PLAINFIELD, NJ–After taking the summer off, the HawksBasketball Association run by Bob Gaydos of Woodbridge will begin its 14th year of fall league basketball with the 2007 Fall-Ball Classic with four games at Plainfield High School on Monday night, September 10th. For the first time since the Summer of 2003, the HBA was unable to run its Summer SlamFest since it was unable to obtain a gym to hold the games. The league, which peaked in 2003 and 2004 with 24 teams, had 16 squads including six teams from the GMC compete last year, and this year will have 13 including four from the Greater Middlesex Conference including: Metuchen, Piscataway, Spotswood, and Woodbridge.
There will be games played two days a week on Mondays and Wednesdays starting September 10th, and will go until October 24th. Times of the games will usually be at 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 8:00 PM, and 9:00 PM. There will be some weeks where games will be played on two courts at Plainfield High School, and games will be played at 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM, and 8:00 PM. Other conferences with teams in this league are: The Watchung Conference, Skyland Conference, Mountain Valley Conference, and Iron Hills Conference. Although the presence of the GMC has diminished in recent years, the conference still has a share of the most teams in the league with four as does the Skyland. The Watchung Conference and Mountain Valley Conference each have two and the Iron Hills Conference has one. There will also be a Girls Fall-Ball Classic that will run on Tuesday and Thursday nights at Plainfield High School as well. Teams competing in this year’s Boys Fall-Ball Classic are listed below:
- A.L. Johnson
- Columbia
- Franklin
- Hillsborough
- Hunterdon Central
- Metuchen
- Piscataway
- Plainfield
- Roselle
- Shabazz
- Spotswood
- Watchung Hills
- Woodbridge
Later on this fall, the HBA will most likely have its annual All-Star Bash that includes a three point shooting competition and slam dunk competition as well as All Star Games for both the boys and girls league. Once the regular season is over, there will be a post-season tournament. Plainfield, the defending two time champion, will be going for its third straight Fall-Ball Classic title to go along with three titles in four years in the HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest. GMC Hoops will be covering this league for the seventh straight fall.