JR Raiders Tuesday Highlights

Hillsborough Varsity Gold vs. North Plainfield Varsity Silver: Won 32-0

The Hillsborough Varsity Gold traveled to North Plainfield on Saturday. For returning players Thomas Amankwaa, Marc Gulla, Jay Mazuera, Ethan McLaughlin, Tyler Michinard, Evan Swearengin, and Sal Volpe this site brought back fond memories of their win in last year’s championship game. With their eyes set on another championship this year, the Raiders easily took care of business with a 32-0 shutout. This marks the 3rd consecutive shutout for the Raiders whose defensive proved to me too much for an under matched Plainfield team.

Sal Volpe carried the load on the opening drive with several inside runs behind strong blocking by Ethan McLaughlin, Mike Kondratiuk, Mike Giuliano, Adam Movshin, and Rohan Deb. The drive was capped off with a touchdown as Sal Volpe found the end zone with a 5-yard run. The scoring quickly continued as Jay Mazuera connected with Thomas Amankwaa on 52-yard touchdown pass. Mazuera added to his great play with a 40-yard run and successfully completing all 4 of his kicks on the points after touchdown. The kicking game was a point of emphasis this week in practice and it was great to see the hard work translate into points on the board. After compiling a 24-0 lead at the half, fellow quarterback Ryan Vierbuchen ran 15 yards to complete scoring for the Raiders.

The game was cut short due to a number of injuries suffered by North Plainfield players. As the Hillsborough players and coaches stood and watched while the officials let the clock run down, it provided time for them to reflect not only on the success of their team, but on the success of Junior Raider program over the past two decades. Games like this one are a tribute to all the current and past coaches, players, trainers, directors, cheerleaders, and parents who have made our program what it is today. The Raiders will take this tradition of excellence and their 3-1 record to Ridge next week as they continue their pursuit of another championship.

Hillsborough Patriot JV Gold vs. North Plainfield JV Silver: Won 27-0

The Jr. Raiders’ JV Gold team advanced to 4-0 this week with a 27-0 win over the North Plainfield Jr. Canucks. The Raider offense, led this week by quarterback Austin Quandt, rushed for 3 touchdowns, while the Raider defense also tacked one on. Ian McCauley led the Raiders offensively; McCauley ran for 2 touchdowns, the first on the Raiders’ first offensive play on the game, 55 yards, and converted one PAT. Damian Kutny tallied a 38 yard touchdown run for the Raiders. Cynthia Akosua also converted 1 PAT.

Defensively, the Raiders were impenetrable. Quandt led the Raiders in tackles with 4, all for a loss. He was followed closely by Nick Santa Barbara and Tyler Van Cleef who each recorded 3 tackles for loss. The highlight of the night, however, came on the Canucks second possession, with Carson DeRoner breaking into the backfield and catching a bobbled handoff; DeRoner then proceeded to run it back for a 30 yard touchdown! Santa Barbara and Michael Crossman added fumble recoveries to the tally, giving the Raiders 3 fumble recoveries on the night. Next week the Raiders will travel to Basking Ridge to take on the Ridge Jr. Red Devils.

Hillsborough Varsity Red vs. Bridgewater Varsity Gold : Lost 32-0

Hillsborough Varsity White vs. Bridgewater Varsity Red: Won 26-16

On a crisp September afternoon, the Varsity White team traveled to play the Jr Panthers. Dominick Monsorno opened the scoring on a 58-yard TD run down the right sideline. Ryan Tasetano converted the extra point on a pass to Dominick to make the score 7-0. A fumble recovery by Patrick Walsh got the ball back for the Varsity White as the quarter ended. Early in the second quarter Ryan Tasetano completed a pass to Shane Donoghue who took the ball 40 yards for a touchdown. The extra point failed and the score remained at 13-0. Bridgewater got on the board on the next possession with a 50 yard touchdown pass and kicked the extra point to make the score 13-8. Varsity White went back to work and

Samir Guzman made an acrobatic catch in the corner of the end zone for Tasetano's second TD pass of the first half. The extra point was no good and the half ended with the Varsity White leading 19-8. The third quarter turn defensive before Dominick Monsorno took a pitch and scored his second touchdown of the day. Ryan Tasetano threw a pass to Shane Donoghue for the extra point that put the Varsity White up 26-8. The fourth quarter saw no quit in Bridgewater who marched down the field and punch the ball in for a touchdown. The Jr Panthers kicked the extra point to make the score 26-16. Quarterback Matt Antonelli, running backs Matt Amofa, Evan Sabo and Nick Lovacca finished the game in the backfield for the Varsity White team.

The Varsity White returns to action next Saturday under the lights against the Voorhees Varsity Silver at Voorhees HS.

Hillsborough Patriot JV Red vs. Bridgewater JV Gold: Lost 32-0

On a brisk fall evening the JV Red Raiders hosted Bridgewater Gold at Hillsborough High School. From the first snap, it proved to be a tough match up against a very tough opponent. The first drive of the game Hillsborough was able to move the ball behind the tough blocks of Jack Falk, Matthew Miller, Brandon Lew and Brady Porter but as the game went on the size of the Bridgewater front line wore them down. However, our athletes showed their toughness as they never gave up and the fought until the last whistle. While the 32-0 score was hard for the kids they learned that in sports (and life) there are going to be difficult match-ups but they should never quit. Their ability to fight to the end and their never give up attitude proved that they are mentally strong athletes.

Hillsborough Patriot JV White vs. Bridgewater JV Red: lost 18-0

The JV White went on the road Saturday morning to face the Bridgewater JV Red, and was on the losing end of a 18-0 margin.

The Raiders started on offense and quickly marched to mid field on just 2 plays. But the drive would stall and they would give the ball over to the speedy Bridgewater offense, who didn't waste time scoring quickly on a 45 yard run. The Raiders had difficulty stopping the sweeps all day as they would give way for 2 more long TD runs.

In the first half, the offense couldn't get into the red zone as drives were plagued with fumbles and penalties. The Raiders trailed at the half 12-0. In the second half, some creative play call whipped up a halfback reverse to Ryan Harris for a 55 yard run to inside the opponents 5 yard line. The long reverse worked largely because the Bridgewater D over pursued the play, allowing Harris to slip down the sideline. Despite some hard-inside running, they failed to punch into the end zone. The Raider Defense would fight hard but gave up one more score in the second half. JV White fell to a 1-3 record on the year.

Hillsborough Patriot Pee Wee Red vs: Hillsborough Patriot Pee Wee White

Pee Wee White 26 - Pee Wee Red 6

Pee Wee Red:

The Pee-Wee Red squad had a tough loss against Hillsborough Pee Wee White. After a slow start in the first half the boys rallied on to hold Pee-Wee white to one score the rest of the game. The defense was led by Owen Miller 3 tackles 11 assisted tackles, Anthony Mayo 6 tackles 2 assisted tackles including 2 tackles for a loss, John McLain 4 tackles 4 assisted tackles, Kyle Simonitis, Niko Gaeta, Kaden Shepler, Price Pina, and Andrew Wheeler all had multiple assisted tackles. The offense was led by Jayden Carter with 9 carries for 86 yards and a 11 yard touchdown, Anthony Mayo with 7 carries for 36 yards and Kyle Simonitis 9 carries for 13 Yards. Connor Lamb, Zachary Johnson, Keanu Cade-Whittlesey did well with blocking for the offense.

Pee Wee White:

Total team effort on both sides of the ball to defeat Pee Wee Red 26-6. The offense had a good balance of pass and run which totaled more than 250 yards of offense. Damian Amato led the offense with 3 TD's passing, 110 yards passing, 50 yards rushing and 2 extra point conversions. Andrew Schwarz had 60 yards receiving/1TD and 50 yards rushing/1 TD. Mason Westlake had 60 yards receiving/2 TD's and 20 yards rushing, Nick McCauley 45 yards rushing, Danny Gaffney 20 yards rushing, Cole Dockhorn did a nice job in relief at backup quarterback. Big credit to the offense line led by Liam Roarty, Reece DeRoner, Mike Araujo, Nick Duarte, Jeff Progin and Chris Byrns. Defense did a great job limiting Red to 6 points and was led by Andrew Schwarz 7 tackles (+ 1 fumble rec), Nick Britanak, Mason Westlake (+1 fumble rec), Nick McCauley and Gavin Wacaster all with 5 tackles a piece. Aiden Herrera & Tommy Marcketta all with 4 tackles a piece, Damian Amato 3 tackles, Bradley Thomas and Cole Dockhorn 1 tackle. Jack Pankowski, Aiden McKenna also helped on the defense.

Hillsborough Flag Jets vs. Hillsborough Flag Steelers

Jets:

The Jets scored another two TDs this week. The first one came on a 50-yard run from Conor Albert. The play was a sweep but he saw a hole in the middle . . . he cut it up and was gone. The monster whole was created by great blocks from Merrick Brott-Turpie, Connor Marley, and Grant Scholma.

The second Jets TD was the result of a fantastic fake by QB Logan Redziniak on a naked bootleg. He scampered around right end untouched. Dylan Clerico, Ryan Phelan, and Liam Knox and critical blocks to help Logan get to the edge.

The Jets defense was led by terrific efforts from Lukas Richards, Kyle Wargo, and Logan Call.

Steelers:

The Steelers had great performances on both offense and defense against the Jets on Saturday morning! The offense generated 4 TD's rushing. Led by James Casey with 60 yards rushing with 1 TD, Justin Amato with 53 yards rushing and 1 TD, Matteo Cicciari with 43 yards rushing and 1 TD and Brody Walton with 34 yards rushing and 1 TD. Jayden Johnson had 6 yards rushing and extra point conversion and Devin Cozine had 5 yards rushing and extra point conversion.

Defense limited the Jets to 2 TD. Led by Justin Amato with 7 flag pulls, Jayden Johnson and James Casey with 3 flag pulls each, Devin Cozine with 2 flag pulls and Matteo Cicciari and Ethan Canterbury with 1 flag pull each

Hillsborough Flag Raiders vs. SBU Bears

In a rematch of the first game of the season he Raiders once again took on the Bears. In a back and forth game the Raiders looked sharp and ready to play. Vincent Lavecchia had the first touchdown of the game on a 60-yard TD run with solid blocks by Alex Zieziula, Matthew Simonitis, Ryan Shimp, Collin Tucker and Dante Mayo. Set up by strong runs by Bennett Thomas and Christopher Seamon on the last play of the game Gavin Ross scored on a 40-yard touchdown up the left side giving him 55 yards total for the game. The defense was held down by Gavin Ross (7 flag pulls), Vincent Lavecchia (4 Flag pulls) with notable contributions by EJ Riser, Bennett Thomas, Jonathan Albanese and Patrick Murphy who all had at least one flag pull each. Another great game by the Silver and Black and looking forward to another Wednesday night game against the Jets this week.

Jr Raiders FIELD HOCKEY

Mini Chix (K-2)

On the mini’s first official “fall clinic”, the girls continue to impress with their increased understanding of their stickwork and their transition into strategizing for game play. Sabrina Shields and Eleanor Enna not only showed great appreciation for this sport today, but their enthusiasm is showing through the enhancement of their play on the field. Thank you to all of our Jr Raiders Jr Coaches (AKA our high school players) who show up every week of their own accord to help these little ones blossom!

Little Stix Maroon (3-4) vs Little Stix Gold (3-4)

The Little Stix Maroon played their sister team, Little Stix Gold, at the programs home base of Mr C East Field which ended in a tie game 1-1.

In the first half, Midfielders Morghan DiGanci and Bella Ruh played tough defense while helping change field position. Support Defender Devin Redziniak made several strong saves against a tough Gold Team.

Wings Kiara Jones and Rebekah Redlich worked the alley to gain control of the ball, while Milan Citarella and Jane Rodrigues teamed up to score a goal, but the play was called due to a technicality.

In the second half, Little Stix Gold had tough defense blocking us from multiple goals, but Little Stix Maroon pulled thru with Taelyn Fedo assisting Center Madelynn Taras to score a goal to tie the game.

Megan Vogt and Alexa Gaspar demonstrated aggressive attack skills as midfielders to hold the game to a tie - It was a good game that was played well on both sides of the 50! Team Maroon looks forward to playing Lebanon on home turf next Sunday!

Little Stix Gold (3-4) vs Little Stix Maroon (3-4)

Hillsborough’s Little Stix Gold & Sister Team Little Stix Maroon went head to head with a 1-1 tie! The growing skill and strategies of this team continue to grow proving that this team has not one weak link in it! Thank you Sara Thompson for our goal in the first half! Sara and Peyton Wallace did an excellent job together today

communicating and passing with Sara as mid-field and Peyton as center! We are so proud of Brianna Gibson and Laura Weintraub in defense. It is not your typical position but you both took so well to it and made it your own! Great job!

Kaylin Agaman, you played so solid today and we are proud that you stood your ground. You are a great role model for the defensive position!

Samantha Dandy and Paige Romano brought the ball strongly up the wing several times. Great way to focus and use the alley!

Alexis Shumaker and Madisyn Freeman played the center very strong today as well. You are both fast and have great stick skills.

Sydney Russo and Miranda Trevino also nailed the wing positions using the alley as a breakaway area to bring the ball up the field.

Amelia Patterson and Jessica McKelvey both played their mid-field positions with a watchful eye. Way to play the defensive position, backing up your offensive line!

Team Gold & Team Maroon played a truly solid, smart game! Team Gold looks forward to another strong week next Sunday playing against tough competitor Lebanon on home turf.

Junior Stix Maroon (5-6) vs Junior Stix Gold (5-6)

The Junior Stix Maroons crossed sticks with their sister Junior Stix Gold squad on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Woodfield Park. Meghan Cain started her first game in goal after moving to the position six days ago. Meghan stopped many scoring opportunities with a very active left foot. Her teammates and coaches were very impressed with how well she is taking to the position. Kaylee D'Avanzo played her strongest game of the year at center. Kaylee showed some aggressiveness in the offensive circle, and was able to help generate a few corner opportunities. The Maroons unfortunately were unable to transfer these positive possessions into goals. The final score was Maroon 0, Gold 4. The Maroons travel to Washington to face Franklin next Sunday.

Junior Stix Gold (5-6) vs Junior Stix Maroon (5-6)

Junior Stix Gold had its first win today over Junior Stix Maroon! The girls played with great skill and hustle. The first goal came from an assist from Addison Harkin to Emily Enna. A few minutes following, Brooklyn Citarella scored off a corner to give team Gold a 2-0 Lead. Close to the end of the first half Grace Gonzalez hit in her first goal of the season to give team Gold a 3-0 lead at the end of the half.

Team gold stayed steady in the second half with Maggie Harding rocking the sweeper position and defending the circle and our Goalie Riley Hahofer having an awesome shut out!!! The final goal came close to the end of the second half with Hannah Bianchino assisting Shannon Rice for the fourth goal of the game.

The girls played with great heart and we are looking forward to their next game Sunday, October 8 against Washington.

Junior Stix White (5-6) vs Washington 56-3

Junior Stix White lost 6-0 to Washington in a game that featured some great saves in goal by Chiara Sasso. Washington scored within seconds of the start of both halves and with only seconds left in both halves to account for 4 of their goals. In between White held their own against a strong Washington squad with good defensive plays by Alexa LaMotta, Charlotte Maloney, and Maia Minakas and some scoring threats lead by Samantha Biondi, Mackenzie Smith, Gabriel Iovino, Autumn Pina, and Isabella DiStasio. White continues to improve each week and looks to rebound against Washington's sister squad next week on the road.