N/LV faces High Point in Charette Cup finals

NEWTON. The top-seeded Newton/Lenape Valley ice hockey team beat fourth-seeded Parsippany, 6-3, in the semifinal round.

Newton /
| 12 Feb 2024 | 02:50

Maksym Pastukh connected for a game-high four goals to lift the top-seeded Newton/Lenape Valley ice hockey team to a 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Parsippany in the semifinal round of the Charette Cup on Monday, Feb. 5 at Mennen Arena in Morris Township.

With the win, N/LV will face third-seeded High Point in the Charette Cup championship game at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14 at Mennen Arena.

High Point edged second-seeded Vernon, 5-4, in the other semifinal.

Pastukh scored the first three goals of the game for N/LV, which held a 3-2 lead after two periods, then scored a short-handed goal to start the third.

Justin Zappe and Martin Murphy also added third-period goals for N/LV, which also received two assists from Joey Gallucci and 25 saves from Ryan Salerno.

Pastukh, a junior, now has 35 goals and 10 assists to lead the team in scoring this season.

Here’s how other Newton High School sports teams fared last week:

Indoor track

Senior Zach Salib finished sixth in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.82 to highlight Newton at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North Jersey, Section 1, Groups 2 and 3 sectional championships Saturday, Feb. 3 at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Dante Delli Santi finished 20th in the 3200 meter run in 12:27.62 and was 28th in the 1600 meter run in 5:26.16. Stevan Lopez was 24th in the 400 meter dash in 1:01.86 and 39th in the 55 meter dash in 10.36, with Michael Kurilko placing 27th in the 400 meter dash in 1:04.73.

The NJSIAA Group championships will be held Saturday, Feb. 17 at the Bennett Center.

Wrestling

The individual portion of the season is set to begin this week, with the Newton squad taking part in the District 4 tournament on Feb. 17 at High Point.

Other competing teams include DePaul, Kittatinny, Vernon, North Warren, Sparta, Wallkill Valley and West Milford.

Newton, seeded seventh, bowed to second-seeded Emerson Boro, 43-25, in the first round of the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 1 tournament Feb. 5 in Emerson.

The Braves (6-13) closed out their regular season with a 40-36 victory over Becton on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 10 at home.

Keegan Murtagh (132 pounds), Joey Catalano (144), Aaron Stone (165) and Davon Hook (175) each won by pin to key the decision.

Bowling

The Braves, seeded 12th for the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 tournament, are scheduled to meet fifth-seeded Old Tappan in the first round Monday, Feb. 12.

Newton improved to 13-4 when it won its fourth straight match Feb. 8 - a 7-0 decision over Mount Olive at Sparta Lanes.

The Braves were paced by Mackenzie Genung (509 high series, 202 high game), Cera Steinwand (475 series, 181 game), Brad Williams (423 series, 242 game), Rachel Porzilli (422 series, 153 game), Salvatore Serillo (290 series, 153 game), Lukas Straub (181 game) and Devlin Schmid (142 game).