Pascack Hills High School

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Pascack Hills High School

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Motto
Established 1965
School type Public
District Pascack Valley Regional High School District
Grade levels 9-12
Principal Sarah Van Gunten
Location Montvale, New Jersey, USA
Campus suburban,
Enrollment 661 (04-05)
Faculty
Mascot Cowboy
Colors Orange, Brown
Homepage Pascack Hills High School Homepage

Pascack Hills High School (PHHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school, one of two high schools that are part of the Pascack Valley Regional High School District in Bergen County, New Jersey. PHHS serves the residents of both Montvale, where the campus is located, and the neighboring community of Woodcliff Lake, The other high school in the district is Pascack Valley High School, which services the communities of Hillsdale and River Vale. Pascack Hills had 661 students in the 2004-05 school year.[1]

Sarah Van Gunten is the school's Principal.

Contents

[edit] History

Pascack Hills came into being in the fall of 1965 because of the enormous growth of population in northern Bergen County in the early 1960s. The school spent its first five decades relatively unchanged in terms of architecture. In 2006 they altered their structure and added an extra gym. They also added new science rooms and redid the science wing.

[edit] Awards and recognition

Pascack Hills High School was the 8th ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2006 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools.[2]

[edit] Campus

Pascack Hills High School developed a modern look with its college campus-styled atmosphere and sprawling landscape. The athletic facilities include a regulation size track, a grass football field named for long-time principal Bart DiPaola, four tennis courts, a combination softball and baseball field that can be utilized for soccer, and a gymnasium, which houses basketball and volleyball.

[edit] Extracurricular Activities

Pascack Hills offers its students an extensive range of co-curricular and extracurricular activities including

The Pascack Pi-oneers are the school's US FIRST robotics team, operated together with its sister school, Pascack Valley High School (team 1676).

[edit] Athletics

The Pascack Hills High School Cowboys compete in Division 2 of the North Bergen Interscholastic Athletic League (NBIL), which includes twelve public high schools, all but one (Wayne Hills High School) in Bergen County.

Pascack Hills has had a struggling athletic program which has made dramatic improvements over the past few years.

When it comes to athletics, Pascack Hills prides itself in their rich tradition and history of athletic achievement. Sports include cheerleading, dance, cross-country, football, boys' and girls' soccer, tennis, volleyball, gymnastics, basketball, bowling, ice hockey, swimming, wrestling, Winter Track, baseball, softball, ping-pong, and lacrosse.

In 1979, the football completed an undefeated season and won the Group 3 state championship with a victory over Hoboken in the championship game, played at Giants Stadium. Ironically, that Hoboken team was coached by Ed Stinson, who would eventually become the Cowboys head coach during the 1980s. The 1979 team was led by all-state center Jim Gravalis, and the all-county backfield of Tony Durkin and Dave D'Amore.

Pascack Hills was also the number one ranked wrestling team in the United States in 1977, and coach Bucky Rehain received numerous awards during his long successful career. Great wrestlers that have attended the school and won numerous championships include Joe Bird, Tom Husted, Chris Catalfo, Tim Catalfo, Jack Inserra, Mike Palazzolo, Brian Wells, Andy Van Horn, and Shane Van Horn.

In the 2001-02 season, the Pascack Hills boys' basketball team, led by two seniors and First-Team All-NBIAL players, Forward Nolan Leonard (First-team All County) and Guard Michael Rubenstein (Third-team All County), accumulated their highest win total in school history and posted a 33-5 record. Sharpshooting juniors Jason Lampert and Dan Adler, and 6'6" junior center Joao Paixao complimented the two seniors as they rolled through the NBIAL regular season. On a Saturday morning in February, Leonard became the fourth Hills player to surpass 1,500 career points in a second half comeback victory at home versus Westwood Regional. The Cowboys posted an undefeated home record and suffered three losses on neutral courts. The season climaxed with a Group II State Sectional Championship over a much physically larger Manchester Regional High School squad at the Northern Highlands gym. The Cowboys' season ended with a 94-78 loss to Roselle Park in the opening round of the State Tournament.

Citing lower enrollment, and the loss of Hillsdale and portions of River Vale to Pascack Valley in re-districting efforts, Pascack Hills left the North Bergen Interscholastic Athletic League (NBIL) for football only and played an independent schedule for two seasons. This was due to the fact that PHHS was a Group 1 school (the smallest of 4 classifications) and all of the other schools in the league were Group 2 or Group 3 schools.

In 2004, the football team joined the Bergen-Passaic Scholastic League (B-PSL), to play against other schools of similar enrollment size. PHHS continues to play as an NBIL member in all other sports.

In 2005, under the leadership of Head Coach Brooks Alexander the football team reached the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons. In his six year tenure, Alexander has become one of the winningest, most successful football coaches in school history and only the second football coach in school history to lead the Cowboys to the playoffs on two separate occasions, the first being Bill Lally in 1978 and 1979.

In 2006, the football team again reached the playoffs for the second year in a row, this time being beaten 9-3 in a close defensive battle against the #4 seeded Hasbrouck Heights High School Aviators.[3] The Cowboys finished 2006 with a 7-3 record. Senior defensive leaders Dan Avento (Rhode Island) and Evan Lampert (Rutgers University)[4] were recruited to numerous small Division I schools. Cowboys return junior safety Matt Marini, voted Tri-State Defensive Player of the Week after a four-interception game, who led all of North Jersey with nine interceptions.

Also in 2006, the boys varsity basketball team reached the Final Four of the Bergen County Jamboree, which is the annual county tournament. It was only the second time in school history that the team reached the semifinals of this tournament which goes back 60 years.

On March 5, 2007, the boys' basketball team won the North I, Group II state championship, edging Westwood Regional High School by 66-65 in overtime, in a game played at River Dell High School.[5][6]

[edit] Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Pascack Hills High School include:

[edit] References

  1. ^ National Center for Education Statistics data for the Pascack Valley Regional High School District, accessed November 22, 2006
  2. ^ Top Public High Schools in New Jersey, New Jersey Monthly, September 2006
  3. ^ 2006 Football Tournament - North I, Group I, accessed December 21, 2006
  4. ^ Signing Day, The Record (Bergen County), February 7, 2007
  5. ^ Pascack Hills leap for joy, The Record (Bergen County), by Jeff Roberts, March 6, 2007
  6. ^ 2007 Boys Basketball - North I, Group II, NJSIAA, accessed March 7, 2007
  7. ^ 'MEDIA CHILD' ARRIVES, The Record (Bergen County), January 2, 2003. "Dana Bash grew up behind the scenes. And family members say it was just a matter of time before the Pascack Hills High School graduate and newest CNN White House correspondent was in front of them. "
  8. ^ STARLINE FILMS tours Pascack Hills for De La Roche Film Projects, accessed December 4, 2006
  9. ^ Bill Maher Biography (1956-), The Biography Channel, accessed March 28, 2007

[edit] External links

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