It will go down as an instant classic.
And in the end, it was Old Bridge celebrating its first-ever state title, as it knocked off Southern in three sets, denying the Rams of a three-peat. Story:
#njvolleyball
St. Augustine is your Non-Public champions. They defeated the one, two, and three seeds to do this.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the most impressive run a team has ever had in a state tournament. Just incredible and you may never see this again.
One of the biggest upsets in state history is complete.
St. Augustine 3, Delbarton 2 as Enzo Fanelli ends it 11 seconds into overtime. An absolute stunner.
That said, I think Adam Schefter probably could’ve left out the “struggling in the NFL” aspect in this tweet. I can’t think of anything that is less important right now.
NJ High School hockey practice began today, which begins my favorite time of the year. Best of luck to all players, coaches, and teams. As for my role in coverage this season....I hope to be able to announce something pretty cool later this week. Stay tuned!
I just crunched the numbers- this past week, The Morris-Sussex Hockey Report received over 2,000 page views for all of my cup week content. For a small site focused on one area of the state, that is amazing!
Thank you so much to everyone who has followed along.
With that, I close the book on my seventh season of high school hockey coverage in NJ, and the third year of The Morris-Sussex Hockey Report.
It was a season like no other, but it was great to spend a lot of time at this rink for the last 2 months. See you in November!
Am told that over 125 kids from Morristown-Beard were allowed to get out of school today and came here on fan buses to support the girls team in the final at 11 a.m.
Great work by everyone involved at that school.
@AthleticsMBS
Just want to take a moment and say thank you to all players, coaches, and field hockey fans for following along with my coverage this season. It has truly been a blast to cover this sport this season.
FINAL: Montville is your Morris county champion for the first time ever! Caitlin Olensky with an 18 strikeout no hitter and Montville wins it 5-0
@MontvilleTAP
@MustangsMTHS
@15softballMHS
So how long until the St. John’s fan base convinces itself that Jay Wright would come out of retirement to coach the Johnnies? Has that discourse begun yet or are we still stuck on John Calipari and Rick Pitino? Lol
#sjubb
Last comment on this- I know first hand the amount of time and work that goes into covering NJ HS hockey statewide. It’s a real shame that there are folks out there who feel the need to tear down the work of some of the reporters who cover the sport.
#njhockey
The ice hockey season kicks off later this week, and we're taking a look at the top players by position heading into this season. Here is our forwards to watch list:
In late October, Bishop Eustace freshman Maison Houser was injured in a hunting accident, which ended with the loss of his right eye. But last Friday, just 41 days after the accident, he was on the ice making his varsity debut:
Kyle Contessa will get to a chance to follow in the path of his older brother in leading CBA to a state championship.
His second period goal held up as the game-winner in CBA's 2-0 semifinal win over Gloucester Catholic.
@CBAColts
@CBAColtsHockey
Story:
Despite not having any film on its opponent, St. Joseph of Metuchen's defense shined on Saturday in a big 20-3 win over Westfield.
@StJosephFB
@HSSportsNJ
@MikeKinneyHS
Story:
Hey field hockey fans: I’m baaaaaackkkkk (for today!). I’m heading to today’s HWS Tournament final at Newton between Warren Hills and Hackettstown for . set for a 3pm start. I’ll have live updates.
@EvanSlavitHS
@hockey_wh
@HackettstownFH
🏑
"We're resilient. We don't back down."
No. 12
@PopeJohnLionsFB
, behind some clutch plays late on both sides of the ball, knocked off No. 4 DePaul for the first time in over 25 years.
@ByLuisTorres
Story:
Competing for a state championship meant so much to Old Bridge's seniors, that they passed up a trip to Disney World in Florida this week to play for a state title. After Tuesday's win over Fair Lawn, the Knights are halfway there:
#njvolleyball
The Newton-Kittatinny game last night was awesome. Amazing atmosphere (seemed like all of Newton, Andover, Fredon, Hampton, etc.) was there. And it was a good, clean game as well. Proud night for Sussex County football.
Had a whole row of Rangers fans behind me last night. Among their greatest hits:
- Prudential Center is “trash”
- “dirty jersey”
- Timo Meier being “softer than baby s—-“ after the Trouba hit
- Yelling for someone to concuss Jack Hughes
They left with 5 minutes left.
'It was the most important game of our lives. I wasn't coming out.' Westfield goalie C.J. Duffy, even after suffering a 2nd period hip injury, helped his team earn a 3-2 win over Summit for the program's 1st Union Cup title since 2013:
The 2017-18 season starts tomorrow and I can't say enough about how excited I am for the season to start. I'm honored, privileged, blessed to be able to lead the coverage for ice hockey this season. Good luck to all teams!
I have been in this rink 8 of the last 9 days. I have covered every single
@MCSSIHL_NJ
cup game. I’m exhausted. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Thank you all so much for following along.
But, far from done. See you tomorrow night at Codey for the Librera and Gordon cups!
I don’t understand. They had replay and couldn’t get this call right??? Say what you want about blowing a 12 point lead, free throws, etc. but St. John’s won this game. This is an absolute disgrace.
So, taking engagement photos with
@NJDevils
jerseys on got the attention of the folks at
@MSGNetworks
, and next thing you know,
@MKateFeola
and I were shooting a promo for Devils broadcasts with our photographer Ralph DePiro. Just amazing!
Excited to say that I'll be back on the NJ HS field hockey beat once again this fall! Interested to see what this season has in store. Be on the lookout for preseason content, which should start rolling out the week after next.
#njfhoc
Huge thank you to everyone who read and supported my content at
@MorrisCtyHockey
this season. I learned this year that it isn’t easy balancing coverage along with a regular 9-to-5 job, but I love covering HS hockey and will continue to do so in the future.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL FANS: Good news, I'm back to run our coverage for NJ .com this spring! Coaches- be on the lookout for an e-mail sometime later this week. Looking forward to making our coverage bigger and better this season.
#njvolleyball
Still have lots of hockey action coming up in the next month, but it's not too early to start thinking about our statewide Player of the Year honors. Here's a list of 22 candidates as of right now:
FINAL: Montville is your Morris county champion for the first time ever! Caitlin Olensky with an 18 strikeout no hitter and Montville wins it 5-0
@MontvilleTAP
@MustangsMTHS
@15softballMHS
A chipped tooth and face cut late in the Group 1 final was not going to stop Maggie Lamb from returning. Her return sparked Shore to a 2-1 victory over Haddonfield, with her friend and teammate Lily Santi scoring the game-winner for the Group 1 title:
Congrats to all four state champs tonight. Thanks to everyone who followed along and read our coverage this season, it was fun! Year 4 of ice hockey coverage is in the books.
#njhockey
Safe to call this one the game of the year. No. 3
@RFHFieldHockey
advances past No. 5 West Essex in penalty strokes to reach the Group 2 final for the second straight year. Here is my game story:
Three weeks ago today I was at Prudential Center for the state finals, covering a couple of the most memorable H.S. hockey games I’ve seen.
I still can’t get over how much the world has changed in these past 3 weeks. Unthinkable.
One last game to cover, and it's a big one! No. 1 Eastern hosts No. 2 Oak Knoll today at 12 down in Voorhees. I'll be there with live updates throughout the game, story after. Can't think of a better game to go out with.
@easternviking
@OKS_FHockey
@OakKnollRoyals
"I just wanted my name and my team’s name to be known, and to be remembered."
Nobody will be forgetting Elan Dorkhman or Old Bridge anytime soon after it topped Bridgewater-Raritan in an epic performance Friday for their 1st Central Jersey title:
I really don’t like to crowd shame, but how does Tampa still have a team? It’s one thing to not draw in the regular season, but selling out for a playoff game should be a given in ANY market.
TOUCHDOWN POPE JOHN! Tyler Houser scores on a 7 yard run with 55 seconds left and the Lions lead it 31-27.
DePaul still has all 3 timeouts but needs a TD on this next drive
Just like that, the 2018
#njvolleyball
season was over. Thanks to all who followed along. Stories, photos, video from an epic state final coming soon on
Madison broke out last year and won the Halvorsen Cup. Now, it is making the leap into the Mennen Division with a talented and experienced roster. Here's our 2018-19 Madison ice hockey preview.
@DodgerAthletics
@Dodgershockey
"They believe in themselves, and they love the challenge of people not believing in them.” Northern Highlands accepted that challenge on Saturday, as it beat Mt. Olive 13-4 for the first North, Group 3 sectional title in program history. Gamer:
#njlax
Some exciting news: This season, I plan to do a weekly podcast regarding Morris-Sussex area hockey. I have wanted to do this for awhile, and I think it’ll be a lot of fun.
I plan to record the first episode tonight.
#njhockey
"It's really honorable to be a part of it and it's really cool. It's really cool to have my name be a part of Eastern field hockey."
Ryleigh Heck etched her name into Eastern lore with a 6 goal game in leading
@easternviking
to its 20th straight title:
There were new faces throughout the
@DBIronmenHockey
lineup on a night in which it raised its championship banner.
With two freshmen on its top line, the Ironmen showed that not much has changed skill-wise in a 6-0 win over Seton Hall Prep.
@AndrewKoobHS
Excited to say that I have put together my own blog on HS hockey in Sussex and Morris County for this winter. Introducing the Morris-Sussex Hockey Report:
@AlexC_NJD
Hell, if nothing else, you have to do it out of respect for the guy. The crowd isn’t going to stop chanting for his job, it’s not fair to him to have to hear that over and over again the rest of the year. If you’re firing him after the season, just rip the bandaid off now.
Griffin O'Shaughnessy gets a dollar from his grandmother for every goal he scores.
The Haas Cup-winning goal might be worth a little more.
O'Shaughnessy's dramatic game-winner with 1:04 left gave ML-Boonton its first-ever Haas Cup title. Game story:
“Losing, as difficult and as sad as it is for your team, those are some of the best lessons you get."
Past losses helped fuel Hackettstown on Saturday, as Ashley Zellars' OT goal gave it its first HWS title in 13 years with 1-0 win over Warren Hills:
Also excited to say that I’m heading down to Bordentown tomorrow to assist
@EvanSlavitHS
with the NJ Field Hockey state finals! It’s always a long, but fun day and I’m happy to get to be a part of it again this year.
#njfhoc
ICYMI: The seeds and schedule for this year's Tournament of Champions were announced upon conclusion of the final group title game yesterday. See where each of the champs landed, and where and when each will play:
Some
#NJHockey
coaching news: Long time assistant Joe Cecala takes over as head coach at Madison for Dave Hansen, who was the head coach for the past 16 years and led the program to the rare trifecta of Haas, Halvorsen, and Mennen cup titles.
@Dodgershockey