West Milford sports teams conclude seasons

Seniors Jeffrey Papienuk at 215 pounds and Noah Monica at 285 each brought home silver medals and junior Owen Menier took third at 190 to pace the West Milford High wrestling team at the NJSIAA District 2 tournament on Saturday afternoon at Jefferson High in Oak Ridge.

West Milford finished in eighth place in the overall team race with 56.5 points. Don Bosco Prep, with nine finalists and six individual champions, won the 10-team event with 247.5 points.

Papienuk dropped an 18-3 decision to Dante DeLuca of Don Bosco Prep, 18-3, in 3:45 in the 215-pound final while Monica was pinned in 4:25 by Newton’s Sean Brown in the 285-pound final.

Menier captured bronze with a 68-second fall over Roman Volpe of Kittatinny in the 190-pound third place match.

All three wrestlers now advance to the NJSIAA Region 1 tournament that will be hosted by West Milford on March 6-7.

The top four wrestlers at each weight class in each of the eight regions across the state will then move on to the NJSIAA state tournament at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on March 12-14.

Girls Basketball

Sarah Benowitz scored a team-high 12 points, Delaney Piecuch added 10 points and Sara Wardlaw totaled nine points, nine rebounds, three assists and four steals as the 13th-seeded Lady Highlanders bowed to fourth-seeded Mahwah, 51-35 in the first round of the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 tournament on Feb. 26 in Mahwah. Benowitz, a 5-1 senior guard, finished her season with 276 points and 820 points for her career, including 183 3-pointers for West Milford (7-18).

Ice Hockey

Timmy Riche scored twice, Joe Barroqueiro had two assists and Max Diee also aided a goal but the eighth-seeded West Milford/Pequannock squad bowed to top-seeded Kinnelon/Jefferson/Sparta, 8-2, in the quarterfinal round of the NJSIAA North Jersey, Non-Public Co-Op Tournament on Thursday, Feb. 26 at Skylands Ice World in Stockholm.

Senior goalie Matt Montena halted 49 shots in the setback and finished his season with 950 saves. For his three-year career, Montena saved a staggering amount of 2,030 shots in 2,271 chances, good for an .894 save percentage.

Riche (37 goals, 33 assists), Barroqueiro (25 goals, 46 assists), Diee (15 goals, 16 assists), Jack Murphy (eight goals, six assists) and Sam DeRobertis (three goals, 10 assists) led the Highlanders’ offense this winter.

Riche, a senior, finished his career with 90 goals and 65 assists while Barroqueiro, also a senior, ended his career with 76 goals and 90 assists.

West Milford finished its season with a 10-14 record, which included a perfect 6-0 mark in winning the Stripes Division of the Big North Conference under head coach Christopher Scarpa.