Wrestlers take 2nd, 3rd in state tournament

Eva Barry of the Newton/Kittatinny co-op girls wrestling team wrapped up an incredible sophomore season at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City earlier this month.

Barry reached the 138-pound final and battled to the very last second before surrendering a takedown. With just two seconds remaining in the third period, she bowed, 3-1, to Ella Poalillo of High Point.

Barry finished 32-4 this season with all four of her losses coming to Poalillo.

Poalillo won the first encounter, 2-0, in the finals of the Bloomfield Tournament on Dec. 17, and Barry earned a 5:11 fall over her nemesis in the finals of the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament on Jan. 21.

Barry then earned a pin in 5:09 in the finals of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament on Feb. 3.

Liliana Zaku-Ramos also competed at the state tournament and placed third at 126 pounds.

Zaku-Ramos, a senior, earned the bronze medal with a pin in 1:44 over Old Bridge’s Emma Sagi.

She ended the season with a 33-1 record. Her only loss was in the state semifinal to eventual champion, Eva Altamirano, 4-0, in overtime.

On Jan. 21, Newton/Kittatinny won the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament championship with Zaku-Ramos, Paige Decaro (145), Stella Ramos (152), Brianna Murray (165) and Abby Paglia (235) each winning titles. The championship was the third for Zaku-Ramos.

Here’s how other Newton High School sports teams fared this winter:

Ice hockey

The Newton/Lenape Valley co-op squad forged an 13-11 record this season, which included the program’s first Charette Cup championship - its first title since it won the Haas Cup in 2017.

The Braves earned that title Feb. 14 with a 7-3 victory over High Point/Wallkill Valley/Kittatinny. They were led by senior Brayden Dabrowski (three goals, three assists), junior Maksym Pastukh (two goals, three assists) and senior goalie Ryan Salerno (36 saves).

The team, led by head coach Ryan Sevean, was led offensively by Pastukh (41 goals, 13 assists), Justin Zappe (17 goals, 21 assists), Dabrowski (21 goals, seven assists), Martin Murphy (three goals, 21 assists), Joey Gallucci (three goals, 11 assists), Ty Dellicker (six goals, five assists) and David Pineda (four goals, five assists).

Salerno saved more than 650 shots this season.

Boys basketball

Junior guard Maxwell Maslowski averaged 19.4 points per game this season to guide the Braves (4-20).

Maslowski, who scored a career-high 41 points in a 51-41 victory over Morris Tech on Feb. 14, scored 466 points this season and will enter next year with 640 career points.

Also keying the offense were Nick Kurilko (5.1 ppg), Kevin Kozlowski (4.8 ppg) and Dominic Celi (4.8 ppg).

Girls basketball

Sophomore Caitlyn Pokrywa averaged a team-high 12.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game to pace the Braves, who finished 12-13 this season.

Juniors Sophia May (8.8 points, 4.4 rebounds) and Samantha Sutton (4.3 ppg) and senior Catherine Vena (5.4 ppg) also helped Newton, which qualified for the state tournament for the second straight year.

Boys wrestling

The Braves finished 6-13 this season and qualified for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North Jersey, Section 1, Group 1 Tournament, where the team bowed to Emerson Boro, 43-25, in the opening round.

Juniors Mason Bucci (138 pounds) and Aaron Stone (165) and senior Joey Catalano (144) each placed third in the District 4 Tournament on Feb. 14, and Catalano placed fourth in the Region 1 Tournament on Feb. 24.

Catalano was the lone representative at the state tournament at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. He didn’t place and finished with a record of 21-11 this season.

Bowling

The Braves went 13-5 this season, which included a third-place finish in the Northern Division of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference with a 12-4 mark.

Newton also earned a fifth-place finish in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament on Jan. 17 at Sparta Lanes.

Rachel Porzilli finished seventh with a girls high series of 475, followed by Cera Steinwand, who was eighth with a series of 458.

Other standouts on the team this winter were Brad Williams, Devlin Schmid, Lukas Straub, Mackenzie Genung and Salvatore Serillo.