I remember you!

As I strolled up to the coaches at the Grosse Pointe North-Warren Cousino boys soccer game back at the beginning of the fall season, I was struck with two very different but strong cases of déjà vu.

First I approached North coach Chip Stencel. Suddenly the early season Macomb Area Conference crossover game I was about to watch felt like a regional or state level playoff game.

That’s because Stencel was one of the last soccer coaches I interviewed — back in the spring — as he led the Norsemen's girls team to the Division 1 state championship game.

While that game took place back in mid-June, it felt like barely a week had passed since I had talked to Stencel, not two months.

“The girls ended, and then it was a month and a half and we were right back in it,” Stencel said, referring to tryouts and training beginning back a couple weeks earlier in August.

While his summer vacation might have gone by a little too quickly, Stencel admitted it wasn’t a bad problem to have.

“No, it is what it is,” he said.

Stencel seems to have picked up where he left off, as the GPN boys began the season 4-1-0 overall, including a 1-0 win over defending division champion Utica Eisenhower to kick off the MAC Red campaign.

Wrapping things up with Stencel, I ask him about the new Warren Cousino coach, Anthony Sorrentino. The name was familiar to both of us, but we couldn't seem to place it.

So I headed over to introduce myself and began to recognize the young coach as I got closer.
I realized that Sorrentino played for Warren Woods Tower back when I was manning the left midfield spot for Warren Mott.

Putting the old rivalry behind me, I spoke with Sorrentino and can freely say he seems to have the same successful touch he had as a player as a coach. The former Division 2 All-State honorable- mention selection has the Patriots off to a hot start at 2-0-0 in the MAC Blue, 3-1-0 overall — with their lone loss coming that day to the Norsemen.

Sorrentino’s success was not a surprise to his former coach at Tower, Brian Bonkowski, who I caught up with a short while ago.

“It’s great to see one of the players that you’ve coached move into the coaching ranks,” said Bonkowski, who is still the coach of the Titans. “It’s good. He’s intense and he knows what he’s doing. He’ll do good over at Cousino.”

Teacher and student will meet up at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Tower for a late season MAC crossover game.