Braves defeat North Warren, 14-2, in prelim H/W/S round

The ninth-seeded Newton High School boys lacrosse team started strong and never let up, earning a 14-2 victory over 14th-seeded North Warren in the preliminary round of the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament on Saturday afternoon, April 29 in Newton.

The Braves, who received three goals, three assists and three ground balls from sophomore Ty Guzzo and three goals, one assist and four ground balls from senior Robert McCullough, struck for eight goals in the first period to take an 8-0 lead. The advantage then swelled to 11-1 at the half.

Contributing to the win were Max Faye (two goals, four assists, four ground balls), Brenden Lynch (two goals, four ground balls), Matt Ellsworth (one goal, four ground balls), Paul Reinhart (one goal, six ground balls), Alex Karr (one goal, two ground balls), Evan Robinson (one goal, two ground balls), Aiden Akturk (three goals, won 6-of-8 face-offs), Ryan Salerno (three ground balls, won 7-of-9 face-offs), Rylan Ivaldi (one save) and CJ Wojtach (two saves).

Newton (7-4) was scheduled to play at eighth-seeded North Hunterdon in the first round Tuesday, May 2, with a trip to the quarterfinal round against top-seeded Pope John on Saturday, May 6 on the line.

McCullough (30 goals, 14 assists), Guzzo (28 goals, 12 assists), Faye (17 goals, 17 assists) and Lynch (11 goals, 13 assists) lead the Braves in scoring this spring.

Here is how other Newton sports teams fared last week:

Baseball

The Braves broke through with their biggest offensive output of the season when they rolled to a 16-1, five-inning victory April 26 at Wallkill Valley in Hamburg.

Domenic Lotruglio went 2-for-2 with two doubles, two RBI, a walk and three runs; Brayden Nolan was 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs; Mason Bucci went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and two runs; and Rob Rhine and Matt Williams each drove in two runs to lead the way.

Williams also pitched a three-hitter with three strikeouts and one walk and didn’t allow an earned run.

Newton (4-8) was scheduled to play host to Whippany Park at 5 p.m. Friday, May 5.

Softball

The Braves earned their first shutout victory of the season on April 24. Melissa Fehr pitched a five-inning four-hitter with six strikeouts and no walks in an 11-0 decision over Hopatcong at home.

Catherine Vena was 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run; Allison Mountford went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run; Rylie Corby was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs; and Kiersten Lee singled twice with an RBI and two runs to pace the 11-hit attack.

Newton (6-5) is now 6-2 and in second place in the Colonial Division of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, two games behind Morris Tech, which is 8-0.

The Braves were scheduled to play host to Vernon at 4 p.m. May 5.

Boys tennis

Newton finished eighth in the 13th annual H/W/S Tournament that was completed April 24 in Sparta.

Dylan Olsen at third singles and the first doubles team of Frankie Lubrano and Arjun Armin reached the quarterfinal rounds of their respective flights before being eliminated.

The Braves, 6-2 this spring, next are scheduled to play at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 10 when they host Hopatcong.