By Andy Loigu

Coming off highly successful campaigns of a year ago, the girls and boys varsity basketball programs at Hackettstown have high hopes for banner seasons this year. Each team has a returning star player to lead the way while younger players grow into expanded roles.

The games that count in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference begin this Thursday, Dec. 15, against Wallkill Valley. The girls will be at home while the boys travel up the winding roads to Hardyston Township.

In coach Ben Barnhart’s fourth season last winter, the Tiger girls went 21-8, winning the NWJAC Colonial championship and reaching the North 2 Group 2 finals.

Leading the way, scoring 392 points, from inside and outside, was junior Rylie Grant.

The Tigers’ boys team, in coach Mike McDonagh’s 12th campaign, after several heartbreaking near misses, finally captured that long sought after Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex championship last season. Junior Ethan Almeida, with 22 points in the final game, was chosen the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He also was an All-NWJAC selection.

His game features three-point bombs, blocked shots, and double doubles, reaching double figures in points and rebounds in several outings. 

The top seeded Tigers lived up to “the chalk” in the tournament. “We have no height, we scrap, and try to play fast,” the jubilant coach said. What the team did have was lots of heart.

In the 2020 season, Hackettstown’s boys won the championship in the North 2 Section 2 playoffs, just before the state semifinals and finals were cancelled due to the oncoming threat of the fast-spreading COVID virus.

There were no holdovers from that team on the 2022 H/W/S champions.

It was their own piece of Hackettstown sports history.

This year they’ll be looking to write another Hackettstown success story.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.