Here at Wayne Hills High School, athletics are something that is taken EXTREMELY seriously. It often seems as if every single sport is succeeding, going far in tournaments and often winning them. So far, the fall sports teams have been having excellent seasons, each of which we’ll analyze below:

The Wayne Hills Football Team is having yet another excellent season. They are sitting at 6-2 on the season, which Coach Demikoff should be very pleased with. Their only losses came at the hands of a Canton McKinley, who is 8-1 and ranked 303 in the nation, and Old Tappan, who is 7-0 and ranked 385 in the country. All of the other games the Patriots have played in, they have dominated. The only close game in which they won was a thrilling comeback against the rival Ramapo Green Raiders. Otherwise, the football team has had relatively drama free wins, with the offense starting to put the pieces together as of late. In their last four games, Quarterback Jaaron Hayek has eight touchdowns, which emphasizes the improvement their passing game has shown over the course of the season. When asked about how the season has gone so far, Coach Peischl commented, “It’s gone well, we’re 5-2, we are where we want to be. If we win this Valley Game, we’ll be in the playoffs. The goal for us is to win the title, and getting into the playoffs brings us closer to that goal.” They are a relatively young team, as most of their skill players are Juniors and Sophomores. The Patriots recently had a 31-0 victory over their crosstown rivals at Wayne Valley and will look to fine-tune their game plan next week against Irvington before the playoffs.

The WHHS Girls Tennis Team had themselves a great season as well, with a record of 13-3. They are a team that relies on students from every grade, from Freshmen to Seniors. Lead by Coach Keough and Coach Green, they just came off a 5-0 victory over West Milford. The team has been one of the stronger teams at Hills and this season shows that they will be a force to be reckoned with many of their key players returning next year.

The Wayne Hills Girls Soccer Team recently defeated DePaul in the Passaic County Semi Finals in a thrilling overtime win. Like many of the teams on this list, they are having an excellent season, at 10-6-1. Like many of the teams on this list, there is a mix of girls from all grades that make the team so successful. After a great season, they were unfortunately knocked out in a close 1-0 game against Montville. The girls will look to improve even further next season, with a very tough act in this year’s team to follow.

The Wayne Hills Gymnastics Team also had a very successful season. They finished the season placing third in the county and fourth in the league championships. The team is improving as the seasons go by and will look to new gymnasts to continue their success as many of the gymnasts are Seniors.

The WHHS Boys Soccer Team is also having a great season, with a record of 10-3-5. Lead by Coach Graham, they are currently second in the the Big North Independence Conference, behind only Passaic Valley. The boys will take on Indian Hills on Tuesday, October 31.

The Field Hockey Team recently wrapped up their season, coming in at 9-10 in the standings. The Seniors on the team served as leaders and set a great example for the younger girls in the program. After their season ending game against Chatham, the returning girls will look to build on this season and be even better next season.

The Wayne Hills Volleyball Team left everything on the court this past Saturday vs. Wayne Valley in the Passaic County Finals.  The girls lost in three, grueling games, with two of the games going into extra points. Many of their players are Seniors that have been in the program since Freshman year and almost took a victory over a very strong first seeded Wayne Valley team. They’ll look to win their next match against Atlantic Tech on Tuesday, October 31.

All of the Patriot athletes should be proud of the results they had this season, as every team was competitive and had either an above .500 record or just a game under. The excellence that comes with being a Wayne Hills athlete has surely been met this fall and we wish all athletes, those going onto college and those coming back for another season next year, the best of luck.