Playoff Time

80 teams from New Jersey high schools will converge on Monsignor Donovan High School today for the 5th annual Gateway Toyota Academic
Challenge. The participating schools will come from seven counties to take part in what’s become one of the largest academic competitions in the state.
Since 2005, Gateway Toyota of Toms River has donated $25,000 in support of the event with the sponsorship money used to run the tournament and also
provide scholarships for the winning teams and top students.

Four Ocean County soccer teams have won state sectional titles and look to take another step towards overall group championships when they take the field tonight. Much of the attention will be focused on Memorial Field in Neptune, the site of the Group 4 semifinals. At 5pm the Jackson Memorial girls will face Lenape and following that at 7pm it’s an all-Toms River battle
for a spot in the boy’s championship game as North takes on South. The Mariners swept both regular-season meetings on their way to the Class A South title but the Indians are riding a wave of last-second victories in tournament play. Meanwhile the Point Boro girls are playing Hopewell Valley at 5pm today at Toms River North in the Group 3 semifinals.

It’s been an incredible season for the Monmouth University men’s soccer team and they begin the next journey on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Championships. The Hawks are coming off winning the Northeast Conference Tournament and are currently ranked 8th in the national rankings. Monmouth has drawn Big East Regular Season champion Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA’s with the game to be played on the Great Lawn Thursday at noon. The winner gets Harvard in the second round.

Freshman Derrick Russell collected his first college dual victory to help the Bucknell University wrestling team defeat North Carolina after losing close matches to Virginia and Virginia Tech earlier in the day at the ACC Challenge in Chapel Hill. Russell, wrestling at 125 pounds, is a former standout at Jackson Memorial High School.

Was anyone surprised to hear Governor-Elect Chris Christie say Monday that New Jersey’s fiscal situation is worse then even he imagined? Sounds like even rougher times are ahead.