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Sports

Bulldogs Defeat Blue Devils at the 'Dawg' House

RFH Boy's Varsity Basketball team outscores Shore Regional by 11 points.

Shore Regional’s Blue Devils came seeking revenge over an early-season loss to the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional’s Bulldogs Thursday night. But they left without a victory: final score Bulldogs 65, Devils 54. 

Although the Devils closed the gap during the fourth quarter, outscoring Rumson-Fair Haven 23-17, it wasn’t enough to prevent the Bulldogs from capturing their twelfth win overall. This win improved RFH’s conference record to nine wins, three losses. Two of those conference losses were to the Raritan Rockets, a highly-ranked division rival. 

The boys from RFH poured in over thirty points from behind the three-point arc, with Kevin Alter sinking 5 three-point shots. 

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The sharp-shooting point guard ended up with 18 points for the night, high man for the Bulldogs, followed by Jack Keating with 13points and Jack Donnelly with 12.  

‘Pookie and the Four Jacks,’ as the Dawg’s starting five are often called, came out firing and jumped to a quick three-point lead from Alter.  

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“Shore is well-coached and has two big-time seniors,” said RFH head coach Chris “Shempy” Champeau, “But we just switched defenses all night based on their personnel and then got out and attacked in transition.” 

“If we start banging out threes, we can be a real handful,” he continued.  

A Senior Night ceremony was held before the game between the conference rivals. This ceremony is the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional athletic program’s way of recognizing not only the players’ excellence, but also to acknowledge the support of the team members’ parents. 

“People ask me all the time what kind of school RFH is,” commented Coach “Shempy,” “And I just say, ‘Look at my team. Out of my top eight guys, six have GPA’s of 4.0 or better. And all of them volunteer for charities and understand what hard work and enthusiasm can accomplish.” 

Coach “Shempy” said he is very happy to be working at RFH. “That’s why I love being a coach and living in a great area like Rumson and Fair Haven. It’s like a Norman Rockwell Painting. All good.” 

Ray Guzman, a Bulldog fan, enjoyed an exciting home game. “I’m out here supporting the seniors,” said Guzman. “I think it’s great. All the support these guys get. And on both sides. These two teams really go head-to-head.” 

He said the RFH basketball program has grown since Coach “Shempy” became head coach. “I think he’s done something that hasn’t been done in 65 years,” Guzman said. “I’ve lived here in Rumson 22 years and let me tell you, in the last eight years it’s really picked up because of that coach.”  

The varsity basketball team’s next contest won’t be easy: Red Bank Catholic, although not in the Bulldog’s division, is a much larger school and always fields powerful sports teams. The game is Saturday, Feb. 12 at RBC at 2:30 p.m., preceded at 12:30 p.m. by the girl’s varsity game.

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