RAIDER ROUNDUP
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High wrestling team enjoyed a rare rout in Saturday’s match at Lawrence. After winning once in four dual meets that could have gone either way, the Raiders rolled to a 64-6 victory.
Hillsborough took a 2-3 record into this week’s action, which consisted of both opponents that finished higher in the Somerset County Tournament in December. The Raiders were slated to wrestle at second-place finisher Somerville last night before returning home to battle county champion Watchung Hills Saturday afternoon.
"That’s developing into a bit of a rivalry," Raider head coach Steve Molinaro said. "We have to be prepared for everyone. We’ll do our homework and see if we can do a little bit of moving around to gather some more points."
No such strategy was needed in last Saturday’s match in Mercer County. Only four points separated the Raiders from shutting out Lawrence, which managed to win tight decisions at 135 and 171.
HHS captured the remaining 12 bouts seven by fall and five by decision. The biggest individual victory came at 125 pounds, where Hillsborough sophomore Kevin Lynch upset Lawrence star Mark Savino in a 7-6 thriller.
Senior 103-pounder Andrew Gewain remained unbeaten at 10-0 with a 42-second pin. Teammates Tye Wagner (112), Chris Damiano (130), Phil Lavoie (160), James O’Hara (189), Mark Amerman (215) and Antonio D’Amelio (Hwt) also produced falls.
Freshman Joe Guido stepped into the lineup at 119 and won by decision. Mike Detsis (140), Pat Jastrzebski (145) and John Newman (152) scored their team’s first nine points with decisions after Lawrence took a brief 3-0 lead.
A bad start hurt the Raiders in last week’s match at Delaware Division rival North Hunterdon. HHS figured to start the match with a bang at 215, but Amerman and D’Amelio fell short in two very close bouts. The Raiders never recovered from that 12-point swing and lost by a 34-27 margin.
HHS won the next four bouts for a 19-6 lead, but the Lions came roaring back to take four of the next five. Andrew Cosgrove’s pin of Lavoie at 171 clinched the match.
Lynch had the only pin of the night for the Raiders. Other points came from a tech fall by Detsis at 140, a major decision by Wagner at 112, decisions by Kevin Herlihy at 119 and Newman at 160 and a forfeit to Gewain at 103.
Defense powers
cagers to victories
The Hillsborough High boys held two more opponents under 40 points last week and won both times to improve their basketball record to 6-3.
After losing a tight 57-49 game to Hunterdon Central earlier in the week, the Raiders clamped down in victories over Phillipsburg (40-36) and East Brunswick (45-36). Hillsborough is 5-0 when the opposing team scores fewer than 40 points, but only 1-3 when allowing more than 50.
The Raiders entered the week with two losses in the Delaware Division but still in the championship picture. However, they must win at Franklin tonight to have a chance at finishing first in the Delaware, especially after losing at home to Central.
Mike Malko had a huge game against the Red Devils with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The junior center was the only HHS player in double figures.
Chris Haas was the only Raider in double digits in Thursday night’s game in Phillipsburg. The senior forward connected for 17 points and received some help from junior guard T.J. Sferra, who hit two 3-pointers and finished with eight points.
Sferra hit two more bombs in Saturday’s home victory over East Brunswick. Sferra led the Raiders with 13 points, while Malko had a dozen. Senior guard Courtney Robinson had his best game with 10 points and five rebounds.
The Raiders trailed after the opening quarter but moved ahead with an 11-5 spurt in the second period. East Brunswick kept the game tight until the final quarter, when HHS pulled away with a 15-8 surge.
Hillsborough was scheduled to host Warren Hills before tonight’s big game at Franklin.
Vaccaro, Crawford
win at Drew meet
The HHS track athletes made their seventh trip to Drew University this season, mainly to get ready for Sunday’s State Group 4 Championships. Seniors Nick Vaccaro and Erin Crawford each won an event to highlight another strong showing by the Raiders.
Vaccaro won the 1,600-meter run in a time of 4:31.08, while Crawford prevailed in a very tight 55 hurdles race (8.86). Crawford defeated Randolph’s Pari Hashemi (8.87) and HHS teammate Lauren Kloss (8.88) by the slimmest of margins.
Kloss also finished fourth in the high jump (4-10) and third in the 400 (1:00.95) behind Crawford (1:00.02), who was second to Hashemi. Crawford placed fifth in the 55 (7.93).
Other HHS finishers in the top six included Ashley Uniszkiewicz in the 1,600 (6th, 5:30.85), Kelda Nelson in the 3,200 (4th, 12:05.31), Marissa Van Cleef in the 55 hurdles (5th, 9.11) and Jenizah Melendez in the shot put (3rd, 36-3¼).
The Raider boys had multiple finishers in five events, led by three place-winners in the 1,600. Mike Klueber (3rd, 4:34.31) and Joe Brennan (5th, 4:35.60) finished behind Vaccaro in that event, while freshman Brian Dennis (2nd, 10:18.51) and Erik Szabocsik (4th, 10:20.52) placed in the 3,200.
Hillsborough also placed multiple athletes in the 55 hurdles with Tony Flores (2nd, 7.87) and Franklin Andreyko (4th, 8.14), in the high jump with Bryan Fox (4th, 5-10) and Jim Morley (6th, 5-9), in the shot put with Hector Tirado (2nd, 50-7¼) and Matt Bruce (4th, 46-8¾) and in the pole vault with Nick Confuorto (3rd, 12-6) and Adam Mallet (6th, 10-6). Andreyko also finished fifth in the 55 dash (6.98).

