Boys Soccer

In the last edition, boys soccer was in the midst of their worst stretch of the season: A four-game losing streak that included a BIT 1 loss to North Arlington in overtime. Since there are now two Bergen Invitational Tournaments this year, plus the top-tier Bergen County Tournament, Hills dropped to BIT number two. In that first game, they took on lowly St. Joseph’s and easily dispatched the cross-town team with a 7-1 win.

With their win, they were sent to the quarterfinals where they played Bergen Charter, an independent team with about the same record as the Broncos. This county game would see even competition and a 2-1 Bergen Charter lead at the half point, but Charter and Hills tied at the end with a score of 3-3 in this exciting game. The hero was an unlikely one for Hills, sophomore James Roche. Making his first varsity appearance, Roche helped send the Broncos into the semifinals with a walk-off goal.

Following another win against Westwood, this 3-2 win with a two-goal performance from leader Noah Lefkowitz led to Hills game against Wood-Ridge on Saturday with a chance at the BIT 2 championship game. It was another close matchup, even with Wood-Ridge having about five more wins than Hills. The only two goals came at the start of the game, and they were split evenly. That meant another overtime, and this one would go scoreless. In penalty kicks, both teams scored to start, but Hills was shutout from then on with Wood-Ridge adding two more of their own to take a victory and advance to the BIT 2 Final. The past two weeks, in which the Broncos went 3-1, have helped Hills move up to the ninth-seeded team in state tournament rankings. We await to see the official bracket, but as of now, boys soccer will play a first-round game at Jefferson High School in Oak Ridge.

Girls Soccer

Along with the boys, girls soccer began their County Tournament run in the past two weeks. They started with a 7-0 mercy win over Hackensack in the BIT play-in, and they followed it with a comeback victory at Bergen Tech. Hills was down 3-0 with just a few minutes to play, but a hat trick from senior Sophie Pinkwater kept them afloat in the game and ended up forcing a shootout. In that shootout, the Broncos bested the Knights and moved on to the BIT quarterfinals. At Paramus last Saturday, Hills was bested in a 1-0 game, losing their first game since the previous Wednesday. This was the beginning of a three-game losing streak that is ongoing, seeing the Broncos lose 5-1 at DePaul and 2-1 against Westwood this past week. That stretch has dropped girls soccer (6-9) to 13th in the power point rankings, and as of now, they will travel to #4 Cresskill to begin their state tournament on Monday, Nov. 4.

Girls Tennis

Girls Tennis ended their season with a loss in the sectional finals, also known as Elite Eight, at Glen Rock on Oct. 15. The only match won by Hills was won by junior Kanishka Prasanna. Ultimately, the Broncos were defeated 4-1. Hills ended their first season returning to Group 1 with a 12-6 and yet another division championship, and for coach Eric Ganz his focus now turns to the spring where he will coach boys tennis.

Volleyball

Hills Volleyball picked the right time to start winning. They started these two weeks with a county tournament loss to St. Mary’s, dropping them to the BIT. They came home to play Waldwick and closely defeated the Warriors due to 13 kills from senior Gianna Juliano. Volleyball followed that win up with a quarterfinal win against Tenafly, with the deciding third set going to volleyball’s version of overtime.

The Broncos would take the third set 27-25, giving them a spot in the BIT semifinals. Despite starting last week with a loss to division frontrunners River Dell, Hills riffed off three straight wins. One was a back-and-forth win against Northern Highlands in three sets, one was a controlling straight-set win against Indian Hills on a senior night, and the final one was a simple straight-set win against Fort Lee to send the Broncos to the BIT Final on Saturday where they played 20-6 Rutherford. This momentum has also seen Hills move into the top eight in the state tournament rankings, which means they will host a playoff game. The first round, as of now, will see them take on #9 Hawthorne on Nov. 5.

Cross Country (contributed by runner Brianna Barrett)

It has been a busy past two weeks for the cross-country team as the season starts to wind down. The team competed in the Bergen County Group Championships, the Freshman/JV County Championship, and the Bergen County Meet of Champions (BMOC). At the Bergen County Groups, the boys varsity team came in second in their race, placing sixth overall in Bergen County, qualifying for a Bergen County Meet of Champions wildcard spot for the second year in a row. Individually, the boys ran very well, senior Dylan Barrett came in second running a two-second-difference personal best of 16:55, senior Jack Herrington came in fourth tying his personal best at 17:06, and all seven boys either tied their personal best or beat their personal best. At the JV/Freshman County Championship, the freshman girls came in first in the whole county for the first time in program history, and four out of the five girls running medaled. The JV boys came in second overall in the county with five boys medaling and six boys setting a new personal best. The varsity boys, unfortunately, did not do as well at BMOC, but they are looking for redemption at the State Sectionals on Nov. 2.  

Football

It seemed all was lost for Hills football after a choke-style loss to Dover on Oct. 10. The Broncos had one last chance for a division win when they traveled to Dumont on the 18th. Compounding this fact is that this year was the first for Hills in their return to the American Red division of the Super Football Conference, and they certainly did not want to be humiliated with a winless run in year one. It was an old-school football game, the one your grandfather would like. A key first drive for Hills saw them run the ball straight down, leading to a touchdown run from Connor Ohnikian.

Then, an interception from Jake Bugni set up Nathaniel Edelshain’s first field goal of the season. A long passing touchdown from Dumont ended the first half with some Husky momentum, but Hills had no problem stalling them in the second half. In fact, there was no scoring past the 24th-minute mark, and the Broncos ended with a 10-7 win. The momentum created from this victory would stick with Hills to their final regular season game against Hoboken last Friday night.

Both teams came in with two wins on the year, and Hills had a very long shot at making the state playoffs. It was a high-scoring affair, and a career game from Connor Ohnikian, who contributed to six touchdowns. The final score was 49-30, ten shy of the school record for points scored in a single game, and a huge win to end the season. It is not enough to bring Hills to the state playoffs. Hills finished 19th in the North, Group 2 rankings, and needed to make the top 16 for a shot. The season is not yet over, as the Broncos will play an exhibition/consolation game against Bergenfield on Halloween night to end the season.

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