SPORTS WRAP: Aviators Football Still Has Shot at State Playoffs

The Hasbrouck Heights football team still has a chance for the Group 1 North 1 state tournament, but a couple of things need to happen this weekend.

After the Aviators defeated Secaucus last Friday, 25-18, Heights had a 5-3 record.

And the Aviators were seventh in the Group 1 North 1 power ratings, the top eight schools qualify for the state sectionals that start on Nov. 11.

In addition the Hasbrouck Heights cross country teams will battle for the Group 1 North 1 state sectional meet that was moved from Garret Mountain in Woodland Park to Thompson Park in Jamesburg because of extensive damage from the snow storm last week.

Also, both Heights soccer teams were knocked out of the state tournament in the first round of their respective Group 2 North 1 state sectionals.

For the Heights football team the most important part of the playoff formula is that the Aviators need to defeat Pompton Lakes on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Pompton Lakes.

The Pompton Lakes Cardinals are one of the teams in the running for a state playoff bid. With a 6-1 record Pompton Lakes win over Heights on Saturday will give the Cardinals a bid while the Aviators will be looking outside of the state playoffs.

In addition to a victory over Pompton Lakes, Heights will need a little help from some other schools and reportedly it is St. Mary and Emerson. The Gaels (4-3) travel to Non-public rival Queen of Peace (5-3) while Emerson (5-3) travels to Manchester (0-7), both games are on Saturday.

In the victory over Secaucus, Aviators junior running back Anthony Seidel scored three touchdowns for the Aviators and ran for 125 yards.

Heights had another lead at halftime this time 13-12, but this time it stuck.

The Aviators held a 22-10 lead of Lyndhurst the previous week only to lose 25-22 to the Golden Bears. "We came out and played like it was 0-0," said Seidel about the talk at halftime against Secaucus.

Another key for Heights was to limit Secaucus running back Nick Schaffer and the Aviators defense did that relatively with 103 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. "We just had to wrap him up," said Seidel.

Girls Soccer

It was a disappointing short run for the third seeded Hasbrouck Heights girls soccer team and it was an ugly trick on Halloween for the Aviators.

Behind a Joelle Tondi goal in the first half, the Aviators (16-3-1) appeared to be en route to a trip to the second round of the group 2 North 1 state sectional.

But the 14th-seeded Kittatiny's Kelsey Koch bounced a shot past Heights goalie Julie Sheridan with a minute left in regulation to send it into overtime tied at one.

And the Koch again hit a shot to the right of Sheridan in the first overtime to end Heights' short run in the state tournament.

Boys Soccer

The 13th-seeded Heights boys soccer team also was knocked out of the state tournament opener with a 4-1 loss against fourth-seeded Newton in Newton on Tuesday.

Dylan Colombo scored the lone goal in the battle while Heights keeper Roland Gamez kept the Aviators in the game with 13 saves in the contest. Four different Newton players scored in the game.

The Aviators finished the season with a 9-8 record.

Girls Cross Country

The Hasbrouck Heights girls cross country team is looking to improve and should on the team results from last season.

The Lady Aviators were fifth in the team standings in the 2010 Group 1 North 1 race. Heights top runner is back for the state sectional in now senior Rebecca Fortoul. As a junior, Fortoul finished in seventh place with a time of 20:31 at Garret Mountain.

At last weekend's Bergen Meet of Champions in the snow storm at Darlington course in Mahwah, the Lady Aviators team finished in 10th and was one of the top Group 1 squads in the results. Fortoul had the best finish of the Heights runners with a 16th place finish with a time of 20:11. Three juniors came in later in the race with Kelly Moran at 75th (22:13), Ali Robitaille at 80th (22:36) and Jess Guerra at 81st (22:39).

Boys Cross Country

The Hasbrouck Heights boys cross country team is also looking to improve on last season's state sectional after finishing in 12th place.

A couple of Aviators runners competed in last weekend's BMOC at Darlington. Senior Rolando Mendoza finished 34th with a time of 16:55 out of 106 of the best Bergen County runners and sophomore Marc Mastropietro was 70th with a time of 17:40.