Crusaders Conquer Sin City; Hawks Topple Rival Mahwah

Week 2 is in the books and once again the Crusaders and Golden Hawks have been dominating the gridiron, court and pitch.

FOOTBALL

The Crusaders, with the Las Vegas strip looming in the background, were never distracted by the lights as Bergen Catholic rolled to a 42-35 victory over the Bishop Gorman Gaels.Senior quarterback Jon Germano threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in the win. Meanwhile, senior running back James Dawson ran for two touchdowns and JJ Kulcsar caught two for the Crusaders. Dawson’s production was critical for the Crusaders as he knocked the Gaels vaunted offense off the field for long periods of time.

River Dell shined under the lights in Mahwah defeating the T-Birds 31-7 on long passes from Tim Barnes and short runs. Steve Luca connected on a 66 yard pass to place the Hawks on the board, followed by a Ryan Duran 8 yard run. Christian DeSanctis grabbed a fumble recovery for a 60 yard TD and Max Cepeda finished the win out on a 62 yard pass from Duran who stepped in for Barnes in the third quarter. Kicker Ben Shapiro, who switched from the soccer pitch this season to the gridiron booted a 30 yard field goal and four PAT’s. The win gave head coach DJ Nimphius his 66^th career coaching victory passing Matty Certosimo for the most in school history for football.  But the squad may be without lead signal caller Tim Barnes who was injured during a gang tackle for an unknown length of time.

VOLLEYBALL

River Dell is still flying high after starting the week with 25-19, 25-19 victory over Pascack Hills. Over the weekend, the Lady Hawks were off their usual rythym during the Demarest Invitational going 3-3 in pool play sweeping Ridge 27-25, 25-14 and then splitting with Holy Angels 25-19, 26-28. River Dell fell to Old Tappan in the quarterfinals 26-16 but were able to recover during the week over Fort Lee, 25-9, 25-19.

TENNIS

River Dell flew to a 4-1 victory over Fort Lee as Celyne Moh downed Ann Stillman 6-0, 6-2; Hayley Read won over Kelly Mayed, 3-6, 6-4, 7-3 in a come from behind thriller; doubles Sarah Mirono/Susan Lento easily defeated Chrstine Lee/Tiffany Tereschicina, 6-0-6-2 and Rachel Shupak/Alina Kim defeated Illiana Svechin/Nina Padin 6-0, 6-3.

SOCCER

The Lady Hawks have continued their strong play in the pitch, flying past Pascack Hills 3-1 and then Fort Lee 8-0. Jamie Woods, Bridgid Tracy and Noreen Bryne's each teamed up against the Cowgirls for the victory. Frankie Maier’s had a hat trick and two assists in the Lady Hawks trouncing of the Lady Bridgewomen. Tracy paced with a pair of goals with Bryne, Woods and Jackie Woodward rounding out the score. 

River Dell boys faltered 2-0 to Pascack Hills with Richard Myers making one save in the box, but were late able to recover with a 2-1 victory over Fort Lee behind Nicholas Shanman and Christopher VanDeweghe’s fleet footwork.

Bergen Catholic has continued to struggle with putting the ball away as the Crusaders were swep away by Paramus Catholic in the annual Battle of Rt 17, 2-0. The Paladins were led by Jose Meza and Joseph Strobino. Cruaders goalie Justin Holowach had 6 saves

FIELD HOCKEY

The Lady Hawks fought through double overtime before ending against Westwood in a no-score decision. A few days later, the squad fell to undefeated Ramsey, 3-0, facing heavy pressure on the defense and stifling the offense. Goalie Emily Rizzo concluded the week with 14 saves.

CROSS COUNTRY

The Bergen Catholic cross country team picked up its first ever victory under head coach John Downey, dominating St. Joseph Regional (15-48) at Darlington Park. The Crusaders were led by Matt Morano, Tom Selvaggi and Mike Sondej who each combined with teammates Dan Lynch and Joe Ludwig to shut out SJR's top runner, while Chris Seldon and Pat Ryan finished out Bergen's seven runners, each ahead of the next place Green Knight finisher.

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