Boys Basketball: MCT Results

Sorry for the delay in getting the MCT tournamet results to you. I was in church all day yesterday praying for the Giants to win. Which they did of course! Congrats to them!

And moving right along. I am sure you would be amazed to know that I picked a stellar 7 of 8 games correct. If gambling on HS sports was legal, I would be a very rich man right now.

At any rate, lets get into the games. Here is how they played out:


Morris Knolls at Delbarton
You have to love the NCAA Tournament when a sub par teams upsets a big name like Duke or Kentucky in the first round. This game has all the makings of an upset. Actually, I am only kidding around. To be honest (and seriously not trying to be mean), Knolls is lucky to have an invite to this tournament. Knolls b-ballers' Pete Lionetti will be playing hard and Cardio will be solid on defense. But prepsters' Pat Sullivan, Ben Tolkowsky and Jon Leanos will combine for 40 in this blood bath.
PICK: Delby

Of course, I already knew Delby would win this. But I didn't know Father Paddy O'Sullivan would drop 29 points. Is that kid nuts or what???

MORRIS KNOLLS (45)
J.J. Boylan 2-1-6-13, Sean Pauls 4-3-1-18, Pete Lionetti 1-0-4-6, Brandon Danzy 1-0-0-2, Kellan Cardio 2-0-2-6, Mike Boylan 0-0-0-0, Mark DeFeo 0-0-0-0, Chris Diaz 0-0-0-0. Totals 10-4-13-45.

DELBARTON (56)
Pat Sullivan 8-0-13-29, Jon Leanos 1-1-4-9, Harry Marino 1-1-4-9, Ben Tolkowsky 2-1-1-8, Andrew Waldele 0-0-1-1, Jason Ramirez 0-0-0-0, Jason Seifert 0-0-0-0, Logan True 0-0-0-0, Tim Kwilos 0-0-0-0. Totals 12-3-23-56.

Morris Knolls 11 7 20 7 -45
Delbarton 11 12 20 13 -56

Records: Morris Knolls 4-15, Delbarton 13-6.

2Morristown at Mount Olive
I've gambled on Morristown too many times this year to fall for them again. I really thought they would be one of the best in the area behind Georgie Bass and Mike Colvin, but this is just not their year. I just think Mount Olive is way too stacked starting with my vote for the area's best b-baller Russell Holloway. Andrew Haduck, Brian Bublitz, Jerod Hatcher and Dan Gutman are not too shabby as Holloway's supporting cast either. I actually like Olive's chances of making it to the finals.
PICK: Olive

Again, I am really not trying to gloat here but I am a freaking HS B-Ball guru when it comes to picking these games. I just new Holloway and company would be too much. But I give Timmy Breeman major props for his offensive output.

MORRISTOWN (54)
George Bass 0-1-0-3, Justin Pearson 2-0-2-6, Kurt Davis 2-0-3-7, Mike Colvin 0-2-1-7, Tim Breeman 7-0-5-19, Tom Breeman 1-0-2-4, Mike Bailey 0-1-0-3, Jarret Neely 2-0-1-5. Totals 14-4-14-54.

MOUNT OLIVE (61)
Andrew Haduck 1-2-5-13, Brian Bublitz 0-2-0-6, Jerod Hatcher 1-2-4-12, Dan Gutman 4-0-8-16, Russ Holloway 3-0-4-10, Jared Grubow 1-0-0-2, Jaleel Hatcher 0-0-0-0, Matt Bratter 0-0-2-2, Alonzo Rael 0-0-0-0. Totals 10-6-23-61.

Morristown 12 18 10 14 - 54
Mount Olive 19 13 17 12 - 61

Records: Morristown 4-14, Mount Olive 13-3

5Montville at Mountain Lakes
Montville's Rob Jagesser and Matt Vinci will really give it their all in this game. But the Mustangs do not have an answer for Jake Tripucka. Tri-Puck (which I just legally changed his name to) is money from all over the court. On the rare occasions when he does miss? Well, the 6'5" Chris Blackwell taps them in.
PICK: Mountain Lakes

I am good. Period. I just pick these games like I see the future. I want to give props to my boy Tri-Puck (just trying to give myself some street cred). He drained 11, including two bombs from downtown.

MONTVILLE (39)
Ryan Gajdos 1-1-0-5, Matt Vinci 2-0-0-4, Chris Lacey 0-0-0-0, Jordan Gajdos 0-0-0-0, Rob Jaggasar 1-0-1-3, Eric Toporoff 3-0-0-6, Joe Kim 1-0-0-2, Travis Warech 6-0-7-19. Totals 14-1-8-39.

MOUNTAIN LAKES (43)
Jake Tripucka 2-2-1-11, Mark Dobrosky 3-0-2-8, Dillon Hamill 2-0-0-4, Chase Winter 2-0-4-8, Jim Renahan 0-1-0-3, Chris Blackwell 2-0-5-9. Totals 11-3-12-43.

Montville 8 14 6 11 - 39
Mountain Lakes 12 9 4 18 - 43

Records: Mountain Lakes 10-7, Montville 11-9.

7West Morris at Chatham
I love this match up. And Jared Washkau is to this site what Brett Favre is to John Madden. We love this kid. He's a 6'6" transfer student from Long Island who almost single handedly took down the mighty Columbia Cougars. He gets a lot of credit for moving from the city to the back woods of Long Valley. God Bless this kid for that alone. Hey, we're only kidding Long Valley...sort of. But you know what? As much as we love Washkau, I don't think they will be able to sqeak one out vs. Chatham. Chatham has heated up and at the right time too. They are coming off a big win vs. Mendham which gives them nice momentum. Billy Oliver has just been outstanding lately.
PICK: Chatham

I just didn't think Washkau could pull it off. But he gave a nice effort dropping 19 in the loss. Josh Toolajian stepped it up big in helping Oliver to make easy work of WMC.

WEST MORRIS (50)
Josh Boyd 1-0-0-2, Jared Washkau 4-0-11-19, Matt Wehrhahn 1-0-0-2, Derek Kambour 1-0-1-3, Brent Roehrich 4-0-0-8, Anthony Germinario 1-1-0-7, Brett Bonnono 4-0-0-8. Totals 14-3-13-50.

CHATHAM (67)
Billy Oliver 7-0-5-19, Josh Toolajian 2-4-4-20, Burton Gildersleeve 0-2-1-7, Pat Butler 2-0-0-4, Mike Sweeney 1-0-5-7, Chris Conroy 2-0-4-8, J.P. Charlton 1-0-0-2. Totals 15-6-19-67.

West Morris 9 10 20 11 - 50
Chatham 17 14 16 20 - 67

Records: West Morris 7-10, Chatham 14-4.

Morristown-Beard at Morris Catholic
To be honest, I am not quite sure who to pick here. Morris Catholic is fiesty as all get out. They also have a fairly tough schedule, which explains their 7-9 record. Steve Kreuder is an animal under the boards, while Tim Williams a nasty at pick pocketing the ball away from opponents. I think Colin Larmond Jr. will not let this one slip away, but he is going to need Kenny Monteith to be money from outside three point land and Al Jones to stick to his style of play.
PICK: Beard

Mo-Beard showed a lot of gumshen in this game. Of course Larmond Jr. shows why he is the team leader. Jefferson did great by adding 15.

MORRISTOWN-BEARD (61)
Aljanon Jones 5-01-1-14, Brandon Jefferson 3-0-8-14, Ken Monteith 0-1-2-5, Travis Franz 1-2-0-8, Colin Larmond Jr. 8-0-0-16, Sean Fetterman 2-0-0-4. Totals 20-4-11-61.

MORRIS CATHOLIC (57)
Steve Kreuder 3-0-1-7, Paul Logiudice 1-0-3-5, Tim Williams 6-2-1-20, Travis Williams 4-0-0-8, Brett Bially 1-5-0-17. Totals 15-7-5-57.

Mo.-Beard 11 18 18 14 - 61
Morris Catholic 10 9 14 24 - 57

Record: Morris Catholic 8-9.

Hanover Park at Roxbury

I love the fact that Roxbury's center, Angelo Mangiro, is a frosh. Not only that, but he is good. I think Roxbury will be very good the next few years behind Roxbury's answer to Shaq. But they won't be getting past Greg Baruka Hornet's with stinger's Pete Nagy and Phil Gatti. I see this Hornets team going far into this tourney.

PICK: HP

Nagy, please shut the door. Kids, turn the channel for a few minutes. Thank you, now HP: What the F happened!!!! I have been sticking my neck out for you guys all year. I picked every game right this past weekend, except one game. Do you know which game I got wrong...yours!!! Okay, settle down Unruly. Take a breath. Calm down. Okay, I am calm now. Listen HP, I love your style of play. I love the grit you guys play with. I really think you guys can be fiesty enough to take down Chatham, MoHills and Mendham. Now, I am not giving up on you guys yet. But I need some more gumshen from you guys. This game is over...forget it. Move on. Lets focus on the Big 3 now. Your job now is assisin. You pick off all three of those teams and you move to immortal status on our site.

HANOVER PARK (51)
Phil Gatti 2-0-1-5, Pete Nagy 2-1-6-13, Greg Baruka 4-0-2-10, Chris Seery 7-0-2-16, Nick Pravatta 0-1-0-3, Mike Geisser 1-0-1-3. Totals 16-2-12-51.

ROXBURY (60)
Alex Szarejko 4-1-2-13, Kevin Ahern 1-0-2-4, Eric Vaccacio 1-2-5-13, Brian Mohr 2-0-1-5, Angelo Mangiro 4-0-4-12, Casey Harris 0-0-1-1, Tommy Rosatelli 2-0-3-7, Matt Bodnar 0-1-2-5. Totals 15-4-21-60.

Hanover Park 10 16 14 11 - 51
Roxbury 11 11 12 26 - 60

Record: Roxbury 9-7.

7Parsippany Hills at Morris Hills
I will not count out Par Hills to pull of an upset behind Greg Solomine, Blake Cruz , and Greg DePugh. All three of them can score into the high double digits. However, MoHills has got some steam to burn off after nearly losing in double overtime to 0-16 Dover. Adam Katz wants a MCT title too bad to lose this early in the tournament. To be successful, Justin Doniloski needs to get off the shneid a little bit and Matt Marotta needs to get more boards. And Kellner and Doug "The Dude" Dudek have been way too quite. If all these guys hit on all cylinders, nobody can stop them. Katz can't do it himself! Actually he probably could, but he shouldn't have to.
PICK: MoHills (lets get it going!)

Readers of this blog must say, "how does he do it?" I am not talking about Justin D., I am talking about me. How do I pick all these games so accurately? Well, since you asked I will say only this, I am just that good! But with Justin D. stepping it up, which I asked him to do, it makes it easy to pick.

PARSIPPANY HILLS (22)
Greg Solimine 0-2-2-8, Jon Jablanka 0-0-2-2, Bryan Becher 2-0-0-4, Majamandor 0-0-0-0, Reinhard 0-0-0-0, Kesselmen 0-0-2-2, Menzel 0-0-0-0, Carger 0-0-2-2, Hurt 2-0-0-4, Justin Thomas 0-0-0-0. Totals 4-2-8-22.

MORRIS HILLS (46)
Adam Katz 2-2-3-13, Andrew Zelnick 0-0-0-0, Justin Doniloski 5-0-11-21, Dan Kellner 0-0-0-0, Matt Marotta 1-0-0-2, Shane O'Shea 1-0-0-2, Joe O'Shea 1-0-0-2, Tom Reeves 0-0-1-1, Billy Bowan 1-0-0-2, Doug Dudek 1-0-1-3. Totals 12-2-16-46.

Parsippany Hills 2 5 5 10 - 22
Morris Hills 9 9 11 17 - 46

Records: Parsippany Hills 4-11, Morris Hills 13-4.

7Whippany Park at Mendham, TBA
Ashok Vegesna is the only senior on Whippany Park, has shown some spunk! Especially last week when they put a three point clinic in a win vs. Madison. Eric Cipolla, Nick Lucchesi and Mihir Jain will all be ready when they take the Minutemen. But it will be all for not. The Minutemen roll in this one. The Minutemen suffered a tough loss to the area's top team Chatham this week. That loss actually helps them to loosen up heading into the MCT. There is no better tandum than Mark Cisco (who just gets better every game) and Rob Berish (probably the best talent in the Hills Division).
PICK: Mendham

Geez, what a blowout. I am starting to lean toward Mendham taking this tournament. However, they have a lot more of good teams left to play.

WHIPPANY PARK (33)
Ashok Vegesna 2-1-1-8, Mirhir Jain 1-1-1-6, Eric Cipolla 0-0-2-2, Chris Jones 0-0-2-2, Nick Lucchesi 2-1-2-9, Louis Passero 0-0-2-2, Pasquale LaBracio 1-0-0-2, Robert Gelosa 1-0-0-2. Totals 7-3-10-33.
MENDHAM (59)
Rob Berish 9-1-6-27, Chris Campisi 0-1-2-5, Tor Cedarall 0-0-1-1, Mark Cisco 5-0-4-14, Max Ferri 0-0-1-1, Chris Hanson 0-1-0-3, Colin McAleney 2-0-0-4, Ken Poges 0-0-2-2, Tore Vicarisi 0-1-0-3. Totals 16-4-15-59.
Whippany Park 6 9 8 10 - 33
Mendham 15 17 18 9 - 59
Record: Mendham 13-3.

Wrestling: Morris County Tournament Predictions!

As we get ready for the Morris County Wrestling Tournament, I wanted to take a moment and honor Jim McLean who was one of the area's best wrestler's in the early 90's. McLean died tragically in a skiing accident in Colorado. McLean graduated in 1993 and went on to to wrestle at Rutgers where he was a team captain. After that he went on to become a doctor of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation. He was 33 years young.

Thanks for the memories Jimmy!

Being a huge competitor, I am know McLean would be really into this tourney. And I know all the kids below will not disappoint his memory. This will be a really great tournament and there are tons of talented boys competing this year. But we've been watching all these kids and feel we have some nice predictions below. Remember, our motto at this site is heart counts more than winning. So I am really looking to see some great matches! Good luck boys and here are our predictions:

103 -- Steve Godine (Whippany Park) vs. Mike Intile (Montville)
Godine is having a nice season and deserves to represent himself at the 103 weight break. But Mike Intile will have more points when it is all said and done.
PICK: Intile

112 -- Dave Arbelaez (Morris Knolls) vs. Eric Fajardo (Boonton)
Arbelaez beats Jeff Canfora of Delby to get to the finals. Then Eric "Mr. Fantastico" Fajardo will take down Arbelaez.
PICK: Fajardo

119 -- Clint Donnelly (Kinnelon) vs. Kevin Collins (Randolph)
Kevin "Phil" Collins earns a birth in the final round. But Clint "Eastwood" Donnelly gets the win.
PICK: Donnelly

125 -- Dan Herr (Morris Knolls) vs. Dmitri Gizas (Dover)
Dmitri Gizas squeaks into the final round of the MCT. But Dan Herr takes the prize.
PICK: Herr

130 -- Joe Ficchi (Whippany Park) vs. Tom Glancey (Mendham)
Ficchi is nursing injuries. But just like Ralph Macheo in the final round of the Karate Kid, he will save his best moves for last. Glancey has made a name for himself this year and I see him making it to the final round. But the Feech wins in dramatic fashion.
PICK: Feech

135 -- Jude Tropona (Pequannock) vs. Kyle Hussey (Parsippany)
Jude Tropona has wrestling in his blood. But Kyle Hussey is a total gamer. I see this as one of the better match's in the MCT. Hussey's dramatics over HP last week will keep him rolling.
PICK: Hussey

140 -- Kyle Bieg (Randolph) vs. Rich Szymczak (Hanover Park).
Bieg will have a tough time against Rich "The Polish Pinner" Szymczak. But he comes away with the MCT title at this weight break.
PICK: Bieg

145 -- 1. Nick Bach (Parsippany) vs. Chris Tracy (Hanover Park).
Nick Bach will upset Ponomarev to get to the final round. But Chris Tracy will take down Bach.
PICK: Tracy

152 -- Andrew Conley (Madison) vs. Jake Gruebert (Hanover Park)
Both tough wrestlers. I think both these guys are deserving of a win here. But I am picking Conley sqeaking out more points.
PICK: Conley

160 -- Zach Garripoli (Roxbury) vs. Kevin Orchard (Mendham).
Garripoli gets to the final round with ease. While Orachard works hard to eek into the final round. But I am calling Orchard works too hard to make it to the finals to let one last match get by him.
PICK: Orchard

171 -- Kyle Kaufmann (Madison) vs. Will Larusso (Roxbury).
Will Larusso has been strong all year. He will deservedly make it to the finals. But Kyle "Killer" Kaufmann will make sure Larusso stays in second place.
PICK: Kaufmann

189 -- Chris Lloyd (Morristown) vs. Brian Byrne (Mendham)
I see Sal Carfaro of WMC getting far but Byrne and Lloyd face off in the final round. Lloyd is the looming favorite in this match. But no wrestler is hotter or has been working harder coming into this tourney than Byrne. This will be one of the best matches of the night, but I see Byrne's quickness being the difference.
PICK: Byrne

215 -- Mike Suk (Randolph) vs. Adam Hodge (West Morris)
Hodge is having as nice of a high school athletic career as you could ask for. Just a tough kid with the skill and smarts. But Suk is like Mr. Perfect of the WWF in the early 90's. Every aspect of his game is polished. He will make sure he gets this year's title at the 215 weight.
PICK: Suk

Hwt -- Joe Serrao (Parsippany) vs. Doug Meringer (Hanover Park)
Serrao beat Meringer earlier in the year. But Doug "Macho Man" Meringer learned a lot from that match. Lucky for Serrao there are no top ropes in HS wrestling. But I still see Meringer winning in dramatic fashion.
PICK: Meringer

Mid-Season Hoops Awards

I thought I would give you all a sneak peak into how we are ranking the boys b-ballers so far. There actually is quite a bit more of ball left to play, so a lot can change. But if the season were to end today, this is where they are right now.

There are a ton of talented players out there. We are taking notice of all of them. Even the kids on losing teams. So if your team stinks, don't give up! We are still watching.

Enjoy where the awards are right now (remember these are not set in stone):

Mad Skillz Team (Iron Division)

Sterling Gibbs - Seton Hall Prep (awesome ball handling skills)
Ashton Gibbs - Seton Hall Prep
Russell Holloway - Mt. Olive
*Jameel Grace - Columbia
*Yvon Raymond - Columbia

*Not fair these two are on the same team.

Mad Skillz Team (Hills Division)

Adam Katz - Seton Hall Prep (this kid plays harder than anyone in the league...Hills and Iron)
Steve Connolly - Parsippany
Rob Berish - Mendham
Billy Oliver - Chatham
Dashawn Eagle - Weequahic

All Unruly Team
(where heart means more than skill)

Chris Kehoe - Summit (knocking off Chatham and MoHills wins you this award)
Justin Doniloski - MoHills (reminds me of Russell Crow in the Gladiator)
Jared Washkau - West Morris (awesome job in Columbia loss)
Mark Cisco - Mendham (this kid amazingly improves every week...love a kid that listens to his coach)
Phil Gatti - HP (this kid had me at hello...just a gritty, tough player...I would take 5 of him any day)

Who Will Make Noise Down the Stretch?

Matt Wehrhahn - West Morris
Burton Gildersleeve - Chatham
Dan Gutman - Mt. Olive
Kevin Ahern - Roxbury
Chris Jung - West Essex
Greg DePugh - Par Hills
Tariq Yaqoobi - Parsippany (Love that kid's name!)
Frank Vasquez - Dover
Greg Baruka - HP
Kyle Aiken - Randolph
Ben White - Livingston
George Bass - Motown
Fakehead - HP (I am just seeing if he is paying attention)

Morris County Tournament PICKS (and Results as they come in)

Friday Night

Madison at Whippany Park, 7
Who will win between these two perienial power houses. You have Whippany Park, who is arguably playing better than ever. But then you have to consider Madison and their agressive style of play. Which one will win? Who know's, but I will tell you this...someone will. (sorry for such a crappy recap, I really don't know anything about either team).
PICK: Madison (for postarity reasons)

I stand corrected! Whippany pulled it off by draining 8 tre's. Good job Whip! But hang on because you will not be facing any more teams with losing records.

Whippany Park 58,
Madison 49

MADISON (49)
Darnell Evans 4-2-2-16, Ralph Sandello 1-2-3-11, Connor Smith 0-0-0-0, Luke Delavan 0-0-0-0, Arsolan Smalls 4-0-1-9, Kyle Goldblatt 2-0-1-5, Andrew Novack 3-0-0-6, Aaron Fant 1-0-0-2. Totals 15-4-7-49.

WHIPPANY PARK (58)
Ashok Vegesna 0-4-8-20, Eric Cipolla 4-0-3-11, Nick Lucchesi 2-1-3-10, Chris Jones 3-1-0-9, Mihir Jain 1-2-0-8. Totals 10-8-14-58.

Madison 15 12 7 15 - 49
Whippany Park 7 16 13 22 - 58

Records: Madison 4-11, Whippany Park 6-8.

Saturday

Boonton at Hanover Park
Boonton should be doing better than they are doing. Steve McKinnon will put up his regular 10 points but his supporting cast needs to step up. But seriously, there is no use. I see Pete Nagy, Phil Gatti and Greg Baruka making it deep in this tournament.
PICK: HP

Holy Shnickies!!! Did Boonton even show up for this game??? Who didn't score for HP?

HP 69
Boonton 35

BOONTON (35)
Sabani Gazmend 3-0-1-7, Jon Duque 0-0-1-1, Tucker Reed 3-0-1-7, Matt Sheehan 0-0-1-1, Shane Dencker 0-1-0-3, Mac Reed 0-2-0-6, Steve McKinnon 0-1-0-3, Travis Vargo 0-0-0-0, Besnick Rustemi 0-0-0-0, Ron Prophete 2-0-3-7. Totals 8-4-7-35.

HANOVER PARK (69)
Phil Gatti 3-0-1-7, Pete Nagy 0-2-3-9, Greg Baruka 6-0-0-12, Matt Rawson 4-0-3-11, Chris Seery 3-0-2-8, Alex Gialanella 1-2-1-9, Nick Pravatta 1-0-0-2, tim Daire 2-0-0-4, Mike Geisser 1-1-0-5, Steve Chan 1-0-0-2. Totals 24-3-10-69.

Hanover Park 22 21 16 10 - 69
Boonton 9 13 8 5 - 35

Records: Hanover Park 7-6, Boonton 1-13.

2Kinnelon at West Morris
Guard Pete Ciolino will do his thing for Kinnelon. But West Morris is really starting to come together as a team led by Jared Washkau. Matt Wehrhahn is also coming on strong. I think WMC is the best kept secret going. Their best accomplishment so far? Doing the "Rope-a-Dope" to Columbia a few weeks back. Even though Columbia won, the Highlanders have been a new team ever since.
PICK: WMC

Who is hotter than West Morris Central? No one is. This is why I love HS Hoops. No other sport can a team catch fire like b-ball. I think I might officially endorse the Highlanders as the team to take the MCT Crown.

Kinnelon 41
WMC 81

Kinnelon 41

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Peter Ciolino 2 0 4 8
Kirk Davidson 0 1 0 3
Paul DeMartinis 1 0 0 2
Steve Grembowic 0 1 0 3
Doug Jenne 1 0 3 5
Matt Jenne 0 0 0 0
Andrew Lobosco 0 1 0 3
Wil Prall 0 0 7 7
Chris Severino 0 1 0 3
Ben Tabor 1 0 1 3
Dan Walco 2 0 0 4
Kyle Wiedemann 0 0 0 0
Totals: 7 4 15

West Morris 81

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Brett Bononno 4 1 0 11
Josh Boyd 4 0 0 8
Nick Famularo 1 0 3 5
Anthony Germinaro 1 3 0 11
Derek Kambour 0 1 0 3
Brent Roehrich 2 0 0 4
Justin Sapir 2 0 3 7
Jared Washkau 4 1 4 15
Matt Wehrhahn 2 0 1 5
Tim Drzewinski 3 1 0 9
Brendan Thomas 0 0 0 0
Chris Donovan 0 0 0 0
Joe Shoemaker 2 0 1 5
Totals: 25 7 12

West Morris (6-8) 16 24 25 16 81
Kinnelon (3-11) 11 7 6 17 41


2:30Dover at Montville
The question in this game is how many points will Travis Warech have. I say, 25. I bet two Montville players will score more than the whole Dover team. Sorry to get your feathers ruffled Dover but if you you need to start winning games.
PICK: Montville

Does anybody know a bookie that would take bets on these games. I am a freaking guru when it comes to picking HS b-ball games. I am like 90% all the time!

Montville 51
Dover 36

Dover 36

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Michael Brown 4 0 1 9
Jacquan Jones 0 0 2 2
Raymond Negron 2 0 0 4
Lenny Quiceno 0 0 0 0
Ben Rodriquez 0 0 0 0
Henry Saltos 4 0 8 16
Sotiris Spiliotopoulos 0 0 0 0
Anthony Tobar 2 0 0 4
Frank Vazquez 0 0 0 0

Totals: 12 0 11

Montville 51

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Aakash Dheri 0 0 0 0
Jordan Gajdos 0 0 4 4
Ryan Gajdos 0 0 2 2
Robert Jagessar 1 1 0 5
Brian Keane 0 0 0 0
Joe Kim 2 0 1 5
Justin Kuriawa 0 0 0 0
Chris Lacy 0 0 0 0
Derek Margiotta 0 0 0 0
Rob Simeonglou 0 0 0 0
Eric Toporoff 3 0 1 7
Matt Vinci 5 0 3 13
Travis Warech 4 0 7 15

Totals: 15 1 18

Montville (10-7) 16 12 6 17 51
Dover (0-15) 5 5 6 20 36

Rebounds: Montville (Travis Warech 6, Joe Kim 5, Chris Lacy 4, Matt Vinci 4, Eric Toporoff 2, Aakash Dheri, Ryan Gajdos, Robert Jagessar) .
Assists: Montville (Joe Kim 5, Ryan Gajdos 4, Travis Warech 4, Matt Vinci 2) .
Blocks: Montville (Ryan Gajdos, Chris Lacy, Eric Toporoff, Travis Warech) .
Steals: Montville (Travis Warech 5, Joe Kim 2, Ryan Gajdos, Matt Vinci) .

5Randolph at Morristown
Kyle Aiken needs to get his team going. The MCT is a new season. This tournament can heal a team up. Randolph couldn't ask for a better match up either. Morristown has been having a tough year, despite having the talent. But Georgie Bass and Mike Colvin have been starting to get their groove on lately.
PICK: Morristown

Morristown actually has an outside chance of taking this tournament. They have been under achieving all year long mostly bc of injuries. Now they are starting to play like everyone thought they would.

Randolph 58

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Kyle Aiken 8 3 4 29
Brian Berger 0 0 0 0
Rich Embden 3 0 1 7
Mike Harris 1 0 0 2
Scott Kralstein 6 0 1 13
Saban Mrkulic 2 1 0 7
Totals: 20 4 6

Morristown 74

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Mike Bailey 0 0 2 2
Drew Barone 0 0 2 2
George Bass 5 3 1 20
Tim Breeman 6 0 2 14
Michael Colvin 2 0 2 6
Kurt Davis 4 0 2 10
Jarett Neely 4 0 2 10
Justin Pearson 4 0 2 10
Totals: 25 3 15

Morristown (4-11) 21 19 16 18 74
Randolph (2-12) 13 14 15 16 58


5Morris Knolls at Pequannock
Morris Knolls should be playing much better than they are. I know Knolls is a hockey town, but come on. I would like to see Knolls get it together a little bit and give their fans something to cheer about. But there are two reasons why they won't on this day: Nick Buonforte Jordan Tabackman.
PICK: Pequannock

Wow, Knolls actually suprised me with this one. I am glad they actually decided to show up. They played strong all game. That is the type of thing we take notice of at this site. Keep it up Knolls. If you played like you did yesterday, you may catch someone by suprise next week.

Pequannock 51
Morris Knolls 57

Morris Knolls 57

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
J.J. Boylan 4 0 2 10
Kellan Cardio 2 0 1 5
Brandon Danzy 2 0 1 5
Mark DeFeo 0 0 0 0
Chris Diaz 2 0 0 4
Pete Lionetti 5 0 6 16
Sean Pauls 0 5 0 15
Matt Trivigno 1 0 0 2
Totals: 16 5 10

Pequannock 51

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Matt Breen 3 0 0 6
Nick Buonforte 5 1 3 16
Martin Kelly 1 0 3 5
Jordan Tabakman 5 0 7 17
John Vedovino 0 0 2 2
Alex Hemler 2 0 1 5
Totals: 16 1 16

Pequannock (6-10) 13 15 14 9 51
Morris Knolls (3-13) 13 18 14 12 57

Rebounds: Morris Knolls (J.J. Boylan 11, Pete Lionetti 11, Brandon Danzy 5, Sean Pauls 4, Kellan Cardio 2, Mark DeFeo, Matt Trivigno) .
Assists: Morris Knolls (Brandon Danzy 3, Sean Pauls 3, Kellan Cardio 2, Chris Diaz 2, Pete Lionetti 2) .
Blocks:
Steals: Morris Knolls (J.J. Boylan, Brandon Danzy, Chris Diaz) .

5:30Butler at Morristown-Beard
Don't bother staying up late to watch this nail biter. By the way, what the hell is a beard? Is it like facial hair? That doesn't make sense. Seriously, where did that name come from?
PICK: Beard

Still no clarity on the origins of Beards name. But I was money with this pick. Larmond seems to be continuing his atletic dominence over their at Beard.

Beard 66
Butler 38

Butler 38

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Jeff Adubato 1 0 0 2
Mike Fitzpatrick 1 0 0 2
Charles Gripenburg 4 0 1 9
Ken Jablonski 0 0 1 1
Brendan Kelly 3 2 0 12
Ryan Lowry 3 2 0 12
Totals: 12 4 2

Morristown-Beard 66

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Carter Daly 2 0 0 4
Sean Fetterman 2 0 0 4
Brandon Jefferson 3 0 0 6
Aljanan Jones 4 1 5 16
Colin Larmond Jr. 6 0 8 20
Kenneth Monteith 0 1 0 3
Adrian O'Connell 1 0 0 2
Jiyon Ruffin 2 1 2 9
Totals: 20 3 15

Morristown-Beard (8-6) 8 14 26 18 66
Butler (0-14) 5 5 13 15 38

7Parsippany at Parsippany Hills, TBA
I actually think this will be the best game of the prelims. Cross town rivals aside, Steve Connolly and Tariq Yadababbaqoobi have really been gelling lately. They can score with anyone. All they need is to keep the opponents score down and their record is a lot different. But my boy Peppy DePugh is doing the job for the Vikes. I see Hills winning, but Parsippany won't suprise me if Parsippany pulls it off.
PICK: Hills

You may be asking your self, "Self, how is Unruly so good at picking HS Hoops games?" The answer is simple folks, I am just that good! :-) Actually, there are really no suprises this early in the tourney. The big upsets come next week and the week after. Sorry Par Hills, but I don't see you moving past the next round.

Par Hills 53
Parsippany 41

Parsippany 41

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Steven Connolly 4 0 2 10
John Kaminski 0 1 0 3
Ameen Kandil 1 0 0 2
Will McLean 0 0 0 0
Matt Mundanchira 2 1 0 7
Tariq Yaqoobi 1 3 4 15
Ross Schultheis 0 0 0 0
Nick Tsintadze 0 0 0 0
Totals: 8 5 6

Parsippany Hills 53

Name 2-pt. 3-pt. FT Total
Brian Becher 2 0 1 5
Blake Cruz 2 0 1 5
Greg DePugh 1 0 1 3
Greg Solomine 1 5 4 21
Justin Thomas 6 0 4 16
X Karger 0 1 0 3
Totals: 12 6 11

Parsippany Hills (5-9) 14 16 7 16 53
Parsippany (3-12) 11 15 6 9 41

Morris Area Scoring Leaders

Pat Sullivan Delbarton 21.0
Russell Holloway Mount Olive 20.5
Rob Berish Mendham 20.1
Billy Oliver Chatham 17.8
Adam Katz Morris Hills 17.8
Jake Tripucka Mt. Lakes 17.6
Jared Washkau West Morris 17.4
Sam Mushman Pope John 16.6
Ryan Gresik Newton 16.1
Travis Warech Montville 15.8
Steve Connolly Parsippany 15.7
Scott Wagenblast Lenape Valley 15.7
Nick Buonforte Pequannock 15.6
Matt Tobin Hopatcong 15.6
Jordan Tabackman Pequannock 15.5
Mark Cisco Mendham 15.4
Derek Hall Jefferson 15.3
Justin Doniloski Morris Hills 15.2
Dave Crawn Newton 14.9
Nick Lenker Sparta 14.3
Kyle Aiken Randolph 14.1
J. T. Wilson Pope John 13.9
Kevin Ahern Roxbury 13.8
Tim Williams Morr. Cath 13.8
Phil Gatti Hanover Park 13.6
Kyle Mascilak Sparta 13.2

ABC's of the Iron Hills Conference: Mid-Winter Edition

A. Alan Buzbee gets the nod here. This stellar athlete would be getting tons of press right now but because of an early football season injury he had to sit out his entire football and basketball season. Still he got a D1 scholarship to University of New Hampshire based solely on his junior year. Ashton Gibbs misses him on the B-Ball court. Just remember Buzbee's name. You might be hearing it on a national level some day.

B. Sarah Bella, Mendham's record breaking shot putter. Every week she is breaking meet records. Actually, the only records left to beat are her own...which she is doing.

C. Columbia Boys B-Ball. What can you say? Ranked 7th in the State and Undefeated. Nothing is fazing this group.

D. Chris Dart, Chatham Swimming. Just qualified of the Olympic Trials in the 100 meter backstroke.

E. Elena Noonan is kicking butt for Parsippany Girls Hoops averaging 19 points per game.

F. Mike Franklin from Mendham track. Franklin is running distance races in blazing times.

G. Asthon Gibbs of Seton Hall Prep. Already heading to Pitt on a full ride and having an outstanding season.

H. Also known as the LeBron James of the Iron Hills (at least on this site he is), Russell Holloway of Mt. Olive will be scoring his 1,000 in the next few games is averaging 21 points per.

I. Emily Peel has brought her West Morris Central girls hoops team to an outstanding 14th rank in the state.

J. Jared Washkau of West Morris Central almost single handidly took down the undefeated Columbia Cougars the other night under his home court.

K. Adam Katz has already broken 1,000 for the Morris Hills Scarlet Knights.

L. Chris Lloyd of Morristown is one of the better wrestlers in the area at 189.

M. Morris County High School Sports (aka: http://www.mchss.net/) just does a fabulous job of providing awesome footage of the local coverage in Morris County. He also sells pictures of kids in action. And he is very affordable!

N. Nick Vena, also known as the Freshman Pheonom. Vena has broken the freshman record for the shot put in the country. That is the United States record.

O. Billy Oliver averages 18 points per for his Chatham Cougars.

P. Morris Hills' Sean Pohorence is rocking Winter Track for the number one ranked team in the conference.

Q. Question? How is it that Columbia has two of the most talented kids in the conference in Jameel Grace and Yvon Raymond? Its not fair.

R. Mendham's Rob Berish has broken out of his shell, bringing his team to the number one team in the County. Mark Cisco's help is not hurting.

S. Seton Hall Prep Hockey: 4th best in the state at 6-4-2.

T. Roxbury Wrestling is the twelfth ranked team in the state at 11-1.

U. Hanover Park's Girls B-Ball coach Doug Wear secured his 100 victory of his career last week. He is following in the footsteps of his father, Wendle, who was the girls head man for decades.

V. Mendham distance runner Laura Vigilante is getting stronger as the weeks go on. At only a sophomore, Vigilante has forgotten how to come in anything besides First Place, as she has done several times this year in the 1600 and the 3200.

W. The West Morris girls b-ball team is a whopping 10-0 and ranked 16th in the state.

X. Ali Mix has taken his E.O. team to 7-3 and has the talent to pick off Columbia if they play their cards right.

Y. Roxbury girls hoops star Cori Younghans is draining 16 points per game. She might very well be the most talented girls hoops player in the conference.

Z. ZZZ...that is what the Morris Knolls and Randolph boys basketball teams have done to me this year.

Racism Go Away!

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

That is my favorite Martin Luther King, Jr. quote of all time. It just says so much about who Dr. King really was and what his dream was. He wanted equality for man kind. He was not just talking about black and white either. He was talking about the whole human race. He really wasn't talking about American when he was saying nation. He was talking about the world.

I actually think in the U.S. we have come a long way. At least from the 1800's. And compared to other countries. But we do have a long way to go to get to where Dr. King was talking about where we should be.

But I really would like to talk about one thing that seems to something that helps us to forget about racism and inequality. Something that helps us to see the same color and not see religious differences. Something that helps us just be together as humans and enjoy ourselves.

That something is SPORTS.

A few years ago I was coming home from a business trip in Boston. On the way come, cutting through Connecticut, I was listing to the Stephen A. Smith radio show on ESPN Radio. He was talking about how crappy the Knicks were doing. I had a long stretch of CT to drive through so I decided call in and join the vent-fest of callers.

I must have waited on hold for 45 minutes. The call screener kept coming on the phone and telling me to hang in there, so I did.

Meanwhile, Stephen A.'s topic switch from the Knicks to some stupid comment that Bryant Gumble said on HBO about racism. I forget what the details of the story was, but it was maddening that Gumble was bringing it up because he is more white than I am.

But I digress. While I was on hold the call screener came back on my line and asked me if I could talk about this topic. He said I had about 15 more minutes. So I had time to think about it.

So I really tried to think about racism and why we were talking about it on sports radio. But as I thought about it, I thought that sports seems to have a way to neutralize racism. I thought that in sports I never hear somebody say, "he's a pretty good player, for a black guy" or "that Chinese guy can really run". It is more like, "Michael Strahan is a freaking great." The thought that he is an African American just doesn't come up.

Finally, Stephen A. came on the line and I was the first caller after he gave his rant of whatever Gumble commented on. I was able to blurt out to Stephen A. my thoughts of racism and that the topic does not belong on sports radio.

He commented that Gumble had some good points and blah blah blah. I remember telling Stephen A. that it was a dull topic and that we should rather be talking about bad the Knicks are.

Then I remember Stephen A. commented to me that racism will not go away and that we all need to talk about it more. Then I remember I got one last comment on the air and I said in annoyed voice, "It's a boring topic!"

But don't get me wrong, I am not saying that racism is boring or should be ignored. All I am saying is that a better topic would be that sports has done wonderful things for racism. In fact, if it weren't for sports, we would probably still be 75 years behind where we are today.

Think about it, the negro baseball leagues had such talented players that Major League Baseball could not help to want that those players in their leagues. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier but he wouldn't have if he stunk. Same thing with football. Arther Ashe was such a great tennis player that he because a pioneer to force people to consider African Americans has prospects.

But after my call with Stephen A. I thought about what he said. "We need to talk about it more.", is what he said. I really pondered what he said. But then I thought, maybe he needs to talk about it more, but "we" do not. If he needs to get past hurts to him or his ancestors, than by all means, talk about it. But I think in the setting of therapy or a support group would be better, not on the radio.

Again I am not trying to be cold. I just think amongst the industry that he and I are in, we should celebrate what we have done for race. I think Dr. King would smile and nod at what sports has done for racism.

Morgan Freeman was on 60 Minutes a few years ago. Mike Wallace asked him some questions about racism. Freeman grew up in the poor sections of Mississippi. He grew up in the heartland of the Klu Klux Klan. But Freeman, did not stop smiling when asked about racism.

In fact, Freeman said something I will never forget. He said, "Racism will go away when we stop talking about it."

At the time, I thought that was a funny thing to be coming from an African American. But it made sense. If we don't talk about it, it doesn't exist.

I don't think Freeman was talking about stuffing it under the rug. I think what he meant was if we constantly bring it up for unwarranted reasons, than we are just fueling anger. What is the point of that? That is not what Dr. King was talking about.

However, racism is real...we cannot forget it, ever. Dr. King never wanted us to forget it. But we have to remember what his dream was about; "To be judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character."

But today, on Dr. King's birthday, instead of pondering about racism, why don't we think of how far we have come? I say we celebrate sports today, and sports role in fighting racism!

FRIDAY NIGHT ROUND-UP

Columbia 63, West Morris 62

Jared Washkau had just an amazing game scoring 31 points in a near defeat of the undefeated Columbia Cougars. The Wolfpack stunned the Cougars all game, and held their leading scorer Jameel Grace to only 7 points.

West Morris came on strong in the fourth quarter outscoring Columbia 25 to 9. "We knew if we could hold Raymond and Grace to less than 20 points a piece we could hang in there. We feel we did that. We made a big push after the game, but it was just too little too late." Washkau said after the game.

Even though they lost, the Wolfpack should consider this a moral victory. This would have been a devastating blow to the 11-0 and 9th state ranked Cougars had they lost.

"Whew", Raymond said after the game. "That was way too close. I think we were just too nervous to be this far in the woods. Next time we face them on our home court, it will be a blow out." (Raymond did say any of that...although, they were probably nervous being that far in the woods of Long Valley)

West Morris (3-8) 14 14 25 9 62
Columbia (11-0) 21 18 15 9 63

Morris Hills 64, Mendham 74

The stars are really starting to align for Mendham. When I say stars I mean, Rob Berish and Mark Cisco. After playing a very agressive b-ball game vs. the mighty Morris Hills, the Minutemen took the win and has now improved to 9-2. The Itailian Stalions Steve Ciampaglio and Chris Campisi are also stepping up huge for the Minutemen. Campisi drained four 3-pointers for his team.

What happened to Morris Hills? Well they were not push overs in this game, Adam Katz drained 25 points, including 11 from the line. Justin D. added 11 and Kellner drained another 15.

Mendham's strategy in this game was agressive and to foul and foul often and let Mo-Hills beat them at the line. MoHills just could not keep up. "They came into this game with an agressive game plan and it worked for them." Katz said after the game. "Cisco had a really big game for them and the Itailian Stallions were too much for us" (Katz didn't say any of that)

MORRIS HILLS (62)
Adam Katz 4-2-11-25, Andrew Zelnick 0-0-0-0, Justin Doniloski 5-0-1-11, Dan Kellner 5-1-2-15, Matt Marotta 2-0-1-5, Shane O'Shea 0-0-0-0, Joe O'Shea 2-0-2-6, Billy Bowan 0-0-0-0, Doug Dudek 0-0-0-0. Totals 18-3-17-62.

MENDHAM (74)
Rob Berish 7-0-8-22, Mark Cisco 11-0-4-26, Chris Hanson 0-0-3-3, Steve Ciampaglio 3-0-4-10, Caleb Demoss 0-0-0-0, Chris Campisi 0-4-0-12, Kent Poges 0-0-1-1. Totals 21-4-20-74.

Morris Hills 18 14 11 19 - 62
Mendham 19 16 20 19 - 74

Records: Mendham 9-2, Morris Hills 9-3.

Dover 36, Chatham 64

Dover continued their streak after their loss against Chatham last night improving to 0-10. Sotoris Spiliotopolis, also known as, The Greek God, scored 8 points while Anthony Tobar drained another 19.

Of course, Billy Oliver scored 19 and brought his team to an impressive 9-3. But the real story is the streak.

Tobar said after the game, "Our goal was to keep the streak alive. We are just happy we were able to do that. It was fairly close going into the fourth quarter, but coach only allowed us to score four points in the fourth to ensure the streak would stay intact." (Tobar didn't say that...nor would he probably ever say that)

DOVER (36)
Jaquan Jones 0-0-1-1, Anthony Tobar 8-1-0-19, Sotoris Spiliotopolis 4-0-0-8, Henry Saltos 0-0-1-1, Alejandro Hernandez 2-1-0-7. Totals 14-2-2-36.

CHATHAM (64)
Billy Oliver 5-2-3-19, Burton Gildersleeve 2-3-0-10, Josh Toolajian 0-3-1-10, Pat Butler 3-0-0-6, Mike Sweeney 3-0-0-6, J.P. Carlton 2-0-0-4, Kirk Thiel 1-0-0-2, Kevin Murphy 2-0-3-7. Totals 18-7-7-64.

Dover 6 13 13 4 - 36
Chatham 17 12 16 16 - 64

Records: Dover 0-10, Chatham 9-3.

Seton Hall 60, Roxbury 54

Ashton Gibbs scored 26 points (boring), while his freshman brother added 11 more in a win vs. Roxbury. Roxbury made a big push in the fourth quarter, scoring 19. Kevin Ahern was money from out side draining 4 tre's. But they just could not hold off the Gibbs Bros.

"We have a good system, my brother Sterling passes me the ball and I score." Ashton Gibbs said after the game. "Sometimes I pass it back to him and he scores. It seems to work for our team." (Gibbs didn't say that)


SETON HALL PREP (60)
Ashton Gibbs 8-1-7-26, Jimmy Burke 2-1-2-9, Tony Peters 3-0-1-7, Rahmaan Patton 2-0-3-7, Brendan Kirby 0-0-0-0, Sterling Gibbs 1-3-0-11. Totals 16-5-13-60.

ROXBURY (54)
Alex Szarejko 3-1-0-9, Eric Vaccacio 1-2-0-8, Brian Mohr 2-0-0-4, Kevin Ahern 2-4-0-16, Tom Rosatelli 1-1-0-5, Angelo Mangiro 4-0-2-10, Matt Goss 0-0-2-2. Totals 13-8-4-54.

Seton Hall 17 14 17 12 - 60
Roxbury 13 12 10 19 - 54

Records: Seton Hall Prep 8-4, Roxbury 6-4.

Randolph 50, Morris Knolls 40

Randolph would be undefeated right now...that is if they didn't lose 9 other games. But they are 2-9 now. I am fighting trying the desire to be incredibly sarcastic so I better just move on to the next game.

RANDOLPH (50)
Kyle Aiken 4-1-4-15, Mike Harris 2-0-0-4, Rich Embden 2-0-2-6, Brian Berger 0-1-1-4, Saban Mrkulic 3-2-0-12, Scott Kralstein 1-1-0-5, Kevin Farrell 2-0-0-4. Totals 14-5-7-50.

MORRIS KNOLLS (40)
Sean Pauls 4-3-0-17, Brandon Danzy 4-0-2-10, Kellan Cardio 2-0-0-4, Pete Lionetti 3-0-1-7, Marc DeFeo 1-0-0-2. Totals: 14-3-3-40.

Randolph 14 7 14 15 - 50
Morris Knolls 6 13 5 16 - 40

Record: Morris Knolls 2-12, Randolph 2-9.

Hanover Park 55, Parsippany 49

Chris Seery comes out of obscurity to drain 19 points in this win vs. Parisppany. Phil Gatti added 19, including three from down town. My boy Pete Nagy also added 11 points.

HP was too much for Yabbadabbaqoobi and the Redhawks. Steve Connolly played impressive, draining 23 points, but couldn't hang on vs. the Hornets.

"Seery was on fire in this game." Gatti said of his teamate. "He was money from all over the place. We needed someone to step up and he answered the call." (All fake quotes)

HANOVER PARK (55)
Phil Gatti 2-3-5-18, Pete Nagy 4-1-0-11, Matt Rawson 2-0-0-4, Chris Seery 7-0-5-19, Tim Daire 0-0-0-1, Mike Geisser 1-0-0-2. Totals 16-4-11-55.

PARSIPPANY (49)
Tariq Yaqoobi 2-2-0-10, Jon Kminski 1-0-1-3, Steve Connolly 9-0-5-23, Ameen Kandil 0-1-0-3, Matt Mundanchira 0-2-0-6, Donnie Allieri 2-0-0-4. Totals 14-5-6-49.

Hanover Park 14 16 11 14 - 55
Parsippany 6 17 15 11 - 49

Record: Hanover Park 5-5, Parsippany 1-10.

Mount Olive 60, East Orange 54 (OT)

Four of Mt. Olive's starters scored double digit numbers in their suprise win over the EO Badgers (or whatever they are called). Russell Holloway was his superstar self nailing a whopping 29 himself.

Sir Mix A-Lot only had 7 while David Lowery added 17 in the loss. Isiah Johnson made a showing with 12 points but it was just not enough.

"We really wanted to shut down Sir Mix A-Lot." Holloway said after the game. "He was tough to contain, but we were just happy to have the win." (all fake quotes)

EAST ORANGE (54)
Ali Mix 2-1-0-7, Dayjin Williams 0-1-2-5, David Lowery 4-2-3-17, Isaiah Johnson 5-0-2-12, Jerel Antley 1-0-0-2, Akeem Cummingham 0-1-1-4, DeShaun Jones 0-1-0-3, Kester Klean 2-0-0-4. Totals 14-6-8-54.

MOUNT OLIVE (60)
Andrew Haduck 3-0-4-10, Russell Holloway 11-0-7-29, Jerod Hatcher 3-1-1-10, Dan Gutman 4-0-3-11, Jared Grubow 0-0-0-0. Totals 21-1-15-60.

East Orange 15 9 16 11 3 -54
Mount Olive 10 12 11 15 12 -60

Records: Mount Olive 8-3, East Orange 7-3.

FRIDAY NIGHT HOOPS: Unruly's Picks

7Dover at Chatham
This is my upset of the week. I am picking Chatham going down hard in this. Dover wakes up out of their winter slumber and shocks Billy Oliver and Burt Gildersleeve. Psych! Just kidding. I say Chatham scores 50 in the first half. Toolajian drains 5 tre's too.
PICK: Chatham (in a laugher)

7Hanover Park at Parsippany
My main man Phil Gatti and his buddy Nagy seem to play well together. They will need to do just that tonight. If Tariq Yaqoobi and Steve Connolly get rolling, HP will be in for a suprise. Parsippany is starting to play well. I still think HP will fend them off, but the Red Hawks will not be a push over.
PICK: HP

7Parsippany Hills at West Essex
Greg Solimine, Blake Cruz and Greg DePugh can all score solid points. They really need one of them to break out a little bit more. If one of those guys gets 17 points or higher, this game is in the bag. These two teams match up well. Jeff George has the home court on his side. But I think Par Hills has lost too many close ones to let this one slip away.
PICK: Par Hills

7Randolph at Morris Knolls
This match up is being billed as the "Match-Up of the Century"! Who will win, the 1-9 Randolph Rams travel up the hill to face the 2-10 Morris Knolls Green Hedgehogs (or whatever their called). Who will win? I think the question really is, who will show up? They'd be lucky if the teams do.
PICK: Who cares!

7Morris Hills at Mendham
Ahhh, this is the matchup I have been waiting for. My two favorite teams in the Iron Hills Conference. Lets see, you have the 9-2 Scarlet Knights of Morris Hills vs. the 8-2 Minutemen of Mendham. Both teams are riddled with talent. But both teams play different styles of hoops though. The Scarlet Knights have a lot of talented kids in Justin D., Doug "The Dude" Dudek and Dan Kellner. Then you have their quarterback, Adam Katz who has just been having an awesome season. But you have to look at Mendham who looks like they have two college sized players in Rob Berish and Mark Cisco. The Hills had trouble vs. Chatham's big men. I think it will be close. But I see the home team prevailing. And I see my boy Mike Salerno providing some off-the-bench heroics late in the game.
PICK: Mendham

7Morristown at Livingston
I see George Bass' ancle heeling up and him breaking Morristown out of their slumber tonight. Livinston has been slumping lately. A win would really wake them up. But it won't happen tonight.
PICK: Motown

7Columbia at West Morris
The only thing West Morris has in their favor this night is that for the first half Columbia will be nervous of all the pig squealing they will be hearing up in the woods of Long Valley. But once Jameel Grace and Yvon Raymond settle down it will be pretty much over. And beleive me, when this game is over these city boys will be running on that bus and getting the hell out of there.
PICK: Columbia (not even close)

7Seton Hall Prep at Roxbury
This has the making of a great game. The 9-3 Roxbury Gaels (they really need a new mascot name) vs. the 5-4 Seton Hall Pirates. Rumor is that the rest of the team is starting to play around Ashton Gibbs. Gibbs is no doubt a superstar, but he needs his supporting cast to step up. But Roxbury is playing with a ton of confidence. Eric Vaccacio and Kevin Ahern do not have D1 scolarships, but them and the rest of the Gaels play great "team" ball. Plus, they have a great coach. I just don't see SHP getting past Roxbury on Gibbs alone.
PICK: Roxbury

7East Orange at Mount Olive
Mount Olive is 7-3. And Russell Halloway is the Iron Hills' LeBron James. This kid drains buckets all day and can score over 30 points no problem. But individuals do not win games alone. EO is 7-2. And they have quite two nice weapons in Larby & Johnson. And their point man is Sir "Mix" A-Lot. Mount Olive is on a roll but EO has taken down some pretty solid opponents in Roxbury and Seton Hall Prep. Plus, they only lost to mighty Columbia by one or two points.
PICK: EO

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: With all this steriod talk in the MLB I just want to send a public announcement to our student athletes. I have been reading a lot on this subject and the long term effects of them. Some of these long term effects are really scary and should be taken into consideration. First off, steriods and HGH work in making you bigger. Not only do they make your muscles bigger, they also make all of your internal organs bigger. And those internal organs don't shrink. If you look at a guy who has taken steriods, you will notice that their stomachs stick out. That is bc their organs are too big. The scariest defect is the percentage of defects in offspring raises dramatically if you take these drugs. Listen, if you are taking these performance enhancing drugs, stop NOW. If you are thinking of taking them, DONT. Just work out harder and take natural supplements. You will regret taking them. D1 athletes are D1 athletes because of two reasons, 1) they have the natural ability and 2) they work extremely hard. If you want to be a D1 player, then work your ASS off. But don't take these drugs. And if the guy selling you these drugs say they are not harmful, don't listen to him. He just wants his money...beleive me. Good advice is always FREE. Bad advice always has a price, remember that. I will be doing a big article on the harmful effects of these drugs, but in the meantime, STAY OFF THEM. Have fun in your sport.

Well Now, Here's a Novel Idea

Ben Johnson. 100m, Seoul 1988.
Gold Medal stripped for doping.

Marion Jones. Barry Bonds. Bill Romanowski. Lyle Alzado. Mark McGwire. Roger Clemens. The list goes on and grows daily.

As many of you know, I am against steroid use* and have written about it previously on this blog.

Many gifted athletes seem to be going down in infamy lately, more and more for using "banned performance enhancing substances".

Just riddle me one thing...how is it that the Illinois High School Athletic Association "gets it" and NJSIAA doesn't? (click here to read the article)

Kids use 'Roids.

They shouldn't.

It is bad for their health, and it is cheating (if it is written in a rule book that it is so).

If you are going to make it illegal, then you must have a credible threat to deter them from doing it (criminal justice 101 people) and suitable, swift punishment, or they will just ignore you and do it anyway, just as they are doing now in NJ.

The crux of the problem is that if you are going to have something like steroids be illegal, you need to have a threatening enforcement and punishment effort to go along with it, or you might as well just not even have it on the books.

If the NJSIAA really cares about the health of our athletes and fairness in competition, they need to "brass up" and get tough. Period.

Illinois is on the cutting edge of this...I expect other states will soon follow...as they should.



*Note: I don't think steroids (or other performance enhancers) are patently/inherently wrong. If they were: 1) not ILLEGAL/against the rules and 2) certifiably safe, then athletes should be allowed to use them. If those two factors were removed from the equation (never going to happen) then I would have no problems with their use.

Basketball Roundup: Tuesday Night Action

Mendham 54, Par Hills 53

Rob Berish scored his standard 22 points (boring). Cisco drained an additional 17 in the win over a spotty Par Hills team. Is Par Hills good or aren't they? Not even they know the answer to that one. This Mendham team has some grit and I like that. But can they hack it against Weequahic and MoHills? We'll see. I would like to see Dateline's Chris Hansen and runningback Mike Salerno get more action.

MENDHAM (54)
Rob Berish 9-1-1-22, Steven Ciampaglio 1-2-0-8, Mark Cisco 8-0-1-17, Chris Hanson 2-0-0-4, Chris Campisi 0-0-0-0. Totals 20-3-2-54.

PARISPPANY HILLS (53)
Greg Solimine 5-1-2-15, Blake Cruz 4-1-2-13, Justin Thomas 4-0-1-9, Bryan Becher 2-0-0-4, Greg DePugh 5-0-2-12. Totals 20-2-7-53.

Mendham 13 14 11 9 8- 54
Par Hills 10 13 11 13 6- 53

Records: Mendham 8-2, Parsippany Hills 4-6.

Weequahic 94, Morris Hills 77

Adam Katz scored 29 in this duel vs. Weequahic. Justin D and Kellner combined for 31 but they were no match for Jashaon Mixon (23) and Dashawn Eagle (18). I like this Weequahic team because they have tons of weapons. Amad Bogar and Shahid Brown can both drain the deep ball while their bench is very deep. Plus, they have cool uniforms. I have a feeling these two teams will be meeting in the post season.

MORRIS HILLS (77)
Adam Katz 6-3-8-29, Justin Doniloski 1-3-5-16, Dan Kellner 3-3-0-15, Matt Marotta 2-0-4-8, Doug Dudek 2-1-2-9. Totals 14-10-19-77.

WEEQUAHIC (94)
Amad Bogar 5-1-3-16, Shahid Brown 6-0-1-13, Nadir Williams 0-1-4-7, Daveon Jones 2-0-3-7, Jashaon Mixon 5-2-7-23, Dashawn Eagle 7-0-4-18, Duke-Smith Obasy 2-0-1-5, Everett Martin 1-0-0-2, Avent Hoston 1-0-1-3. Totals 29-4-24-94.

Morris Hills 15 25 13 24 - 77
Weequahic 25 21 16 31 - 94

Records: Weequahic 8-3, Morris Hills 9-2.

Chatham 65, Parsippany 56

Billy Oliver was the man in this game scoring 19, swatting 30 balls and taking down 55 boards. Parsippany just couldn't hang in there despite Tariq Yabadabadoobi draining 19, including 5 tre's. But it did look like Parsippany was starting to find their way a little bit. Chatham is starting to hit their stride.

CHATHAM (65)
Billy Oliver 6-0-7-19, Josh Toolajian 0-2-0-6, Burton Gildersleeve 2-2-1-11, Pat Butler 8-0-1-17, Mike Sweeney 3-0-1-7, J.P. Carlton 2-0-1-5. Totals 21-4-11-65.

PARSIPPANY (56)
Tariq Yaqoobi 2-5-0-19, Jon Kaminski 0-1-0-3, Steve Connolly 6-0-4-16, Ameen Kandil 2-0-0-4, Matt Mundanchira 0-2-0-6, Donny Allieri 4-0-0-8. Totals 14-8-4-56.

Chatham 7 20 21 17 - 65
Parsippany 11 15 16 14 - 56

Records: Parsippany 1-9, Chatham 8-3.

Columbia 65, Morris Knolls 39

Jameel Grace (remember that name) and Yvon Raymond (and that one) combined for a whopping 42 points in a shilacking of Morris Knolls. Columbia is seriously one of the best teams to come this way in a long time. They are 10-0 and their games look like a college team playing a high school JV team. I don't see them getting beat for the rest of the season, Seton Hall Prep and all.

COLUMBIA (65)
Jameel Grace 5-3-0-19, Yvon Raymond 10-1-0-23, Temes Boreland 0-1-1-4, Jamal Reynolds 1-0-0-2, Willie Sumner 0-1-1-4, Floyd Melvin 1-0-1-3, Kenny Rubenstein 0-1-0-3, Sean Glenn 0-1-0-3, Bryant Long 2-0-0-4. Totals19-8-3-65.

MORRIS KNOLLS (39)
Sean Pauls 5-0-2-12, Brandon Danzy 2-0-2-6, J.J. Boylan 2-0-1-5, Kellan Cardio 2-0-3-7, Pete Lionetti 3-0-0-6, Chris Diaz 1-0-1-3. Totals 15-0-9-39.

Columbia 19 15 16 15 - 65
Morris Knolls 11 13 10 5 - 39

Records: Columbia 10-0, Morris Knolls 2-10.

Seton Hall Prep 85, Randolph 39

The Gibbs bros. combined for 34 points while Tony Peters drained another 12 points. Gibbs, who is the superstar of the team is starting to get help from his supporting cast and this SHP team is realling starting to gel.

SETON HALL PREP (85)
Ashton Gibbs 4-4-0-20, Jimmy Burke 1-0-4-6, Sterling Gibbs 7-0-0-14, Stephon Treadwell 3-0-0-6, Tony Peters 6-0-0-12, Matt Berka 2-0-0-4, John Caprio 2-0-0-4, Rahmaan Patton 4-0-3-11, Mike McGetrick 4-0-0-8. Totals 33-4-7-85.

RANDOLPH (39)
Kyle Aiken 2-0-0-4, Saban Mukulic 0-1-0-3, Scott Kralstein 5-0-2-12, Mike Harris 1-2-0-8, Rich Embden 2-0-1-5, Mike Schaffer 1-0-0-2, Brian Berger 1-1-0-5. Totals 12-4-3-39.

Seton Hall Prep 22 28 23 12 - 85
Randolph 12 6 10 11 - 39

Records: Seton Hall Prep 7-4, Randolph 1-9.

Mount Olive 65, Morristown 38

Russell Halloway is just playing fabulous and his counterpart, Dan Guttman is not doing too shabby as they combined for 48 of the 65 points for Mt. Olive. Morristown continues to dissapoint. At least they are dissapointing me. I picked them to go far this year and I hate having egg on my face. But, to be fair, George Bass did have a big injuring coming into the season and my feeling next year they will kick a**.

MOUNT OLIVE (65)
Andrew Haduck 0-0-0-0, Brian Bublitz 2-0-1-5, Russell Halloway 10-0-8-28, Dan Gutman 7-0-6-20, Jared Grabau 2-0-2-6, Jerod Hatcher 0-2-0-6. Totals 21-2-17-65.

MORRISTOWN (38)
George Bass 1-2-0-8, Mike Bailey 2-1-1-8, Mike Colvin 1-0-0-2, Tim Breeman 5-0-2-12, Kurt Davis 3-0-0-6, Aaron Aiken 0-0-2-2, Tom Breeman 0-0-0-0. Totals 12-3-5-38.

Mount Olive 10 21 16 18 - 65
Morristown 10 8 10 10 - 38

Records: Mount Olive 7-3, Morristown 2-8.

Mendham has Strong Showing In Iron Hills Freshmen Sophomore Tournament

-Story by contributing writer.

On December 28, 2007, 24 Mendham fencers competed at the Iron Hills Freshmen and Sophomore tournaments. Mendham had a particularly strong showing with 14 of the fencers winning medals and the freshman winning first place in four of the six events.

In the Freshmen events, Mendham dominated women's foil with Ryan Western 1st, Bea Jacobson 3rd, Kayla Loree 4th, Rebecca Canipe 5th, Sophie Kaplan 9th, Elizabeth Donato 12th and Masha Lamb 16th of 24 fencers. Megan Wallace finished 1st of 8 epee fencers. Dina Krannich finished 1st of 8 saber fencers.

For the boys, Kyle Doyle, Steve Dabal and Patrick Lee competed in foil with Kyle finishing 1st of 18. James Flannagan finished 7th in epee. Max Weiner finished 4th of 10 in saber.

In the Sophomore tournament, Alexis Grant, Kim Morsch, Sydney Fondots and Brielle Runyon competed in epee with Alexis placing 3rd and Kim 5th of 14 fencers, Megan Holmes finished 9th in foil. Sarah-Emma Graham was 4th of 14th in saber.

For the guys, Alex Levielle was 6th and Thomas Wetherington 8th of 20 saber fencers. John Graham was 10th and Kyle mesce 11th of 15 epee fencers.

Since its first season Mendham has traditionally competed and done well in the freshmen and sophomore tournaments, These tournaments provide valuable experience especially for fencers who have not competed in tournaments before.

This year Mendham again had a very good overall showing in the freshmen and sophomore tournaments.

B-BALL ROUND-UP: Friday Night Results

Morris Hills 65, Hanover Park 43

Adam Katz "Meow" and the rest of their State Contending football team bounced back from their first loss of the season against Chatham earlier in the week to take down the feisty Hanover Park Hornets. Katz drained 15 in the vicotry while Quarterback Dan Kellner and Linebacker Matt Marotta combined for another 15. King Justin (Fullback Justin D.) must have been under the weather bc he only had 4.

"We knew we needed to bounce back from the Chatham game. We just needed to come here tonight and play Scarlet Knight basketball, " Katz said after the game (he didn't actually say this, but he probably would have.)

Phill Gatti and his partner in crime Pete Nagy combined for 14 in the Hornets effort. Greg Baruka drained another 14 himself. Gatti added, "We know these guys were down from the Chatham game and we wanted to capitolize on that. We just couldn't pull it off." (Again, Gatti didn't say any of that, but it adds nice color to the peice.)

HANOVER PARK (43)
Phil Gatti 4-0-3-11, Pete Nagy 1-0-1-3, Greg Baruka 7-0-0-14, Matt Rawson 3-0-0-6, Nick Pravatta 1-0-1-3, Chris Sery 1-0-0-2, Tim Daire 1-0-0-2, Mike Gersser 1-0-0-2. Totals 19-0-5-43.

MORRIS HILLS (65)
Adam Katz 6-0-3-15, Andrew Zelnick 2-0-0-4, Justin Doniloski 1-0-2-4, Matt Marotta 5-0-1-11, Dan Kellner 2-0-0-4, Shane O'Shea 0-0-3-3, Joe O'Shea 4-0-2-10, Tom Reeves 0-0-1-1, Brent Dukin 0-0-4-4, Billy Bowan 2-0-0-4, Doug Dudek 2-0-1-5. Totals 24-0-17-65.

Hanover Park 14 11 5 13 - 43
Morris Hills 19 8 17 21 - 65

Records: Morris Hills 8-1, Hanover Park 4-4.

East Orange 84, Randolph 49

East Orange improves to 6-2 while they say, "Are you kidding me!" to the Randolph Rams after clobbering them with an 84 point out put. Sir "Mix" A-Lot was all over on D while David Larby drained 23 in the win. Johnson added another 15.

Kyle Aiken and Mike Harris combined for 33 in the loss. Aiken added after the game, "Sir 'Mix' A-Lot' was out of control tonight and Larby was money from all over the place. A win tonight would have really gave us confidence moving forward. We don't think we are as bad as our record indicates." (Aiken said none of this)

Mix took the mike after the game and broke down the game from his point of view, "Even though the Rams have a bad record, they came out and played tonight. We didn't expect such a good effort. Those two guys (Aiken and Harris) hit all their shots. The rest of the team played well too." (Mix didn't say that)

EAST ORANGE (84)
Mix 1-1-1-6, Taylor 3-0-0-6, Williams 1-0-1-3, David Larby 11-0-1-23, Johnson 7-0-1-15, Cunningham 0-0-1-1, Anthony 1-0-3--5, Martin Johnson 1-0-0-2, DeShaun Jones 1-0-0-2, Klein 5-0-1-11, Kanter 2-0-0-4, Joseph 1-0-0-2, Eli Joseph 1-0-0-2, Toney-El 1-0-0-2. Totals 36-1-9-84.

RANDOLPH (49)
Kyle Aiken 5-1-4-17, Mike Harris 2-0-4-0-16, Rich Embden 2-0-1-5, Brian Berger 1-0-1-3, Tony Decaro 0-0-2-2, Greg Fahey 0-1-0-3, Scott Kralstein 1-0-0-2, Vlade Boscor 0-0-1-1. Totals 11-6-9-49.

East Orange 21 14 25 16 - 84
Randolph 17 11 14 7 - 49

Records: East Orange 6-2, Randolph 1-8.

Summit 51, Parsippany Hills 46

Chris Kehoe, Ken Baker and Jordan Healey have woken up! They should call them the Summit Fourth Quarter Wonders (it wouldn't be a stretch from the Hilltoppers). Baker drained three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to nail down their second win in a row. "The Chatham game (earlier in the week) just gave us so much confidence." Kehoe said after the game. "The fourth quarter just seems to be our time. I don't know what happens, but we just play really well when everything is on the line." Then Kehoe said, "I just want to give a shout out to my grand mamma down in Florida, my Aunt Bunny who has a light form of diabetes and my Uncle Jerry, this win was for you." (Kehoe didn't say any of that)

Greg Solimine added a personal record 23 points in the loss. Solimine said after the game, "Summit is hot right now. We needed this win to get momentum ourselves. We feel we can be a contender this year. This was a tough loss." (Didn't say that, but he probably would have said something close to it.)

DePugh was out because he needed the extra time to do a science project. (That is code for, where was he?)

PARSIPPANY HILLS (46)
Greg Solimine 7-3-0-23, Blake Cruz 2-1-0-7, Justin Thomas 4-0-0-8, Brian Becher 1-0-0-2, John Jablonka 2-0-0-4, Scott Kesselman 0-0-2-2. Totals 16-4-2-46.

SUMMIT (51)
Chris Kehoe 6-1-2-17, Ken Baker 0-4-0-12, Jordan Healey 1-2-0-8, James Kennedy 1-0-3-5, Andre Torres 0-1-0-3, Adolfo Arrieta 2-0-2-6. Totals 10-8-7-51.
Par Hills 8 6 19 13 - 46

Summit 5 10 11 25 - 51

Records: Summit 4-5, Parsippany Hills 4-4.

Mendham 69, Dover 35

The Dynamic Duo of Berish and Cisco (sounds like a law firm) combined for 38 as they continue their winning ways. "We are thinking of being partners in law after we finnish our schooling.", Berish said of Cisco after the game. (No he didn't) The running back who plays like a full back, Mike Salerno punched in two 2-point conversions to add another 4 points for the Minutemen. In total, 10 players were able to score for Mendham.

MENDHAM (69)

Rob Berish 11-0-0-22, Chris Campisi 0-1-0-3, Tor Bedarvall 2-0-0-4, Steven Campaglio 3-0-1-7, Mark Cisco 8-0-0-16, Caleb Demoss 1-1-0-5, Colin McAleney 1-0-0-2, Mike Salerno 1-0-2-4, Connor Tinguist 0-1-0-3, Tore Bacarifi 0-0-3-3. Totals 25-3-6-69.

DOVER (35)

Daquan Jones 0-0-1-1, Henry Saltos 4-0-0-8, Sotoris Spiliotopolis 1-0-0-2, Michael Brown 2-1-2-9, Harriel Lacy 1-0-0-2, Anthony Tobar 5-1-0-13. Totals 13-2-3-35.

Mendham 18 17 24 10 - 69
Dover 4 7 13 8 - 35

Records: Dover 0-8.

Mount Olive 61, Livingston 21

Mount Olive is now 6-3 after sqeaking by the Livingston Lancers 61-21. Russell "Simmons" Halloway nailed 23 points in the win while wide receiver Brian Bublitz added 7 more, including a 3-pointer. "Basically, it was really close in the beginning of the game. In fact they tied us 0-0 for a while. But then their was the opening tip off and the game was basically over." Bublitz said about the blow out. (Easy Livingston, I just made that up...Bublitz didn't say any of that...but he was probably thinking it.)

LIVINGSTON (21)
Cory Eisen 1-1-0-5, Ben White 0-0-3-3, Zack Selmly 1-1-1-6, Matt Sung 2-0-3-7. Totals 4-2-7-21.

MOUNT OLIVE (51)
Andrew Haduck 2-1-1-8, Brian Bublitz 2-1-0-7, Russell Halloway 9-0-5-23, Jerod Hatcher 1-2-1-9, Dan Gutman 4-0-0-8, Jared Grabow 1-0-0-2, Kyle Haduck 0-0-1-1, Matt Quagliana 0-1-0-3. Totals 19-5-8-61.

Livingston 08 01 06 06 - 21
Mount Olive 15 18 20 08 - 61

Records: Mount Olive 6-3.

Roxbury 57, Morris Knolls 40

Roxbury continues to quietly improve their winning ways after moving to 5-3 with a win over the Knolls last night. I will tell you way Roxbury is sneaking up on everyone. Because everybody scores. Last night, six players scored 5 or more points. There is not one superstar. That is a sign of good coaching and disciplined players.

Eric Vaccacio, who drained five 3-pointers last night said of his team, "Our coach is very detailed in his approach. We have all bought into the 'team effort' game plan and it is paying off. We like the fact that we are under the radar. It will help when we play teams like Columbia and Seton Hall Prep" Vaccacio said after the game. (All made up)

MORRIS KNOLLS (40)
Sean Pauls 0-0-1-1, Brandon Danzy 2-0-0-4, J.J. Boylan 7-0-3-17, Kellan Cardio 2-0-4-8, Pete Lioneth 1-0-0-2, Tyler Daniel 2-0-0-4, Matt Trizigno 1-0-0-2. Totals 16-0-8-40.

ROXBURY (57)
Alex Szarejko 3-0-2-8, Kevin Ahern 4-0-2-10, Eric Vaccacio 0-5-2-17, Tommy Rosatelli 1-0-0-2, Angelo Mangiro 1-0-0-2, Brian Mohr 2-0-1-5, Casey Harris 3-0-1-7, Matt Bodnar 0-2-0-6. Totals 14-7-8-57.

Morris Knolls 06 14 08 12 - 00
Roxbury 19 13 15 10 - 00

Records: Morris Knolls 2-8, Roxbury 5-3.

Seton Hall Prep 70, W. Morris 49

A day after his grandfather announced his retirement from the Washington Redskins, Ashton Gibbs answers by draining 20 to defeat the West Morris Wolfpack. Rahmaan Patton added 10 more points and took down 12 boards to improve their record to 6-4.

"Grandpa's press conference was a big distraction this week." Gibbs said after the game. "I am happy for him, but it distracted me and Sterling from practice. But we were able to get focused by game time and get the win." (Gibbs did not say this...and I am pretty sure he is not the grandson of Joe Gibbs...I just made it up).

WEST MORRIS (49)

Josh Boyd 2-0-0-4, Derek Kambour 1-0-0-2, Jared Washkau 5-2-0-16, Matt Wehrhahn 4-0-1-9, Anthony Germinario 3-1-0-9, Justin Sapir 0-0-2-2, Brent Roehrich 1-0-3-5, Nick Famularo 0-0-2-2. Totals 16-3-8-49.

SETON HALL PREP (70)

Ashton Gibbs 7-2-0-20, Jimmy Burke 1-1-0-5, Tony Peters 5-0-3-13, Rahmaan Patton 5-0-0-10, Brendan Kirby 2-1-0-7, Sterling Gibbs 1-0-4-6, Mike McGetrick 2-0-0-4, Matt Berka 1-0-0-2, John Caprio 0-1-0-3. Totals 24-5-7-70.

West Morris 7 9 20 13 - 49
Seton Hall Prep 25 15 20 10 - 70

Records: Seton Hall Prep 6-4, West Morris 3-6.

Summit Up-Ends Chatham!!!

Kehoe! What was that? Kehoe! Is someone clearing his or her throat? Kehoe! What is that noise? Kehoe! Stop, please!!!

That was an excerpt of Billy Oliver’s dream last night. Okay, obviously it was not but you cannot deny that Chatham’s armor is not as high tech as was anticipated at the beginning of the season. Or perhaps, Summit has decided that they are better than their record indicates.

This past Friday night, Billy Oliver and the Chatham Cougars were handed their second loss of the season by losing to Chris Kehoe and 3-4 Summit. Kehoe and Jordan Healey combined for 33 points and drained 7 from 3-point land.

Summit came out of the box strong scoring 19 points in the first quarter. But then Billy Oliver rallied the Cougars by out scoring Summit 12-1 in the second.

Things evened out in the second half but Summit outscored Chatham 27 to 25 and hung on for the win.

“We feel we are starting to gel now. We felt there were some close games that we should have won. Beating Chatham will be something we can build on. (This is a fake quote. But if he probably would have said something like this. I am just spicing up the article.)

Summit will be able to test their confidence in the next few games as they face a solid Hanover Park team and a rallying Par Hills team.

“Momentum is on our side.” Healey said. “If Kehoe and I can hit three’s like we did tonight, we can beat any team in the league. (Healey didn’t say that either.)

Chatham, on the other hand, has to rally because their tests are just getting harder. This Tuesday night they face an undefeated Morris Hills team. Morris Hills is brimming with confidence behind their stud forward Justin Doniloski and shifty point guard Adam Katz.

“This was a tough loss.” Chatham scoring leader Billy Oliver said after the game. “But we will need to pull up our boot straps and get ready for MoHills. They are on fire right now and it will be a great confidence booster if we could beat them.” (Oliver said none of that.)

OTHER STUFF:

Mid-Season MVP Awards:

Hills Division: Justin Doniloski (a.k.a. King Justin). Justin is just emerging this year as the total stud of the Hills division. He also has a great supporting cast but he is just making the most of every opportunity. He is the major reason his MoHills team is the only undefeated team in the division.

Iron Division: Jameel Grace (a.k.a. J.G.). Grace is arguably one of the best b-ballers in North Jersey. His team is undefeated and I really cannot foresee any teams that can pick these guys apart. Between Grace, Yvon Ramond and Kenny Rubenstein this team has the depth and skill to take it all the way.

Teams To Make an Impact in the Second Half of the Season:

Hills Division: I like H.P. because of the grittiness. Any team that has Phil Gatti and Pete Nagy has heart. And that is what fans love. I also like Weequahic and think they have a chance to go all the way. Weequahic should definitely be on MoHills radar. Two names you need to know for Weequahic; Dashwan Eagie and Shahid Brown. Another team that is really coming together is Mendham. Rob Berish is getting better with every week. Mark Cisco is big, strong and tough under the boards. They actually have the team and the coaching to make a push for a title.

Iron Division: Roxbury has been making noise all year. But the big names like Seton Hall Prep and Columbia over shadow them. Kevin Ahern is good and they have good coaching. Seton Hall Prep will also get their act together. They have come out of the box slow with a few tough losses. But the Gibbs Bros will change that with a nice second half run.

What Happened??? Award:

Morristown gets this for the first half. I am hoping they get things going. The reason for their collapse? Their superstar Georgie Bass has been playing on an injured ankle that he carried over from football season. Their run and gun offense cannot get going with Bass not able to gun or run.

Mo' Titles for MoHills and MoTown

Morris Hills continues to dominate the IHC-Hills in track, winning their fifth straight on Friday night.

Morristown wins the Iron reviving a long tradition.

Congrats to both teams and all the individual winners.

Here's how it shook out:

HILLS BOYS

1) Morris Hills               103     
2) Mendham                    88
3) Hanover Park               59  
4) Chatham                    43
5) Parsippany Hills           37  
6) Summit                     5
7) Parsippany                 4  
8) Weequahic                  2

IRON BOYS

1) Morristown                  75  
2) Randolph                    62
3) Seton Hall Prep             51  
4) Mount Olive                 44
5) West Morris                 36  
6) East Orange                 22
7) Columbia                    21  
8) Roxbury                     16
9) Morris Knolls               10.50
10) Livingston                 3.50


HILLS GIRLS

Teams:

1) Summit                      95  
2) Hanover Park                60
3) Mendham                     57  
4) Morris Hills                30
5) Parsippany                  28  
6) Chatham                     25
7) Parsippany Hills            18  
8) Dover                       15


IRON GIRLS

1) Columbia                    96   
2) Randolph                    50.75
3) Roxbury                     48.50
4) Livingston                  44
5) Morristown                  41.50
6) West Morris                 26
7) Morris Knolls               22  
8) Mount Olive                 6.25
9) East Orange                 6                                     


I think there should also be a "combined" title crowning winners for a boys
and girls teams' combined score.  This would be more reflective of a schools'
overall effort and program status.
Here's how it would have looked had such an award/title been in place:

HILLS Combined:

1. Mendham (145)
2. MoHills (133)
3. HP    (119)
4. Summit     (100)
5. Chatham
6. Par Hills
7. Parsippany
8. Dover

IRON Combined:

1. Columbia (117)
2. Motown    (116.5)
3. Randolph (112.75)
4. Roxbury   (64.5)
5. WMC
6. Mount Olive
7. Livingston
8. Knolls
9. E.O.

So, it actually looks like Mendham has the overall strongest program
in the Hills this year and Columbia is thus in the Iron.

As an aside, I thought Columbia had no athletes in the school...but I
guess they just can't play football??

Thoughts??

Vigilante, Franklin "pass" on 2nd place

Laura Vigilante (So. - 11:25.86) and Mike Franklin (Jr. -10:02.71)

show their bling from Passarelli on 12/31/07.

Listen up. If you are competing anywhere in Morris county or even the tri-state area, in HS track and you run the 3200, you had better be able to beat Mendham's Dynamic Duo.

Run outside. Do a tractor pull. Pound creatine. Drink Raw eggs. Whatever. You can't fake it on the track...either ya got it or you don't...and if you run distance and want to be competitive, you had better have a work ethic that beats these two. And just to give you an idea...Vigilante lapped the whole field and was about 5 seconds shy of the record. So if you are a girl, you have you work cut out for you. By the way, Vigilante has two more seasons and Franklin will see you next year too, so have fun with that...

All of this, not mentioning the litany of other threats Mendham poses in the other events...

Of course, then, if you like to get smoked...the two cats below would be happy to add you to their list as well:

IN THE BLOCKS

Aeron Gilson 2nd from left (So.- Mount Olive); Steve Tamburello, second from right (Jr. - Mendham)

Aeron Gilson won the 55m (again) for the day with a time of 6.72 seconds, but I think that there are other threats in the area he hasn't encountered, that being said, who will it be to challenge him? It'll be tough, for sure.

Steve Tamburello, also depicted above in the 55m, holds Mendham's 55m Freshman record (6.80), beating the previous record holder, Andrew Schofield (currently of Michigan State), who had a time of 6.81. Tamburello also ran the 300m at the Passarelli, and finished in what looked like first, but was later DQ'd for a move to the inside lane in turn 5 (last) in which he rubbed shoulders with Yannick Jones (Union; 37.66) the eventual winner. What will Steve run at the IHC's on Friday?

All in all, it looks like coach Hamblen has been secretly assembling a threat to MoHills track dominance...I guess we'll see.

New Jersey Wrestling Certification: The Holes in the System No One is Talking About

Back in early 90's, when I wrestled in high school, wrestlers were required to weigh in before every wrestling match. This was to secure eligibility at the desired weight break. Sometimes there would be hours between weigh-ins and the actual match. So athletes were able to basically starve themselves for the weigh-in, then gorge themselves so they would have their energy and few extra pounds to wrestle at.

In an attempt to stop athletes to feel pressure to go to these drastic measures, the NJSIAA has implemented a system in which requires every athlete be certified at a certain weight break by the organization at the beginning of the season.

But many parents and officials are still critical of the NJSIAA and say these new testing measures are not enough. They are crying out that there still is plenty of room for kids to put themselves in danger.

To get a closer look at the effectiveness of this new system, we dove in to get an athletes first hand look a the testing. Mendham High School wrestling captain Brian Byrne gives us his experience with this system and his thoughts on its effectiveness. Here is what Byrne had to say:

The NJSIAA requires every wrestler to undergo a certification which permits a wrestler to compete in a certain weight class. At the start of the season, the team rides a bus to the testing site where each kid is asked to strip down and get in line to give a urine sample, which is supposed to demonstrate hydration. Then, another line later, the wrestler waits to have his (or her) height and weight taken. These numbers are used to calculate body fat. If a wrestler has more then 7% body fat, then he is allowed to lose weight until he drops to 7%. If the wrestler has less than 7% body fat, he can’t cut more weight.

The certification process is a great idea. Cutting too much weight can impact performance and health. In fact, wrestlers have died from trying to lose weight pre-season.

But this process isn’t working. The problem is that a guy who’s been working hard off-season isn’t going to give up on wrestling his weight class easily. Some guys add toilet water to their urine cups. Some guys add their own spit and some guys use eye drop bottles filled with water to add to the cup. One year, I even had a couple of guys ask to use my urine for the test.

Wrestlers even cheat on the height test. If you wear baggy sweat pants, you can bend your knees and appear shorter. This means more body fat, which means more weight you’re allowed to lose.

I didn’t cheat. Not that I’m not any more moral than the next guy, I’m just naturally skinny and usually trying to gain weight, not lose it. But even without cheating, the process doesn’t work. I am 6’2’’, 189 pounds. During certification, these numbers were plugged into a scale which said I had 18% body fat—meaning I was allowed to wrestle at 171.

If I lost that much weight, I couldn’t walk, forget wrestle. A few days later, my high school trainer used a pinching calibrator and estimated my body fat to be 6%. If I tried to lose weight to wrestle at 171, I could’ve been in serious trouble.

I think the certification process needs to be changed. There needs to be better supervision and better equipment. New Jersey wrestlers are losing too much weight and putting themselves in too much danger.

Brian Byrne - Mendham Wrestling

Will we have to wait for more kids to die from losing weight before the NJSIAA comes up with a better certification process? Can the NJSIAA come up with a better way to protect high school athletes? What can schools do to help this process? It seems their are too many question marks surrounding this topic and not enough answers.

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