After a brutal opening night loss to Toms River North, the Howell ice hockey team responded with four straight victories, including divisional wins over St. John Vianney (4-1), Jackson Memorial (11-1 in a mercy), and Wall (6-4). While Wall took the second game of a home-and-home series, the Rebels, at 4-2, are in second place in the Shore Conference B division and their 7.17 goals-per-game is good enough for fourth in the state. Howell has been hampered by inconsistent goaltending. In the 9-6 loss to Wall, fourth-year head coach Bill Daley pulled his goalie three separate times, with none of them getting the spark he was looking for, as Howell couldn't keep the puck out of its own net.
In boys' basketball, the Rebels avenged two losses to Matawan from the 2010-11 season by opening the 2011-12 season with a 10-point victory over the Huskies. After graduating their all-time leading scorer in point guard Ryan Keegan – who is now playing for The College of New Jersey – Howell is using a much more balanced attack as the Rebels look to repeat one of their best seasons in school history.
In girls basketball, the Lady Rebels have struggled so far. They opened the season with a 49-28 loss to rival Colts Neck, scoring just 12 points in the first half. They also fell to divisional foe Middletown South, 48-36, with Shannon Pickett and Christina Justiniano each leading the Lady Rebs with 9 points.
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In wrestling, Howell, as usual, has come out strong. The Rebels opened the 2011-2012 campaign by winning their inaugural Howell Rebel Classic, outpointing second-place JFK-Iselin by more than 100 points. Jimmy Slendorn (106), Ben Esposito (120), Matt Lindemann (126), Ashanti Maurice (145) and Zach Bohm (160) all won titles, and Cole Cameron (138), Cody Kirk (170) and Nate Litowski (182) took seconds. Lindemann and Maurice both won with pins. In their first dual meet of the season, the Rebels beat Middletown South 51-12, led by wins from Cameron, Maurice, Litowski, George McCoy, Vincent Martino, Slendorn, Anthony Pizza, and pins from Bohm, Kirk, Matt Sulkowski and Lindemann. Later, the Rebels topped St. Augustine, 43-18 with three straight crucial wins from Esposito, Lindemann and Jimmy Sisolak. Howell ended the match with four wins from Litowski, Ryan Taylor, McCoy and Martino.
