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River Dell's Ryan Duran will need another stellar performance to upset top-seeded Don Bosco today in Demarest.

(1) Don Bosco vs. (8) River Dell (at Demarest) — Don Bosco has won 17 straight games and is the clear-cut team to beat in the tournament. Matt Dacey and Joe Purritano have combined for 13 HR and 70 RBI this year and Grant Van Orden isn’t too far behind with 29 RBI. With two more wins, Tommy Burns will tie a Bergen County Tournament record for most wins in tournament history with 6. Can River Dell ace Ryan Duran duplicate his performance from last week’s win over Ridgefield, where he allowed just three hits and struck out 10 in a 3-1 win? The Record’s Mark Czerwinski featured Duran earlier this season and you can find that story here. After that win over Ridgefield last week, River Dell coach Brandon Flanagan said this to Jim McConville, “When he’s on, there’s not many better.” He’ll need to be on today. And here’s Czerinski’s more in-depth game preview from yesterday.

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Rutherford's Steve Kinzler is looking to help send the Bulldogs to the BCT semifinals today

(5) Ridgewood vs. (20) Rutherford (at Demarest) — Rutherford’s Steve Kinzler tossed 6.1 innings of scoreless ball against fourth-seeded Mahwah last week and Rex MacMillan slammed the door shut after inheriting runners on 1st and 2nd with one out by striking out the final two batters for Rutherford’s second straight upset win in the BCT. Ridgewood beat Lyndhurst in the first round, but the more interesting storyline coming from this team is it had Don Bosco on the ropes again on Wednesday. For the second time this season, Ridgewood relinquished a sizable lead in the late innings to the Ironmen. The Maroons led 8-3 in the fifth and 8-4 in the sixth, before surrendering seven runs in that sixth inning en route to a 12-9 loss. Earlier this year, Ridgewood held a 6-2 lead in the fourth before giving up five runs in a 7-6 loss. Ridgewood will get a third and final chance to beat Bosco this season if both teams win today. Again, here’s Czerwinski’s more in-depth game preview from yesterday.

(3) Ramapo vs. (11) Emerson (at Emerson) — With St. Joe’s eliminated, Ramapo is now one of two favorites to reach the BCT title game. Ramapo held on against Glen Rock for a 5-4 eight-inning win in the first round last week and will now face Emerson, a little Group 1 school that’s been making some noise in Bergen County this year. A big reason behind Emerson’s success is sophomore Joe Fisco, who gives the Cavos a little bit of everything. He’s batting over .500 and has four wins on the mound. Here’s a story on Fisco from Czerwinski earlier this week. Mark Czerwinski will be covering this one. Here’s Czerwinski’s preview of this one from yesterday.

(7) Paramus vs. (15) Ridgefield Park (at Emerson) — The Record’s Mark Czerwinski did a nice preview for this one yesterday. You can find that here. The whole county will be waiting to see what Ridgefield Park’s Derek Hyland does for an encore after no-hitting St. Joe’s last week and Czerwinski will be here covering the action.

Passaic County Tournament Quarterfinals

West Milford's Garvin Jones is looking to help lead the Highlanders to their first PCT title in program history.

(1) West Milford vs. (9) Clifton — Clifton has new life after being the beneficiary of a Wayne Valley forfeit after a pitcher exceeded the four-day innings limit in last week’s first-round game. West Milford, playing in its first tournament game after receiving a first-round bye, is looking for its first PCT title in its 41-year history. As of Thursday, Garvin Jones was batting a team-best .435 with 28 RBI, Brady Pevny was batting .435 with 19 RBI and Aiden Stewart was 5-1 with a 1.11 ERA, beating the likes of Wayne Hills, Lakeland, Wayne Valley, Bergen Catholic and Old Tappan.

(4) Wayne Hills vs. (5) Lakeland — Wayne Hills has the potential to make a run in this tournament, led by Justin Avedissian is one of the most feared hitters in North Jersey. The Patriots have already beaten West Milford and Passaic Tech this year — two teams seeded ahead of them. Chris Amato will need to be sharp. Amato tossed a two-hitter in Wayne Hills’ first-round win over Eastside last week, a 10-0 win. But Lakeland won’t be any pushover, as the Lancers have already beaten Wayne Hills twice this season. This one could be the best game of the day.

(3) Passaic Tech vs. (6) Hawthorne — Keith Idec coined Passaic Tech the “sleeper” in this tournament in his preview last week. After completely turning things around after a five-win season last year, Tech has tripled that total this year, currently with 16 wins. Darlyn Beato, Kevin Brito, Santos Joaquin, Andrew Ramirez and Isaac Pichardo make the Bulldogs dangerous. Like Wayne Hills, Passaic Tech already has a win over top-seeded West Milford this year, too. Passaic Tech is looking for its first county title since 2004, when it defeated West Milford.

Expect to see sophomore southpaw Mike Coss on the hill today as second-seeded Pompton Lakes will take on defending champion DePaul in the PCT quarterfinals.

(2) Pompton Lakes vs. (7) DePaul — The Record’s Keith Idec will be here today as DePaul continues its quest to defend its 2011 county title. Don’t dismiss the Spartans because of their seed. Remember, they won it all as the 11-seed one year ago. But the Cardinals have the pitching and will probably see ace Mike Coss today. With the semifinals on a Saturday and the final on a Monday, having two quality pitchers is a nice luxury to have. And this Pompton Lakes team has that with Coss and Kevin Magee.

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PHOTO/ROBIN GOTTESMAN

Both of them took their talents to Don Bosco and has helped the Ironmen become one of the top teams in New Jersey under head coach Mike Springer, a 1998 RHS graduate.

And when the Maroons and Ironmen clashed last Saturday in the Bergen County tournament final, Henthorn scored two goals, and Petzold anchored a strong defense that limited Ridgewood to its lowest scoring total of the season.

Top-seeded Don Bosco remained unbeaten at 16-0 and won its first county championship, 8-4, over the second-seeded Maroons at Mahwah High School. RHS, which came in riding a seven-game win streak, had bested Bosco in both the 2008 and 2011 Bergen finals.

“It feels amazing,” Henthorn said.

Henthorn scored the opening goal of the game, as Don Bosco took a 4-1 halftime lead.

He cut and saw an opening and “took it,” he said of his first tally.

Ridgewood (10-6) cut the Ironmen’s lead to 5-3 after the third quarter on goals by seniors Max Luing and Peter Reuter. But Henthorn gave his side some breathing room with a fourth-quarter tally, which came off an assist from Max Allen, who had four total assists on the afternoon.

“Max Allen always finds me,” Henthorn said. “He’s a great feeder. I just have to catch it and put it away.

“I was getting scared there a couple times,” the Ridgewood resident added. “But we pulled away.”

Henthorn and Petzold agreed that there is no bad blood between themselves and their public school friends.

“There’s no love lost,” Henthorn said. “They’re still my dudes.”

“We’d never won a county title at Bosco,” Petzold said, “so to be the first ever [to do so], especially against my hometown, it means a lot to me. To come out on top in the end is good.”

The senior defender noted that his Ridgewood friends “gave him flack” for going to the Ramsey school. But Petzold has no regrets.

“I love my boys here at Bosco,” he said. “I made the decision to come here. Sometimes I think, ‘What if,’ but most of the time, I’m very happy. I don’t really think about it too much.”

Henthorn, on the other hand, would have no problem being a Maroon, though he currently wears the same colors as an Ironman.

“I would have loved to have gone to Ridgewood,” the senior attackman said. “My parents wouldn’t let me, actually… [but] I’m kind of glad I stayed at Bosco.”

The Ironmen also won the April 14th regular-season meeting between the teams, 13-9.

“The first time we played them, we beat them,” Henthorn said. “I thought we were going to beat them again.”

Added Petzold, “We always say it’s hard to beat a team twice. To beat a team like them twice is huge.”

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Smyth, a Don Bosco Prep alum, will be eligible immediately for the Pirates for the 2012-13 season as a graduate student. He chose Seton Hall over Boston College and New Hampshire.

Smyth is the second player to transfer in to Seton Hall this off-season and both are New Jersey natives. The school officially announced Monday the transfer of incoming combo guard Sterling Gibbs, a Seton Hall Prep alum who played for Texas last season. The school will apply for a hardship waiver for Gibbs, according to sources, in the hope the Scotch Plains native can be eligible immediately for the 2012-13 season.

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Smyth averaged 7.9 points over his career at Iona, which included only one game in the 2008-09 season. He took a medical redshirt that year because of a season-ending ankle injury suffered in practice. He was a key contributor for the Gaels in both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, averaging 8.1 and 10.1 points, respectively. Smyth shot 42.5 percent from three-point range in 2009-10 and 39.3 percent in 2010-11.

His playing time lessened last season after Arizona transfer Lamont “Momo” Jones joined the Gaels. Smyth, who played his first two years at Iona under current Pirates’ coach Kevin Willard, averaged 5.5 points and shot 33 percent from three-point range in 2011-12. He shot 0-for-2 from the floor and was scoreless in six minutes of action in his final game with Iona, the Gaels’ 78-72 loss to BYU in a first-round game of the NCAA tournament.

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Sparked by a strong effort from the front line and 28 assists from senior setter Doug Dragon, third-seeded Don Bosco defeated second-seeded Bergen Catholic, 25-22, 25-22,in a Bergen County tournament boys volleyball semifinal match Tuesday. The Ironmen will travel to Fair Lawn to take on the top-seeded and two-time defending champion Cutters on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the county final.

“We didn’t want to allow any letdowns, we wanted to remain in the front the entire way,” said Don Bosco senior outside hitter George Mundanchira, who recorded 13 kills and seven digs. “We know if we give up some easy points Bergen Catholic would take advantage of it and at least take it to a third game. We made sure that didn’t happen by closing the door since we knew they were capable of making a big comeback if we didn’t stay alert and aggressive.”

The Ironmen (20-4), who have won 19 of their past 20 matches, fell to Bergen Catholic, 23-25, 25-16, 25-21, on April 9 in the midst of their 1-3 start. Then on April 27 in the second Big North Conference Freedom Division match, Don Bosco dropped the first set before prevailing over the Crusaders, 20-25, 25-18, 25-22.

“The team that lost the first set won both of those matches and we didn’t want to see that trend repeat itself for the third time; that obviously would have been bad for us,” said Don Bosco first-year coach Beth Powell, the longtime, successful Demarest girls coach. “So we had the mind-set to come out pumped up and ready to roll, but then not to take a step back in the second game. The strategy was effective because the entire team executed it to perfection and their attitude and technique was positive from beginning to conclusion.”

The Ironmen fell behind, 9-7, in the opener before going on a 14-7 run to take a 21-16 lead. Senior libero Conor Sperzel accounted for a sparkling defensive effort when he had nine of his match-high 15 digs in that game.

“We came out determined, we stayed determined, and because of that we were able to pull through with a successful effort,” said Sperzel. “This wasn’t one or two or three guys either, it required a complete team effort. And we received that, everybody on the floor made valuable contributions at some point in the two-game sweep.”

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From 247 Sports

Nutile steps into a position that has a very rich tradition of success; following the likes of Yankovich, Gary Nova, Matt Simms and MikeTeel..

“I can’t wait for this,” Nutile said. “I’m working my butt off every day. The whole team is in the weight room and I’m working there every day. I can’t wait for this season.”

Nutile backed up for Yankovich as a sophomore last season and has been leaning on past Ironmen quarterbacks for advice.

“I’ve learned a lot from them,” Nutile said. “Gary comes back sometimes and me and him are talking all the time. He’s telling me, ‘you got to be a leader now.’ There’s no more sitting back, saying I’m only a sophomore or whatever. I have to step up in that huddle and take control of the team. Mike is the same thing.”

Nutile is spending his spring working out with Rutgers bound wide receiver Leonte Carroo. Carroo, who will enroll at Rutgers later this month, is staying in shape by running routes with Nutile.

The U.S. Army All-American caught balls from both Nova and Yankovich and is impressed with Nutile’s work ethic at the position.

“He’s going to be good, really good,” Carroo said. “He’s the guy who I work out with now and he is really improved. He’s going to be as good as [Gary Nova] … maybe better.”

In recruiting, Nutile is most familiar with Rutgers and Boston College. He competed at the Rutgers 7-on-7 last year and has four teammates in the program.

“I know Coach [Kyle] Flood,” Nutile said. “I’ve talked to him a few times like when he came to our practice and also at their 7-on-7 when he was an assistant coach. I like him. The older [Bosco] guys really like him.

“They love it. [Darius Hamilton] is down there lifting and says he loves it. It’s a great atmosphere, great coaching. Gary loves it. You saw him there this year, stepping in and winning. They all love it.”

Nutile is also familiar with Rutgers offensive coordinator Dave Brock.

“I did some things with him at the Boston College camp when we went up there,” he said. “He’s a good coach.”

Standing at 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, Nutile plans to keep himself busy during the summer with multiple camps and 7-on-7 events. For now, he expects to camp at Boston College and participate in the 7-on-7s at Rutgers and Kean.

“I need to get my footwork up and my strength up,” he said. “I’ve been working on that a lot, jumping rope, speed ladder, weights, everything. I get that agility up, I’ll be good.”

From Scout.com

Due to the installation of the new field turf at Don Bosco, the camp will be held at Rockland Community College. For more information, visit Ironmen Baseball Camp.