Watchung Hills Pop Warner Takes on Competition

Courtesy of Jason Taub

Watchung Hills vs. Bound Brook

On Sunday, the Watchung Hills Mitey Mite Wolverines hosted the Bound Brook Crusaders. The offense drove for four touchdowns paving the way to a 30-0 shutout win over Bound Brook.  

Leading the offense were Riley McCann, John DiMAggio, Vincent Lee, and Will Grabko, each with a touchdown. Quentin Tao completed a 20-yard pass to John DiMaggio late in the 4th quarter, which led to the 4th TD of the game.

Riley McCann also successfully converted 3 of the 4 extra point attempts. It was the outstanding blocking by Center Christian Hagel, Tackle Lorenzo Percario,  and Guards Joe Vecchio and Brett Christopher, that allowed the running backs to make several big gains.

The defense also had an outstanding day, keeping Bound Brook scoreless for four quarters. Dylan Braunstein, Brett Christopher, Joe Vecchio, John King, and Kenny McGoldrick, stopped the run with several tackles each. 

Gold Flag

The Watchung Hills Wolverines took on the Wildcats of Montgomery this past Sunday. The Wolverines defense was tested throughout the game by the Wildcats quarterback who threw several passes.

The defense played tough only allowing two completions and five scores. Colin Kolakowski led the defense pulling ten flags on the day. Kyle Checchio had a big game from his cornerback position grabbing five flags. Ryan Johnson pulled three flags while Jayden Fernandez, Chase Miller and Jack Clintock each pulled two. David Dubas and Charles Morreale contributed to the defensive effort grabbing one flag each.

The Wolverines offense started strong as Ryan Johnson ran a quarterback sweep 40 yards on the opening play for a touchdown. Later in the game, Johnson reached the end zone again on a 20-yard run finishing the day with 115 yards rushing. Kyle Checchio added 55 yards rushing and Colin Kolakowski rushed for 35 yards. 

Blue Flag

The Watchung Hills Wolverines battled the Crusaders of Bound Brook in a closely matched contest. The Wolverines defense asserted itself throughout the game controlling the line of scrimmage and only allowed three scores on the day. Perry Weingarten and Brayden Kelly led the defense with five flags each.  Jack Martin had a big day from his defensive tackle position continuously disrupting the Crusaders backfield. Martin finished the day with three flags. Jadon Prinzivalli, Gerald Tobia, Michael DiNardi, K.J. West and Byron McCann each grabbed two flags while Mason Kelly, Lucas Garcia and Charlie Betzner contributed to the defensive effort by grabbing one flag each.

 The Wolverines offense racked up 285 yards on the ground.  Brayden Kelly put the Wolverines on the board early in the game when he took a handoff from Mason Kelly and scampered ten yards for the score. Brayden finished the day with 55 yards rushing on 5 carries and two scores. Jadon Prinzivalli took the next play from the 40-yard line and sprinted all the way to the end zone on a quarterback sweep. Jadon finished the day with 70 yards rushing on 4 carries and two scores.  Lucas Garcia, K.J. West and Byron McCann each had 25-yard runs which set up three of the Wolverines four touchdowns. Mason Kelly, Perry Weingarten, Jack Martin and Charlie Betzner each added 10-yard runs to the offensive total. 

Junior Flag

The Wolverines Junior Flag team had a huge day against the Wildcats of Montgomery. The Wolverines reached the end zone eight times on the day and only allowed the Wildcats one score. Cameron Kolakowski rushed for 110 yards on 4 carries and scored twice. Cameron also completed a 35-yard touchdown pass late in the game to Aidan Grochowski. Aidan also rushed for 55 yards and a touchdown. Nicholas Valenti reached the end zone on a beautiful 40-yard run shaking off several Wildcat defenders along the way. Maximus "Mad Max" Yaeger blasted up the middle for a 15-yard touchdown run. Nicolas Betancourth scored the final touchdown of the day taking his only carry 40 yards to the end zone.  Stephen Prisco and Kyle Ling made huge blocks throughout the game allowing the runners to reach the end zone.

The Wolverines defense dominated throughout the game causing four fumbles and knocking down two pass attempts. Max Yaeger led the defense with six flags.  Nicolas Betancourth and Aidan Grochowski each pulled three flags on the day.  Nicholas Valenti, Kyle Ling, Stephen Prisco and Cameron Kolakowski all contributed on defense grabbing one flag each.

Blue Mitey Mite

The Blue Mitey Mite team played another tough game against Montgomery this week. The Wolverines defense led by Martin Howell, Ellis Wilson, Phillip O'Grady and Aqili Holmes limited the Montgomery team to one second half score. The Wolverines defense forced and recovered 2 fumbles. At the end of the first half, Montgomery attempted a double reverse and Martin Howell was there to deliver a crushing tackle forcing a 10-yard loss and ending the 1st half on a positive note.  Offensively, Dylan "DJ" Kelly, making his first start at quarterback, used great poise to lead the to multiple first downs. DJ even rank the ball 5 times for 35 yards. Aqili Holmes contributed 50 yards rushing on 7 carries. 

Junior Pee Wee

WH JPW, 27; Montgomery JPW, 13

The Watchung Hills Pop Warner Junior Pee Wee team moved to 4-1 on the season with another convincing victory 27-13 over Montgomery at home on Sunday, September 29. Game captains were Shane Kelly, Thomas Johnson, Bryce Rooks, and Mac McAteer.

The Watchung Wolverines took a 7-0 lead during the first quarter. On the scoring drive, the Wolverine offense showed the team discipline to "go on 2." Bryce Rooks had a big block on a long run by Luke Marion. Next, Thomas Johnson and Justin Ferreira had the key blocks which led to a Justin Drews touchdown for the home squad. Montgomery answered with a second quarter TD of their own and tied the score at seven. The Wolverines bounced back quickly with Justin Ferreira's 65 yard kickoff return for a touchdown and Luke Marion's extra point run putting Watchung up 14-7. Tyler Piggot's 'tackle for a loss' ended the period and Watchung led by seven at the half as well.

In the second half, Montgomery turned the ball over on downs as they could not convert on 4th down. It was Shane Kelly and Luke Marion who were in on the tackle to stop the Montgomery player short of the first down marker. Ferreira scored another touchdown on a smooth reverse hand-off play.

Quarterback Adam Cardoza handed off to Drews running right but Drews handed it to Ferreira running full speed to the left and no defender came close as Ferreira scored on a 37-yard run. The extra point failed but Watchung moved out to a 20-7 advantage. On Montgomery's next possession, Jack Valenti had a 'tackle for a loss' and the visitors had to punt. On the following Wolverine drive, Josh Claxton had the key block that cleared the way for another Ferreira TD run. Valenti tacked on the successful point after conversion and the Watchung Hills team led 27-7 at the end of the 3rd period.

Montgomery had a long run for a touchdown in the 4th quarter to close the gap to 27-13 with nine minutes to go. They would not get any closer than that as the remainder of the game featured several big defensive plays by the Watchung Wolverines. Logan Schiebler, Luke Marion, and Tyler Marion all had solo tackles. Additionally, the Marion cousins both had 'tackles for a loss' in the quarter. A long pass play for Montgomery was foiled when Jack Reale pressured the quarterback and Shane Kelly deflected the pass attempt as another drive came up empty.

The Watchung Hills Pop Warner Junior Pee Wee team will face Delaware Valley at home next Sunday, October 6.

Watchung Hills Wolverine Pee Wee

WHPW 20

Montgomery 0

The Watchung Hills Wolverine Pee Wee team defeated last year’s conference champion Montgomery Wildcats 20-0. The Wolverines offense was led by quarterback Matty Colantuono who completed two long passes in the opening drive of the game. The first pass to Andrew Reale for 18 yards the second was a 30-yard strike to Will Tselepis to set up the one yard touchdown plunge by Colantuono.  

The offense kept going  behind the powerful Wolverine line of Adam Claxton, Charlie Everhard, Mickey Fornaro, George Rooks, and Anthony Tomaro. The second touchdown was a 40-yard pass from Colantuono to Patrick Sterfurak who finished the long scored with a great stiff arm to hold off the wild cat defenders.  The final touchdown of the day was an interception by Connor Cook which he returned for a touchdown. 

Defensively the Wolverines dominated the line of scrimmage Michael Butrico, Marc Daas, Matt Drews, Isaiah Parker, and Matt Perreira kept pressure on the wild cat quarterback all day.  While linebackers Connor Cook, Owen Kovacs, Andrew Reale, and Jack Taub stuffed the hard running Wildcats all day.  The Secondary of Joey Denave, Sean Dillon, Mario Martino, and Stefurak blanketed the wild cat receivers all game, Martino also added an interception for his second pick of the season.

The win put the Wolverines in sole possession of first place in the Jersey Valley Conference.