Hopewell Valley Central High School

After rain delays postponed the 2018 Mercer County Tournament two weeks fans were finally treated to an epic 4-2 showdown between NJ Top 20 teams (3) Nottingham and top seeded Hopewell Valley. The Bulldogs got behind Ace pitcher Andy Blake who would keep the game scoreless through four innings before scoring the first run of the game. Following a 2 RBI double from Liam Cleary, Blake then drove in a run to extend the lead to 4-0. After surrendering a 2R HR to Nottingham’s Nick Houghton he would also buckle down for the last six outs and finish the day with 7 strike outs to lead Hopewell Valley to its first ever County Title. Watch the highlights: Sponsor! Thank you to Princeton Orthopaedic Associates for sponsoring our Hopewell Valley and Nottingham coverage year- round on JSZ!

(12) Hopewell Valley 6 (4) Robbinsville 5 – South Group 2 Quarterfinal The first meeting between twelfth seed Hopewell Valley and fourth seed Robbinsville ended with the Bulldogs suffering a 16-4 defeat. This time around in the South Group 2 quarterfinals they came out with a different mindset to take a 4-2 lead over Robbinsville at halftime. The Ravens would come roaring back to eventually take a 5-4 lead, but Hopewell answered right back to go ahead 6-5 and would finish the upset thanks to goalie Harry Meredith, who finished with 14 saves. Watch the highlights now: Sponsor! Thank you to Princeton Orthopaedic Associates for sponsoring our Hopewell Valley and Robbinsville coverage on JSZ!

Hudson Catholic – 95 Marist – 43 Hudson County Tournament Quarterfinals Luther Muhammad poured in a season high 32 points while grabbing 8 boards, and Villanova bound point guard Jahvon Quinerly dished out 11 assists to go along with 15 points as Hudson Catholic came away with a 95-43 win over Marist in the Hudson County Tournament QuarterFinals. The No. 1 seeded Hawks advance to play Lincoln in the Semi-Finals on Tuesday Night. Watch Highlights of Hudson Catholic vs Marist below! Notre Dame 91 Steinert 70 – Mercer County Tournament Quarterfinals Saturday’s game between fourth seed Notre Dame and fifth seed Steinert was the match up most knew was inedible at some point in the Mercer County Tournament. These two were some of the Colonial Valley Conference’s best in the 2017-2018 season. The Fighting Irish took a 22-16 lead at the end of the first then Notre Dame began piling on the points from beyond the arc thanks to Kayla Burnett who had 17 to take a 48-33 lead at half time. ND would continue it’s stunning performance in the second half to eventually walk away with a 91-70 win to send them to the Semifinal round to face number one seed Trenton Catholic on 2/20. Watch the highlights now: Sponsor! Thanks to Princeton Orthopaedic Associates for sponsoring our Steinert and Notre Dame coverage on JSZ! Trenton 66 Hopewell Valley 40 – Mercer County Tournament Quarterfinals  It was the second meeting for third seed Trenton and sixth seed Hopewell Valley in a little over a week and the Tornadoes were able to put on another spectacular performance against HVC, this time in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals. Trenton got ahead early to go into halftime leading 33-12. In the second half Reggie James would take over to rack up 12 points, six rebounds and five assists in the 66-40 win against the Bulldogs. The next task for the Tornadoes will be taking on the number one seed Trenton Catholic in the MCT semifinals on 2/20 at the Cure Auto Insurance Arena. Watch the highlights: Sponsor! Thanks to Princeton Orthopaedic Associates for sponsoring our Hopewell Valley and Trenton coverage on JSZ! North Hunterdon 79 Voorhees 65 – Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Boys Semifinals North Hunterdon trailed their district rivals, the Voorhees Vikings, early in this game; however, that seems to be a trend with these Lions. They made a comeback last week against the Vikings and did it once again during the HWS Semis. Paul Woolhouse came up big for the Lions with 22 points and a complete domination under the basket. Check out full highlights now: Pope John 58 Central 53 – Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Boys Semifinals  Pope John previously knocked out the No. 1 seed of the HWS tournament, Phillipsburg, and was faced with another challenge during the semifinals when they met the Hunterdon Central Red Devils. However, Aaron Clark for the Lions shined, scoring 29 points, while Eddie Davis contributed 22. The two guards provided enough momentum to pull off the upset late in the fourth quarter. Full highlights now available: High Point 40 Sparta 35 – Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Girls Semifinals No. 1 seed, High Point, gets a scare in the second quarter of this one thanks to an offensive push by Sparta’s Erin Walsh. However, the Spartans could not hold on to that short-lived lead and the No. 1 seed would remain onto with a 40-35 victory over Sparta. Trisha Peterson contributed 14 for the Wildcats. Check out her highlights and more now: Delaware Valley 28 Warren Hills 27 – Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Girls Semifinals In an unbelievable turn of events, the Del Val Lady Terriers find a way to shock the Warren Hills Blue Streaks in the final 11 seconds of this HWS semifinal game. Amanda Kix not only led the team in scoring, but she made the last second shot that sealed the deal for the Terriers. Check out those highlights now: Red Bank Catholic 68 Colts Neck 33 – Shore Conference Tournament Girls Quarterfinals Amanda Hart had a career-high 20 points to lead four Caseys in double digits as the #3 seed was dominant against the #11 seed.  Hart had four three-pointers as the Caseys had a total of 10 triples.  Rose Caverly scored 13, Katie Rice added 11 and Hayley Moore scored 10 as the Caseys improve to 20-4 and secured a spot in the SCT semifinals.  Watch the highlights here: Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Red Bank Catholic is made possible by Playa Bowls of Red Bank.  Thanks to Hit Training for supporting our Colts Neck coverage all year long Manasquan 66 Toms River North 38 – SCT Girls Quarterfinals Dara Mabrey had 21 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds as the Warriors were able to blow open an 8 point halftime lead to a comfortable win.  Faith Masonius and Lola Mullaney had 14 points each for Manasquan who will face #3 RBC in the Shore Conference Semifinals.  Watch the highlights of Manasquan’s 22nd win of the season: Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Toms River North is made possible by Peak Coaching for Success

Hopewell Valley’s Robby Wiley is no stranger to the basket, the 6’3 Senior has cracked 20 or more points five times this season to lead the Bulldogs to a 17-3 record. Last week Robby delivered 22 against conference rival Notre Dame in a close 61-58 victory over the Irish. The fans voted and this week Robby Wiley is Nery’s Game Ball winner for South Jersey! Watch his acceptance speech: Take Our Poll Thanks to Princeton Orthopaedic Associates for sponsoring our Hopewell Valley coverage on JSZ! Jersey Sports Zone is excited to present our weekly game ball for the top performers in both boys and girls basketball. Each week you choose from our 2 surveys on who you think had the best performance in the south Jersey area. Our polls open on Sunday and votes will be collected until we will close our voting at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The winner for each week will receive a JSZ game ball hand delivered by Nery Rodriguez which will be presented on camera at practice. Vote now! Do you think we missed someone from south Jersey? Contact Nery Rodriguez now: nery@jerseysportszone.com

Princeton 8 Hopewell Valley 2 The Colonial Valley Conference has a close three way battle for supremacy between Notre Dame, Princeton and Hopewell Valley. With ND at the top spot, Monday’s game featuring Princeton (1-1-1) vs. Hopewell Valley (1-0-2) would decide who is in second. The Little Tigers came ready to play in this one as they took a 5 nothing lead midway through the second. Princeton would hang on to win 8-2, thanks to Aiden Trainer who scored a hat trick and Justin Joyce who contributed two goals as well. JSZ’s Nery Rodriguez has the call: Sponsor! Thanks to Princeton Orthopaedic Associates for sponsoring our Princeton and Hopewell Valley coverage! Parsippany 5  Montville 5 Montville, No. 1 in the Haas Division with a 6-1 in record took on the Parsippany Hills Vikings. The Vikings are known to be an aggressive team fully capable of an upset, especially with the explosive play of Alex Cavaluzzo. Unfortunately for both teams, today’s match up ended in a 5-5 draw. However, Montville’s Nick Mangano scored a hat trick and also had two assists. Checkout those highlights and more now:

Hopewell Valley 3 Trenton 40- Week 9 Thank you to Princeton Orthopaedic Associates for our Trenton and Hopewell Valley coverage on Jersey Sports Zone. Because of Princeton Orthopaedic Associates, we’ll get many more great moments from Tornadoes and Bulldogs sports all year long!   Welcome to Jersey Sports Zone!  After three years on the Jersey Shore, we’ve expanded our coverage to every part of the Garden State.  We are excited to bring you high definition highlights and features of high school sports all year long.

A double-overtime thriller, a state championship rematch, big hits and another batch of tremendous highlights.  Jersey Sports Zone has it all with 13 games of action in our Friday Week 4 Highlights Show: Click above to watch highlights from the following games: Saint Peter’s Prep 23 Paramus Catholic 14: Jayson + Justin Ademilola combine for 5 sacks Brick Memorial 22 Sayreville 21 (2OT) – Blaine Netterman game winning 2 point conversion in double OT Paul VI 27 Notre Dame 21 – Jamir Garland 15 carries, 165 yards Saint John Vianney 42 Brick Township 0 – Josiah Walker 12 carries, 125 yards, 2 TD’s – LB Johnny Buchanan commits to Delaware Red Bank Catholic 49 Colonia 12 – Zack Bair 4 TD’s including 100-yard kickoff return Point Pleasant Boro 13 Monmouth Regional 3 – James Fara and Brandon Cipriano TD runs Long Branch 21 Wall 14 – Jermaine Corbett 128 yards rushing, 2 TD’s Raritan 28 Donovan Catholic 9 – PJ Buccine 2 TD runs, James Vanmeerbeke 2 TD passes Linden 42 Elizabeth 21 – BJ George 306 yards rushing, 4 TD’s Ridge 49 Plainfield 14 – Dave Stieglitz 130 yards of total offense, 2 TD’s Allentown 55 Hopewell Valley 31 – Dan Merkel 373 passing yards, 5 TD passes – Sadik Queen 4 TD catches Vineland 60 Cumberland 6 – Nihym Anderson 5 TD’s, 2 sacks and fumble recovery Pleasantville 29 Schalick 16 – Sahmir Jones – 13 carries, 179 yards, 2 TD’s Missed our Thursday Highlights Show? Check out 8 games to get our Week 4 coverage started including a big performance by the Rumson-Fair Haven defense, an offensive outburst by Manalapan and the Phillipsburg Stateliners reaching 4-0 Jersey Sports Zone’s High School Football Coverage Jersey Sports Zone is excited to cover the entire state of New Jersey with our high definition highlights and features.  We will post full highlight shows with Friday and Saturday high school football action.  Don’t forget you can download our App for free from the App Store or Google Play and get all of our videos right on your smartphone.  On Sunday, we will nominate the top plays captured by our cameras for the JSZ Football Play of the Week and we’ll honor top performers with nominations for our Game Balls.  We ask you to cast your vote from Sunday morning through Tuesday afternoon.  Our Play of the Week winners will be honored at our statewide football banquet in December.  Our Game Ball winners will have JSZ cameras come to practice mid-week to hand out a pigskin in front of the entire team.  Coming up on Friday we are scheduled to show 13 games of action including: Paramus Catholic at Saint Peter’s Prep, Brick Township at Saint John Vianney, Elizabeth at Linden, Brick Memorial at Sayreville Coaches: Send your Game Ball nominees by Saturday night to be considered: rich@jerseysportszone.com (Shore), nery@jerseysportszone.com (WJFL), courtney@jerseysportszone.com (Mid State 38), alex@jerseysportszone.com (GMC and Big  North) Welcome to Jersey Sports Zone!  After three years on the Jersey Shore, we’ve expanded our coverage to every part of the Garden State.  We are excited to bring you high definition highlights and features of high school sports all year long.  

To the players, coaches, parents, and fans out there. To the readers, followers, and viewers of our content. To those who have supported Shore Sports Zone over the past three years, and to those who are new. Jersey Sports Zone is officially here, and I would like to welcome you to this new and exciting company, and say how thankful I am to have you along for the ride. I would like to introduce myself, and tell you about my passion and plans for this new venture. I have always been the “behind the scenes” guy, my focus being on on finding and telling the stories of others. Editing, creating, and mixing, piece by piece, video by video. None of which ever really included myself. But, even the story teller has a story. Right? I remember a cold January afternoon in Neptune, New Jersey. I was an eight year old boy, gripping my father’s hand as we headed into the gymnasium for the Scarlet Flier’s annual Holiday Jubilee. We grabbed what seemed to be the only available seats in the building. Just as I settled into my seat and picked up my head, there was a flash across the gym. A player had stolen the ball, sprinted down the court and rose into the air, throwing down a rim rattling acrobatic dunk like nothing I had ever seen before. I turned to my father and asked “Who is that!?” He simply replied “That’s J.R.”. That player of course being NBA Champion and Cleveland Cavalier Guard JR Smith, who at the time was a long and lanky 11th grader at Lakewood High School. There was no internet fame, or multi million dollar contract yet, but you certainly wouldn’t know it by being in his presence. There was an aura around JR, and it was an entirely fresh experience for me. He was a star. I knew it, every fan in the gym knew it, and most undoubtedly, JR Smith knew it. That “aura” is not a requisite of greatness, but the great ones usually have it. It’s when a player can walk into a room full of people that know nothing of him or her, but know immediately that he/she is someone. From that point on, I was hooked, I wanted to find more players that captivated audiences, drew crowds by the thousands, and ticket lines so long that my legs would ache by tip off. My father and I began traveling the state, tri-state, and eventually all over the Northeast. Attending showcases, tournaments, and games featuring the best players in the country. Every season was a new start, a chance to discover another star, and the opportunity to years down the line say ‘I was there when..” I was there when LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony squared off as high schoolers, dazzling college and pro scouts while drawing ooh’s and aah’s from the crowd in Trenton. I was there to see many of DaJaun Wagner’s unfathomable and entertaining state record 3,462 career points. I was there at Rutgers in 2011, for what some considered the game of a life time, No. 1 St. Patrick’s vs No. 2 St Anthony. A sold out National Championship prizefight, disguised as a Non-Public B North Final. Bob Hurley’s Friars getting the better of Kevin Boyle’s Celtic’s en route to a perfect 33-0 season and Hurley’s 26th State Championship. Then came 2013, I wanted a way to document my experiences at these events. The amazing players and moments deserved to be archived and shared. I began filming the games I attended, sitting in the stands with my iPhone, anxiously awaiting an exciting play or exhilarating slam dunk. The footage certainly wasn’t award winning. It was out of focus, not in frame, and a bit shaky. I wasn’t entirely sure of what I was doing, but it seemed to be working, and I was loving every minute of it. Video by video, my views, followers, and subscribers began to grow. This was all thanks to the amazing players I covered. I would like to name a few that helped me me along the way; Mike Gesicki, Karl Towns Jr., Isaiah Briscoe, Ben Simmons, The Ball Brothers, Leondre Washington, Bryan Antoine, and Scottie Lewis. The names, games, teams, and moments could be listed on and on. All of which have contributed to where I am today. Bringing high definition highlights to all of you, and telling the stories of New Jersey’s best athletes. Providing exposure and shining light where it belongs. From an iPhone, to a Best Buy CamCorder, to a full on professional camera that I use today. The evolution and progression has been steady. Self teaching, and practicing. Perfecting my craft to the best of my ability. Nothing was planned, only discovered along the way. Art is truly about finding a way to express yourself, and video is my way of doing that. The camera is my paint brush, this laptop is my canvas. Creating something special and sharing it with others is what I love to do. This is what I will continue to do with Jersey Sports Zone and I cannot be more thrilled about it. Whether it be a simple game highlight, or a long form documentary. Shining a light and providing exposure for young athletes and their dreams, the only way I know how to. Rich Chrampanis had asked me put something together to get people excited about our new company. I chose what only came natural to me. Here are some of my favorite and most memorable basketball moments from the last few years. Enjoy and Thank You for your time! Alexander Lorenzo Videographer/Producer Jersey Sports Zone ATTENTION ATHLETES We want to give you a space to tell your story.  We take great pride in providing positive promotion of high school athletes.  Throughout the year, we’ll ask athletes from all sports to contribute their own blog entries to learn what it takes to succeed on and off the field.  If you want to be a part of the JSZ Blog, email rich@jerseysportszone.com