High school football
It was an interesting week on the local gridirons, and this coming week's schedule promises more excitement. Pope John's junior tailback Jeremy Tucker scored six times while junior Joe Martinek became Hopatcong's all-time leading rusher. But the star of the weekend was Jefferson's B.J. Stokes, who broke the SCIL record for completions in a game when he connected on 29 of 44 attempts for 366 yards. He also established a new SCIL career passing yardage mark of 3,566 yards, erasing the old standard of 3,460 set from 1992 to 1994 by Keith Johnson, who also played for Jefferson. In the closest vote ever, Stokes was chosen over Tucker as the SCIL Player of the Week. Vernon 20, Jefferson 19 Vernon may have been looking ahead to Friday's showdown with Lenape Valley, as it just slipped past Stokes and Jefferson, 20-19. Sparta 26, Lenape 17 Sparta scored nine unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat LVR as Ryan Skorupka toted the pigskin 25 times. He rushed for a game-high 160 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that opened the scoring. Pope John 46, Newton 14 Tucker rushed for 329 yards as the Lions belted Newton 46-14. Tucker scored on suns of 17, 60 and 19 yards, hauled in a touchdown pass of 48 yards from Eugene McGuire, returned a punt 65 yards to paydirt and scooped up a fumble that he returned 23 yards into the end zone. Wallkill 21, Kittatinny 15 Wallkill Valley, with J.J. Conrad carrying the ball 32 times for 153 yards, rallied to topple Kittatinny 21-15 in a non-league confrontation as the Rangers are playing a second season with a non-aligned schedule. Conrad scored twice on runs of one and three yards sandwiched around Mike Hern's two-yard blast into the end zone. SCIL Football Standings 1T. Sparta 3 - 0 1T. Vernon 3 - 0 3T. Hopatcong 2 - 1 3T. Lenape Valley 2 - 1 3T. Pope John 2 - 1 6T. Jefferson 0 - 2 6T. Kittatinny 0 - 2 6T. High Point 0 - 2 9. Newton 0 - 3 This week's schedule Friday (September 30) Lenape (2-1) at Vernon (3-0) 7:00 PM Sparta (3-0) at Hopatcong (2-1) 7:00 PM Saturday (October 1) High Point (0-3) at Newton (0-3) 1:00 PM Jefferson (1-2) at Kittatinny (0-3) 1:00 PM Orange (2-1) at Wallkill (2-1) 1:00 PM Pope John (2-1) at Rahway (2-1) 1:00 PM