By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer Throughout his stellar baseball career, growing up in Nutley, then playing for Nutley High School and finally moving on to Seton Hall, a place that has been home for his entire family for ages, Giuseppe Papaccio has always been known as a slick fielding shortstop. Papaccio had no [...]

  By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer Before the current high school baseball season began last month, Lyndhurst High School senior Max Hart was just hoping to have saved his best for last. “I really wanted to do something special, since this is my last year,” said Hart, one of four senior captains on the [...]

      By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer Before the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League Relays Championships were held recently, Kearny head track and field coach Al Perez thought his girls’ squad had a solid chance to come away with the team title – even though Kearny had never won a league title in [...]

  By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer For the first six years of his tenure as the head coach of the Belleville High School softball program, Chris Cantarella saw his fair share of success. “We won seven games the first year, then had 15 wins the next,” Cantarella said. “Then, we won 18 games three [...]

  By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer It was a pitching matchup that will go down as one of the best showdowns in local high school baseball history. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my coaching career,” North Arlington head coach Paul Marcantuono said. “That’s either one of my pitchers or an opposing pitcher. [...]

  By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer Ever since Bill Mullins became the head boys’ volleyball coach at Kearny High School three years ago, there has been steady improvement in the program. The Kardinals won 11 matches in Mullins’ first season in 2011 and posted a 14-14 mark last year, qualifying for the NJSIAA Group [...]

  By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer On paper, it looked like the biggest rebuilding project in Nutley High School softball coach Luann Zullo’s career. “We have a very young team,” Zullo said. “We only have two seniors. We also have two juniors, two sophomores and the rest are freshmen. It’s definitely our youngest team. [...]

  By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer Before the high school softball season began two weeks ago, there was some apprehension about the fortunes of the Kearny High School squad. After all, the Kardinals had a new pitcher in freshman Carolynne Rivera and one can never fully anticipate what a freshman can produce right away. [...]

    By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer Mike Flynn may be the busiest high school coach in the area. In addition to coaching the Queen of Peace girls’ soccer team in the fall, he’s the junior varsity coach for the QP girls’ basketball program and assists with the varsity duties. Come spring, Flynn puts [...]

  By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer The North Arlington High School softball team won only seven games in 2012. That number is bound to improve this season, despite the Vikings’ tough 0-3 start. “To be very honest, we were not an athletic team last year,” said veteran North Arlington head softball coach John Galante. [...]