The Week in Sports: a Look Back and a Look Ahead

From basketball to wrestling, and indoor track to bowling, here is the latest news in Fort Lee sports:

• The Bridgemen boys’ basketball team secured two wins this week and narrowly missed an opportunity for a third. Fort Lee defeated Queen of Peace on Monday 54-35 and then beat Dumont on Tuesday 64-51. Sophomore Anthony Rafes led the Bridgemen with a season-high 23 points as Fort Lee eyed a third consecutive win. Unfortunately, the Bridgemen fell to Wood-Ridge in a high-scoring 82-79 loss on Friday as five different players scored in double figures. Looking Ahead, Fort Lee will play at Tenafly on Tuesday night and host Cliffside Park on Thursday. Both games are scheduled for seven o’clock. The Bridgemen also host Rutherford on Saturday beginning at 1:30 p.m.
• The Fort Lee girls’ basketball team concluded the week with two victories and a defeat . The Lady Bridgemen lost to Dumont on Tuesday 71-47. Senior guard Brianna Mattessich scored 18 points in the loss and another 21 points on Tuesday in a 47-32 win against Wallington. The Lady Bridgemen closed out the week on Saturday with another victory over Saddle Brook 45-26. Junior guard Ally Long recorded a career high 15 points. After the game she said: “I felt a little on today and I wanted to keep shooting.” Fort Lee now has four games this upcoming week starting with a 5:30 p.m. match-up at Dwight Morrow on Monday. They then host Tenafly on Tuesday and visit Cliffside Park on Thursday; the Tenafly game will begin at seven while the Cliffside Park game will tip at six o’clock. The Lady Bridgemen also close the week hosting Rutherford on Saturday at noon. Both the boy’s and girl’s games that day will be a part of a cancer benefit initiative by the Fort Lee Athletics Program.
• The co-ed bowling team finished their season on a high note Friday as both the boy’s and girl’s teams defeated River Dell High School. The girls completed a 5-0 sweep behind all student athletes bowling for scores over 100. Yeliz Inalman finished with a high of 167 as fellow teammate Healin Park bowled a 142. The boys also won 3-2 in come-from-behind fashion to set a new high for total pins this year. Junior Kei Kase rolled a 210 and freshman Ammad Quirashi bowled a 180 in the victory. With the team season complete, the focus shifted to the individuals as the state sectional tournament was held on Saturday. Senior David Daniels was the first Fort Lee Bridgemen to qualify for the team in a few years. Although he will not be advancing, Daniels said “it was a great accomplishment to cap off my two year career.”

• The co-ed indoor track team competed over 40 schools on Thursday at the Ed Church Invitiational. While at the Rothman Center, coach Ed Garrison was proud to say that many athletes had personal bests, but not did place. Some of the most notable medal winners including Frankie Gorris finished 5th in the 55 meter dash with a time of 6.7 seconds. Gorris also started the Fort Lee varsity 4 x 400 meter relay along with Nikola Gogic, Jenya Dyagilev and Jonathan Spenst to finish in 3rd place (3:43.2). The indoor track team will now compete in the New Jersey State Group II, North 2 Sectional Championship today at Tom’s River. Any runners that qualify today will then compete in the Group II State Championship next Saturday as well.  
• And finally, the Fort Lee wrestling regular season is now complete. They defeated Tenafly in a make-up match on Monday, were cancelled from wrestling against St. Mary’s on Wednesday and then competed in a meet against multiple teams on Saturday. The Bridgemen unfortunately lost to Fair Lawn (48-28) and Ridgewood (54-24). Senior Jose Granados secured a major decision victory and a pin as well. Next weekend, they will participate in the Wrestling Districts on Friday and Saturday at North Bergen High School. No times have been announced yet.