The Falcon's Nest 1

            Mattew Espinoza is very excited to hopefully have a hockey season.  The Jefferson hockey team combined with Kittatinny and has very high hopes for a great season.   “Our team can not make it to the state finals,”  Espinoza said.  Espinoza believes they cannot make it to the finals because the lack of depth of players makes them unable to go far.   “Our team lost our starting goalie who held us in a lot of games,” Espinoza added. Due to the loss of a player it can change the whole team around.   Although there are many hardships about losing key players,  Espinoza is very determined to play this upcoming season even with COVID-19 lurking around.   “Our hockey helmets count as masks so we are playing like everything is normal.”  Espinoza is very determined that there will be nothing holding back his upcoming season.   The Jefferson hockey team combines wit...

  Photo taken by Mrs. Kircher It’s not common that you see a rookie playing their first year of football in high school. It’s hard to play a sport like football for your first time, especially on the high school level. According to ESPN, football is the 3rd hardest sport to play. However, this hasn't detered Dylan Kircher.  When asking him about football Kircher explained “ I would say yes and no, there are some things that i’ve played that are harder and easier like cross country it’s more endurance but football is more strength and endurance.”    Kircher added, “Covid has affected our team greatly because it wouldn’t allow us to have much time to prepare ourselves for the first game and our season got pushed back a few moves and starting in August and only had a few months to get ready.”  When asked about helping his team Kircher said, “I’m going to cheer them on the best they can and motivate them as well.” Kircher is a fast, athletic, and dedicated player. ...

       Vikings fan Sebastian Swenty, gives us an inside look on why the Minnossta Vikings have become his favorite team.       The Vikings became Swenty’s favorite team after he says, "back when Brett Favre came from the Packers and it’s been a thing since.”      When asked about what season Swenty believed the Vikings had most success in he believed it was the Randy Moss era, the 1970’s, or even last season as he says, “So of course you can look back to the Randy Moss era or the 1970’s, or even last season.”      Swenty, stays true to his team no matter the circumstance! COVID-19 has had a huge impact on all of the NFL teams, but Swenty believes it did not directly influence the Vikings as he said in the interview, "I feel as if it's not necessarily directly influenced by COVID, as it’s just the whole team isn’t good as it was last season after losing Everson to the Cowboys and trading Stefon Diggs to the Bills, th...

         Last year, the Freshman boys football team was undefeated all season. Thomas Young is now  a punching bag for the Jefferson Falcons Varsity football team. Last Friday night, the JV football team beat West Milford at Jefferson Township High School with a score of  26-6.      “I enjoy playing football, the rush more than anything. Our first game we won against West Milford and the game was crazy.” Young began playing football to just “pass time,” but over the years, he grew to love the sport more than anything!        Young is the punching bag for the Varsity football team, he plays JV as well. The punching bag provides a smaller target than a dummy, encouraging the precise motions necessary to win the individual matchup on the edge. This explains the job of a punching bag and it is the position Young plays. “I am a Sophomore in high school now, I played as a freshman last year an...

  Photo Credits: Cassie Tice As with every good leader, motivating teammates keeps everyone on task and moving in a positive direction - and Kennedy Kostecki is no exception.  Kostecki, a Junior pitcher this upcoming season for the Jefferson Township High School Varsity softball team, intends to set a positive tone this upcoming season and possibly set some new pitching records.   As part of a team, you always need to be a leader, showing enthusiasm. Showing leadership will make you and the rest of the team more positive and determined. “I make sure to focus on my mechanics and hitting my spots. I also work with the catcher to call pitches I know are working and are effective,” Kostecki says. Having goals will always make you reach for the stars and never stop. You will always want to look for the bigger picture and or bigger prize at the end of every goal. Kostecki expresses that, “ The upcoming season my goal is to get closer to 100 strikeouts and keep my era below...

     Photo taken by Mrs. Benfatti     On a whim Freshman year, now Junior Sarah Leppard joined field hockey and has been a contributor to the team since then. The Jefferson Township Field Hockey team has started off this year's season with a 2-0 record. This past week their record has fallen to 3-2 but Leppard is confident the team will finish successfully.         Last season, Leppard was a part of the team that won their conference. They were the first field hockey team in Jefferson to ever take home the title.       “Coming off last season as conference champs has added extra pressure and excitement to this season,” Leppard said when asked how the win has affected this season.       In a regular season, field hockey practices begin in early August. Corona, however, delayed practices to September 14th which has proven challenging with so much practice time ...

  Picture taken by Embry-Riddle Eagles Erin Smeilus, student of Jefferson Township High School, is a lacrosse and field hockey player. But recently, due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, it has affected how her activities take place. She was interviewed last week about how she thinks Halloween will be different this year with the global pandemic, as well as how it has affected her extracurricular activities. “I don’t know how many will be comfortable with going to stranger’s doors,” Smeilus said. Lots of people during the pandemic are apprehensive of Halloween and are paranoid about the Coronavirus spreading at a faster pace due to exposure of fellow trick-or-treaters. Luckily, there are some ways that can reduce the exposure to the virus. Smeilus suggests, “Not having huge groups of people, keeping masks on to keep safe, and have 2-3 at a door at a time to help reduce the spread.” There may be people that choose not to go trick-or-treating even with guidelines in place, as w...