2013-14 ACEY AWARD WINNERS

First, let’s get the thank yous out of the way. To Lee DiPrizito, the owner of Moe’s Southwest Grill in Paramus, for allowing us to hold last night’s event at his place. It really was a nice setup and Lee and his staff were so helpful getting everything ready for the night. By the way, it was Lee who provided the T-Shirts for the winners, which I thought came out really nice and everyone seemed to like.

Thank you to our five volunteer presenters: Paramus Catholic’s Dominick Savino (heading to Rutgers to major in Journalism), Ramsey’s Alex Whelan, Wayne Hills’ Danny Reidel, Immaculate Conception’s Gabby Slade and Saddle Brook’s Chris Jacobson, even though I did accidentally read almost all of Chris’s lines. It’s not easy getting up there in front of everyone, and they all did a great job.

Thank you to all the finalists and athletes who came out last night. It was great meeting and/or seeing some of North Jersey’s best athletes. Among those in attendance (and I’m sorry for missing anyone here): Bergen Catholic’s Johnny Sebastian, Don Bosco’s Hunter Garlasco, Westwood’s Nolan Borgersen and Corinne Myers, Saddle Brook’s Brittany DeLucia, Lorena Alvarez and Jacobsen, New Milford’s Cydney Borner and a handful of teammates, River Dell’s Rachel Sorkenn and her sister Alison, Glen Rock’s Dan Frissora, Demarest’s Anthony Rubinetti, Lodi’s PJ Potter and Emmanuel Appiah, Paramus Catholic’s Heather Ronchi, Hackensack’s Cassidy Kadonaga and the Ramsey hockey crew of Whelan, Tyler Harmon, Connor Edwards and Brandon O’Callahan. I already knew some of these athletes from the sports I covered throughout the year, but it was cool meeting the rest of them that you read so much about, but never really get to see. They really were all so appreciative to even be nominated. Myers left a summer camp and drove an hour and a half to be there last night and DeLucia came back up all the way from the shore. One of the other highlights of the night was when the #DPPit (DePaul) was announced the winner of Best Student Section. Four DPPit “representatives” were standing to the right and erupted in celebration when they won. That was pretty cool.

Thank you to everyone who supported these athletes by voting the past two weeks. As I said last night, we had over 16,000 total combined votes on Twitter and our blog in the past eight days and over 50,000 page views. For us, those are pretty high numbers — especially in the middle of the summer.

Another thank you to the entire Record local sports staff, especially Darren — who was a huge help in announcing our finalists last night and making the arrangements for the location — and our boss, Rob Tanenbaum, who showed up last night when he didn’t really have to, and added a nice touch by taking photos of all the winners who were in attendance with their Acey Award T-Shirts. All the pictures he took are posted below. We actually had 14 of 16 winners in attendance last night, which is way more than we were expecting.

While there was a lot of work done the last two weeks in making last night a success, the Aceys party was really a culmination of a 10-month-long process. At the end of each season, The Record local sports staff would collaborate on lists of possible nominations for all 16 categories. We also did something we did not do last year, by opening up possible suggestions to Twitter in the week leading up to the official voting period. That really did help us pick a few of the final finalists in some of the categories. We get to a lot of places, but we can’t be everywhere. So thank you to everyone who helped us out by sending in nominations. The great thing about these awards, in my opinion, is you never really know when an Acey might happen, but you just know a finalist when you see one. I was lucky enough to see a few this year, including a couple of winners.

As mentioned last night on Twitter, here is an extended Acey Awards recap, with the Top 3 vote-getters (combination of Twitter retweets and online poll votes) in each category plus their total vote counts. While there were only 16 winners, if you or your team were named as a finalist for any category, you did something very memorable during the 2013-14 school year. On to the winners lists…

Disclaimer: Some nominees might have more retweets NOW than they did at the time of collecting the votes. Some RTs may have happened after the votes were tallied. Polls and RT counts always ended at the same time for each category, to be fair to the categories that opened later in the week.

BEST PLAY

Winner: Paramus Catholic softball’s Heather Ronchi’s robbed three-run home run in the Bergen County Tournament Round of 16. It was the first of two robbed home runs that day for Ronchi, as she went on to earn first-team All-North Jersey honors at the end of the year. Ronchi will be continuing her career next year at Drew University after earning first-team All-North Jersey honors this season. (93 retweets + 130 poll votes = 223 total votes)

2nd place: Pompton Lakes football’s Drew Rayford’s juggling, one-handed touchdown catch (:25 second mark), thrown from his brother Adam, in the North 1, Group 1 sectional win over Hasbrouck Heights at MetLife Stadium. Pompton Lakes won their third straight sectional title. (89 retweets + 104 poll votes = 193 total votes) — MORE on this play/game

3rd place: DePaul girls soccer’s Melissa Kelly’s leaping, off-the-back game-winning goal in overtime to give Spartans a 2-1 win over previously-undefeated Clifton (78 retweets + 71 poll votes = 149 total votes) — MORE on this play/game

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BEST GAME

Winner: Don Bosco hockey defeats six-time defending state champion Delbarton, 3-2, in overtime in Gordon Cup final, getting game-winning goal from Griffin Welch. (18 retweets + 157 poll votes = 175 total votes) — MORE on this game

2nd place: Paramus Catholic football defeats Don Bosco, 21-20, in Non-Public, Group 4 semifinal, getting go-ahead touchdown from Dejon Harrison with 2:35 left on a pass from QB Steve Shanley. Michigan-bound Jabrill Peppers returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and also caught 32-yard touchdown pass to put PC up, 14-3. (53 retweets + 83 poll votes = 136 total votes)

3rd place: Indian Hills softball defeats three-time defending champion IHA, 5-4, in Bergen County Tournament final, getting walkoff, two-out, two-run home run from Madison Levine and two-run home run from Shelby Allen in the first inning (21 retweets + 113 poll votes = 134 total votes)

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BEST UPSET

Winner: No. 23 Glen Rock boys baketball upsets No. 7 Dwight Morrow, 54-51, in Jamboree Round of 16, after defeating No. 10 Cresskill in the opening round, to become lowest seed ever to reach Jamboree quarterfinals (71 retweets + 215 poll votes = 286 total votes)

2nd place: Demarest wrestler Anthony Rubinetti upsets a pair of returning Holiday Tournment/Bergen County champions to win 120-pound county title. He defeated Bergen Catholic’s Tyler Casamenti in the semifinals and Don Bosco’s Luis Gonzalez, 7-4, in the final. Gonzalez was also a returning state champion. Rubinetti won Most Outstanding Wrestler. (19 retweets + 245 poll votes = 264 total votes)
Note: Rubinetti got these votes as an individual, going up against 11 other team finalists.

3rd place: DePaul football upsets Don Bosco, 35-25, for Spartans’ biggest win in program history. DePaul trailed, 10-7, at half time, but strung together four straight touchdown drives in the second half to take a 35-10 lead. (59 retweets + 93 poll votes = 152 total votes)

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BEST CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE

Winner: Bergen Catholic wrestler Johnny Sebastian in the 182-pound state final, as the Northwestern-bound senior won his third straight state title with a torn labrum, scoring a championship-clinching takedown in overtime in Atlantic City. He became just the sixth Bergen County wrestler ever to win three state titles in his career. (67 retweets + 222 poll votes = 289 total votes)

2nd place: Westwood track’s Corinne Myers at the State Meet of Champions in the winter and spring seasons, as the Northeastern-bound senior won both 800 state titles, and set a new Bergen County and North Jersey record this spring with her 2:05.80, capping the greatest 800 season in North Jersey history. (19 retweets + 133 poll votes = 152 total votes)

3rd place: Glen Rock senior bowler Jake Rollins fired a perfect game 300 in the individual state final to become the first North Jersey state champion in the 13-year history of the stepladder finals format (29 retweets + 73 poll votes = 102 total votes) — MORE on Rollins

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BEST MALE BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE

Winner: PJ Potter of Lodi Baseball — Potter burst on to the scene as a senior to win seven games, including two in the state tournament, while tossing eight complete games and six shutouts. He finished with a miniscule 0.77 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 73.1 innings pitched. He was a second-team All-North Jersey selection and will be attending Hofstra next year to study journalism. (165 retweets + 222 poll votes = 387 total votes)

2nd place: Eddie Nikocevic of Cliffside Park Baseball — The junior hit a school-record .636 with 27 steals and earned first team all-league, second team All-County honors and second team All-North Jersey honors. (104 retweets + 156 poll votes = 260 total votes)

3rd place: Emmanual Appiah of Lodi Football — The playmaking sophomore quarterback rushed for 1,491 yards and 13 touchdowns while adding over 1,000 passing yards and 12 touchdowns through the air to lead Lodi to 10 straight wins and the North 2, Group 2 semifinals. He will be playing wide receiver for Bergen Catholic this fall. (97 retweets + 84 poll votes = 181 total votes)

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BEST FEMALE BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE

Winner: Reese Guevarra of IHA Softball — Guevarra, already a UConn commit, put together the best freshman season in IHA history with a freshmen-record 50 hits, while batting .510 with 46 runs, 33 RBI, 19 walks and 12 steals. She was named first team All-North Jersey this spring and received the most votes of any finalist — in any category — in this year’s Aceys. (296 retweets + 224 poll votes = 520 total votes)

2nd place: Rachel Sorkenn of River Dell Soccer — Sorkenn enjoyed the best freshman season in River Dell history, accumulating 25 goals and 17 assists for the sectional finalist Hawks. She earned second team All-North Jersey honors and was the only freshman to appear on first or second team. Sorkenn provided the assist in River Dell’s 1-0 upset win over Wayne Hills in the sectional semifinals, and is chasing school records currently held by River Dell Hall of Famer and current Northern Highlands coach Tara Madigan. (87 retweets + 132 poll votes = 219 total votes)

3rd place: Casey Richards of Northern Highlands Soccer — In a program that keeps churning out soccer stars, Richards could be next in line. The playmaking sophomore midfielder exploded for 14 goals and 22 assists for the unbeaten Group 3 state champion Highlanders. It was Richards who gave Northern Highlands a 1-0 lead early in the Group 3 final in its eventual 2-0 win, as Highlands three-peated as state champion and extended its unbeaten streak to 72 games.

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BEST MOMENT

Winner: Saddle Brook wrestling statistician Brittany DeLucia, born with muscle tightness and unable to participate in sports growing up, becoming a well-known fan favorite around Bergen County. Bergen Catholic star Johnny Sebastian dedicated all of his wins at the Bergen Holiday Tournament to DeLucia, who is aided by two forearm canes for support when walking. She will be attending Montclair State this fall to pursue a teaching degree. (100 retweets + 42 poll votes = 142 total votes)

2nd place: Hackensack softball’s Erin Kelly walking around the bases on Senior Day, without assistance, two years after being partially paralyzed by contracting a rare illness during her sophomore season. The extremely rare disease (transverse myelitis) left her initially paralyzed from the waist down and ultimately left her with a balance problem, but as she said in the story above, she just feels lucky to be walking again. (21 retweets + 60 poll votes = 81 total votes)

3rd place: St. Joseph’s Quai Jefferson and his mother, Vaida, are honored as part of the New York Yankees Hope Week. Jefferson has been taking care of his mother since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 11 years ago. At age 10, Jefferson stepped up as Vaida’s primary caregiver — cooking, shopping, cleaning, laundry, taking her blood pressure — all while starring in football and basketball.  (21 retweets + 59 poll votes = 80 total votes)

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BEST BREAKTHROUGH TEAM

Winner: Westwood Football — After going 5-5 in 2012, the Cardinals finished 11-1 last fall and captured the North 1, Group 2 sectional title, thanks to a high-powered offense attack led by quarterback Craig Carmilani (the North Jersey Offensive Player of the Year) and wide receiver Nolan Borgersen (recently committed to Boston College). The Cardinals scored touchdowns on 16 straight possessions in the postseason and, on the year, outscored its opponents, 484-109. (24 retweets + 78 poll votes = 102 total votes)

2nd place: Wayne Valley Wrestling — The Indians finished 14-4 and won their first state sectional title in program history, finishing No. 5 in the final Record Top 25 — ranked as the top public school in North Jersey, behind only Non-Public powers Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, DePaul and St. Joseph. Wayne Valley had three state medalists, including Anthony Landberg at 195 (8th), Tyler Hrycak at 126 (8th) and Justin Walker at 220 (3rd). (16 retweets + 79 poll votes = 95 total votes)

3rd place: Lodi Football — Led by Aceys Best Male Athlete finalist Emmanuel Appiah, Lodi went undefeated in its first 10 games to win its league championship and advance to the North 2, Group 2 semifinals. The Rams finished 10-1 after three seasons of winning four, five and four games from 2010 to 2012. (50 retweets + 41 poll votes = 91 total votes)

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BEST COACH

Winner: Craig Nielsen of Pascack Valley Football and Mahwah Softball — After losing 30 seniors to graduation, Nielsen helped guide Pascack Valley football to a 10-2 record and the North 1, Group 4 sectional title after its 32-8 win over Paramus in the final for the Indians’ first sectional title since 1990. Nielsen also led Mahwah softball to the Bergen County Tournament semifinals as the No. 13 seed for the second straight year. (27 retweets + 94 poll votes = 121 total votes)

2nd place: Alyson Gorski of Lodi Girls Basketball — In just one year, Gorski took Lodi from being a 2-16 team to earning the No. 9 seed in the North 1, Group 2 state sectional tournament. Lodi jumped up 12 wins last winter and finished with a 14-11 record. (54 retweets + 65 poll votes = 119 total votes)

3rd place: Mike Settembrino and Frank Giordano of Becton/Wallington Wrestling — The pair of coaches led Becton/Wallington to their sixth straight league title last winter. (32 retweets + 86 poll votes = 118 total votes)

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BEST ATHLETIC SCHOOL YEAR

Winner: Ramsey  – The Group 2 school had nine teams finish inside the Top 10 of The Record’s final polls, not including the Rams’ boys indoor track team, which won Bergen County Team of the Year. Ramsey’s field hockey (3), girls soccer (5), ice hockey (2), boys golf (2), boys track (4) and baseball (5) teams all finished inside the Top 5. They had 13 teams overall finish among The Record’s season-ending polls. (72 retweets + 76 poll votes = 148 total votes)

2nd place: Bergen Catholic — The Crusaders finished with four teams at No. 1 in The Record’s final polls, including the wrestling, boys lacrosse, boys golf and boys swimming teams, and placed seven teams inside the Top 5. Bergen Catholic had nine teams inside the Top 10 and 11 teams overall finish ranked somewhere in The Record’s final rankings, while only competing in boys sports. (83 retweets + 56 poll votes = 139 total votes)

3rd place: Westwood — The smallest school on the list of finalists, this Group 1 school placed eight teams inside the Top 10s, not including the Cardinals’ girls winter indoor track team, which captured the North 1, Group 1 sectional title and finished second in Group 1 overall. They had 13 teams finish in The Record’s final polls.

Note: Northern Highlands, which had one of the most impressive resumés, finished fourth with 85 total votes (34 RTs + 51 poll votes).

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BEST RECORD-BREAKING/HISTORIC PERFORMANCE

Winner: Chris Jacobson of Saddle Brook Football — The do-it-all playmaker for the Falcons accounted for 58 points by himself in a single game last fall, scoring eight touchdowns, converting one 2-point conversion and kicking eight extra points in Saddle Brook’s 76-56 win over Wallington. His 58 individual points are believed to be a state record. (56 retweets + 62 poll votes = 114 total votes)

2nd place: Nolan Borgersen of Westwood Football — As a junior, this Boston College-commit broke New Jersey’s all-time single season record in touchdown receptions, with 26, during the Cardinals’ record-breaking North 1, Group 2 sectional championship season. (23 retweets + 88 poll votes = 111 total votes)

3rd place: Bergen Tech Football — Bergen Tech scored 82 points in a single game to defeat Snyder, 82-46, and improve to 4-4, just three years after going 0-10 and scoring 75 total points in an entire season. (14 retweets + 84 poll votes = 98 total votes)

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BEST TEAM (BIG SCHOOL)

Winner: Indian Hills Softball — The Braves became the first team in state history to go 34-0 and won their second straight Group 3 state title. No stranger to drama, Indian Hills had several nailbiting victories and a couple walkoff wins, including in the Bergen County Tournament final on Madison Levine’s two-run home run and Karley Jo Greulich’s walkoff RBI single in the Group 3 semifinal against Warren Hills in the 11th inning. They will enter next season on a 36-game winning streak. (35 retweets + 112 poll votes = 147 total votes)

2nd place: Pascack Valley Football — Led by our Best Coach winner Craig Nielsen, Pascack Valley went 10-2 last fall and captured the program’s first sectional title since 1990 after its 32-8 win over Paramus in the North 1, Group 4 final. After losing 30 seniors from their 2012 sectional runner-up squad, the Indians far exceeded all preseason expectations. (63 retweets + 68 poll votes = 131 total votes)

3rd place: Bergen Catholic Wrestling – The Crusaders went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in New Jersey, captured the Bergen County title by nearly 200 points and won its third straight Non-Public A state title. Bergen Catholic went unbeaten in New Jersey, 24-4 overall and had eight wins over Top 10 state teams. They sent 11 of 14 wrestlers to Atlantic City for the state championship, led by three-time state champion Johnny Sebastian and two-time state champ Nick Suriano, who is still undefeated in his high school career at 84-0. (53 retweets + 50 poll votes = 103 total votes)

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BEST TEAM (SMALL SCHOOL)

Winner: New Milford Girls Soccer — First they made it, then they won it. The Knights went 16-6 overall, but more importantly, they won their first sectional title in program history after their 2-1 win over Park Ridge in the North 1, Group 1 sectional final, getting a pair of goals from Cydney Borner off two corner kick assists from Alexis Monroy. New Milford reached the Group 1 semifinals before falling to eventual co-state champion Glen Ridge, 2-1, in double overtime. (122 retweets + 171 poll votes = 293 total votes)

2nd place: DePaul Football – The Spartans finished 10-2, losing only to eventual Non-Public Group 4 state champion Paramus Catholic and eventual Non-Public Group 3 state champion St. Joseph while defeating Don Bosco and Bergen Catholic, and captured their first state title since 1992 in a 35-16 win over Holy Spirit in the Non-Public Group 2 final. The Spartans, led by seniors Kiy Hester and Courtel Jenkins, among many others, finished No. 3 in the final Record Top 25. (80 retweets + 80 poll votes = 160 total votes)

3rd place: Ramsey Hockey – With 28 wins (3 losses), the Rams — led by two-time Record Player of the Year Alex Whelan and senior captain Connor DiTomaso — set a New Jersey public school state record en route to Big North Green regular seaosn and Cup titles while reaching both the Bergen County Tournament and Public B finals, before falling to Don Bosco and Morristown, respectively. (89 retweets + 49 poll votes = 138 total votes)

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BEST FEMALE ATHLETE

Winner: Corinne Myers, Westwood Track — One of fiercest competitors in North Jersey sports, Myers was named The Record’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year in the winter, the Athlete of the Season (all winter sports) by The Record, and The Record’s Athlete of the Year in the spring after one of the most dominant years in North Jersey history. The Northeastern-bound senior graduated with 15 school records, including the 800 (2:05.80) and the 1,600 (4:54.37). The 2:05 was set this spring at the outdoor State Meet of Champions — after winning the state title in the 800 during the winter track season — as Myers captured her second state title this year with the fastest time in Bergen County history and fifth fastest in state history. She finished third overall in the 800 at the indoor national championships, earning All-American honors with one of the Top 50 times in American scholastic history — and she led her sprint medley relay team to All-American status as well. (66 retweets + 257 poll votes = 323 total votes)

2nd place: Brianna Musco, Pascack Hills Soccer/Basketball/Softball: One of the last few remaining three-sport athletes, Musco had success no matter what season it was and finished with 12 career varsity letters at Pascack Hills. In the fall, the senior recorded 36 goals and 18 assists for the North 1, Group 2 sectional finalist soccer team and finished with a school record 102 goals and 45 assists. She was named first team All-County. In the winter, Musco played a role on Pascack Hills’ 17-win sectional semifinalist basketball team, helping the Cowgirls’ defeat defending section champion Glen Rock, 42-25, with a game-high 14 points in the quarterfinal win. She was named second team All-County. And in the spring, Musco capped a softball career that ended with 141 career hits, while serving as the leadoff hitter on the Cowgirls’ 14-9 team that earned the No. 12 seed in the BCT. She was named third team All-County. Musco is heading to Monmouth this fall, where she will continue developing her passion in music. (59 retweets + 245 poll votes = 304 total votes)

3rd place: Meaghan O’Donnell, Wayne Valley, Swimming: The talented and versatile junior starred at the State Meet of Champions this year, where she captured the state title in the 200 individual medley with her 2:05.83 and finished second in the 100 breast stroke at 1:03.96 — an All-American qualifying time. The Record Swimmer of the Year also won the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly titles at the Passaic County Championships and the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly crowns at the Big North Liberty Division championships. (115 retweets + 86 poll votes = 201 total votes)

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BEST MALE ATHLETE

Winner: Alex Whelan, Ramsey Hockey – The Record’s Player of the Year for the second straight year guided the Rams to a New Jersey public school record 28 wins, the Green Cup title, the Bergen County Tournament final and the Public B state final after scoring a North Jersey-best 43 goals and adding 37 assists. Arguably the top player in New Jersey, Whelan committed to national power Quinnipiac last season and remains loyal to Ramsey hockey despite having a number of offers from high-profile national club teams. Whelan was also been nominated for Best Play after his goal against Glen Rock in the BCT semifinals — a goal that went viral. (93 retweets + 145 poll votes = 238 total votes)

2nd place: Orlando Neto, Cliffside Park, Soccer – Fresh off a plane from Brazil two summers ago, Neto led Cliffside Park to the school’s first Bergen County title — in any sport — after the Red Raiders defeated Don Bosco, 1-0, in the BCT final. As a senior, Neto emerged as one of the top players in the state, scoring 34 goals and adding 11 assists, while leading Cliffside Park to a 19-1 record. Trailing, 2-0, against Tenafly in the county quarterfinals, Neto scored twice to tie it before the Red Raiders prevailed in a 3-2 win. (76 retweets + 93 poll votes = 169 total votes)

3rd place: Jabrill Peppers, Paramus Catholic, Football/Track — This is the second straight year Peppers finished in Top 3 in this category. The All-American cornerback and Michigan-bound senior was the No. 2-ranked high school recruit in the nation and earned USA Today Defensive Player of the Year honors after recording 64 tackles, four interceptions and 12 passes defended while leading the Paladins to their second straight Non-Public, Group 4 state title. Offensively, Peppers totaled 1,381 all-purpose yards and 19 touchdowns, rushing for 658 yards (on 90 carries) and picking up 448 yards receiving. Peppers won four straight football state titles after capturing two at Don Bosco and two at Paramus Catholic. He was featured on Sportscenter’s Top 10 plays after a touchdown run during a preseason scrimmage and named an Under Armour All-American, appearing in a game on ESPN filled with the nation’s top recruits in early January. Peppers also became just the second male to win the 100 and 200 meter races at the State Meet of Champions in spring track. (21 retweets + 132 poll votes = 153 total votes)

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BEST STUDENT SECTION

Winner: #DPPit of DePaul — 131 retweets + 209 poll votes = 340 total votes
2nd place: #CrusaderCrazies of Bergen Catholic — 103 retweets + 200 poll votes = 303 total votes
3rd place: #LivvNation of Paramus Catholic — 111 retweets + 167 poll votes = 278 total votes
4th place: #Ironmaniacs of Don Bosco — 85 retweets + 144 poll votes = 229 total votes
5th place: #TheBlackHole of Hasbrouck Heights — 91 retweets + 96 poll votes = 187 total votes
6th place: #FearTheIndian of Pascack Valley — 66 retweets + 119 poll votes = 185 total votes
7th place: #RamNation of Ramsey — 82 retweets + 101 poll votes = 182 total votes
8th place: #DubVFaithful of Wayne Valley — 48 retweets + 118 poll votes = 166 total votes