An exciting winter sports season is ready to launch for our basketball and cheer teams, with the first Varsity basketball games scheduled for December 5 and 7 and the teams participating once again in the Del-Co Basketball Tournament in Pennsylvania on December 9 and 10. The ACS Cheer Team is looking forward to cheering at the first home games on December 13 against Cape May Tech.
Middle School basketball tryouts will be held on Monday, November 28, with the Middle School Boys’ team opening its season competing in the Dixie Howell Tournament in Ocean City on December 9. The game schedules for middle school and high school are accessible from the ACS app and on the ACS website under the “Athletics” tab and will be updated regularly as needed.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm for our winter sports and we are looking forward to a competitive season for all of our teams,” said Athletic Director Pam Hitchner. “We are pleased to welcome back a strong Varsity coaching staff that has invested a number of years into building programs that emphasize the fundamentals and produce teams that are exciting to watch. We hope to see lots of school families, alumni, and friends filling our bleachers again this year.”
Varsity Basketball
The Varsity Boys’ Basketball Team will be under head coach Drew Carney, assisted by Dan Carney. Under this coaching duo, the team has won three consecutive Tri-State Christian Athletic Conference Championships. The 17 members of the 2022 team are: Robby Barberio, Charlie Costello, Judah Dawkins, Jake DeNick, Noah Gibbs, Sam Glancey, AJ Gomez-Rugoff, Caden Kim, Sam Kirchoff, Josh Merlino, Evan Pearson, Jayden Sanchez, Adam Schlundt, Noah Stokes, Jericho Thomas, Malachi Vasquez, and Caleb Vogel.
The Varsity Girls’ Basketball Team will be led by head coach and ACS alumnus Kaylee Breunig (’12), in her 6th year as head coach, and assistant coach Dara Kimmerley. The 14 members of the 2022 team are: Daniella Ajayi, Isabell Alford, Alexis Andujar, Sophia Costello, Maddie DeNick, Gianna Flynn, Becca Kelley, Evangelina Kim, Reyna Lewis, Ava Nixon, Paige Noble, Skylar Shivers, Taylor Sutton, and Kennedy Vasquez.
Both teams will play American Christian School away in the first games of the season on December 5, traveling to Succasunna, NJ. On December 7, the Varsity Girls’ team will travel to Burlington, NJ to play the Doane Academy on December 7. On December 9-10, both ACS teams will compete in the Del-Co Tournament, hosted by Delaware County Christian School in Newtown Square, PA. The first homes games will be on December 13, when ACS will face off in a non-conference game against Cape May Tech, with the Varsity Girls’ game starting at 4 p.m. and the Varsity Boys’ Game tipping off at 5:30 p.m.
Cheer
Twenty-two middle school and high school students are part of this year’s cheerleading squad, under head coach Morgan Gibson, assisted by Michelle Wheeler. Team tryouts were held in early September and the squad has been practicing weekly since that time. Practices will increase to four times a week in mid-December. The team will cheer at select home and away games and is preparing to compete in three upcoming ImpACT Cheer and Dance Competitions from January to March.
“We’re very excited about taking our Cheer Team to the next level and competing in a different division this year,” Gibson said. The Cheer Team achieved national recognition in the spring of 2022 after competing in several meets and being named the national grand champion in The ONE Finals School Cheer Division, Junior High Intermediate Level.
Gibson said the squad has been busy this fall leading several fundraisers to help cover the costs of competition entry fees, uniforms, cheer training equipment, and more. The squad has raised some $5,000 toward their $15,000 goal by selling wristbands in October to Playland’s Castaway Cove and selling Spiritwear, s’mores kits, and doing face painting at Homecoming and the Under the Lights home soccer game on October 21.
The members of the cheer squad are: Ashlee Alford, Ava Barberio (captain), Annalena DiMaio, Rebecca DiMaio (captain), April Eaves, Mackenzie Flynn (captain), Makenzie Fresh, Kylie Jackson, Raslyn Jacoby, Emily Johnson, Grace Johnson, Abigail Kelley, Ava Lombardi, Autumn Loo, Kiara Loo, Tara Mccorkle, Madeline Neill, Solia Pecou, Chelsie Richards, Haven Sanchez (captain), Makayla Tomlinson, and Taylor Vola.