Chief of the Week: D.J. Ross Slugs for Hard-Hitting Hopatcong

has many talented athletes roaming its hallways and wearing its colors. Each week, Patch will speak to one of Hopatcong's' most outstanding players for our "Chief of the Week" feature. This week, we feature senior catcher D.J. Ross, who has three homers for the 6-3-1 Chiefs:

What's been the team's biggest strength this year? Hitting. Not too much defense. But mostly hitting. We always knew we were going to hit. It was just the defense part we were not too sure about. We only got to go outside a few times before out first game.

You're playing great so far this year, head coach Chris Bugslovsky tells Patch. But how could you improve? Controlling the defense, definitely. Speak up more. I feel like, if I control everyone else, I'll have less to worry about.

What do you like best about playing in the Homer Dome? Well offensively, of course, having such a short fence is great. But defensively it's kind of a burden. I guess it evens out because both teams have a chance to hit a home run. But it's too easy. Like an easy pop up would just go out.

You're a senior. Any ideas on college yet? I'm going to Kean (Univeristy).

Are you going to play? Yeah, I committed to them a couple of months ago.

How's the pitching staff looking? Our pitching is doing very well. We have Josh Bishop, who's always been good, and Dillon Del Rosso, who's coming up, too.

What's the goal for this season? States. We're looking to go far. We have chemistry unlike any other team. We've been playing together since we were like 10. My grade and the grade below us have been playing forever, and we've been doing really good since.

What have you learned from coach Bugs? Everything. He helps us fix up our swings. He tells us what we're doing wrong mentally. He's not as tough on us as he was the last couple of years becuase he knows that we know what we have to do.