Sebastian Stays Strong in Grueling Six Matches

In a daylong wrestling competition, the Bergen Catholic Crusaders faced tough out-of-state competition with Benton Area and Palisades high schools from Pennsylvania, St. Edward's of Ohio, Springfield Central of Massachusetts and Timberlane out of New Hampshire.  BC defeated Benton (58-21), Springfield (48-12) and Palisades (45-18) as Johnny Sebastian rode to five victories in a row as the lone Crusader to win in each match. The Ramsey-native later led his team through a close 32-30 victory over Paramus as he pinned his opponent in a staggering 22 second match.

It's been a long season for the River Dell/Westwood hockey team but everything got a little sweeter after Monday night's 6-3 rout of the Clifton Mustangs. Trailing early in the first period, the Hawks netted four goals in a shutout second period to take the lead and tack on the go-ahead goal in the third. While Dennis Ruppe led the Mustangs with a hat trick, each of the Hawks goals were spread across six players: Matthew Candrilli, Mark Schaefer, Bryan Codner, Zach Rosenoff, Jason Conroy and Greg Rasssam. Chris Detitta once again got the call to guard the posts and recorded 24 saves for his efforts. Sadly a few days later a tough Demarest squad overcame the Hawks late in third period to win 5-2 with Codner and Rosenoff netting goals. Detitta again took to the posts and came out with 43 saves.

While most schools were out on Monday to recognize the efforts of Martin Luther King, the Lady Hawks took to the court in Union City against Roselle Catholic where the Lady Hawks forced overtime to win 36-33. In a single digit scoring game, the Lions led through the first three quarters by a mere point before late in the fourth River Dell notched the tying basket. Kate Brock led all scorers with 16 points; Emily McGovern had 7; Kayla McGovern netted 5; Cassidy Verrier came off the bench with 4; and Jordan Bastable and Amanda Flood each had two points. Tueday night River Dell faced the rival Ramsey Lady Rams and came out on top 55-26 with Brock's 18 points, Kayla McGovern's 13 and Bastable's 11.

Hawks indoor track shot putters Matt Koh and Laura Oh have something to boast about after competing in the Garfield High Jump/Shot Put No. 2 competition this week. Koh placed fourth with a 49-2 1/4 throw while Oh followed in third place with a 34-1 toss.  was in New York for the Ridgewood Winter Games II on Tuesday where she easily won the hurdles in 9.1. Chris Bang placed second in the 55m; Craig Marulis placed third in the 600m with Chris Flego trailing by one second for fourth; Koh and Austin Berninger took first and second in the shot put; while Jurisaon Branda took second in the high jump; Calvin Harmann came in third in the pole vault and the boys 4x400 relay secured a scond place finish. On the girls side was Melissa Gibbons in third in the 55m and fifth in the 300m; Sam Schleiger took second in the 600m with Emily Croonquist earning fourth in the 1600m; Laura Oh and Erin Smith placed second and fourth in the shot put while Stacey Zaccaria and Grace Behrens finished third and fourth in the high jump. Paige Fernandez took fourth in the triple jump while the 4x400 girls relay took second.

Richie DeLuca scored a game-high 17 points to help the Crusaders (6-5) in a Big North Conference United Di­vision game over St. Joseph of Montvale, 58-49. The struggling Green Knights had a late second half charge but with Michael Jurzynski (14 points) and Patrick Mensah (12 points) the only scorers to hit double digits, Bergen was able to hold the lead for victory.

Tim Barnes picked up a game-high 20 points to lead the Golden Hawks to a 64-43 Big North Conference Patriot Division game over Ramsey on Tuesday night. Ben Orth picked up three treys on his way to 11 points while Sean Boland (12) and John Budka (11) controlled the baselines.

Crusaders bowling once again rolled to a shutout 7-0 win over rival Don Bosco as Charles Long threw a high series of 641, Freddy Dressel's high games of 215 and 212 followed by Brian Hund's high game of 200.

River Dell wrestling beat rival Westwood on Wednesday by a score of 39-30.  Winning bouts for the Hawks were Dylan Mitchell, DJ Tirelli, Danny Lynch, John McLaughlin, Brendan Campbell, Cenzo Cariddi, Nick Baranello and Lenny Smith.

Hawks boys bowling, beat Cliffside Park on Wednesday, 7-0 for their third win of the season and third win in their last 4 matches. Max Barnett through a high series of 643 (233, 210, 200). The girls fell to Cliffside Park in a 7-0 shutout.