The 2007 – 2008 Wayne Valley Indians (white) in action (photo courtesy of Mike De Moor)

By Steve Sears

Joe Leicht, who has coached the Wayne Valley High School Indians boys’ basketball team since 2004 (except for the 2020 – 21 squad), describes his 2007-2008 team. “It was an interesting situation, all the behind-the-scenes things.”

The season’s terminus was Wayne Valley winning the North Section 1 Group 3 state title, and they won all four games in the playoffs on the road.

Paul Siljee, a senior (a 1,000-point scorer), and his younger brother, sophomore Nick Siljee (an eventual 1,000-point scorer), were transfers from Eastern Christian in Passaic County. “That season had been a little different because we had two new players to incorporate,” recalls senior shooting guard, Mike De Moor. 

6’5” 230-pound center (and future New York Jet) Chris Pantale suffered a knee injury in the last game of the football season, which he tried to play through early in the basketball season, but unsuccessfully. After a knee operation, Leicht encouraged Pantale – who was scheduled to attend Boston College for football the following fall – to perhaps forget basketball for his senior season and rest up for the collegiate football season. Leicht recalls the conversation. “And he goes, ‘No, I will be back. I’m going to be back. I could be back maybe in about five weeks or six weeks, but I will return.’”

De Moor and sophomore point guard Jason Rosenberg rounded out the starting five of the team, which started poorly. The club was treading water with a .500 record when Pantale returned, and received a low seed ranking for the state tournament. However, with their center back in the middle, the team’s fortunes turned, and they lost just two games the rest of the regular season. 

Due to their low seeding, the Indians were forced to play all of their games on the road. The first was at Old Tappan and, after trailing by 10 points in the first half, the team returned to the court with more offensive gusto in the second half, tying the nip and tuck game in the third quarter, and eventually winning in overtime.

Next up was crosstown rival Wayne Hills. “For the Wayne Hills game, I remember that kind of felt like a championship game,” says De Moor.

Leicht remembers, “It was one of those where the place was closed down an hour and a half before the game. It was rocking, the place was jammed.” Wayne Valley led for the majority of the game, but couldn’t pull away. “We’d be up six, seven,” says Leicht, “and they’d cut it to three. And then it got tight at the end. It was a four-point game, we missed a foul shot here and there, and they scored, and then Mike De Moor in the last minute made a couple of key foul shots which put the game away.”

“I still remember walking there (up to the foul line),” says De Moor. “Last year, I actually watched this video of the game, and Nick Siljee comes up to me and gives me like this little pep talk before the free throws. I sunk them both, and that was a four-point game. And that ended up being the end of it.”

Game three, the sectional semifinal of the playoffs, was at Jefferson High School, where the home team rarely lost. Leicht gave his players some advice. “I told the kids, ‘We play a Passaic County schedule. There are not many counties that are better than Passaic County in basketball. We play a tougher schedule than Jefferson does. All we have to do is play our game the way we’re playing now and we’ll have no problem with Jefferson.’” He was prophetic, his team listened, and won easily, 73 – 49. 

The title game was against West Milford at Paterson Kennedy High School. The game was tied with a minute left when the Indians missed a shot, and West Milford rebounded the ball, and would hold the ball for the last shot. “With 15 seconds to go in the game,” says Leicht, “they called timeout to set up the last shot. We come to the bench, and Jason Rosenberg, who was a sophomore – unbelievable quickness, the greatest ball handler I’ve ever had and he was a tremendous defensive player – says to me, ‘Coach, I can steal the ball from their guard.’” Leicht listened to his guard’s suggestion and told him to go for it. Rosenberg indeed stole the ball and was fouled as he put in a layup at the other end.

His subsequent free throw sealed the three-point victory and title.

“We won the sectional championship, and the place was bedlam,” says Leicht happily. “It was unbelievable. It was the best team I had over the years.”