Monday Sports Roundup

Christian Cacchiabato eyes up Jackson Liberty opponent. (Photo by Paul Domboski)

The Hopewell Valley Central High School (CHS) wrestling team took on Jackson Liberty, Point Pleasant Beach and Princeton on January 4. Hopewell easily defeated Princeton 66-13, then narrowly beat Jackson Liberty 30-28.  Christian Micikas’ match at 120 lbs secured the win. At the end of the day, Point Pleasant Beach dominated the Bulldogs, 42-33; the Gulls had six of eight winning matches won by pins. -Paul Domboski

Joe Vanozzi on his way to a win vs Princeton (Photo by Paul Domboski

Both the he CHS boys and girls basketball teams took part in the John Molinelli Holiday Classic tournament on December 27 and 28 at Hopewell Valley Central and Lawrence High Schools.  

The CHS girls championship basketball team – winners of the the annual John Molinelli high school basketball holiday tournament for 2019. (Photo by Coleen Cardaneo Ross)

On Friday, the girls overwhelmed Hamilton High West 46-5.  Franki Gomez led Hopewell Valley with 19 points.  Charlotte Hare (11 points) and Maddie Schrader (2 points) each had team leading 8 rebounds. Addy Danieluk (5 points), Ally Oldfield (3 points), Molly Martin, Lauren Morici, Caroline Mormile (2 points each) rounded out the scoring.  Gabbie Fonollosa and Arianna Venceller were leading scorers for the Hornets.

On Saturday, the CHS girls brought home the tournament trophy, defeating the Pennington School, 39-23.  Franki Gomez (12 pts) and Charlotte Hare (10 pts, 13 rebounds) led the Bulldogs in scoring.  Maddie Schrader (2pts) grabbed 11 rebounds.  Sophia Kavulich (11 pts) was the Pennington School’s leading scorer.

Franki Gomez was named tournament MVP and Charlotte Hare was named to the All-Tournament team. 

Jake Loughery shoots over Lawrence’s Kareem Hemsley (Paul Domboski)

In a cross-town rivalry on Friday, the Pennington School defeated CHS, 58-51. After a slow start, Pennington was paced by Jay Jackson (20 points) and Ethan Pires (19 points). Noah Salcedo reached double digit scoring with 11 points for Pennington. CHS was led by John Broz (17points) and Jake Loughery (14 points). In the Championship game, Pennington Red Raiders beat Ocean Township Spartans 63-59.

John Broz (35) takes a shot as Pennington’s Jay Jackson defends. (Photo by Paul Domboski)

On Saturday, January 4, the Hopewell Valley Girls took on Immaculata.  In a close defensive game, after being down at the half 22-16, the Bulldogs came back to tie the game with 31 seconds on a shot by Maddie Schrader and win with a free throw by Ally Oldfield to win the game 37-36. -Paul Domboski

Maddie Schrader shooting the game tying shot at 31 seconds left. (Photo by Paul Domboski)

The CHS girls’ swim team won their first meet of 2020, raising their record to 5-1. On Thursday, the Bulldogs beat Robbinsville 115-54 with many first-place finishes. Lilly Wurtz won the 100 backstroke (1:11.82) while Ava D’Alessandro won in the 50 freestyle (27.27). Jade Gamelin-Kao and Emilie Sawicki took first place in the 100 freestyle (1:03.52) and 200 IM (2:38.48) respectively. Shriya Karthikvatsan won both the 100 butterfly (1:12.10) and the 100 breaststroke (1:16.14), while Regan Sherman took first in both the 500 freestyle (5:47.21) and the 200 freestyle (2:08.41). The Bulldogs also won the 200 medley relay (Sherman, Sawicki, D’Alessandro and Karthikvatsan, 2:05.61), the 200 freestyle relay (Wurtz, Alyssa Lui, Natalie Hayward and Gamelin-Kao, 2:04.17) and the 400 freestyle relay (Sherman, D’Alessandro, Sawicki and Karthikvatsan, 4:16.90).The next meet for the Hopewell Valley girls is tomorrow against Nottingham at the Pennington School. -Christopher Sawicki

Regan Sherman gets set for the start of the girls 200 medley relay against Robbinsville (Photo by Christopher Sawicki)

Meanwhile the CHS boys’ swim team competed against Robbinsville, claiming another win 105-65 and raising their season record to 5-1. Alessio Paoloni, Matt Immordino, Alex Helmrich and Chris Sawicki, with a time of 1:52.29, placed first in the 200 medley relay. Sawicki, Helmrich, Hayden Geurds and Paoloni won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:51.66. Paoloni took first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:50.60, as well as in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.75. Other first place winners included Immordino (200 IM, 2:19.11), Geurds (50 freestyle, 25.52), Sawicki (100 backstroke, 1:06.67), and Owen Seibold (100 breaststroke, 1:12.55). 

This week, the Hopewell Valley boys have three meets at the Pennington School pool, against Nottingham on Tuesday, vs. Lawrence on Thursday and against the Pennington School on Saturday. -Emilie Sawicki

Alex Helmrich and Matthew Immordino for Hopewell on the blocks for the boys 200 IM against Robbinsville (Photo by Emilie Sawicki)

On Friday, January 3, the Hopewell Valley Montgomery varsity ice hockey team took on Brick Memorial High School.  The HVM team started the scoring with a power play goal by Michael Boyer, ending the first period 1-0. In the second period, Brick evened up the score, then Lucas Gaissert and Roman Vitolo scored, ending the second period 3-1. But the third period was a nail biter: Brick scored twice, making the score 3-3.  Two penalties on the HVM team caused them to play 3 on 5, but Sean Amon rallied to sink a goal while they were two men down. The final score was 4-3.  The Bulldogs, ranked 4th in the Colonial Valley Conference, face second-ranked Notre Dame this evening at Mercer County Skating Center.

HVM Bulldogs Junior varsity plays Watchung Hills (Photo by Tracy Vogler)

The HVM junior varsity ice hockey team was less successful on Sunday evening. Watchung Hills dominated the first two periods, scoring three goals while the HVM team were unable to score. In the third period, Andrew Seamon and James Wilson each scored one goal, while Watchung Hills added four more to their score. The final was 2-7. The jv team is looking forward to returning to winning form in their next game against Scotch Plains-Fanwood at Union Sports Arena on Saturday, -Tracy Vogler

For this week’s upcoming HVRSD games, see the schedule here: https://www.colonialvalleyconference.org/public/genie/348/school/7/

If you would like to contribute sports reporting or game photographs to MercerMe, please send an email to tracy@mercerme.com.

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