Spring sports are over now, and in this article, we will give you a wrap up of every sport and how the teams fared.

With the throwing, long distance running, jumping, and sprinting teams, the WHHS spring track team was very successful this year. A lot of the teams have broken many school records such as three of four relay records on the boys side and the 4 by 400 relay on the girls side.Many of the records broken were made last year, so it was good to see that the athletes were able to improve their personal bests. At the recent Passaic County Relays, Hills placed fourth out of fourteen with a team score of 62. Unfortunately, the season is over, which means that after a season like this, the team will have to wait until next spring to continue their excellence. Mitchell Prescott, a junior, commented, “It was a memorable first year of track. I learned a lot from Coach Shale and I look forward to throwing again next year.”

The girls lacrosse team had mixed results this season. They went 8-9, but had a great 4-2 league record. Team leaders such as Lexi Patania, who had 43 goals and nine assists, Danielle McCall, who had 37 goals and nine assists, and Gill Brogna, who is the starting goaltender, will be graduating. The team will look to its current juniors and sophomores to provide leadership for next year’s team. In their most recent game, they lost to Fair Lawn by a score of 12-9. They were tied for second in their conference with West Milford, trailing only Wayne Valley who had a record of 14-3. The girls should be proud of their accomplishments and the returning girls will be looking forward to taking the top of the standings next year.

The golf team had a very successful season this year. The team finished 7-2 overall overall and 2-1 in league play. They played great when they went up against tough competition. They beat powerhouse schools such as Don Bosco and Passaic Tech. They also beat Wayne Valley twice out of the three times that they played. The team was lead by their unquestioned leaders Robert McHugh, Robbie Tighe, Rob Sabatino, and Maddy Flynn. Cassandra Lee also helped the team out this year. They helped carry the team to a successful year and they are only Juniors. They will make a huge impact next year as well. The team also has some up and coming sophomores such as Seth Friedman and James Bradley who will look to help carry the team next year as they played varsity this year. The team will be looking good next year as the majority of their players are juniors and they will look to pick up where they left off this year.

The baseball team did not have as good of a year as they hoped but they did do a good job with adjusting to the new coaches and finished 2 games under .500, but they were 7-3 in league play.  The team had an up and down year, dominating some teams, getting beat handily every now and then, but also pulling out some close wins.  The team went into Counties as a 7 seed and had a first round bye when they played the 10 seed DePaul.  This one was a pitcher’s duel but Wayne Hills struck in the 5th inning and pulled out a 2-1 win.  In the quarterfinals the patriots upset the 2 seed Lakeland by a score of 10-3.  Wayne Hills led 8-0 in the 4th inning of this one.  This was a great win that propelled the Patriots into the semifinals meeting the 6th seed Pompton lakes.  This one was a hard fought battle but WHHS ended up on the losing side of a 3-0 final.  Pompton lakes went on to win the tournament.  The boys kept their heads up and looked forward to states.  They won a tight 5-4 conference game against Pascack Valley giving them momentum before the state tournament where they hoped pull some upsets and make a deep run.  The Patriots, 10 seed, faced off against the 7 seed Morris Hills.  Morris Hills went ahead 2-0 in the 4th but WHHS had an answer right away, scoring two runs and tying the game 2-2.  The game went to extras and the Patriots suffered a heart-wrenching loss as Morris Hills walked off and won 3-2.  The Patriots should be proud of the way they overcame adversity, in all the new coaches coming in, and had a fun season.

The boys volleyball team also had a rollercoaster of a season. Most of their team leaders, such as David Fata, Nick Henao, and Noah Choe are seniors and will be leaving the team next year. They will depend on underclassmen in Jacob Park, who had a team leading 12 aces, Matt Riina, who was second on the team with 77 assists, and Amarjot Singh, who is their libero, to pick up right where they left. Coach Eustice will be losing a lot of size in his departing senior class, but the underclassmen can fill the void with their outstanding technique and game planning.

The boys lacrosse team had a great year and finished with a final record of 14-5.  The team started off hot beating St. Joseph, 10-3, and dominating Boonton, 16-2.  The stays hot the rest of the way with many outstanding performance in which they obliterated their opponents.  They entered the county tournament as a 1 seed and beat Pompton Lakes 19-5 in the quarterfinals.  The team would then beat arch rival Wayne Valley 11-3 and make the championship where they face off against the 7 seed DePaul.  WHHS won by another blowout, 13-3, to capture title of County Champions.  They went into the state tournament as an 11 seed and played the 6 seed Princeton.  Hills did not have enough to pull out the win and their season ended with a disappointing 14-7 loss.  This game should not take anything away from the boys season as they had a good record and were crowned County Champions.

The tennis team had an outstanding year with a final record of 19-1.  The team beat most of their opponents pretty handily and went into the state tournament as a 1 seed.  The destroyed Morris Knolls 5-0 coming off a bye in the tournament.  They then squared off against Wayne Valley and won 4-1.  The championship was a showdown between the 1 and 2 seeds as Hills played Northern Highlands. The boys suffered a devastating loss by a score of 3-2 ending their perfect season.  This was definitely not the way the team wanted it to end but it was a great run while it lasted.  

The girls softball team had an up and down year. They went 7-16 this year and 0-10 in league play. The girls got outscored by Wayne Valley 38-12 this year in the two game series. They did finish off their season strong as they shutout Paterson Eastside 17-0. They will be looking forward next year as they start off with a clean slate. They will be losing 5 seniors but they will be getting some experience next year as they have a combined 4 underclassmen coming back and they will have more underclassmen next year when they come up from the Junior Varsity squad. The girls are looking to bounce back next year and contend for a shot to win the Big North Independence conference.

Overall, the Patriots fared relatively well across the board this spring, which is why they are ranked fourth in the state in terms of public school athletics.