Sports
Basketball Wins Big in Holiday Tournaments
Once again, the Bergen Catholic matmen won big in Delaware's Beast of the East
From Union City to Englewood and even Arizona, basketball squads at River Dell and Bergen Catholic are looking to make names for themselves early in the season at their respective holiday tournaments.
Basketball
The Lady Hawks have won three in a row this week trouncing Westwood, 55-36; Pascack Hills, 51-38 and Paramus, 40-29 with the victory over the Spartans coming in at the Soaring Eagle Holiday Tournament in Union City. And while the squad was struck with an early season injury to freshman forward Christine Woods (ankle), the Lady Hawks have stayed competitive in each game to date.
The Golden Hawks suffered their first loss of the season, 66-39 to Westwood as several low scoring periods doomed the boys team. River Dell then faltered against Pascack Hills, 54-28 as CJ Doornheim was the only athlete to hit double digits. But one thing River Dell has excelled at so far is shooting from the foul line which resulted in their opening Bergen Festival win, a 30-29 victory over Bogota as junior Ryan Zaccaria banked his lone point when it counted for the win.
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Bergen Catholic picked up major wins in United Division match-ups, surviving overtime with St. Joseph and scraping away with a 65-62 victory as Brian Ward led with 12 points. Following their first win of the season, the Crusaders return home to host the Paramus Catholic Paladins and once again escaped with a 67-62 win behind Nadi Beciri’s 25 points. Out in Arizona for the Cactus Jam, BC fell 61-48 to host Scottsdale Christian in the first round.
Wrestling
The Crusaders placed 7th overall in a field of 102-competitors in Delaware's Beast of the East tournament and saw freshman Nick Suriano made history when he won the individual title in the 106 pound weight class, becoming the first-ever Bergen Catholic wrestler to claim a championship at The Beast of the East. Junior Johnny Sebastian claimed his second top 3-finish at the prestigious tournament, finishing 3rd overall at 182 pounds after placing 2nd overall last winter at 160 pounds.
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Ice Hockey
The Hawks fell to undefeated Paramus Catholic 2-0 as Connor O'Reilly accounted for 38 saves. The team bounced back in the Codey Holiday Tournament opening with an 8-1 win over West Orange as Brett Connon (4), Ben Shapiro (3) and Danny Almberg (1) blasted the puck into the net. Chris DeTitta took to the pipes and stopped 15 shots.
Bergen Catholic fell to arch rival Don Bosco in a 6-0 shutout as Gennaro Anzevino stopped 46 shots by the Ironmen. Bosco goalie Jarred Liscio had 23 saves against the red and gold.
Bowling
Bergen's unbeaten streak ended when the team fell to Passaic Tech (7-0).
River Dell girls defeated Fort Lee 5-2, while the Bridgemen shut out the boys 7-0.
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