Golden Hawks Advance in Counties, Draw Ironmen on Saturday

After falling to Old Tappan 11-1 on Friday afternoon, the Golden Hawks diamond boys rebounded magnificiently as they cruised through the first round Bergen Baseball tournament, 3-1 over the Ridgefield Royals. Ryan Duran tossed a three-hitter to advance River Dell to the quarterfinals, a first since 2006, where they will next face top-seeded Don Bosco on Saturday, 12pm at Demarest. The Hawks downed New Milford on Monday, 7-1 as Alex D'Esposito threw a one-hitter as the Knights took a one-run lead in the first inning but afterwards the bats went cold for New Milford. River Dell's heated up on the other hand with Mike Oliver and Brandon Martinez's two RBI's as well as Tim Barnes and Ryan Duran blasting the ball around the field. River Dell, fourth seed, will later face Walkill Valley, #13, on May 21 in the opening round of the N1G2 state tournament.

The junior driven River Dell Girls Track tied with Mahwah for the Big North Conference, Patriot Division title at the Division meet hosted here at River Dell this past Friday. By virtue of that shared first place finish the girls track team captured the Big North Conference, Patriot Division overall title for the 2012 season. Jamie Woods took second in the 110HH; Sam Schleiger third in the 200m; Paige Fernandez first in the 400 IH while setting a new school record in 1:03.86 (prior record was 1:04.0 set in 2001); Laura Oh won the shot put (34-2¼), discus (109-3) and took second in the javelin (90-7); Emily Croonquist third in the 1600m; 4x400 relay squad (Sam Schleiger, Paige Fernandez, Melissa Gibbons and Jamie Woods) finished first; Lana Weeks second in the shot put; and Erin Smith third in the discuss.

The Hawks track team placed third in the Big North Patriot Championship behind first place finisher Ramsey and Pascack Valley. Chris Bang led the charge with a third place finish in the 100m and 200m; 4-x-400 relay came in second; Matt Koh took first in the shot put and discuss; Austin Berniger was second in the shot put; Sam Becourtney second in javelin; Brandon Jurasin second in the high jump; and Calvin Hartman finished third in the pole vault.

Bergen Catholic diamond boys continues to gain momentum late in the season, picking up another quality victory on Thursday night with their (8-7) victory at home against Paramus. The Crusaders (12-10) have come alive at the plate thanks to their captain Ryan Kelly, who picked up three more hits and two more stolen bases on Thursday night. Kelly is hitting an incredible .857 (12 for 14) over the past four games for the Red & Gold. Zach Cerbo also went 3-for-3 against the Spartans, while Jared Finkel notched his second consecutive victory of the spring, allowing only twoearned runs in his six innnings of work. Coming in as the 9th seed in the Non Public North A state tournament, the Crusaders face #8 Union Catholic on May 25.

Bergen Catholic's young and talented track squad won two individual events on Wednesday afternoon which helped propel the Crusaders to an impressive 4th place finish at the Big North Conference Track & Field Championships held at Hackensack High School. Dan Lynch claimed first place in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles, while Mike Moore placed first overall in the pole vault.

River Dell boys LAX were set back by the Fair Lawn Cutters 14-6 over the weekend as Fair Lawn secured the win during a 7-goal final period. Mike DeBenetto and Mike Neville had 2 goals each while Grant Kuchar and Evan Rowley netted one apiece. The Hawks picked up the #23 seed in the Group 1 state tournament and a first round trip to #10 Haddonfield on May 19.

Bergen LAX just barely outlasted the Panthers from Glen Rock in a tight 11-10 overtime thriller. Tucker James led the way with four goals, Chris Blewitt and Brendon McGuire finished with 2 each, and Matt Haemmerle, Nick DiScola and Mike Reilly notched one as well. The Crusaders earned the #6 seed in the Non-Public A State Tournament and will host #11 St. Joseph Regional on Friday afternoon at Crusader Stadium, 4pm in their first round contest.

At the Group 3-4 Bergen County Boys Tennis tournament, Bergen Catholic tied with Northern Highlands for 10th place, while River Dell finished in a 15-place tie with Bergenfield, Paramus Catholic, Pascack Valley, Teaneck and St. Joseph Regional. Bergen's Brian Balico (first singles) and Matt Ligouri (third singles) were both knocked out in the first round while Sean Fernandez (second singles) earned a berth in the semifinals after defeating all of his opponents; he fell in the semifinals to Bergen Tech's Sam Choi. Second doubles squad Ilya Leifer and Kyle Shtern (River Dell) fell in the first round.

Bergen Catholic tennis was eliminated from the Non-Public A State tennis Playoffs on Monday afternoon, losing to St. Peter's Prep (3-2) in the first round.  BC (8-7) received victories from Brian Balico in his singles match (6-2, 6-3), and Dan Gomez & Morgan Williams in their doubles match (6-4, 3-6, 6-4).

BC volleyball downed Clifton 25-19, 31-29 over the weekend as Brendan McCullagh, Kirk Nouhan, Joey Guarnaccia and Chris Luna each recorded kills (16, 5, 5, 4 respectively). Nouhan added 26 assists to his stat sheet as well as 4 digs. Hacik Arslanoglu came up with 8 digs followed by Ethan Nouhan's 6, McCullagh's 6, Owen MacNeill 4 and Nourdean Chakhman 4. The Crusaders good luck ended when they faced archrival Don Bosco in the County semifinals as the Ironmen swept the match in two, 25-22, 25-22. Luna had 4 kills, Kirk Nouhan 22 assists, Chakhman 8 dis and Charles Fraser 7 digs.

Bergen Catholic finished second overall at the North Non-Public A Sectional Golf Tournament on Monday afternoon, finishing 4 strokes behind Delbarton at Forest Hill Field Club. Despite not winning the sectional title, the Crusaders did qualify for the Tournament of Champions due to their top 2 finish on Monday. The Crusaders were led by captains Sean O'Neill (76) and Harrison Shih (78), who each qualified for the individual Tournament of Champions event due to their top 5 finishes Monday. Bergen Catholic finished second overall at the 2012 BCCA Odell Nassar Tournament, falling two strokes shy of capturing another county championship in program history.  The Crusaders shot a tournament total of (302), which was 1 stroke behind eventual county champion Tenafly (301).  BC was led by the efforts of Erick Alonso (73), who finished tied for second overall in the tournament.  Sean O'Neill (76), Matt Love (76), Ryan Rose (77), and Oliver Shih (79) all finished in the top 11 of the entire field with their solid rounds. Bergen topped both Glen Rock and Ramapo on Thursday with a team 148 at Knickerbocker Country Club. Both Shih and Rose stroked par (35).

In Group 1-2 action at the 2012 BCCA Odell Nassar Tournament, the Golden Hawks stroked a team 355 for an eighth place finish as Scott Kim shot a 79 and came in fourth. Kim led River Dell to a 165-175 win at Darlinton over Indian Hills, notching a 38.

Right-hander Cathy Antonelli pitched a two-hit shutout to lead River Dell softball past the Scarlets, 5-0. Alexis Krasas drove in two runs and the Golden Hawks took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Antonelli also had an RBI. The Lady Hawks drew top seeded Ramsey in the opening round of the N1G2 tournament on May 22. River Dell was seeded 16th. Finishing up the last regular game of the season, the Lady Hawks faltered in a 2-0 loss to Fort Lee as River Dell batted around but stranded runners on base.