Fall Edition, 2022

Newton Braves: An unstoppable force takes other football teams by storm

by Jordan Short

Last year the Braves said goodbye to some star senior players, which according to head coach Matt Parzero was a smooth transition after working through the past comfort level and lack of varsity experience from some players. “The whole senior class has really stepped up and our 4 captains, Brayden Nolan, Matthew McLean, Pasquale Festa, and Thaylor Sibblies have gone above and beyond,” Coach Parzero exclaimed.

The senior class are not the only stars who have been noticed, but a lot of the younger players too, “Demarius Posey, Matthew Teets, Dylan Cotter,” Parzero said just to name a few.

At post time, The Newton Braves have played 5 teams in the past month and have kept the games in their favor the whole time, never letting a team get close to them.

Starting out their season at Warren Hills on September 2, the Braves finished the game with a 22 point lead, making the final score 42-20.

After their first win, they took on the first home game of the season against Sussex Tech on September 9, blowing them away with a score of 48-14. Leaving the Braves a record of 2-0.

They continued their dominating strike against Wallkill Valley at Wallkill on September 17, the Braves kept the Rangers from taking control of the game with a final score of 35-7.

Newton took on their rivals Kittatinny for Newton's homecoming game on September 23, battling for their rival trophy. Newton shut the Cougars offense completely, not letting them score, making the final score 52-0.

The Braves took on Lenape Valley on September 30, letting everyone know they mean business and stopped the Patriots from gaining any momentum in the game leaving the score 42-6 giving the Newton Braves a overall 5-0 win score.

Coach Parzero attributed their success so far this season to the players. “The commitment is at an all time high, the boys had an amazing summer at training camps and are here 5 days a week even on non-mandatory days.” He went on to say, “We haven't changed much from the past, but the kids expect to win and trust the process of working hard.”

So far, the Braves have been unstoppable facing teams that they rolled right over. At post time, the Braves took on another undefeated team that might give them some trouble--Hackettstown.

Hackettstown Tigers have been an unbeatable team with their new offense strategy, players, and coach. Parzero said this might be the most difficult team they’ve faced so far this season.

“We have faced other teams who use a similar offense; however, Hackettstown has some better players and have had more success with it. Our approach really won’t change, so we just have to trust in our team and the calls the boys make and how they work as a team out on the field.”

Coach Parzero is confident in his team and the support around them as he added, “It's been outstanding; the support is amazing here from the community and the players and the students. Everyone is rooting for us so we feel like we don’t want to let them down so we work hard to win.”

Demarius Posey runs the ball for a Newton first down being protected by Michael Melillo

Photo by Jordan Short

The Newton Lady Braves field hockey look to capitalize on talent

by Karlee Reid

The Newton Lady Braves Field Hockey team continues to grow and mature with such a young squad. The Lady Braves is made up of three seniors and the rest underclassmen, to include several freshmen. While continuing to learn each other's role on the field the Lady Braves will have a lot to contend with as the weeks go on right up to the State playoffs.

Varsity: At post time, Coach Tashjian shared that, “The girls are extremely skilled and in great shape. We are a young team since we graduated 8 starters last season, so it is definitely a learning and growing year. However, they are learning to play well with one another, and we are figuring out which players fit most appropriately in which positions.”

JV: At post time, Coach Tashjian shared that the JV players are working extremely hard at practice. Many of the girl's have limited experience playing field hockey, but they are improving every day. They are giving other teams a run for their money and playing very competitively.

“It has been my dream since I was a young girl to be the head coach for Newton field hockey,” shared varsity coach, Coach Tashjian. Coach Bechtel and Coach Licata were the best coaches and role models that I could have ever had. They helped me to not only play and love the game of field hockey, but they taught me how to be a good, fun, and hardworking coach. There is definitely a lot of pressure to keep the program strong as it has been in the past, but it is something that I will continue to work hard for!”

Allyson Maffia takes control over the ball and passes it down the field

Photo by Jordan Short

Lady Braves cap off a successfully 9-7 season

by Allison Iliff

Another amazing season for the Lady Braves Tennis team comes to an end. Led by their team captains Ailish Black and Skyla Squires, and their coach Mr. Boyle, the team had a great season. The team finished the season with a record of 9-7, and made it to the semi-finals of the State Sectional Tournament.

The girls have a short, but intense season. Captains practice starts in the middle of July, and ends early October. The girls can have up to five matches a week, always keeping them on their toes. With the season over, the varsity tennis team will be losing 7 of its 9 members.

Coach Boyle says that the main difficulties of tennis is the weather. The courts can be dangerous to play on when wet, and if you have a particularly rainy season, it can get extended by another month. However, the difficulties are diminished by his love for the sport and team. He claims that the players are fantastic, and he enjoys being involved with the other coaches. The assistant coach, Coach Muller, travels with the junior varsity team throughout the season. When asked why girls should join next year’s team, Mr. Boyle replied, “Students should join the tennis team because, I think being a part of the team helps students feel like they are a part of something bigger than just themselves. You make great friends, you learn to play a game that you can play for the rest of your life, and in general I think we have a great time and everyone has a lot of fun!” Congratulations to this year's team, and good luck to the upcoming season for boys!

Nana Tabiri and Sinead Kerrick warming up for game day!
Photo by Loretta Samples

Girls soccer battles during States despite adversity

by Christine Ahmad

The Newton Girls soccer team held strong through their tough season. The team's final record was 2-16-1. Although faced with many challenges, the team played competitively. Injures were one of the toughest challenges. A total of 9 starters were forced to miss multiple games due to their injuries. Although the team was very competitive, they had been playing at a disadvantage.

In the postseason, they had played hard for their state tournament where they took on the second seeded team. The girls fought hard making it into overtime. Although they did not end up taking home the win the coach, Mr. Mull stated, “It was our best game of the season. The future looks great considering we had 3 freshmen and 5 sophomores playing in our state game.” Congratulations girls on a great season!

Newton boys soccer head for finals in HWS Tournament then to sectionals

by Madison Trimmer

The boys soccer team at Newton is a marvel to watch. Anticipating whether the ball will get past the goalie, your eyes darting back and forth between players, and the joyous screams of when a goal is scored, nothing beats it.

The mastermind behind it all is the head coach Mr. Martin of Greenhills. Mr. Martin has been coaching for the past 18 years starting as the freshman coach and working his way up to varsity. When asked why he started coaching Mr. Martin said, “I was a player at Newton High School and also played in college. Following college, I was asked back to coach by the former head coach Pat Brennan.” Mr. Martin always makes an effort to get to know his players in and outside of soccer so he knows how to communicate with them better, and his worst season taught him how to help players move forward and deal with adversity; making him an amazing coach to work with.

The Newton Soccer team can be described in five simple words: motivated, hardworking, focused, diverse, and committed. According to Mr. Martin, "The biggest strength of our team is our talented Senior group." Mr. Martin explained that there are four senior captains; Merrick Buckly, Aandrei Hook, Tristan Ortega, and Zach Robinson; each brings a different and unique skill set to the team and are great leaders. Most of the team comprises exceptional juniors and seniors from Newton, Green, and Andover.

So far this season, the Newton team has guided themselves to an 11-2-1 streak which propels them to the finals of the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament against Hunterdon Central. This streak also currently places them 4th overall in the NJAC tournament, battling against Hackettstown, Wallkill, North Warren, Jefferson, and Vernon for the top spot.

When asked what the overall goals for the season were, Mr. Martin said, “Our first goal is always to win the league and then we focus on the HWS and the Sectional title.” An extraordinary feat that they can achieve no doubt with their skill sets, and well let’s just say, they’re getting pretty close to achieving that goal.

Good luck to the boys soccer team as they head into the finals!

Cross-Country continues to compete despite challenges

by Shannon Rittie

Mrs. Eigner has coached the cross country team at Newton High School for 27 years. Even though this year's team is quite small, they nevertheless excel. Mrs. Eigner chose to pursue coaching because she enjoyed competing on the school's cross-country team and wanted to carry on her love for the sport in a new way. The cross country team's difficulty this year is with numbers–since COVID, the number of teams in the area has decreased significantly.

“There is always the opportunity to improve upon yourself and that my goal for each of the athletes is to have set personal goals and that when they leave high school this is a lifelong sport for them,” added Mrs. Eigner. Cross-country is about each runner getting better. The team members are constantly pursuing their individual goals. Cross country is considered an individual sport because despite the fact that there are team results, each competitor can measure their own progress at the conclusion of each competition. Increasing personal records ultimately aids the team in achieving its objectives. Mrs. Eigner described her coaching strategies by stating, “You have to constantly reassure them that the effort they are putting in will pay off in the long run and that they need to keep putting forth that next step and keep working hard each practice.”

Mrs. Eigner keeps updated on new tactical and training methods by reading a lot from different experts, as well as watching races. Since sneakers are the only equipment they use, she also follows up with shoe trends. The cross country team is currently in the postseason after winning two of their four meets during the regular season. On Saturdays during the postseason, the team has invitationals, which are usually against 20+ schools. They must first qualify for the next meet before their first state sectional on October 29.

Good luck and have a fantastic rest of the postseason, Cross Country team!

Newton volleyball sets up for a successful season as a new club sport

by Jordan Short

This year a new club sport has been added to the ranks of many. Newton Volleyball Club is a club sport where girls from any experience level come to learn the fundamental skills of volleyball.

Mrs. Raymond, a teacher in the English department, started the volleyball club team after years of personal experience. She played junior varsity volleyball freshman year and moved up to varsity sophomore year playing there the rest of her high school career. By her junior year, she was varsity captain and senior year she made it the championship. Mrs. Raymond played in college and still plays volleyball all year around.

When she started at Newton High School she noticed that we didn’t have a volleyball team and she was hearing from girls in her classes about how much fun they had during gym volleyball. “Any teacher would want to start a club for two reasons–they have an interest in it and because they think other students in this school have interest in the same thing.”

At the end of last year, Mrs. Raymond sent out a Google form for interested students who would want to play girls volleyball as a club sport. “I sent out a form at the end of last year and got an overwhelming positive response from girls wanting to play the sport. Now that the Google Classroom has been established, I have upwards of 50 girls in the classroom who want to play club volleyball, “ she exclaimed.

If you are interested in playing volleyball, practices are held in the gym after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “We are open to enrolling new members and students do not need to have any experience playing volleyball. The entire purpose of the club is to teach the foundational skills of volleyball,” Raymond says. “It's a safe place to learn and fail. We make sure every girl gets to touch the ball; we cycle the players out so everyone gets to play. There is never a girl left on the sidelines.”

The goals for this club are broken down into two parts, long term and short term. Short term goals are to build towards the long term goal by learning the foundational basics of the game and the foundational rules of the game and finally the foundational game play. The long term goal is to have both a junior varsity and varsity intramural team established.

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