Schools
Von Nessen Signs Letter of Intent With Penn State
Two-sport athlete will play lacrosse in college.
In the fall of 2012, John Von Nessen will trade in his Hillsborough cardinal and Vegas gold for the dark royal blue and white of the Penn State University men’s lacrosse. This honor is the result of more than a decade of competition in Hillsborough youth and athletics.
Von Nessen was a standout baseball, basketball, football and lacrosse player for his entire youth sports career. As a multi-sport youth athlete, Von Nessen was fortunate to have participated on championship youth teams in each of his sports. Von Nessen's lacrosse career started 10 years ago as a second-grader at the encouragement of one of his Pop Warner football coaches.
As a multi-sport athlete, Von Nessen had a smooth transition to high school, beginning with a standout freshman football season as a quarterback, free safety and punter.
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Since his freshman year, Von Nessen has spearheaded the resurgence of Hillsborough High School football. Von Nessen has started every game of varsity football at quarterback since his sophomore season. He has also handled the punting duties during that time, and has been called on to play safety on defense at the varsity level.
After Von Nessen's first football season the reality of the spring season conflict between lacrosse and baseball hit hard, especially since both varsity sports were coached by people he knew and respected, having worked with them at the youth level. Von Nessen chose lacrosse, and immediately became a starting varsity midfielder and impact player for the Raider boys lacrosse team.
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In Von Nessen's first three seasons at Hillsborough High School, the lacrosse team won 33 games, which are the most wins in any three-year period in team history.
The team’s 13 wins in the 2011 season is a single season team record. Von Nessen has been instrumental in the team’s success during this time period. John has been some combination of first, second or third in the critical categories of assists, points and groundballs in each year of his career. Von Nessen's contributions on the field are the result of his commitment in the classroom, to strength and conditioning and to the leadership of his teammates.
