Hudson County Publics To Watch

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While Saint Peter's and Hudson Catholic are the final two holdouts of a once proud Catholic HS scene(Here's lookin' at you, Saint Anthony's, Marist, Saint Al's, St Mary's, Saint Cecilia's and St Joe of the Palisades), Hudson County public schools have benefitted as players who previously may have enrolled at those schools are now staying home and today we look at some public schools to watch this winter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Union City(13-14)</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The record is deceiving. Union City was very, very young. Their entire core returns, including promising sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1466450' first='Kaleb' last='Johnson']</strong>, who will become the new key scorer in the backcourt. He'll be joined by juniors <strong>Jaylen Mayo</strong>, <strong>Nair McCain</strong> and promising 6'3" sophomore forward <strong>Omar Tillman</strong>. These players will form the core along with junior <strong>Edison Hernandez</strong>, who was a role player last year. The next two seasons could be big ones for Union City. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Bayonne(7-16)</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Don't worry about last year's record. Ben Gamble has made no qualms about saying that it's a program he's building and that takes time at a public school. Gamble's team had a fantastic summer and fall playing as a unit at numerous leagues and tournaments. 5'8" senior<strong> Donte Calhoun</strong> will be tasked with running the point and <strong>Milan Raparelli </strong>will also be given a bigger role. They did lose their top player, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1017193' first='Augustine' last='McGee']</strong>, to Elizabeth, but they haven't missed a beat. Watch them this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>Hoboken(16-9)</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Red Wings bring back 4 key pieces from last year's divisional title team. 6'4" forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1402081' first='Jasir' last='Lane'],</strong> 6'0" guard <strong>Dorien Moorman</strong>, 5'8" guard <strong>Joel Lopez </strong>and several role players return for their senior season with high expectations. They'll be joined by sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2421336' first='Lamir' last='Boxley']</strong>, who contributed as a freshman. They'll likely be the favorite to win the division again and will look to make noise in the County and State tournament as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hoboken always seems to maximize its thin talent pool relative to the size of the city--It's very deceiving as the city has a population of over 60,000 but the school is a Group I enrollment of about 400--To put in perspective the demographic shift---Hoboken High was built with enough lockers for 1,500 students...Hoboken has become a young professional's haven, a city that is dominated by young adults between 21-35, many of them single and most childless--As such, Hoboken has to make sure the kids that come through can compete with the big schools around them knowing there is a thin bench. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->