Eight of the nine Sussex County football teams are in action tonight.

Eight teams are in action tonight. Five are leaving the county. Pope John visits Parsippany Hills tomorrow.

Due to an unfortunate cell phone tragedy, SCSN will not be providing live updates tonight.

Check back later for the final scores.

Friday
Hanover Park 13, Kittatinny 7
Hopatcong 41, Whippany Park 13
Jefferson 32, High Point 21
Lenape Valley 14, Wallkill Valley 0
Mahwah 32, Newton 14
Sparta 35, Mendham 6
Roxbury 40, Vernon 0

Saturday
Pope John 31, Parsippany Hills 12

Tim Farrell/The Star-Ledger

“It’s starting to feel like high school, having all these 100-yard games,” said Martinek “The thing is, I have to keep working and keep the momentum going.” – Joe Martinek

Full Story is right here.

Don Bosco is still the top team in the state.

By Lenny Knies

The beat rolls on in the latest Star-Ledger Top 20 poll as Don Bosco retains their top spot for what feels like a lifetime.

The Ironmen (3-0) took down Prattville, Alabama with a 35-24 victory.

I think it is safe to say the Ironmen won’t be challenged for the rest of the season and are poised to claim their fourth straight Top 20 trophy.

The big match up will take place at #2 Wayne Hills, where the Patriots (3-0) will host (No. 5) St. Joseph’s of Montvale (2-0).

Wayne Hills survived a very game Wayne Valley squad avoiding a monumental upset. They will put their 55-game winning streak on the line in what should be a classic. I like St. Joseph’s to stop the Patriots winning streak at 55.

(No. 11) Bergen Catholic (2-1) dropped down the rankings after falling to (No. 7) St. Peter’s Prep (1-1) of Jersey City. The Crusaders will visit Ridgewood, who will have an upset on their mind.

The Pope John crowd has had plenty to cheer for so far.

Think your school has the best fans? Find out in the SCSN Fan Rankings.

Three schools have separated themselves from the pack. Find out who they are.

Football Fan Rankings

1. Lenape Valley (3-0) The Patriot Posse has it all. They have the chants, the red body paint, size, gigantic signs and they’re loud. Travel and cold temperatures haven’t bothered them one bit.

2. Pope John (3-0) Fan for Fan Pope John may be the loudest. They may also have the largest student section. They have penguin suits, lion costumes and custom t-shirts. Nobody feels comfortable entering the Lions Den.

3. Sparta (2-1) When Sparta returns home in three weeks they have the potential to jump to the top spot. Relentless chanting and costumes were impressive against Parsippany Hills but I was expecting more against Pope John.

4. Vernon (0-3) Haven’t had much to cheer about but they did a nice job on opening night. One group of boys jogged around the field shirtless sporting letters which spelled out Vernon.

5. Kittatinny (1-2) I saw some face paint on Saturday, but the Cougars have some work to do to be compared to the top three.

6. Wallkill Valley (1-2) The black hole had some size but not much else. There wasn’t much standing or chanting going on.

7. High Point (1-2) Another decent sized crowd but not much going on in the stands. The boys soccer team had an awesome crowd when they hosted Kittatinny under the lights.

N/A. Hopatcong (1-2) Haven’t seen the Hopatcong crowd yet this season.

N/A. Newton (0-3) Haven’t seen the Newton crowd at home, but they didn’t travel well to Lenape Valley in week two.

Editor’s Note
Unfortunately SCSN can’t be everywhere at the same time (yet!)
Send us photos of your crowd along with stories and some of the chants you use and maybe you’ll knock off the Patriots.

Pope John keeps the top spot.

Not much changes at the top.

Kittatinny makes a big jump and Vernon finally falls.

1. Pope John (3-0) Found a way to battle through adversity of a costly missed extra point to pull off an enormous road victory.

2. Lenape Valley (3-0) Tested for the first time the Patriots escaped Hackettstown with a win. It wasn’t pretty, but still a win.

3. Sparta (2-1) The Spartans are right on the heels of the Patriots. They could hop Lenape Valley with a win and a shaky Patriot performance against Wallkill Valley.

4. Wallkill Valley (1-2) Friday night will be an enormous measuring stick game for the Rangers.

5. Kittatinny (1-2) The Cougars showed signs of life as they ran the ball down Newton’s throat.

6. High Point (1-2) High Point needs to respond after a heartbreaking loss to Mendham (1-2).

7. Vernon (0-3) Had to drop to the Vikings a couple slots after another blowout. Despite a horrific score differential I don’t believe they’re the worst team in the county.

8. Hopatcong (1-2) The defense has impressed. The offense is another story.

9. Newton (0-3) It hasn’t been pretty. Despite a potentially formidable offense the Braves haven’t been able to stop anyone.

The Braves take the top spot for the second consecutive week.

The Braves keep the top spot.

Wallkill Valley falls and Pope John rises.

Field Hockey Power Rankings

1. Newton (5-0) The Braves’ solidified the No. 1 spot by shutting out Hackettstown (5-1) and Wallkill Valley last week.

2. Pope John (5-1-1) The Lions made their statement with Monday’s 5-0 victory over the Rangers. Looks like they’re for real.

3. Wallkill Valley (6-2) The Rangers must regroup quickly they have a date with Hackettstown looming Monday.

4. High Point (3-5) The Wildcats beat Kittatinny and Lenape Valley couldn’t, so High Point jumps into the four spot.

5. Lenape Valley (3-2-1) How close are Lenape Valley and Kittatinny? They both beat Hopatcong and Jefferson; both lost to Wallkill Valley by the same score, 3-0.

6. Kittatinny (3-3-1) They’ve both scored 12 times. Kittatinny’s allowed one more goal (7). They played eachother to a 0-0 tie.

7. Vernon (2-3) All five games the Vikings have played have been shutouts.

8. Sparta (0-6) Having scored two goals prevents the Spartans from calling the nine spot home.

9. Hopatcong (0-6) Outscored by 34 goals, the Chiefs have a shot at scoring their first against Jefferson (2-4) Monday.

Pope John coach Vic Paternostro speaks to his team after the Lions' victory over Sparta in week two.

Football: Week Three

Pope John 17, Montville 10 (NJ.com)

Sparta 34, Parsippany Hills 14 (NJ.com)

Hanover Park 14,  Wallkill Valley 7 (NJ.com)

Morristown 48, Vernon 8 (NJ.com)

High Point walks to the field during its 34-27 loss to Mendham. Photo by N.A. D'Agostino.

Kittatinny had two players surpass the century mark.

High Point was stunned in the final two minutes.

Hopatcong allowed only five points and lost.

Mendham 34, High Point 27
Maybe Mendham should change its name to “Last Minutemen.”

After taking the lead with under two minutes remaining, victory still managed to slip through High Point’s paws.

The Wildcats were shocked as Mendham handed them their second loss of the season, one of the most painful in recent memory.

“That sucked,” High Point running back Austin Caldwell said. “I don’t think I’ve had a worse feeling in my career.”

Brad Jones‘ 28-yard touchdown reception from Matt Crimmins was the death blow, as Mendham boarded the bus back down to Morris County having escaped with its first victory.

Crimmins set a Mendham school record with five touchdown passes in one game.

Both offenses moved the ball at-will. The Cats earned 377 yards of total offense.

Quarterback Kevin Fasano put in his best performance of the season going 7-for-13 for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

He also was a threat on the ground running for 111 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries utilizing the option offense.

Joe Beltran contributed with three catches for 64 yards and a touchdown.

“We did a lot of things right offensively,” High Point coach Jim Delaney said. “I just wish we were a little stronger on the defensive side of the ball.”

Austin Caldwell’s 16-yard touchdown run put the Wildcats ahead in what High Point thought was a season shifting come-from-behind victory.

“They played tough right down to the wire,” said Caldwell. “It was one of the toughest games I have been a part of in my life.”

High Point (1-2) looks to rebound next week as it visits Jefferson (1-2) Friday at 7 pm. – Clayton Caldwell

Kittatinny 29, Newton 15

Monday’s are usually conditioning days at Kittaitnny.

The first day of the week is typically a little less strenuous. They spend most of the time in the weight room.

Coming off two losses, last Monday was an exception.

The varsity squad spent “about a half-hour” pushing coach Jim Green around on the sled.

Time well spent.

The Cougars picked up their first victory of the season with the win over Newton.

The offensive linemen had plenty of company on Monday. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers – it didn’t matter they all took their turn on the sled.

“It wasn’t a punishment,” Green said. “We wanted to get our identity back.”

On Saturday, well-oiled running machine was their identity.

Tyler Cerbo and Nick Moltini combined for 277 rushing yards. Cerbo (24 carries 176 yards) scored three touchdowns.

“We looked at this one like it was a playoff situation.” he said. “We didn’t come out like we wanted to in the first two weeks. Today we showed we can play physical football and got our identity back.”

Morris Catholic 5, Hopatcong 3

Do not adjust your computer screens. The score you see before you is correct.

Hopatcong lost a defensive struggle on Ryan Rodriguez’s 27-yard field goal as time expired.

The Chiefs offense is off to a slow start with only 13 points. That’s third worst in the ten-team Independence Division.

Only Whippany Park and Kinnelon have scored lesss (13).

Luckily for the Chief Whippany Park (0-3) is next on the schedule. They host the Wildcats Friday at 7 pm.

It gets tougher for Hopatcong (1-2) in two weeks they travel to Pequannock (2-1) on Oct. 9th.

They’ll hope to jump-start the counties eighth ranked offense (only Vernon has scored less with eight) by then.

The same can’t be said for the Hopatcong defense.

Their 33 points against is third best in the county. Only the undefeated — Pope John (30) and Lenape Valley (26) have surrendered less.

On Saturday Morris Catholic scored shortly after Rodriguez had his punt downed at the Hopatcong 1-yard line. On the next play he made a tackle in the end-zone to give the Crusaders a 2-0 lead.

Tom Vicedomini kicked a 27-yard field goal in the third quarter to put the Chiefs ahead 3-2.

They fell to a sixth-place tie in the Independence Division.

Joe Martinek continues to impress as the starting running back for Rutgers this season. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

By N.A. D’AGOSTINO

Just one week after setting collegiate career highs in both carries (23) and rushing yards (121) against Florida International, Rutgers running back Joe Martinek did it again.

The former Chief ran for 147 yards on 19 carries. He also had two touchdowns in Rutgers 34-13 victory over Maryland (1-3), Saturday.

Martinek is  no stranger to shattering records. He is the all-time leading rusher in the state of New Jersey (7,589 yards).

Most of his damage was done in the fourth quarter, 130 of his 147 yards came in crunch time. Both of his trips into the end-zone occurred within the final five minutes of the game.

Rutgers (3-1) is off next week and then will host Texas Southern on October 10th, at 3:30 pm ET.

Martinek Meter
Joe has now ran for 764 yards on 143 career carries.