Boys Basketball Hopes to Rebound After Graduating All Five Starters

For the second straight season, the boys basketball team will have to rebound from graduating all five starters. The Panthers are coming off another successful season that ended with a first round exit in the North 1, Group 2 state tournament, and a  17-9 record.

Despite losing loads of talent the Panthers bring back several key pieces from last season’s roster including senior forward Luke Famularo. Famularo shined on the football field in the fall, and has hopes of bringing that success onto the court.

Senior guard Owen Neubart, and senior forward Noah Hu also made contributions off the bench as juniors last season for the Panthers, and hope to fill the shoes of last year’s seniors.

Senior forward Daniel Silver is another player everyone is looking forward to seeing return to the court this season. Last season, Silver was prone to make a big impact and play crucial minutes for the Panthers, but unfortunately suffered a torn ACL during the team’s first practice of the season. 

Towards the end of his recovery, Silver was set back by a high ankle sprain which caused him to miss most of his off-season training. Silver was able to return to the court to finish out the fall league season with his teammates just last month.

“It was a long nine months, pretty stressful, I had to go to physical therapy 3-4 times a week, ice, stim, all that stuff, but I feel a lot better now, a lot stronger,” Silver said.

The Panthers will have to find new ways to score with over 1300 points from last year’s team being accounted for by seniors, but this year’s senior heavy team is confident that they will be able to produce.

The Panthers have several big time matchups on their schedule this season including, rival Rutherford, Ramsey, River Dell and Northern Highlands.They tip off the season on Thursday, December 15 at Dwight Englewood.

Girls Basketball Searches For Consecutive 20 Win Seasons for the First Time Since 2017

Glen Rock girls basketball has become a Group 2 power over the last ten seasons, and after a second round exit in the state sectional tournament last season, the Panthers will look to win 20 games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2010-2017 (six seasons).

This season the Panthers will be led by captain, senior guard Emma Mittleman who had the second most points for the team last season with 174. 

Other key players for the Panthers will be captain, senior forward Harper Goshin, and junior guard, Maggie Harris who each scored over 100 points last season to help the Panthers finish with a record of 20-6.

The Panthers will also rely on juniors Elizabeth Martin, and Natalie Luftman to step up after making big contributions to the team last year as sophomores.

The Panthers have extremely high hopes this season, as they are returning all but one player from last season’s roster. Thanks to the bond they created last season, the team thinks that team chemistry will also play a big role.

“We have some great returning players which is critical for team chemistry on and off the court. We also have some talented freshmen playing this season that will help us. We will have to put in a lot of work, but once we click as a team, I believe we will be extremely successful this year” said Goshin.

The Panthers are looking forward to several challenges this coming season in terms of their schedule, with some of their toughest opponents including Northern Highlands, Randolph, and Rutherford.

The Panthers are set to tip off for the first time in the 2022-23 season on Thursday, Dec. 15 vs. 

Dwight Englewood at Glen Rock High School.

Hockey Team Hopes to ‘Buy In’ to Recover from Last Season’s Late Stumbles

Glen Rock Hockey will look to rebound from dropping eight of their final 12 games last season, which included losses in the first round in the McInnis Cup, the Public B state tournament, and the Bergen County tournament.

The Panthers will look to their seasoned senior leadership this year in the form of two year captain, defenseman Colin Redmond, and first year captains, forward Finn Whalen, and forward Braden VanSickle. VanSickle and Whalen finished tied for most points on the team last season each with nine goals and five assists, and Redmond led the team with 10 assists adding two goals of his own.

Before their struggles at the end of the season, the Panthers jumped out to a 5-1 start with some key victories over arch-rival Summit, West Essex, and non-public power, Pope John.

The Panthers will also look to several underclassmen to make key contributions including junior forwards Parker Dupuis, and Brady Peck. Last season as sophomores, the duo combined for 13 goals and four assists.

Sophomore Luke Brassil will start in net this season for the Panthers after being the back up last season. In his two starts last season, Brassil stopped 42 of the 44 shots he faced, earning the Panther a  5-2 win over West Essex, and a 2-0 shutout win over River Dell.

The Panthers have gone through preparations for this coming season over the past few weeks, and are striving to assure that they do not pile up several consecutive losses at any point during the coming season.

“We have to have senior leadership, if the seniors buy in that will make everyone else want to buy in, and I think if that happens we will be very successful, and it is exactly what us seniors as well as the coaches have been preaching all offseason” Redmond said. 

The Panthers remain in the extremely challenging McInnis division which they won just two seasons ago, and will look to compete with the likes of Livingston, Governor Livingston, and the defending cup champions Westfield.

The Panthers will drop the puck for the first time this season on Friday, December 9 vs. Governor Livingston at 5:15 P.M. at the Ice House.

Bergen County Champion Hopes to Keep the Bowling Team on a Roll

One team on campus that does not get the attention that it deserves is the bowling team. Last season, the team had an unbelievable record of 14-2 with the only two losses of the season coming at the hands of Eastern Christian who finished with only one loss.

The Panthers are led by senior Andrew Lee, who captured the individual championship last year at the Bergen County tournament where he won a roll off vs. Aavinash Rampersad of Cliffside Park. 

“Personally, I am looking to improve on my average of 210 from last season, and I would love to achieve the highest average, series (three games), and high score in the entire county,” Lee said.

Lee also hopes to defend his county individual tournament championship, and finish top five in the state individual tournament this year.

Lee’s best game last season was an unbelievable 278, and he has even bowled as high as 299 (out of 300) while practicing. He averaged a 210 per game, and a series of 713.

The Panthers as a whole return all 9 bowlers from their roster last season, and have high expectations for themselves hoping to perform well in their league and the county tournament.

Seniors Owen Smith, Mark Davies, and Tim Ryan will be other bowlers to keep an eye out for this coming season as they all bowled a game where they tallied over 200 points last season.

The Panthers all look forward to facing off against Eastern Christian on Thursday, Dec. 22, and Thursday, Jan. 26 with hopes of avenging their only two losses from last season.

The rest of the Panthers schedule is still to be announced.