The ride of champions

Central Valley - The victory was hours old when the caravan carrying the state champion Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders approached the line that separates Sullivan from Orange county along the Quickway Sunday evening. That’s when the first police and emergency vehicle showed up with their lights ablaze. Not because there was a problem. No, the buses and vehicles that followed the team earned a police escort because what had happened hours earlier inside a domed stadium 200 miles was special. Monroe Police Chief Dom Giudice coordinated the impromptu escort on his way home from the game and included state police and Orange County Sheriff Carl Dubois’s deputies as well as nearly a dozen ambulance and fire department crews. Impromptu, yes, but word spread quickly. The father of one player, who was traveling behind the team bus, said his son called him on his cell phone with the news. Once the parade of vehicles left the Quickway and entered Monroe, the celebration began. The emergency vehicles put on their sirens and strobe lights as spectators cheered the team as they rode down North Main Street to Route 17M, then into Harriman and finally to Monroe-Woodbury High School in Central Valley. Neil Ingenito exited the bus first, holding the championship hardware over his head. The applause almost as deafening as the sirens that announced their arrival. As the rest of the Crusaders filed off the bus, they were cheered by an exuberant group of parents, family, fans and school staff, including principal Aldo Filipone. Balloons hung from sign posts and railings and handmade signs greeted the returning champs. The loudest applause came, however, when Coach Pat D’Aliso climbed the stairs to enter the locker room for the last time this season with his New York State Championship team.