Hawks Gridiron Returns Key Players for 2012

After losing 22 seniors to graduation, the 2012 River Dell football team will have a long road ahead

Every season is a rebuilding year for the River Dell Golden Hawks football squad which has continually said farewell to upwards of 20 athletes each June following graduation. But come fall, the thoughts of rebuilding are long gone and replaced by how can the rising team improve on the prior season. This year will be no different as the Hawks will look to their rising seniors and underclassman to fill the gaps left behind with the loss of Mike Monopili, Chris Fasano, Sean Boland, John Budka, Lenny Smith, Alex Derner, Ryan Callahan and many others.  Entering his ninth year as head coach, DJ Nimphius (64-24) will turn to his 54-athlete roster, led by returning starting quarterback Tim Barnes who notched 738 passing and 94 rushing yards during…

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Lady Hawks Runners Bring Home Medal

From the Penn Relays and back to Oradell, its been a busy week for Bergen and River Dell

For three days in Philadelphia, Pa., the best track stars from the tri-state descended upon Franklin Field for the Penn Relays and a shot to return home victorious. On the first day, the Lady Hawks 4x400 relay squad (Sam Schleiger, Paige Fernandez, Melissa Gibbons and Jamie Woods) won their heat placing first in 4:02.86 to advance closer to a repeat title. Schleiger has been part of the relay team since freshman year and is a three time winner, Fernandez and Gibbons have won twice and this is Woods first year competing at Penn. In the 4x100 relay (Kalene Marulis, Nicole Burrowes, Noreen Byrne, Marina Reilly), the Lady Hawks finished fourth in 52.39. Matt Koh represented the Golden Hawks in the shot put placing 19th, throwing in excess of …

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Leadership, Versatility Keys to River Dell’s Baseball Season

Budka, Pitching Depth Gives Hawks Chance to Soar

Call him the Heartbeat Kid. It is the final varsity season for a celebrated three-sport River Dell athlete, and while his coaches have had wonderful things to say about him over the years, baseball coach Brandon Flanagan may have said it all about John Budka with three simple words. “He’s the guy,” said Flanagan, River Dell’s 13th-year coach about his three-year starting shortstop. “We take our cue from John. He’s always positive and he’s always hustling. When you compete all year around in all those sports, you learn what it takes to win. He’s a great player—and how we’ll do this year depends of how much confidence John has in himself.” Budka hit only .280 in the lead-off spot last year, but used his great eye at the plate to record an on…

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Golden Hawks Defense Does The Trick in Early State Run

River Dell tops Kinnelon in opening round of state tournament to overcome a halftime deficit

It might be a different approach to generating offense, but the more the River Dell boys basketball team needed points Tuesday night, the more they focused on defense. That strategy proved effective, and helped River Dell keep Kinnelon to an astonishing five points in the second half, and overcome a 10-point first-half deficit to score a 47-35 victory in the first round of the North I Group II state tournament. “We pride ourselves on our defense—we get as fired up to play defense as we do offense,” said 6-4 senior center Sean Boland, who scored 10 points. “At the half, coach [Van Saders] told us that we weren’t behind because our shots weren’t falling, we were behind because we weren’t creating offense from our defense. And that’s exactly …

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Athlete of the Week

First Year Kicker Impressing Everybody

Even Alex Derner did not expect things to go this well so quickly.

Senior year has come for Alex Derner, and so has a lot of success kicking for the River Dell football team. The Golden Hawks have had an exceptional season on the field and Derner has been a big part of the success. This season, Derner has made a 32 yard field goal and scored approximately 40 extra points for the Golden Hawks. Surprisingly, Derner did not expect to have such a successful first year kicking but he worked extremely hard during the offseason with kicking coach Pat Sempier and it has certainly paid off. Derner and his teammates have goals in mind for the rest of the season. “The outlook and goals for the rest of the season for the team is staying together and being league and state champs," said Derner. "Individually I plan on…

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Hawks Redeem Prior Week's Loss, 35-14 over Mahwah

Stingy River Dell defense kept the T-Birds from scoring until the fourth quarter

After last week's upset by the Pascack Valley Indians dropped River Dell to third place in power points, the Golden hawks came back with a vengeance in Oradell Friday night for a 35-14 victory of Mahwah. Quarterback Tim Barnes led the charge with a 48-yard touchdown and Brian Samuel followed by recovering a blocked punt. Ryan Duran scored on a 20-yard run and caught a 30-yard TD pass from Sean Boland both in the second quarter. Sean Boland added a 12-yard run in the fourth to secure the win. Alex Derner was perfect with five straight PAT's. The entire time, the Hawks stingy defense kept the T-Birds off their game. Mahwah would not score until the fourth quarter with back-to-back TD's by Andy Shuart and Greg Rozar. T-Birds kicker Anthony …

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Hawks Claim Bird Bowl Title

River Dell ruffles Westwood Cardinal's feathers with a 29-15 victory in the annual Bird Bowl.

With Labor Day behind us and school officially under way its time once again for the boys of fall to take to the gridiron and battle in America’s new favorite pass time, Football!!! Friday night saw the season openers for the River Dell Hawks and their Pasccack Valley rival the Westwood Cardinals as they battled each other in the Bird Bowl for bragging rights and an opportunity to lay claim to the Bird Bowl trophy. Westwood jumped out early in the game when on the opening drive Ryan Galloway intercepted a pass thrown by the Hawks Tim Barnes and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown and giving the Cardinals an 8-0 lead. But the Hawks answered right back marching down the field on the legs of John Budka, and capping off the drive with a 15 …

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