ROCKAWAY - When Ryan Ginder sacked the quarterback on the final play of the Junior Knights 13-12 clinic division victory over Denville, one of the longest unbeaten streaks in the Morris County Youth Football League came to an end.
        The Denville Blue Angels clinic team entered the game with an unbeaten streak that stretched back three seasons and seemed determined to add on to it when the Blue Angels scored first to take a 6-0 lead.
        The Junior Knights countered with a drive featured a 15-yard run by Steven Manno and a 20-yard end-around by Mario Ciccotti only to stall on the Denville 15-yard line.
        The Junior Knights then came up with a big stop of their own when Denville went on a 75-yard drive to the Junior Knight 10-yard line only to have the Junior Knights' Paul Isgett and Luke Kepler combined for a crucial stop on a fourth-and-1 to halt a Denville scoring bid.
        Sparked by the big defensive stop, the Junior Knights went on a 90-yard scoring drive with quarterback Devin Caruso scoring on a 2-yard run and then sneaking over for the PAT and a 7-6 Junior Knights lead.
        Jonathan Mitchell, Caruso and Manno took turns rushing for most of the 90-yard drive that closed out the first half.
        Denville took the second-half kickoff but the Junior Knights got the ball back on the second play from scrimmage when Rey Almodavar stripped the ball away from a Denville running back.
        Again, sparked by a big defensive play, the Junior Knights mounted a scoring drive that ended when Caruso scored his second TD of the game as he followed blocks by Sebastian Montoya and Brian Lakatos into the end zone for a 13-6 lead.
        A third-down conversion on a 10-yard pass play from Phil Pydyzewski to Patrick Delle and a first-down run by John Turner were the key plays in the drive.
     Denville struck quickly after receiving the kickoff after Caruso's second TD and pulled to within a point on a 66-yard touchdown run by one of its backs.
      Rob Norton came up with yet another huge defensive play by the Knights when he broke up Denville's PAT pass attempt in the end zone to maintain the Junior Knights' one-point lead.
        The Knights went three-and-out on their next drive and Denville got one last chance to score and keep its streak alive but was halted when Ginder got his sack as time ran out to end the game and preserve the Junior Knights big win.

    ROCKAWAY - Wayne Patterson scored two TDs and ran for an extra point as the Junior Knights peewee football team beat Dover, 20-6, in a Morris County Youth Football League game played at Wharton on Sunday, Oct. 18.
    Paterson scored on a 1-yard run in the first period and a 2-yard run the third period.
    Trevaughn Antoine scored on a 5-yard run and Mark Gaeta ran for a one-point conversion to round out the Junior Knights' scoring for the game.
    The victory is the Knights' fifth in six games and leaves them one game behind unbeaten (6-0) Madison in the Northern Division of the American Conference's standings.
    The Junior Knights get a chance to move into a tie for the division lead when they entertain Madison Saturday, Oct. 24, in a 5 p.m. game at Donatoni Field in the borough.
    Offensive highlights for the Dover game include a 15-yard pass from Jack Binkoski to Paterson that set up Patterson's second TD; a 40-yard run by Ian McNally during the scoring drive for Antoine's TD; and crisp blocking by center Bill Rhead and guards Bill Hocking and Jorge Cruz to keep the middle open for the Knights' running backs.
    On defense, Gaeta finished with two solo sacks and split one with Chris Caruso; Amire Germaine had two quarterback hurries; Kyle Taryla had an interception; and MIke Davilla prevented a TD when he made an open-field tackle on a Dover fourth-quarter sweep deep in Junior Knights' territory.
    With Knights' placekicker Joe Bernal out with the flu, Cruz and Taryla filled in and each tried two onside kick attempts, two of which were recovered by Gaeta.

PeeWees lost first game of season

      ROCKAWAY - The Junior Knights peewee division team lost its first game in four 2009 starts when it was kept off the scoreboard in a 14-0 loss to Jefferson in a Morris County Youth Football League game played at Donatoni Park here on Saturday, Oct. 3.
     Jefferson, also 3-1 after four games, scored on long TD runs in the second and fourth quarters and added a 2-point conversion kick to account for the game's only points.
     The Junior Knights' Kyle Taryla gave his team good field position when he made a diving recovery of an onsides-kick attempt by Jefferson to open the second half, but Jefferson's defense once again held the Junior Rockets.
      Nick Bernardo finished the game with two sacks and a solo tackle for the Junior Knights. Wayne Paterson intercepted a Jefferson pass and Marc Gaeta and Chris Caruso also had solid defensive games, according to the Junior Knight coaches.
       The Knights are off this weekend, picking up a forfeit victory from Lenape Valley, which does not field a peewee team. The Knights will therefore take a 4-1 mark into Week 6, when they will meet the Dover peewees at Wharton's field.

Defense sparks 20-6 peewee win over Hanover
      ROCKAWAY - Trevaughn Antoine, Wayne Patterson and Marc Gaeta scored first-half touchdowns and a tough Junior Knights defense made them stand up in a 20-6 victory over Hanover in a Morris County Youth Football League peewee game played at Whippany Park High School on Sunday, Sept. 27.
      Antoine scored on a 2-yard run in the first quarter and Patterson and Gaeta scored in second quarter, Patterson punching it in from the 1-yard line and Gaeta scoring on a 22-yard breakaway.
      The Junior Knights sacked the Hanover quarterbacks six times with Patterson leading the way with two and Jorge Cruz, Chris Caruso, John Bernal, Amire Germaine, Bill Hocking and Gaeta involved in the other four.
      Quarterback Jack Binkoski had several completed passes in spite of the wet weather as his offensive line gave both him and the Junior Knight running backs plenty of time to get their jobs done.
      Hanover scored its only points of the game in the fourth period.

Football, cheerleaders, ice cream
... a perfect after-practice mix

   
     ROCKAWAY - The Junior Knights cheerleaders picked a perfect night to hold their annual "Ice Cream Social" for the younger players in the youth football program.
    All three flag teams, the pre-clinic and clinic teams, and the super peewee team were treated to ice cream after a long, hot practice session Monday (August 17) night at Thomas Jefferson School in the borough.
    Needless to say, a good time was had by all as even a couple of future Junior Knights football players and some future Junior Knight cheerleaders joined in the festivities.

Photos by Mary Ann Decker

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Junior Knights 'clean up'
in car-wash fund-raiser

     ROCKAWAY - What a perfect day for a car wash!
     The Junior Knights football program held a car-wash/bake sale at Thomas Jefferson School here Saturday, August 8, and a good time - no, make that a GREAT time - was had by all.
     The money collected by the customers who waited patiently for their cars to be washed goes to the Junior Knights to help defray costs for their football and cheerleader programs.
     And there were plenty of players and cheerleaders on hand - including one young lad with a whistle around his neck who kept things moving smartly with his quick shrill blasts.
     The weather couldn't have been better as the youngsters, coaches, parents and even the customers all seemed to be having a good time.
     The only casualties of the day seemed to be the chips in the chocolate chip cookies being sold as the sun turned the chocolate morsels just a tad gooey -- but not so gooey you couldn't eat them!

Photos by Mary Ann Decker

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

     Quick-Finders is a two-part bedroom identification system designed to help fire fighters quickly identify rooms containing sleeping children.
    Test have proven that smoke and fire alarms - even when placed outside a child's bedroom door - do not always awaken a sleeping child when triggered no matter how loud or shrill the alarm's sound may be.
    Joe Carolyn, a 17-year volunteer fire fighter in the Borough of Rockaway, invented and developed the Quick-Finder indentification system to combat this.
    The system involves a front door identification decal that lets firefighters know a Quick-Finder system has been put in place at the home; special design reflectors placed outside the bedroom door to catch a firefighter's flashlight beam; and instructions on how to contact your local fire department to inform them the Quick-Finder safety system has been in stalled in your home.
   The price for a Quick-Finder package that equips two bedrooms is $17.95 plus $4.95 for shipping and handling.
   For a compelling video presentation, information on how to purchase the Quick-Finder system, how Carolan developed the product, and a brief look at the background of Carolan, please visit www.quick-finders.com.
     

Joe Carolan
Inventor of Quick-Finders

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