St . Joe ice hockey reaches finals
HHS caps best season since 2006 with three wins
St . Joe ice hockey reaches finals
Wednesday , March 1 , 2017 Volume 21 • Issue 9
Strong finish for Lady Blue Devils
THG / Dan Russoman . To purchase photos in The Gazette , call ( 609 ) 704-1940 .
Sara Peretti ( 34 ) collides with Collingswood ’ s Dominique Hunt as she drives to the basket in last week ’ s game .
Mascioli wins Region 8 title
by Dan Russoman
GAZETTE STAFF WRITER
EGG HARBOR TWP .— After falling short of a spot at the state championships in Atlantic City last season , St . Joseph High School ’ s Michael Mascioli was determined to earn a trip to Boardwalk Hall this year . Last week , the 220-pound senior punched his ticket to the state championships , winning the Region 8 title .
“ It means everything to me . I ’ ve worked for this all season . It was my goal to be a region champion , and now , I ’ m looking for bigger things ,” Mascioli said following his championship bout last weekend .
Mascioli , who didn ’ t wrestle as a sophomore after an inconsistent freshman season , came back last year as a junior and was one of the top wrestlers in the region . He
CLAYTON — A disappointing season came to a close last week for Hammonton High School ’ s boys basketball team , as the Blue Devils dropped their 12th-straight game , falling 120-93 at Clayton High School .
Lady Blue Devils build momemtum for next year
Dan Russoman
Tyreke Brown at last week ’ s Region 8 tournament .
placed at districts , then came up short in the regions . That performance last season served as his motivation this year , and despite
It ’ s a shame there were just a handful of fans in the gym last week when Hammonton ’ s girls basketball team wrapped up its season with a victory against Collingswood . The win capped an excellent finish to the season for Hammonton , which closed the year winning nine of its last 10 games . The win against Collingswood put the finishing touches on a 15-11 season , the Lady Devils ’ best since posting a 15-12 mark in 2006 .
A little more than a month ago , Hammonton appeared to have little chance at reaching its goal of a . 500 record or better . The team was saddled with a 6-10 mark , had been without arguably its best player , Sara Peretti , for two weeks as she recovered from an injury , and still had several tough games on the schedule .
Hammonton won its next five games to improve to 11-10 , then after a loss against a strong Kingsway team , finished the season on a four-game winning streak to more than achieve its season-long goal .
“ That ’ s something we really wanted to do , finish above . 500 ,” coach A . Jay Sicone said .
Siscone took over as head coach this season after his sister , Jackie , resigned last summer . An assistant on his sister ’ s staff , Siscone was there last season , when Hammonton was one win away from finishing at the . 500 mark .
“ That was something that stuck with us , how close we were , and this year , we were very focused on getting over that hump ,” Siscone said . competing for a depleted , rebuilding St . Joe team , he compiled an undefeated record , earning the top
Costa nets 43 in HHS season finale
by Dan Russoman
GAZETTE STAFF WRITER
THG / Dan Russoman . To purchase photos in The Gazette , call ( 609 ) 704-1940 .
St . Joe ’ s Michael Mascioli looks to make a move against Penns Grove ’ s
The highlight of the game for the Blue Devils was the performance of junior guard Pat Costa , who finished with a career-high 43 points , the second-highest single game performance in Hammonton history . Former Blue Devils standout Bill Castone holds the record , having scored 44 points against Atlantic
HAMMONTON — Hammonton High School ’ s girls basketball team needed one win last week to secure its first winning season since 2006 . The Lady Blue Devils did that and more , collecting three victories to wrap up the year with a 15-11 record .
“ That was our biggest goal this year to finish above . 500 . It didn ’ t always look like we had a chance to do it , but the girls worked hard all season and I ’ m so proud of them ,” first-year coach A . Jay Siscone said .
The three wins last week gave Hammonton nine in its last 10 games and provided a young team with some momentum heading into next season .
“ Last year , when my sister [ Jackie ] was the head coach , we came one win away from finishing . 500 . So , that was a big goal for us , to get past . 500 . We started kind of slow , but we really finished well with a young team , so hopefully , the future is bright ,” Siscone said .
See REGION 8 , Page 54
See DEVILS , Page 57
Hammonton has been in a perpetual rebuilding mode since that solid 2006 season and since then has suffered through some dismal seasons . Jackie Siscone began the program ’ s resurrection two years ago , and this season , the team took the next step to once again being a prominent program .
“ It ’ s disappointing that we didn ’ t make the playoffs , but we ’ re close and I see us improving every day ,” Siscone said . At the beginning of the year , Siscone was worried about his team ’ s confidence , as Hammonton ’ s young roster often cracked in pressure situations .
But as the season progressed and the team was more and more successful , the confidence grew , and as a result , the team began playing better .
“ I think the Atlantic Christian game was very important because we went on the
P . 55
HHS caps best season since 2006 with three wins
by Dan Russoman
GAZETTE STAFF WRITER
A loss to Williamstown on January 31 dropped Hammonton to 6-10 , but after that , the Lady Devils won nine of their final 10 games . Siscone pointed to a 49-33 win at Atlantic Christian on February 6 as a turning point in the season .
“ Up until then , I think confidence was a real issue for us . We had kind of been up and down for most of the season , and then , we went down there and we won big against a pretty good team . They [ Atlantic Christian ] had played about 20 games and had a really good record , and we beat them by 16 . I think that game showed our girls that they could compete and win against anyone . From there , we really started playing well at both ends of the floor , and I could really see us getting more confident every night ,” Siscone said .
The strong play also coincided with the return of sophomore Sara Peretti to the lineup after she missed several games after suffering a concussion .
“ We really missed Sara because so much of what do offensively relies on her . It took
See HHS , Page 56
St . Joe drops CAL opener
by Dan Russoman
GAZETTE STAFF WRITER
ATLANTIC CITY — A poor five minute stretch in the second half thwarted a furious comeback and cost St . Joseph High School ’ s boys basketball team a chance to upset second-seeded Atlantic City in the Cape Atlantic League quarterfinals last week as the Wildcats lost to the Vikings 71-55 .
St . Joe trailed by as many as 14 points in the third quarter , but the Wildcats clawed their way back into the game , cutting Atlantic City ’ s lead to three points with 2:30 remaining in the third before turnovers on eight consecutive possessions allowed the Vikings
See ST . JOE , Page 53
THG / Dan Russoman . To purchase photos in The Gazette , call ( 609 ) 704-1940 .
Marcellus Ross ( 2 ) drive past Lower Cape May ’ s Khamar Matthews ( 55 ) late in last week ’ s game . road and beat a pretty good team by 15 points ,” Siscone said .
“ After that , we were much more confident , and we really became a much more patient team on the court . Our decision making was better , and we just really built off that win ,” he said .
Hammonton loses just two seniors to graduation and will bring back a deep , talented roster next season that should get a boost from some players off a junior varsity team that posted a 17-6 record this year . A strong young team has created enthusiasm within the program .
“ We ’ re not there yet , but we ’ re getting better . I ’ m really excited about next year and what we can be ,” Siscone said .
Dan Russoman is the sports editor of The Gazette . Watch him on “ Gazette Sports Week ” every Wednesday afternoon at www . hammontongazette . com . Follow Russoman on twitter @ Dan Russoman .