St. Joseph Regional Green Knights named to the 14th Annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard

MaxPreps is pleased to announce that the St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.) Green Knights have officially been named to the 14th Annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard, which is in its fourteenth year honoring football.

This is one of the most prestigious team awards in all of high school sports and it is an exclusive honor reserved for 100 of the top teams nationwide. In order to be eligible, a team must win a state championship and be highly ranked in the MaxPreps National Rankings. For football, only 50 of the country's best are invited and with nearly 17,000 competing varsity teams, this puts the Green Knights ahead of 99.9 percent of their opponents!

In order to be eligible, the team not only had to be nationally ranked, but also had to win a state championship. Beating Bergen Catholic 13-0 in the NJSIAA Non-Public Group 4 championship contest on Friday, November 23 marked the completion of an incredible 10-2 season — and earned St. Joseph Regional an invitation to the Tour of Champions.

Not only did Angelo Guglielmello become New Jersey's all-time kicking points leader in the state championship win over Bergen Catholic, he provided the game-winning points with a 35-yard field goal in the opening quarter. The senior added an extra point, following Audric Estime's three-yard run in the first quarter, and a 19-yard field goal in the second quarter, helping the Green Knights claim their 18th state football title at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.



Guglielmello tied the old record of 249 points with his first field goal. Then, following Estime's three-yard run, Guglielmello broke Ramapo graduate Ricky Krautman's mark with the extra point. Guglielmello finished his football career with 253 points.

Michael Alaimo completed eight of 14 passes for 119 yards and ran for 23 yards on seven carries, while Te'rai Powell and Estime led the Green Knight running game with 41 yards each. Gavin Sharkey, who caught a 57-yard strike that set up Estime's touchdown run, caught two balls for 58 yards. Brett Buckman and Shane Stewart caught two balls each for a combined 57 yards. The champions out yarded Bergen Catholic 235-208 in the defensive struggle with both teams punting seven times.

The Green Knights opened postseason play with a first round bye before kicking in the door to the Final Four with a 16-8 win over St. Augustine Prep. St. Joseph Regional then bumped St. Peter's Prep from state championship contention with a 24-14 semifinal win to set up the championship bout with Bergen Catholic.

Augie Hoffmann's club opened the season with a 20-17 loss to Plantation, Florida's American Heritage. Then, following a 14-8 triumph over Imhotep Charter out of Philadelphia, the Green Knights upended DePaul Catholic 24-17 to start the year 2-1. St. Joseph Regional lost just one more game in 2018 and outscored its competition 307-139. The Green Knights posted one shutout and held seven foes to 10 points or less, while scoring a season-high 56 points in a win over Paramus Catholic.

Having won six straight contests to end the year, St. Joseph Regional set itself up for some rather high rankings come season's end. Not only are the Green Knights the top-ranked team in MaxPreps' New Jersey Non-Public Group 4 Rankings, St. Joseph Regional is the best team in all of New Jersey. Hoffman's club is ranked No. 79 in MaxPreps' National Rankings!

These incredible season achievements have earned the St. Joseph Regional Green Knights an invitation to the 14th Annual Tour of Champions. Please join us in the gymnasium as we celebrate with the football team, coaching staff, students and fans on Thursday, January 31 at approximately 7 p.m. at halftime of the varsity boys basketball game.



For more information about the Tour of Champions, please visit the MaxPreps Tour of Champions site.