West Milford’s Acanfrio sets state saves record on Senior Night

Fittingly, on Senior Night, West Milford’s Tyler Acanfrio shined.

Acanfrio, a senior goaltender, became the state’s all-time leading saves leader as he finished with eight saves in his team’s 9-8 loss to Tenafly on Monday, May 18 at home.

When Acanfrio halted a shot early in the fourth period, it was his 1,110 career save, surpassing the former record of 1,109 stops held by Anthony Marco of Rancocas Valley in 2018.

Acanfrio, a DeSales university commit, will help to lead the Highlanders (12-5) in the state tournament this week.

West Milford is seeded 10th for the NJSIAA North Jersey, Group 2 tournament and will play at seventh-seeded Mendham on Thursday, May 28 at 4:30 p.m.

West Milford (12-5), which won the Passaic County Tournament earlier this month, finished in a three-way first-place tie along with Lenape Valley and Newton with identical 6-1 marks in the Pooley Division of the NJILL.

The Highlanders are led offensively by Cole Riley (34 goals, 18 assists), Ryan Czeczuga (26 goals, 17 assists), Luke Maslanek (20 goals, 17 assists), Dean Lombardo (19 goals, 14 assists), Jacob Price (14 goals, 10 assists) and Kaiden Wilm (16 goals, three assists) and Acanfrio (195 saves).

Outdoor Track

Ciara Clinton placed first in the 3200-meter run in a time of 10:50.14, Paige Lowenstein won gold in the javelin with an effort of 126-7 and Noah Diodonet won the 400-meter dash in 49.97 to pace the West Milford high girls and boys outdoor track and field team at the NJSIAA North Jersey, Group 2 championships on May 15-16 at Vernon High in Vernon Township.

The West Milford girls placed fourth overall in the team standings with the boys finishing sixth.

Clinton also placed third in the 1600-meter run in 5:09.12 with Amanda Harvey placing second in the 3200-meter run in 10:56.17, sixth in the 1600-meter run in 5:20.12. Lowenstein also took third in the shot put in 35-7.5 and fifth in the discus in 98-8.

For the boys, Noah Christian was second in the 800-meter run in 1:55.96 and second in the 1600-meter run in 4:31.88. Zachary McDowell was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.21, fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in 57.34 while Julian Pierre was third in the high jump with an effort of 6-0.

The overall NJSIAA Group 2 championships will be held Friday-Saturday, May 29-30 at Northern Burlington High.

Baseball

West Milford is seeded eighth for the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 tournament and was scheduled to play host to ninth-seeded Pascack Hills in a first round game on May 27.

If the Highlanders prevail, they will face either top-seeded Westwood or 16th-seeded Sussex Tech in a sectional quarterfinal on May 29.

Chase Tyburczy pitched a five-inning, two-hitter with 12 strikeouts and no walks and also went 3-for-4 with two doubles, four RBI and three runs to help power West Milford to a 16-0 victory over Passaic on Monday, May 18 at home.

Mason LaNeve added a home run, three RBI and a walk, Kyle Schwarzlow doubled, walked, drove in two runs and scored twice and Dane Wells singled, was hit by two pitches, drove in a run and scored three times and Justin Burke singled, walked twice, drove in a run and scored to aid the decision.

West Milford finished in a first place tie with Wayne Valley with identical 7-3 records in the Independence Division of the Big North Conference.

Softball

West Milford pushed across two runs in the top of the ninth inning to earn a 5-3 victory over Emerson Boro on Thursday afternoon in Emerson.

Emma Gibson hit a three-run home run, Bella Kling added a solo homer and Lydia Paget was 3-for-4 with two runs to pace the offense.

The Lady Highlanders, seeded 11th, will play at sixth-seeded Demarest in an NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 tournament on May 26.

Girls Lacrosse

The Lady Highlanders ended their season on a winning note, earning an 9-8 decision over Lenape Valley on Saturday morning in West Milford.

Sydney Brock (three goals), Sarah Benowitz (two goals, one assist), Aleks Ljusic (two goals), Madison Tenhoeve (one goal) and Hailey Geller (one goal) led the offense.

West Milford finished at 5-10 with Benowitz (33 goals, 16 assists), Julia Plewa (35 goals, six assists), Ljusic (five goals, 19 assists), Brock (20 goals, four assists), Tenhoeve (nine goals), Addyson Seidner (five goals, two assists), Hailey Geller (six goals) and Allie Rockey (93 saves) leading the team.