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Vol. 53 Issue 10 Saint Joseph Regional High School, Montvale, NJ Friday, February 12th, 2016The GuardianNew SJR Website Includes Numerous Improvements

By Scott Dickson ‘18

SJR recently updated its webpage, making both functional and aesthetic improvements.

SJR’s website is a major aspect of the school. It offers every-thing students, parents, alumni, and prospective families need in trying to learn about St. Joe’s and stay up to date with everything that is going on in the world of SJR.

After many years, all of the information on the website began to pile up and slow the webpage down. Pair that with the outdated appearance, and it was clearly time for a makeover.

The main reason for this makeover was the fact that every once in awhile everything needs to be updated to become fresher and more modern. Also, because the old website was so outdated, it was not adjusting itself properly to different kinds of devices. The new website has a more responsive design, meaning that no matter what device you are on – be it a desktop, laptop, kindle, iPad, tablet, phone, or any other electronic device – the website will open and adjust itself to the proper size for that device.

SJR has also undergone a complete rebranding, and the old website with the new logos made for an awkward appear-ance. Since this website often provides prospective families with a first impression of St. Joe’s, the school felt that it was important that the website have a clean look and feel. The new website now shows off the new logos in a great way and it really improves the image of SJR.

The new website also features new portals. When a person first enters the site, they will see three links titled “Parent,” “Student,” and “Alumni.” These new portals will allow these three groups to get to a page with all the information they need without cluttering the home page. Parents will now have quicker access to the school calendar, fundraising events, FACTS, and PASS. Students will have quick access to PASS, Naviance, and their SJR Email and Google Drive. Alumni will have access to everything they need to know regarding future events at SJR. Everything is now split into different sections with the homepage primarily reserved

for prospective families trying to learn more about SJR.

Students and parents must subscribe to each class list to receive the homework assignments from their various teachers via email. Saint Joseph Regional High School is always trying to improve itself. A school just like a per-son can never be perfect, but St. Joe’s is constantly taking the steps to make upgrades. The new website is a very big step in the right direction. The new look will better satisfy students along with parents, alumni, and especially, prospec-tive students.

The website will cre-ate a new image for the school that is very necessary for a bright future.

2 The Guardian, Friday, February 12th, 2016

InterviewMs. Jennings on the Respect Life Club

Editor-in-Chief: Joseph MalfaManaging Editors: Chris Cheeseman, Conor DicksonLayout Editors: Aidan Donahue, Cole GarabedPhotography Editor: Stephen ChimentiSports Editor: Ryan SorannoEntertainment Editor: Nick BerningerPhotographers: Nico Blasucci, Andrew Del Priore, Kirk Brouwer, Bryan LatawiecStaff Writers: Jack Battle, Donny Cuttone, Scott Dickson, Zack Epstein, Alec Goodnam, Ryan Hilliard Conor McCabe, Che Paul, James Reagan-Ward, Joe Shelley, Colin Medwick, Alex WalshModerators: Mrs. LoBianco, Mr. Mackie

The Guardian Staff

Please send feedback, suggestions, or Letters to the Editor to [email protected]

The Guardian: Could you tell us a little bit about what the Respect Life Club has done up to this point of the year?

We invited a really wonderful speaker, Megan Almon, to talk to our student body about abortion. She was very dynamic and was able to connect with our students. The RL Club ran a spiritual adoption program in October. People volunteered to spiritually adopt an unborn child. They agreed to pray nine months for him or her. This past month we sent emails to the adoptive fathers thanking them and letting them know about the development of their unborn children.

The Guardian: What made you decide to become moderator of the club once Mr. Kenny, the club’s moderator for the last few years, left?

The Respect Life movement has always been important to me. I attended the first “March For Life” that Mr. Kenny brought the club to. I am very blessed to be part of a club that helps those that desperately need our help.

The Guardian: What are your goals as moderator of the club?

I would like our student body to become aware of the extent that abortion is being done in our country. If people knew how often abortions took place and that they took place as late as the ninth month of pregnancy, they might not be as accepting of it. The pro-choice movement has actually com-plained that the Dorito commercial during the Super Bowl “humanized” the fetus. Well, that woman was not about to give birth to a cat. It is important that citizens are aware of how the presidential candidates stand on abortion.

The Guardian: Have you always been an advocate for Respect Life and the pro-life movement?

Yes I have. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” Jeremiah 1:5. God has a plan for each and every one of our lives and it does not include being destroyed in our mother’s womb. I was a volunteer at Birthright. It is an organization that helps unwed mothers. They provide counseling and support for those that want to keep their babies. I have babysat for unwed mothers so that they could keep their doctor appointments. There is an abortion clinic in Hackensack that I have spent many days praying in front of.

The Guardian: In your opinion, what do you think is the first step that needs to be taken to end abor-tion in the country?

I think it requires baby steps. The first would be to end “partial-birth abortion.” I believe most peo-

ple do not realize that in many states a baby can be aborted up until the ninth month of pregnancy. When people hear that you can abort a baby in New Jersey up until the mo-ment before birth, but you cannot destroy a goose egg that has a fetus in it, they are very shocked.

The Guardian: What inspired you to be involved with the Respect Life movement?

The unborn are human and they are living beings. It breaks my heart that they are being killed and in such a brutal way. In 2011, there were 1,060,000 million abortions reported in the USA. There were about 3,953,953 million births that year. Over 19% of pregnancies in 2011 were terminated. The good news is that those statistics have been coming down.

Justin Delgado ‘16 is the president of the Respect Life Club.By Conor McCabe ‘17

Photo by Joe Malfa ‘16

The Guardian, Friday, February 12th, 2016 3

PoliticsPrimaries Heat Up, Election Takes Shape

By Kirk Brouwer ‘16Donald Trump placed 1st in New Hampshire & 2nd in Iowa.

Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in a landslide in New Hampshire after splitting Iowa 50/50.

Over the past two weeks, we have begun to get a flavor for the direction in which the 2016 election is going by way of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries. Let’s talk about how these played out and see if we can take any-thing away from the results.

THE IOWA CAUCUSES

Donald Trump appeared to have a very large support base throughout Iowa, especially during the weeks leading up to the election. This is why it came as a surprise (to me at least) that he did not win. The victory was taken by Texas senator Ted Cruz, who is probably the furthest right out of all of the GOP candidates. This says more about Iowa than it does about the candidates. it shows that Iowa’s population leans way “right” of center. Based on this vote, they seem to embrace action against illegal immigration, lower taxes, etc. It should be a reminder to GOP candidates that they need to hold true to their conservative values in order to secure the vote of Middle-America.

Now for the Democrats. I was shocked to see Bernie Sanders do as well as he did. I would never have imagined a self-professed socialist could gain such high momentum in a rural state like Iowa. Then again, this goes to show the possibility of dwindling support for Hillary Clinton. After the various scandals dealing with her emails, Benghazi, etc., she has proven herself to be a very dishonest individual who as her competitor Marco Rubio says may be “disqualified from being commander and chief.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARIES

On that note however, I was not very surprised to see Sand-ers take New Hampshire in the fashion that he did. After all, it’s right next to his home state of Vermont, where he has served in public office for the better part of 25 years.

The republican side is where we saw the real shocker how-ever. Not that Trump won, but that Ohio Gov. Kasich took second. Up until Monday night, I thought for sure he was a lost cause and would drop out of the race soon after the primaries. Speaking of dropping out, I should note that as I wrote this article, Gov. Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina have both suspended their campaigns for the White House – no surprises here.

Many also found it shocking to see Rubio in such a low position; however, I am not. If you watched any of Saturday night’s debate, you would know that Rubio had an awful performance. In fact, he repeated the same exact speech about President Obama THREE TIMES over the course of less than five minutes. We may be seeing the beginning of Rubio’s demise. In order to continue to succeed, he must do his best in the debates, and get himself out on the campaign trail, more than he ever has before. The case is the same with the other stragglers like Jeb Bush. In order to try to gain any momentum, they need to do their best in the debates, get out there, and campaign like they’ve never campaigned before. By the way, if you want a good laugh, go on YouTube and watch the candidates being introduced at Saturday’s debate. Dr. Carson seemed to fall asleep in the middle of his walk out.


Book Review

Hiroshima (1946) - by John Hersey:This book really opened my eyes to the graphic effects of war – especially as a result of dropping an atom bomb on a major world city. The relationships described in this book of the survivors of the atom bomb in Hiro-shima were heart breaking and very telling

regarding the survival of human spirit and human nature.

Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) - Kurt Vonnegut: Mr. Vonnegut introduced me to the mastery of imagination and story telling in this collec-tion of short stories that uses science fiction and real life to get across lessons of critical thinking, relationships, and morality.

The Color Purple (1982) - Alice Walker:In The Color Purple, I was impressed how Ms. Walker used the dialect and language of people living in poverty to describe the humanness of their situations. This book had a profound impact on helping me understand racism, unjust laws and inhumane behavior

that people of privilege held over people of color and minorities. A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) - John Irving:

I have read all of Mr. Irving’s books, but this one touched me especially regarding the friendship between Owen Meany and his friend and the relationships the two boys had with their parents. Owen’s character taught me more about the meaning of life than the

adult characters.

Snow Falling on Cedars (1994) - David Guterson:I have read all of Mr. Guterson’s books, but this story of the relationships surrounding families in the Seattle area during the in-ternment of Japanese-American citizens was eye opening about the social justice issues surrounding WWll. This story helped me

understand more about the Japanese culture as well.

Angela’s Ashes (1996) - Frank McCourt:A truly inspiring book describing poverty in Ireland. The literary descriptions and details were incredible, especially in regards to the manner in which poverty affected Irish fami-lies. Not only was I moved with compassion, but I found myself incapable of putting the

book down! The sequel, which was titled Tis, was equally gripping.

The Green Mile (1996) - Stephen King:I didn’t think I would ever read a book by the mastermind of popular horror stories. The Green Mile was an incredible drama written with such beautiful humanity that I couldn’t help but think it was real. The story gave great insight to the Death Penalty at the

turn of the century – especially the human side of a prison guards and inmates.

Tuesdays with Morrie (1997) - Mitch Albom:A sports writer creating a book about con-versations with a friend who was elderly and sharing his life story and life’s lessons … wow, was I impressed! One of the most heartfelt books I’ve ever read. Written with compas-sion and kindness that moved me to treat all

people with compassion.

You Can’t be Neutral on a Moving Train (2002) - Howard Zinn: Mr. Zinn is a contemporary of Martin Luther King, Jr. His book is an autobiogra-phy of all his work from the Civil Rights Era and beyond. It also gives an in-depth look at events that were happening in the country during his involvement in civil rights and

political rights.

On the Day you Were Born (2006) - Debra Frasier:A children’s book my wife and I used to read to our kids on every birthday (even our own). The author connects the birth of a child to the ebb and flow of creation and all living things on Earth. This book alone helped bring a better

understanding and respect for the environment for my chil-dren than any other book when they were growing up.

Mr. Donnelly (L) and Mr. Duchesne channel their inner Holden Caulfield and Frank McCourt

By Mr. Harry DuchesneMr. Donnelly and Mr. Duchesne’s Top 10 Books

Photo by Stephen Chimenti ‘17


Book ReviewBosch, Caulfield, Gatsby, and Shoeless Joe

For my Top Ten List, I have amended the criteria slightly to consider the ten books I would most like to have with me on a desert island.

The premium is then on greatness and readability. If I am stranded on a desert island with ten books, they are going to have to be books that can be read over and over again.

My list also makes a bit of a distinction between “literary” novels, and books that would fall under the more general heading of “popular entertainment.” I am a big fan of crime novels, which, in addition to being entertaining, often reveal a great deal about human nature and morality.

Without further ado, here is a list of my top 10 books: The Great Gatsby (1925) – F. Scott Fitzgerald:

Probably “the Great American Novel” since it deals so clearly and vividly with the Ameri-can Dream and the possibility of re-inventing oneself. Replete with Fitzgerald’s precise diction, beautiful imagery, unmistakable symbolism (the green light, the eyes of Dr.

Eckleberg), the inevitability of Gatsby’s downfall unfolds like a Greek tragedy.

The Catcher in the Rye (1946) – J. D. Salinger: Salinger’s reflection on the loss of innocence and childhood remains timeless. Holden Caulfield (and his red hunting cap), self-styled savior of children “falling” into adulthood, is one of American literature’s great characters, a poignant mixture of adolescent cynicism and

profound disappointment with the “phoniness” of the world around him.

A Separate Peace (1959) – John Knowles: set during World War II, the book is a little dated now, but its story, about the unspoken rivalry between a top student and a top athlete in an all-boys prep school still retains its power, thanks to Knowles’ perceptive insight into adolescent competition and the human heart.

Sleeping Beauty (1973) – Ross Macdonald: My all-time favorite author is Ross Mac-donald, who wrote 18 mystery novels about private eye Lew Archer. The best of MacDon-ald’s books feature incredibly complex plots in which the crimes of the present are inextri-cably linked to the past and this book, which

links a massive oil spill, a missing woman, a kidnapping and a World War II naval disaster, is Macdonald at his best in my opinion.

Shoeless Joe (1982) – W.P. Kinsella: I read this book went it first came out, long before Field of Dreams was made. While I am not a huge baseball fan, or a great admirer of fantasy, this utterly magical book is really more about the relationship of fathers and sons and the desire for a life more simply

lived. The fact that J.D. Salinger is actually a character in the book makes its fascination with childhood innocence crystal clear.

The Fourth Durango (1989) – Ross Thomas:Thomas’ novels feature some of the best-drawn, quirkiest, most sardonic and ruthless villains (and heroes) in the realm of crime fic-tion. The Fourth Durango has Thomas firing on all cylinders in this very funny (and also rather violent) book about a town that offers

its services as a refuge to criminals.

The Things They Carried (1990) – Tim O’Brien: A tremendously moving novel about the Vietnam War that is unforgettable both for its often heart-breaking vignettes, and the unique structure of the book itself, basically a collec-tion of connected short stories that delve so powerfully on questions of truth and percep-

tion. Though not a conventional combat story, O’Brien’s novel portrays the human cost of the war with devastating power.

Evidence of Blood (1991) – Thomas Cook: Thomas H. Cook is the best American crime novelist no one has heard of. Evidence of Blood is a masterpiece of plotting in which the investigation of a current crime has its roots deep in the past, with devastating conse-quences for the book’s protagonist.

A Lesson Before Dying (1993) – Ernest Gaines: This deceptively simple novel tells the story of an innocent black man named Jefferson, who is arrested for a robbery turned murder. As much a victim as the man who is killed, Jefferson learns to face his fate with dignity through the help of a bitter teacher who learns

as much from Jefferson as he teaches himself.

Lost Light (2003) – Michael Connelly: Connelly’s Harry Bosch series stands without parallel among police procedurals: clear, easy to follow, detailed and realistic. Lost Light is the only book in which Harry operates as a private detective; it details an investigation that proves to be a very personal and reveal-

ing for Connelly’s favorite hero.

By Mr. Barry Donnelly ‘71


Catholic Schools Week’s Dodgeball Tournament

Counter-clockwise from top right:

A masked Brian Kearns ‘16 hurls the ball at the sophomores;

Jordan Scott (throwing) and Marc Doran (observing) led the juniors to a

2nd place finish;

Louis Acceus ‘17 looks to terminate a senior as Pat Fay ‘17 looks on;

Conor Dickson ‘16 does his best Patches O’Houlihan (Dodgeball: A True

Underdog Story) impression as coach of the seniors;

Carmine Palummo and Austin Triglia celebrate the seniors’ victory;

All photos by Stephen Chimenti ‘17.


Ash Wednesday Mass

Clockwise from top left:

(L to R) Devin Ortiz ‘17, Conor McCabe ‘17, and Kirk Brouwer ‘16 with Fr. Charles

Granstrand, the pastor of Our Lady of Mercy in Park Ridge;

Nick Berninger ‘16 leads the congregation in the opening hymn;

Rob Skudera ‘16 administers ashes to Dominick Posta ‘16;

Fr. Granstrand delivers his homily;

Sharon Reilly-Tobin, program manager of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of

Newark, thanks SJR for donating over 100 toiletry kits for the homeless;

“Repent and believe the Good News.”


SportsHockey Heads into League Playoffs as Top Seed

By Cole Garabed ‘17SJR hockey has played a total of three games since the last edition of The Guardian. The season has been tapering down to its final games, and SJR went 2-1 in the last three-game stretch to improve its record to 15-2.

Northern Highlands was the first opponent of the stretch. The Green Knights’ lineup was depleted for this game, having many players absent either for club team conflicts or injuries. Matthew Cocciadeferro ’16 and Karsten Lusk ’17 started the scoring early in the first. Brian Quinn ’16 and Nick Krasniqi ’16 added a goal each in the second period. Northern Highlands struck once in the second as well. In the third, the game became interesting when Highlands cut the lead to two. The dynamic duo of Dominick Posta ’17 and Pete Lombardi ’17 netted a goal apiece to take a com-manding lead. SJR would surrender one last goal and skate to a 6-3 victory.

“This game was great to see how deep our team really is” said Ryan Greico ’16. “We all think that we can walk all over a team like this no matter who we put on the ice, but it’s nice to really know that even with a shortened lineup we can still take care of the task at hand.”

The next match against Northern Valley Old Tappan was horrifying for St. Joe’s. While already missing a few players, the bench shortened for the Green Knights with a few sud-den injuries. James Durante ’17, Andrew Javier ’18 and Alex Poltarakov ’16 all left the ice early with undisclosed injuries. Despite the loss of three skaters, SJR was still dominant in its play. Lead-ing scorer Posta was able to complete a hat trick while Greico, Lombardi, Durante, Nick Tauken ’17, Krasniqi, Cocciadeferro, and Donny Cuttone ‘16 all buried a goal of their own. The Green Knights came away from the game with an 11-0 win, even with the three skaters being sidelined.

“You never want to see any-one go out of the game with an injury, let alone your teammate,” said Krasniqi. “Seeing James, Andrew and Alex go inspired us to pick up our game and win it for them. Losing teammates can sometimes take the

wind out of your sails but, we chose to use it as motivation to raise our level of play.”

Senior Night was the final game of this stretch against St. Peter’s Prep. St, Joe’s fell behind by 1 midway through the first. Cocciadeferro rifled a shot low glove side to make it tie game. Before the end the period, the Green Knights found themselves down by 1 again. It didn’t take long for St. Peter’s to add another tally to the scoresheet making the score 3-1. To start the third St. Joe’s let up another goal within min-utes. Cutting the lead in half, Cocciadeferro unloaded a laser for his second goal of the game. Unfortunately, it was too little too late as St. Peter’s added an empty net goal to hand the Green Knights their second loss of the season by the score of 5-2.

“Obviously we don’t want to lose any games, but we can see games like this as character builders” said Lombardi “A little adversity won’t hurt us since we haven’t had much this season. We’ll use this game as a reminder of how much we hate to lose.”

The Green Knights fell to league rival Glen Rock 4-0 last night. They will heaad into the league playoffs as the top overall seed, earning them a bye in the first round. If every-thing goes the way it should, the Green Knights will face Glen Rock again next Friday in the league championship game, seeking its first title since 1992.

Following the St. Peter’s Prep game, the Green Knights held the Senior Day festivities.Top (from left): Eddie Klein, Donato Cuttone, and Ryan Greico (the team’s captains).Bottom (from left): Nick Krasniqi, Matt Cocciadiferro, Alex Poltarakov, Brian Quinn,

David Stelmach, Tim Daouphars, and Paul De Stefano.

Photo by Karyn Ochiuzzo


Wrestling Hopes for Turnaround before States

Bowling Season Winds to a Close; States Saturday

Sports

On January 29th, the Green Knights wrestled against Old Tappan. After a long and hard fought match, SJR fell to OT by a score of 39-25. All of the wrestlers fought and wrestled their hearts out, but the outcome was disappointing for the Green Knights.

Just one day later, SJR took on Bound Brook. The op-position’s roster was filled with upperclassmen, so it was a challenge to the underclassmen to put up a fight against the opposing upperclassmen. Throughout the match, St. Joe’s cycled through its full roster, but still came up short, losing by a score of 43-21.

On February 3rd, one of the most anticipated matches of the year had finally come – Don Bosco Prep. SJR has been preparing for this moment after months of scouting out the opposition. The team put up a great

fight against the Ironmen, but they fell short with a score of 46-23.

SJR wrestling will look to rebound against Passaic on March 4th, as the individual state tournament is now just three weeks away. The team hopes to have a few wrestlers - name-ly Jonathan Tropea ‘16 and Michael Carfagno ‘16 - make deep runs. It will be interesting to see if any of the under-classmen can make deep runs as darkhorses as well.

By Andrew Del Priore ‘18

By Nathan Tombo ‘17


Photo courtesy Liz Campbell

Although the record may not show it, this season for the SJR wrestling team has been a good one. At the beginning of the season, the Green Knights had a number of inexperi-enced wrestlers that had never tasted the glory of wrestling at such a high level, but in just two short months of facing high-caliber teams, these wrestlers are now on the come up. The veterans on the team have taken the new guys under their wings and taught them ways to be successful wrestlers.

Joe Napoleone ‘18 earned a victory over Don Bosco on February 3rd.

The SJR bowling team wrapped up the season with a final record of 4-9. After a disappointing loss to Bergen Catholic by a score of 2-5, the team went into the county tournament the next day flying under the radar.

The Green Knights came in as afterthoughts, but still per-formed well in the Bergen County Boys’ Bowling tour-nament, which was comprised of six total games. Nathan Tombo ’17 was expected to be a strong competitor for the singles title, but after bowling a below average 492 3-game series in the morning, he was out of contention to win going into the last three games. He was able to recover and bowl a 611 in the afternoon session, as the team managed to aver-age 777.9 pins per game with five bowlers.

With State Sectionals coming up this Saturday, the team hopes to end the season on a high note. To move on the overall state tournament, the team needs to finish in the top two of its group. To get to the individual state tournament, a bowler would have to finish in the top nine of the whole sectional tournament. Tombo will hope to emulate his suc-cess in this tournament last year, where he tied for second and went on to the overall individual state tournament.

The team will bid its final farewell to Matt Chiocchi ’16

at the final major tournament this season. No matter the result this Saturday, the team has a lot to be proud of. It was able to beat league powers Bergen Catholic and Paramus Catholic. This season was a rebuilding year, as it was their first year on varsity for three out of the four bowlers. The team hopes to come back better and stronger next year, with more experience and more confidence.

Top (L-R): James Reagan-Ward ‘17, Coach Frank Salvano, and Matthew Chiocchi ‘16.

Bottom (L-R): Shawn Calhoun ‘19, Nathan Tombo ‘17, and Antonio Sirianni ‘17

10 The Guardian, Friday, February 12th, 2016 Sports

Five SJR Athletes Commit on National Signing DayBy Joe Shelley ‘18On February 3, 2016, five SJR Football players accepted football scholarships by signing a national letter of intent to play at their respective schools. Each of these players distin-guished his self as an elite high school football player, with the physical and academic tools coveted by college football programs. This year’s class is a testament to the excellence of the SJR football program and to the commitment of the coaches and teachers to their success. All five chose cam-puses located in the North East for various reasons.

Austin Triglia - Bentley University (Waltham, Massachu-setts)

“First off it was the education at Bentley. It’s a great school that is going to open a lot of doors for me down the road, especially with it being so close to Boston. I loved the cam-pus and the players and had a great relationship with the coaches on the team. Lastly, when I visited the school it gave me a similar feel to St.Joe’s four years ago and it was a place I knew I could call home.”

Brian Kearns - Stonehill College (Easton, Massachusetts)

“I got a feeling when I got there that it was the place for me. I really liked the coaches, the school, the campus and the football program. It felt like it would be a good place to spend the next four years.”

Ibn Foster- University of Albany (Albany, New York)

“I got a great vibe from the coaches and it’s a beautiful campus with a great business school. I would also be given the opportunity to play my first year there, because they lost four senior defensive lineman to graduation this year, and I really liked that. It’s also close enough that my mom and family can see me play.”

Jordan Velez - University of Rhode Island (Kingston, Rhode Island)

“I committed to URI because I felt that they were going to help me out academically and because the coaches talked to me about how strong of a class was coming in with me. I also feel that I can make a strong impact on the field right away and it was close enough that my family can come and see me play as well as visit me.”

Jack Flanagan - Merrimack College (North Andover, Massachusetts)

“I felt that Merrimack offered me all the things I wanted in a college. School size, facilities, and the major I wanted. Everyone on the team, including the coaches, seemed like great guys. The campus was great because everything was in walking distance and was only 20-30 minutes from Boston.”

Top (from left): Jack Flanagan (Merrimack), Coach Augie Hoffmann ‘99, and Jordan Velez (Rhode Island)Bottom (from left): Austin Triglia (Bentley), Ibn Foster (Albany), and Brian Kearns (Stonehill)



The Circus that is National Signing DayJoe Malfa on Sports

Skydiving and paintballing are two ex-hilarating experiences for the adrenaline junkie looking to have a good time on a Saturday afternoon. Both activities now share something else in common – meth-ods of commitment by seniors on National Signing Day.

Over the last few years, National Signing Day has turned into a circus. Gone are the days of the nation’s top football recruits announcing their commitments in front of a small crowd at their high schools. These top athletes are coming up with creative new commitment methods in an attempt to gain as much media attention as possible before they even set foot on a college football field. It is getting out of hand, and it needs to stop.

“It has just become an all-eyes-on-me affair where self in-terest is satisfied,” Pat Lanni of NJ.com said, “and the media just feeds into the self-interests of the players.”

Deontay Anderson, four-star safety out of Texas, announced his commitment via a video on Bleacher Report. He took his announcement to new heights – literally. Anderson decided to go skydiving and when he landed, he removed his jacket, exposing an Ole Miss T-shirt.

Brandon Burton, four-star safety from California, also announced his commitment through a Bleach-er Report video. He got together with some friends and went to a local paintballing arena. They played a game of “capture the flag,” and at the end of the video, Burton captured and waved a UCLA flag in order to announce his commitment. As if that were not enough, Burton also appeared on ESPN that day to announce his commitment on the set of SportsCenter in Los Angeles.

The list of over-the-top commitments does not stop there. Bergen Catholic’s QB Jarrett Guarantano committed to Tennessee in a video that played on a building in Times Square. A couple of years back, Paramus Catholic’s Jabrill Peppers announced his commitment to Michigan in the form of a rap song that aired on ESPN. At some point, the charade needs to come to an end, but the media will never allow it to happen.

ESPNU, the ESPN channel devoted to coverage of college sports, aired an all-day special on National Signing Day in which a slew of players announced their commitments live. Over on SportsCenter, nearly a half-hour was devoted to Paramus Catho-lic’s Rashan Gary. He was interviewed by the an-chors, and a feature highlight tape was shown in the

build up to his on-air commitment. As long as these high school athletes are generating intrigue, ratings, and money for major media outlets, National Signing Day will continue to be an overblown extravaganza.

While National Signing Day certainly has its detractors, there are others who admire what it does for the athletes.

“It certainly has become a circus, and there are some peo-ple who certainly do not like it,” recruiting analyst Adam Friedman of Rivals said, “but I believe it is more about the personalities of these high school athletes being able to shine through. I do not think there is a point to shutting it down or stifling it because it is the last time that some of these kids will ever be in the spotlight, and they should enjoy every moment.”

Mike Golic, former NFL player and Notre Dame standout, mentioned on his radio show “Mike and Mike” that he announced his commitment back in 1980 to his family over Thanksgiving dinner. Commitment decisions will never again be that low key because of the media age in which we live, but it does not need to be as extreme as it is right now. Athletes do not need to be jumping out of airplanes or play-ing a round of paintball in order to announce their commit-ments. A table and a few hats would do just fine, but I am certain that the National Signing Day circus will be back in town next February.

Paramus Catholic’s Rashan Gary, the nation’s top recruit, signs his National Letter of Intent to Michigan on February 3rd.

Photo by Joe Malfa ‘16


Basketball to Face BC in Jamboree QuarterfinalSports

By Andrew Zoltowski ‘16SJR basketball split its last two games of January. The Green Knights played against Ridgewood at home and were led by Nate Garvey ’16 and Isaac Hippolyte ’17 who scored 18 and 11 points respectively in a 67-50 win. Following the victory, the team traveled to Toms River to play Mater Dei. Starting point guard Chauncey Hawkins ‘17 was out for the game with an injured ankle. The team was led by Jojo Radi ’17, who scored 17 points in a matchup that lacked fluid offense. The Green Knights would go onto lose the game 57-49.

Following that loss, the team traveled to Wayne to play a motivated DePaul Catholic, eager to avenge their season opening loss to the Green Knights. Nate Garvey arguably had his best all-around game of this season, scoring a team high 26 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. DePaul nearly brought the game to within single digits, but the comeback attempt was thwarted and the Green Knights left the game with a 61-48 victory.

The next matchup for the Green Knights came against rival Don Bosco. The stage was set for a showdown, and for three of the four quarters, it was very close. The Green Knights were decimated by fouls early in the game as both Chaunc-ey Hawkins ‘17 and Isaac Hippolyte ‘17 were in foul trouble by the end of the first quarter. Without two key starters, the team struggled to score and went into the half down by a point. The third quarter saw Bosco’s lead widen. Don Bosco guard Omar Mostafa ripped open the Green Knights defense from beyond the arc. He launched three after three and the Ironmen left the quarter with a 10-point lead. Even though the team scored 20 points in the fourth, the Knights couldn’t slow down the Ironmen as they matched point for point. The Green Knights left the game with a 62-51 loss to Bosco.

The next game for the Green Knights was their first game in the Bergen Jamboree. They took on Pascack Valley in a game that was much closer than it should have been. The Green Knights would win by 13, but this was a game they should have won by 20 plus; not for the lack of effort by the Green Knights, rather because of the ridiculous shots that Pascack Valley made. Pascack Valley hit many fade-away threes, which kept them in a game they had no business being in. Garvey led

the way for the Green Knights as he scored 24 points in a limited role due to foul trouble. The Green Knights went on to win 77-64.

Paterson Eastside was the next obstacle in the Green Knights’ way. In a game that seemed to start off like another victory for the team, Eastside fought harder than anyone expected them too. They came out of halftime draining two straight three pointers after not shooting a single one in the first half. They built their lead, and by the time that the Green Knights started their comeback, it was too late. They would go onto lose the game 56-55.

The Green Knights earned a 72-47 victory over Paramus Catholic last night, and they will take on rival Bergen Cath-olic this Sunday in the quarterfinals of the Bergen Jamboree. Emotions have been running rather high in practice lately as Coach Mike Doherty ‘82 has been pushing the team to its peak. After the disappointing loss to Paterson Eastside, the coach went back to the basics as a majority of the practices this week have consisted of different forms of tough condi-tioning.

This is not without reason, however, as Doherty hopes the team plays at a high level for all four quarters, especially in Sunday’s (2/14) 5:30 matchup against BC at the Rothman Center on Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Teaneck campus.

Nate Garvey ‘16 lines up a shot in his 24-point performance against Pascack Valley.Photo by Karyn Ochiuzzo

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