Football Top 20 for Nov. 27: Bergen Catholic leaves no doubt with overpowering win

Don Bosco Prep, No. 3 in the NJ.com Top 20, defeated No. 7 Bergen Catholic 67-55 in Ramsey. With the victory, Don Bosco Prep improved to 21-2 and won 12 of its last 13. Bergen Catholic fell to 16-7 and had its five-game winning streak snapped. Nominate your game changer...

No. 4 St. Peter’s Prep hosts the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics Non-Public A state pre-quarterfinal and quarterfinal round on Tuesday night. No. 8 Paramus Catholic, Paul VI and Notre Dame will be competing. Check out pictures of the quarterfinal match below. Nominate your game changer now in one of 18 categories...

Rutgers Prep knew that defense was going to be the name of the game heading into Tuesday night’s matchup against Ewing. The Argonauts were going up against three of the top scorers in the state, so keeping the ball out of the hands of Rhian Stokes, Joi Johnson and Te’Yala Delfosse was going to be a pivotal in order to pull off a win.

Niko Gomez led Paramus Catholic with 21 points as it defeated Saddle River Day 63-62 in overtime in Paramus. Paramus Catholic (10-12) held a 36-35 lead at the end of the third quarter, but was outscored 17-16 by Saddle River Day in the fourth to tie the game 52 at the end of regulation. Paramus Catholic outscored Saddle River Day 11-10 in overtime to get the narrow win.

St. Peter’s Prep, No. 4 in the. NJ.com Top 20, will seek its first Hudson County Tournament title since 2020 as the No. 1 seed, it was announced Tuesday morning. The Marauders (19-3) came in ahead of reigning champion Hudson Catholic (11-9), which lost a 57-56 game to St. Peter’s Jan. 19, and also suffered a surprising 51-43 setback to Bayonne Jan. 24. Bayonne (15-7) is seeded No. 3 and Union City (10-10) No. 4.

JP Sferra’s overtime goal lifted top-seeded Robbinsville-Allentown to a 3-2 win over eighth-seeded Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the Mercer County tournament at Iceland Rink, in Hamilton. Sferra’s game winner came with 6:37 left in overtime. Robbinsville-Allentown (12-6-2) led 2-0 in the second period before Notre Dame...

Amir Abdullah scored four of his game-high 19 points in overtime as Newark East Side defeated Seton Hall Prep, No. 19 in the NJ.com Top 20, 49-46, in Newark. Sutan Fitzpatrick opened the overtime with a steal and a free throw to put Newark East Side (13-10) in front for good with 19 seconds into the extra period. Abdullah followed with a layup and a free throw on an ensuing possession to push the lead to 46-42 with 1:37 remaining. Twice, Seton Hall Prep (17-4), trimmed the deficit to two points, but Khasheem Walton put the game away when he made two foul shots with 19.5 seconds left to push the lead back to four.

Matt Whitlock finished with 16 points to help lead Hopewell Valley to a 45-36 win over Seneca in Pennington. Milan Desai tallied eight points while Mac Torpey chipped in with six points for Hopewell Valley (10-12), which stopped a three-game losing streak with the win. Christian Ciliberti and Gavin Tallant...

Ramapo, No. 5 in the NJ.com Top 20, narrowly defeated Ridgewood 51-48 and picked up a key Big North-Freedom division win, in Ridgewood. With the win, Ramapo (22-2) stayed undefeated in division play and two games up on Ridgewood for the division lead. The Raiders have one more divisional game this season on Feb. 7 against fourth place Hackensack.

Dan Lyden finished with 15 points and hit a buzzer-beating three to give Sparta a 57-56 win over West Morris in Chester. Sparta (13-7) battled back from a 10-point deficit at halftime to tie the game at 38 at the end of the third quarter. Matthew Maresca also offered a key performance with 15 points while Nick Ryan had 10.

Kittatinny leaned on the scoring efforts of Mike Zoellner and Caedon Jones as it sneaked past Sussex Tech for a 54-48 win, in Newton. Zoellner finished with 17 points and Jones added 11 in the win for Kittatinny (8-9). After going up by seven points at the end of the...

Sara Tortoriello had a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double to lead Mount St. Dominic as it defeated Verona 42-37 in Verona. Mount St. Dominic (8-11) held a 23-17 lead at the half and held on despite being outscored 20-19 by Verona in the second half. Lorelei Middleton also had 12 points, four...

Anthony Puglisi made five 3-pointers and led all scorers with 27 points as Indian Hills defeated Westwood, 83-57, in Oakland. Gavin Enright scored 23 points for Indian Hills (13-6), which used a 23-7 second quarter to break the game open. Anthony Giacamaro had 12 points and James Hickey added 10.

Joshua Richards posted a double-double with 10 points, 21 rebounds and six assists to lead East Orange as it defeated West Side 73-70 in Newark. Kaiyri Barkley scored 21 points and had five rebounds and three assists as well with Carlyle Adams adding 10 points and four rebounds and Gavin Jones tallying 10 points. Naquan Warren added seven points, six rebounds and three assists.

Michael Schmelzer knocked in four goals while Josh Kushnir added five assists as third-seeded Manalapan won, 5-0, over sixth-seeded Ocean Township-Shore-Monmouth in the quarterfinal round of the Dowd Cup at Howell Ice Arena in Farmingdale. It was the first Dowd Cup victory for Manalapan. Manalapan (11-3-2) will face second-seeded Rumson-Fair...

Nick Lukmann paced Pascack Hills with 18 points in its 68-61 win over River Dell in River Dell. Tyler Sanders was right behind with 17 points with David Weidmuller in the mix as well with 16 points. Pascack Hills outscored River Dell 39-26 in the middle two quarters after trailing 11-7.

The Mercer Tournament seeds have been finalized and Trenton, No. 8 in the NJ.com Top 20, is the top seed in the bracket. The first round will be played by Saturday, Feb. 11, and the semifinals will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 14. The final is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, at CURE Insurance Arena.

Fonquasia Slade recorded 14 points for Elmwood Park in its 40-34 win over Butler in Butler. Arlenny Medina added 12 points for Elmwood Park, which led 28-16 at halftime. Victoria Coffey scored a game-high 15 points for Butler. The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appearing in mailboxes 5 days...

Tyler Tejada brought 39 points and 11 rebounds while going six for six from the line as Teaneck, No. 17 in NJ.com’s Top 20, won at home, 80-77, over Old Tappan. Keith Mcknight added 19 points while Mickell Taylor Jr. put in 12 more for Teaneck (19-5). Old Tappan...

Rutherford’s offense stayed hot throughout the night as it rolled Park Ridge 59-37, in Rutherford. Rutherford (13-8) scored at least 11 points in each quarter, which was punctuated with a 16-point third quarter in which it safely pulled away with the lead. Tarik Bicic played an all-around game for...