RAIDER ROUNDUP
By: Rudy Brandl
One Hillsborough High athletic team wasn’t affected by the huge blizzard that dumped nearly two feet of snow in Central Jersey the varsity wrestling team.
The Raiders competed in a season-high five matches in one week, winning three of them to improve their season record to 8-9. After avenging last year’s state playoff loss with a resounding home victory over South Brunswick, Hillsborough was beaten by state power Phillipsburg on Thursday night. HHS capped the busy week by taking two of three in a Saturday afternoon quad-meet at Emerson.
HHS spotted South Brunswick the first four bouts and a 21-0 lead before roaring back to take the next eight weight classes en route to a 44-27 triumph. Mark Amerman started the rally with a 16-5 major decision at 215 and heavyweight Antonio D’Amelio followed with a pin.
Senior 103-pounder Andrew Gewain continued his unbeaten season with a first-period fall. Junior Tye Wagner posted a major decision at 112 and Joey Guido gave the Raiders a 23-21 lead with a 5-1 triumph at 119 pounds. Kevin Lynch followed with a decision at 125 and Chris Damiano and Mike Detsis posted consecutive falls to complete the 38-point flurry. Pat Jastrzebski later added a forfeit victory at 145.
The Raiders gave Phillipsburg a good battle but fell short by a 36-25 score in Hillsborough. Wagner and Detsis, two of the team’s leading individuals, were pinned by Stateliner standouts for the crucial point swing in this match.
Gewain ran his individual record to 19-0 with a 7-2 decision over John Todd. Damiano’s wild 15-14 win over Kyle McRoberts had dramatic flavor. D’Amelio blanked Chris Forder by a 2-0 count in a heavyweight battle. James O’Hara (pin at 189), Lynch (major at 125) and Amerman (forfeit at 215) accounted for the team’s other points.
Wagner, Lynch, Detsis, Jastrzebski and Phil Lavoie (160-171) all enjoyed perfect afternoons at Emerson. Wagner and Detsis each posted two falls and a major, Lynch had a pin, a major and a decision, Jastrzebski followed an 8-7 win with a major and a fall and Lavoie notched two decisions and one fall.
Gewain missed the quad-meet and an opportunity to win three more bouts in pursuit of 100 career victories for family reasons. His presence would have helped in the Roxbury match, where the Raiders dropped a 39-28 match. Damiano also would have needed to overturn his one-point loss to produce a team win.
The Raiders followed with victories over Emerson (41-33) and Pascack Valley (51-24). Guido, Lynch and Damiano secured consecutive falls to put the team over the top against Emerson. Wagner, Jastrzebski, Lavoie, O’Hara and Amerman produced pins against Pascack Valley.
HHS was scheduled to finish the regular season with a pair of home matches against tough Middlesex County teams this week. Piscataway and East Brunswick have plenty of individual standouts the Raiders will see again at the Region 5 Tournament in March.
Girls bounce back
with better play
HHS girls’ basketball coach Jim Reese called it his team’s best week of the season. The Lady Raiders ended a three-game skid with back-to-back solid outings and posted two convincing victories in Delaware Division play.
The Lady Raiders rolled over Phillipsburg (67-30) for the second time this season and also completed a season sweep of Warren Hills with Thursday’s 57-35 home romp.
"We had a good week," Reese said. "We played well in both games and I thought it was our best week of team rebounding all season. We rebounded better and defended better."
HHS blitzed P’burg with another damaging first quarter surge in last week’s road rematch. The Lady Raiders had opened the previous meeting with an amazing 31-2 opening flurry. This time, they started with a 21-2 spurt.
Senior forward Sara Lavell led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Allison Kutch and Jessica Rainey followed with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Six different HHS players nailed 3-pointers in a game where Reese was able to empty his bench.
Hillsborough enjoyed another fast start vs. Warren Hills, taking a 17-9 lead after one quarter. After allowing the visitors to hang around with 15 points in the second quarter, the Lady Raiders clamped down defensively and surrendered only 11 points the entire second half.
Rainey had a huge all-around game with 15 points, 10 rebounds and five steals. Lavell (15) and Kutch (12) joined her in double figures for the second straight game, marking a possible rebirth of the team’s offense.
Boys continue
winning streak
The Raider boys entered the week with five wins in their last six basketball games. Once just a game over the .500 mark, HHS improved to 12-7 with victories over Phillipsburg and Warren Hills last week. Hillsborough completed season sweeps of both Warren County schools with nearly-identical wins in last week’s rematches.
"I’m real happy with the way we’re playing right now," HHS head coach Kevin McGuire said. "The Bridgewater game (a 50-40 loss) was the one glitch. I like where we are in terms of chemistry. We’ve got a lot more guys playing and that’s helped."
Ten different Raiders scored in last Thursday night’s 67-38 romp at Warren Hills. Five different guys hit 3-pointers, led by Chris Haas, Mike Malko and T.J. Sferra, who each nailed three from behind the arc.
Haas had a monster game with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way. Malko produced 12 points and six boards and Sferra chipped in with 11 points.
HHS stormed to a 16-6 lead after one quarter and opened it up to an even more comfortable margin as the game progressed. The Raiders also held yet another opponent under 40 points.
Both games against Phillipsburg were hard-fought, low-scoring affairs won by Hillsborough. After battling for a 40-36 win in the first meeting, the Raiders won last week’s rematch by a 42-34 score.
Malko and Haas made the biggest impact for the winners. Malko scored six of his team-high 13 points in the third period when the Raiders erased a two-point deficit with a 17-9 spurt. Haas contributed 10 points and six boards.
Track teams excel
at Varsity Classic
Hillsborough’s track athletes put on quite a show at The Armory in New York City in last week’s Varsity Classic. Competing for the first time in a big meet this month, the Raiders set two school records and captured medals in five individual events and three relays.
Jenizah Melendez won the school’s only gold medal of the meet when she set a school record to win the triple jump (34-5½). Melendez also finished sixth in the shot put (36-8) and seventh in the long jump (15-9¼), but medals were awarded to the top five in each event.
Other individual medals winners included Franklin Andreyko in the long jump (2nd, 22-2½), Erin Crawford in the 55 hurdles (5th, 8.6), Ashley Uniszkiewicz in the 3,200 (4th, 11:40.0) and Eileen Cafferty in the pole vault (4th, 8-6).
Lauren Kloss (8.6) and Tony Flores (7.8) each placed sixth just out of the medal mix in their hurdle races. Freshman Allison Marcsisin shaved three seconds off her best in the 1,600 with an eighth-place time of 5:25.7 despite running a second race of the day.
The girls’ 4×400 relay team of Kloss (59.1), Cafferty (63.2), Yaneisha Warrick (62.0) and Crawford (58.5) ran a season-best time of 4:02.9 to finish third. Flores (51.2), Fred Kain (54.3), Andreyko (52.7) and Mike Barberio (50.6) combined to take sixth in the boys’ 4×400 (3:28.8).
Hillsborough’s most exciting race of the meet came in the boys’ distance medley, where Nick Vaccaro (3:10.4), Barberio (52.4), Joe Brennan (2:04.0) and Mike Klueber (4:26.7) finished second, just behind Eastern but in front of rival Hunterdon Central. The 10:434.1 time was the team’s best of the season and second fastest ever.
The Hillsborough girls set a school record in the 4×800 with Kloss (2:18.9), Marcsisin (2:26.0), Uniszkiewicz (2:26.7) and Crawford (2:24.8) combining for second place in 9:36.9. The Raiders also inserted an impressive B team that finished in 10:10 Jess Tsai (2:27.1), Cafferty (2:30.3), Katie King (2:30.3) and Kaitlyn Adams (2:42.5).
"We had a really good meet," Raider head coach Rich Refi said. "To have a B team run 10:10 that really showed our depth."

