Hightstown’s Brescia suspended; Hoval hosts A’town in key clash
One former Notre Dame High quarterback will try to get one of the biggest regular-season wins of his coaching career tonight, but another won’t even get the chance to face his alma mater.
That’s part of the story on Week 4 of the West Jersey Football League season as five games involving Colonial Valley Conference squads make up the Friday night schedule.
Two of the CVC’s three unbeaten teams are in action as Rob Radice’s 3-0 Lawrence Cardinals visit 1-2 Ewing and 3-0 Hopewell Valley hosts former Notre Dame star Jay Graber’s 3-1 Allentown Redbirds at the Bulldogs’ new Ackerson Stadium. Both kick off at 7 p.m.
The big news on the CVC front concerns Hightstown coach Pete Brescia, the other former ND star QB who has been handed a one-game suspension by the school and will miss tonight’s game at Dave McIntire Field against 1-2 Notre Dame. The game will be broadcast on the WBCB Sports Network on WRRC ‘The Bronc’ (107.7 FM) following The Trentonian Pregame Show at 6:45 p.m.
Brescia’s suspension stems from last week’s 42-0 pounding at the hands of Hopewell Valley, reportedly following a parental complaint concerning his remarks during the game.
Also on tonight’s schedule, Nottingham and West Windsor-Plainsboro South both try to make it two wins in a row. The 2-1 Northstars visit 0-3 WW-P North while 2-1 WW-P South plays at 1-1 Northern Burlington, The Allentown/ Valley clash is the feature match up pitting two of the three teams who share the WJFL Valley Division lead at 2-0. Graber’s Redbirds have beaten HoVal all three years he’s been coaching, and by a combined 61-13 margin.
Allentown, which has lost only in Alta, Utah this season, finds itself matching a Dave Caldwellcoached HoVal team that has the county’s top rusher in Andrew Yuska (441 yards, 9 TDs), one of its leading passers in Austin Fellows (28-for-57, 422 yards, 6 TDs) and the CVC’s third leading receiver in Mike Giles (13-329, 4 TDs).
Tonight’s game will be the first for HoVal under the lights at its new stadium. Next week it also hosts Notre Dame under the lights.
Last weekend as soon as the Bulldogs wrapped up their first shutout win in 13 games dating back three seasons, the focus switched to trying to snap the threegame win streak Allentown has on them.
Even with the impressive offensive numbers HoVal has put up, its defensive stats are equally impressive with 11 sacks and six interceptions — two of them by Drew Wiley.