High school league playoffs

St. Joseph's dominated the regular season, but East Brunswick emerged as the Gold Division playoff champion in the Boys High School Fall League.

The Bears beat their Middlesex-county rivals, 23-25, 28-26, 25-19 to capture the crown. St. Joes had earned the regular-season crown and top seed in the playoffs after compiling a 33-3 record. East Brunswick was the second seed in the playoffs and was 21-15 in the regular season, with most of the losses coming against St. Joes.

Junior Mike Kvidahl led East Brunswick with 17 kills and 3 blocks. Senior middle blocker Alex Rigley had 15 kills and 5 blocks, and senior outside hitter Christian Portera had 14 kills. Junior middle blocker Rohan Patel had 5 kills and 4 blocks, while junior setter Andy Balint had 3 blocks and 2 aces.

East Brunswick took a 5-2 lead in the third game on a kill by senior Brian Murphy, and never trailed after that. The Bears had a 19-12 lead in that game before St. Joes closed to 23-19 on a kill by senior middle Paul Konopacki (9 kills, 2 blocks). East Brunswick closed out the match with kills by Rigley and Kvidahl.

Senior Marcin Midura led St. Joes with 14 kills and 3 aces. Junior left side Danny Vaccariello had six kills, while senior libero Eddie Rossiter had numerous digs (stat keeper for the match couldn't keep count of digs!)

Old Bridge, the second seed in the Silver Division, captured the title in that 8-team grouping, beating No. 1 seed South Brunswick, 17-25, 25-18, 25-17.

J.P. Stevens made the 22-team league a Middlesex County sweep in the divisions by capturing the 8-team Bronze Division playoff title, beating Fred's Group in the final. J.P. Stevens was the third seed in the bronze playoffs, while Fred's Group was No. 4. They upset No.1 St. Joes jayvee in the semifinals.

The next high school league will begin in January. Email Fred Siegle (fsiegle@powerzonevb.com) for information.