Haddonfield football team's first home game in 659 days was worth the wait ...

Haddonfield makes it 13 out of last 14 against Heights on Turkey Day HADDONFIELD - Roughly 3,500 fans filed into Haddonfield’s stadium Thursday to see a yearly tradition that had gone one way for 12 of the last 13 years. Make that 13 of 14. The Mayor’s Trophy will remain with the Haddons, who jumped out to a 17-0 lead by halftime and cruised to a 31-0 win over rival Haddon Heights. “There’s no feeling like winning your last game own your own turf,” senior tight end and defensive lineman Jason Garstkiewicz said. “Especially in a game that means so much to so many people. “The second that final clock rang, I felt that sense of accomplishment.” Fellow upperclassman Brendan Gilmartin felt it too. The 18 year old welled up with emotion as he explained Haddonfield's (6-4) ritual from practice the night before. Twelfth-grade players speak in front of the team. Together, the squad burns a shoe. Under the old sod, they used to bury it. Today’s artificial turf doesn’t allow for the dig. Still, the ceremony remains an important moment – and extra motivation. Gilmartin watched Garstkiewicz – a longtime friend who lost his leg to bone cancer in seventh grade and now plays with a prosthetic – address the group Wednesday night. It helped spark him on Thanksgiving morning. Gilmartin finished with two touchdown tosses, 109 yards in the air and 41 more on the ground to go with four tackles and a sack. He even caught a pass to convert a fourth down on the game’s first drive. That enabled Gabe Klaus to sprint in from 10 yards out to open the score just four minutes, 20 seconds into play. “Obviously it’s a big mix of emotions,” Gilmartin said after he handed the large trophy to a teammate. “It really hits you. What Jason went through in the seventh grade, it was really emotional hearing him talk about that last night. “He is one of the toughest kids you’ll ever meet. It’s just an inspiration to all of us.” Midway through the second period, Gilmartin found Spencer Flores on a post for a 51-yard score. A field goal from Henry Grozier made it 17-0 at the break. Early in the second half, Klaus put the game out of reach on an inside power play. He broke through the Garnets (6-4) and rolled 65 yards to pay dirt. “We wanted to get after them in the second half and get to it,” Klaus said. “The line and fullback made me a huge hole. I hit it hard and sprung one.” The junior tailback finished with 86 yards on five carries. “They played well,” Heights’ coach Chris Lima said. “That’s a good Group 2 football team over there. “You can’t make mistakes like that. I was shocked at some of the mistakes we had all over the field. We didn’t have those all year.” Gilmartin’s 22-yard strike to Matt Burns put the final touches on Haddonfield’s fourth consecutive success in the series that dates back to 1902. The Haddons upped their overall advantage to 60-42-6. “There’s so much tradition,” Garstkiewicz explained. “Every year we go out and try to be better. “Being able to be a Haddon after watching in the stands since the day I was born, it means so much.” Mark Trible; (856) 486-2424; mtrible@gannettnj.com ...

HADDONFIELD — The Haddonfield High School field hockey team remains the top dawg in Central Jersey Group 1. The top-seeded Bulldawgs successfully defended their sectional tit...

Through nine games, the Haddonfield High School girls' soccer team has yet to lose, which would lead some to believe the Bulldawgs are driven by a roster full of upperclassmen. Think again. The top three goal scorers for  Haddonfield(9-0), No. 3 in the Courier-Post Mean 15, are sophomores Madison Bee and Wayden Ay, as well as freshman Rachel Bonnet. The trio has combined for 18 goals, each finding the back of the net six times. For coach Lori Quintavalle, this early success has resulted from a couple of factors. “I think it is a combination of their concentration in front of the net and the other girls finding them,” she said. “The assists have been great, it’s not just a one-person show finishing. “A lot of our goals have come off of corner kicks, crosses, great passes through, so it’s coming from the rest of the girls making great passes and then them having really good concentration and finishing.” Ay, who also has two assists, recognized the team’s chemistry as another cause for the undefeated start. “All of the girls are so close, and you can tell every day before games in school we’re all psyching each other up and at practice it really feels like a family atmosphere,” she said. With the underclassmen leading the way offensively and the upperclassmen manning the back line, this balance has led to Haddonfield putting together a complete team that is solid at every position. Freshman Jordan Siok has three goals and five assists on the offensive end, while senior Jenna Zappetti and junior Annie Stanton lead the defense. “It’s such a cool feeling to know we have so many good girls above us who are holding it down on defense and then the younger girls up top shows how much of a future Haddonfield has,” Ay said. PHOTO GALLERY: Haddonfield vs. Haddon Heights girls' soccer ...

The Haddonfeld boys picked up four victories on Tuesday to extend its dual meet winning streak to 191 in a row, which moves the Dawgs into the No. 6 spot in U.S. history. Haddonfield, which began...

When Finn Miller tells his tale of survival, he’s often asked if he thought he was going to die. Alone in the woods, a broken left femur and tibia, a torrential storm pummeling his battered...

  Briana Gess has been racing for most of her life.     She is used to tough competition. She is used to winning, too - especially in the 1,600 meters in th...