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The Fourth of July weekend started off with a bang for seven Bergen County veterans, who received medals honoring their Vietnam-era service in ceremonies at the Ridgewood Library on Friday.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer presided at ceremonies with Bergen County Commissioners Ramon Hache, Mary Amoroso, Germaine Ortiz and Tom Sullivan. Shaun Hutchinson, director of the county's Department of Human Services Division of Veterans Services, also attended, with Ridgewood Mayor Susan Knudsen.

Six of the veterans received Vietnam veteran lapel pins created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the war. The family of the seventh veteran, Donald Myles, now deceased, received replacements for eight medals earned during service but misplaced. All veterans received flags flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

"The seven veterans we are recognizing today exemplify our nation's best, and we owe them a great deal of gratitude for their service and sacrifice, " Gottheimer said. "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your patriotism, your selflessness, for putting your lives on the line to defend our freedom, our families and the greatest democracy the world has even known."

Three veterans attended in person: Raymond Litwitz and Gerald Bucci of Ridgewood, and Joseph Burns of Ho-Ho-Kus. Awards for absent veterans were received by family members or Ridgewood American Legion Commander Bob Paoli on their behalf.

The veterans gathered to chat briefly before the ceremony, confirming their pride in their service but acknowledging the war's unpopularity, and the risk of traveling at that time in uniform.

"We were advised to travel in our civvies [civilian clothes] because those traveling in uniform were getting harassed," Litwitz said. "Of course, we could also be identified by our short military haircuts. Everyone else had longer hair then."

Litwitz remembers that when his large military contingent took a commercial airline to come home, they boarded the plane to "complete silence" from the civilian passengers.

"But as the plane left the ground, we all cheered," Litwitz said.

Bucci recalls two months at sea on a troop ship to reach Vietnam.

"Coming home we were told to keep our mouths shut," Bucci said.

Paoli served in Germany, so his ship travel wasn't as long, but it was still intimidating, as it was his first trip away from his block in New York City. Coming home on the troop ship, there was "a lot more revelry," he said.

"There were a bunch of guys from Brooklyn, and this one guy had one of those portable Victrolas and a lot of Louis Prima records," Paoli said, "Good thing I liked Louis Prima."

Those honored included:

Retired Lance Cpl. Raymond Litwitz: Born in Passaic, grew up in Fair Lawn, later moved to Ridgewood. Enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school. He served in Vietnam for 12 months and 27 days between 1968 and 1969.

Retired Pfc. Joseph Burns: Born in Cleveland, moved to Teaneck in 1944, Dumont in 1949, graduated from Dumont High School. Served at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, from 1959 to 1961.

Retired Army Cmdr. Jerald J. Maksymowicz: Born in Jersey City, grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, graduated from Ridgewood High School. He was drafted 1964-65. Trained as a dental technician, then Officer Candidate School. Served in Germany for a year, then Vietnam for three years with the 86th Chemical Detachment. Served 12 years with the U.S. Army. He later earned degrees in math and science from St. Peter's University.

Retired Capt. Gerald Bucci: Born in Rhode Island, moved to Passaic and Paterson before settling in Ridgewood. Graduated from Brown University before joining the U.S. Marine Corps in 1965. He served in Vietnam from April 1966 to August 1967 as company commander for the HQ Company in the 9th Engineering Battalion. After finishing service in 1968, he went to graduate school at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Retired Army Capt. Wayne Lemme: Born in Elizabeth, he grew up in Yonkers. He received his private flying license from the Civil Air Patrol at age 19. While studying at New York University, he joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and was commissioned into the U.S. Army as a 2nd lieutenant upon graduation. He trained as a helicopter pilot and served with the 101st Airborne Division in 1970. After his tour ended in 1971, he joined the Reserves.

Retired Spc. 4th Class Jack Marcasciano: Born and raised in the Bronx. Drafted in 1966, trained with the 208th Signal Company, served in Vietnam in 1968 as a communications center specialist. He was discharged in 1968 and returned to the Bronx. He lived with his first wife, Mary, in Lodi and Waldwick. He and his second wife, Bernadette, live in Ridgewood.

Retired Spc. 5 Donald Gordon Myles: Born in Canada, moved to Hackensack in the 1960s, then moved to Paramus and Oakland, where he graduated from Indian Hills High School in 1967. He was drafted shortly afterward and served in Vietnam with the 1st Air Cavalry Division. Died in 2015. He was posthumously awarded eight medals received during service and lost.

Waldwick capped off a sensational season with a 2-0 win over Haddon Township in the Group 1 final on Saturday night at Kean University for its first state championship since 1995.

These were the biggest stars from the game.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Kyle Jahnke, Waldwick, Sr.: Jahnke had a hand in both Waldwick goals on Saturday night, although he doesn’t get credited with either. His first-half strike deflected off two Haddon Township defenders and into the net for an own goal to give Waldwick the lead in the first half and he set up Daniel Perdomo’s second-half goal that sealed the victory.

OTHER STAR PLAYERS

Philip Centineo, Waldwick: Centineo was a force defensively, anchoring Waldwick’s back line in shutting down a solid Haddon Township attack. Centineo was effective defensively and a factor offensively, producing several dangerous throw-ins.

Connor Dillon, Waldwick: Dillon wasn’t tested often by this Haddon Township attack, but he made the stops necessary to earn the clean sheet. Dillon finished with two saves and was instrumental in keeping set pieces away from goal.

Cole Johnston, Haddon Township, Jr.: Although not the result he was hoping for, Johnston was solid in goal for Haddon Township and kept his team in the game for 80 minutes. Johnstone finished with six saves in the loss.

Alex Manziano, Waldwick, Jr.: Manziano was a work horse on attack for Waldwick, particularly in the opening 20 minutes of the second half. He created a handful of chances for the Warriors and opened the lanes that set up Perdomo’s second-half goal.

Daniel Perdomo, Waldwick: Perdomo extended Waldwick’s lead midway through the second half, burying a feed from Jahnke under the crossbar to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.

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It should have been a lot easier for the Waldwick football team.

Up by as many as 19 points over Lyndhurst and holding a 25-14 with under three minutes at the Lyndhurst 19, the game seemed all but over. However, a personal foul ended that drive without points for Waldwick, which brought dynamic Lyndhurst quarterback Johnny Lembo back on the field with 1:59 remaining.

Lembo led Lyndhurst down the field quickly, going 6-for-6 and hitting Jake Schutt for a 37-yard touchdown on a go route with 46 seconds remaining. Lembo converted a 2-point conversion in which he scrambled all over the field before finally finding room to escape and made it a 25-22 game with 46 seconds remaining.

After dominating for much of the evening, Waldwick was forced to recover an onsides kick to seal the game, which Khaire Bailey did for the Warriors to cap off a 25-22 win at home on Friday.

“I thought we played tough,” senior quarterback Russell Pigg said. “It was closer than it should have been, but we’re happy we got the win.”

“We made it a lot more closer than we had to,” Waldwick head coach Greg Gruzdis said. “A couple of penalties cost us. It’s not the way I wanted to finish the game. To be honest, we felt we dominated on defense until the end there.”

Waldwick opened the game with an 11-play, 61-yard drive that ended in a 4-yard touchdown for Zachary Hulsizer. Of those 11 plays, 10 were runs as Waldwick started off winning the battle in the trenches. Following a Lyndhurst three-and-out, the long snap went into the back of the end zone to give the Patriots a safety and a 9-0 lead.

After getting the ball off the safety, Pigg led the offense down the field through the air with three passes to three different receivers that totaled 47 yards. That drive ended in a Bryce Hamilton 24-yard field goal that put Waldwick up 12-0 headed into the second quarter.

With nothing going offensively, T.J. Jimenez got Lyndhurst going with a 40-yard pick-six off a pass in the flat that cut the deficit in half, 12-6. That switch in momentum did not last long as Pigg floated a rainbow pass that was seemingly in the air for an eternity that had perfect touch on it for a 24-yard touchdown to Hamilton near the pylon for a 18-6 Warriors lead with 1:05 left in the first half.

Following an interception to open the second half, Pigg threw a similar fade pass for another touchdown. This time it went to Christian Cerrito for a 19-yard score on a back-shoulder throw to give Waldwick that 25-6 edge.

“Those were tough throws, but we practice them all the time,” Pigg said. “Coach draws them up, and I knew I was going to execute them.”

“They were super impressive,” Gruzdis said. “They were loading the box up, so they were making the run really tough. We had one-on-ones and Russ trusted his guys with a couple of nice balls for them to make plays on.”

The defense was just as impressive as the offense to that point, holding Lembo and the Lnydhurst offense to no points. Lyndhurst was getting nothing on the ground and was forced to be one-dimensional.

Lembo then started to do his best Russell Wilson impersonation, scrambling all over the backfield until something would open up and tiring the defense. This happened on a fourth-and-3 from the Waldwick 7-yard line when he ran around forever before finding Ricky Rainey in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. A two-point conversion cut the deficit to 25-14 with 7:43 to go, but it was a little too late.

The win was huge for Waldwick coming off a 21-14 loss to Rutherford last week and it out the Warriors in first place in the NJIC Colonial. Lyndhurst had won its previous three games this year by an average of 37 points per game wit the offense scoring at least 40 points in all three of those wins.

“This was crucial,” Pigg said. “If we lost this, our season was done. We needed this one.”

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You cannot teach championship pedigree.

As a team that was coming off three consecutive sectional title games, New Providence was not going to beat itself with another trophy on the line. Instead, the Pioneers were able to take advantage of the opportunities given to them.

Brearley, which also faced New Providence in the 2019 North 2, Group 1, sectional title game, committed seven errors in the field in its return trip to the big game. This allowed second-seeded New Providence to cruise to a 8-3 win over fourth-seeded Brearley to win its fourth consecutive title at home on Friday afternoon.

“I’d give my right pinky toe for this team,” DeGeorge said. “I’d do anything for Coach Brodeur and my teammates. It’s been a crazy ride. I lost sophomore year to COVID, so you can’t take anything for granted. Any game can be our last and I just play it like it’s our last.”

“This is awesome,” senior James Pazdera said. “I won it last year too when I was a junior. It’s just an amazing feeling. It’s an amazing run to win it four in a row.”

It was a sign of things to come when DeGeorge singled to start the game and was able to go to second when a throw from the Brearley outfield missed the cut-off and scattered into the infield. That cost Brearley a run when DeGeorge advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on a Dean Licari sac fly.

“The first time we played them it was kind of the opposite,” DeGeorge said. “We knew we had to play good defense, capitalize on their mistakes and bring the energy. We know if we play our game and bring the energy we’re going to deflate the other team.”

Giving a lead to Pazdera, who came into the game with a 1.90 ERA as the ace of New Providence, was a big boost to the Pioneers. Pazdera sat down the first nine Brearley hitters in order over the first three innings.

“My curve ball was working today,” Pazdera said. “I wasn’t feeling my fastball late. I was getting tired. Whenever I needed a strike, I just threw that curve ball. That’s what got me going.”

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the fourth, Brearley got on the board when Tom Scanio drove a double to the opposite down the right field line. Pazdera was able to keep his team ahead when he struck out Joe Galati on a changeup to end the frame.

New Providence broke the game open with six runs in the bottom of the fifth that included four Brearley errors. DeGeorge drove in a run on a sac fly and Luca Vitale, Pazdera and Nick Bisaccia recorded back-to-back-to-back RBI singles.

“We’re trying to be aggressive,” New Providence head coach Chris Brodeur said. “So, if you can pressure a team that defense can feel it. I think that kind of worked out in our favor today.”

Pazdera pitched a five-hitter with nine strikeouts and one walk to earn the win on the mound.

“I’ve seen so much growth in James over the last two years,” Brodeur said. “It’s amazing. He’s gone from a thrower to a real competitor on the mound. I can’t empathize enough on his level of competition.”

Brearley ended its season be reaching the sectional title game for the second time in three years as its program continues to be on the upswing.

“We did a lot of stuff that we either hadn’t done or hadn’t done in a while,” Brearley head coach Dave Kaplow said. “We beat Westfield, which we had never done. We beat New Providence on opening day, and we had not done that in 15 years. We beat Dayton, which hadn’t been done since 2008. We had a lot of big moments this year. It’s a shame that it has to end this way. New Providence is a good team and they were better than us today.”

Despite winning four straight sectional titles, New Providence has not won a Group 1 state championship yet in that timespan. The Pioneers will now compete to change that beginning with hosting North 1, Group 1 champion, Waldwick, at home on Monday in the Group 1 semis.

“We’re right back into the game,” Pazdera said. “We just got to focus on the next game. We just have to win today to play tomorrow. That’s what we have to do.”

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George Kalivas, the affable owner of Circolo, a 100-seat Neapolitan pizzeria in Waldwick, thought he could make it through the year.

He couldn't.

On Aug. 29, Kalivas, a 73-year-old River Edge resident, closed Circolo, a BYOB he opened nearly four years ago and the fourth restaurant he has owned. He started working at his dad's restaurant the day after he graduated college in 1971.

"I've been in this business for 50 years and this past year and a half were like nothing I've ever experienced," Kalivas said. "I loved this business, but I stopped having fun."

He sent an email to his loyal customers explaining the closing.

"In my 50-plus years in the restaurant business, I have never worked as hard as this year," he wrote. "As well, I have never had as much difficulty finding replacement staff ... Sales plummeted to absurd numbers and prices soared upwards with no indication of stopping."

Kalivas said he lost four key employees during the pandemic and couldn't find help. He said that the labor shortage the restaurant industry is confronting has made it that much more difficult to survive in an already tough time.

"You can't talk to people anymore," he said. "A restaurant owner nearby told me that he asked his dishwasher to turn down the music and the dishwasher walked out."

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Kalivas said he knows of another restaurant owner who is paying a dishwasher $800 a week in cash.

"He told me that two cooks told him they want $1,200-a-week cash," he added. "Do they think restaurants have a machine in the back pumping out cash? Besides, it’s illegal."

Kalivas owns the building that housed Circolo. He had leased the building to a bank in 2007 after closing Il Villino, an Italian restaurant he had run for 17 years there. He sold his liquor license then, too. When the bank closed, he returned to the 3,700-square-foot building and opened Circolo. He then also owned The Plum and the Pear in Wyckoff, which he eventually closed.

"I don't want this to be a sad moment in my life," he said. "I'm saddened by how the world is. I'm saddened that there's a pandemic, that people are getting sick. But I'm okay."

He added that he had hoped to finish out the year at Circolo and then put the property up for sale or to lease.

"I wish I could have retired on my own terms. But it was time."

Esther Davidowitz is the food editor for NorthJersey.com. For more on where to dine and drink, please subscribe today and sign up for our North Jersey Eats newsletter.