The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 23

THE COURIER-NEWSMonday, Dcmbr 7, 1981 B-7 Piscataway rolls to Group 4 championship r' vv "Of" I Bf HARRY FREZZACourier-News Sports Writer LITTLE SILVER The game was nc the classic it was billed to be. All the talk of revenge, and alleged bad blood between two high school football teams did not surface. What happened on the field was plain to see. Piscataway played superior football on this particular day in taking the New Jersey State Athletic Association Central Jersey Group 4 championship, defeating Middletown South 20-0 Saturday. The two teams had already met during the regular season with South winning 23-22 on Oct.

24. Prior to this season Piscataway head coach Tom Higgins had mentioned that his team would be "loaded." But he wanted that fact kept quiet. The secret is now public information. Piscataway turned out to be a little more than loaded. This proved to be one of the more gifted teams Higgins has seen in his 12 years as the Chiefs' head coach.

The championship they won was the first for Piscataway in seven years. Back in 1974 the Chiefs beat Colonia 14-7 at Atlantic City's Convention Hall. "I didn't believe in the revenge factor or anything else that I've read in some newspapers," said 8-3 South head coach Rich Mosca. got beat by a very good foot ball team. I wouldn't call them awesome.

But I also don't have any excuses. Hey, we lost and they won." They won in every aspect of the game. Passing, running, overall defense the Chiefs could do no wrong. "I thought their game plan was excellent," said Higgins, "they came out doing a few things different than last time. Moving people around, sending guys in opposite directions.

They wanted to see if we were keying on certain kids." Namely Marty Wenzel. The Eagle senior halfback had come into the game with 23 touchdowns and 1300 yards. Against the Chiefs he rushed for 83 yards on 19 carries. Not a bad day for anyone else. But limiting him to those statistics turned the game around for Piscataway, shifting the spotlight to its own Mark Mills.

Mills and teammates Chet Trechock and Mike Alexander were outstanding for the 9-1-1 Chiefs. Mills scored all three touchdowns, one on a clinching 40-yard sprint with 50 seconds remaining in the game. His first score came early in the second quarter when he ran in from three yards out. Guard Ralph DiLillo's fumble recovery set up that one. Mills' second TD came later in the period on a one-yard dive.

"I believed in revenge," said Mills, who ran for 82 yards on 14 carries, and caught three passes for 35 yards. "I thought it played a major part in us winning, the senior added, "We wanted to show them. To prove to their coach how good we were. I tell you it feels great to have done it." Mills' first touchdown actually erased a bad omen for the Chiefs. On their opening offensive series of the day, Piscataway moved to the South one-yard line, only to see Trechock fumble a snap with the Eagles recovering.

Trechock, a junior quarterback, came back to have an impressive day, passing for 176 yards on ll-of-16. His main receiver was Alexander, who caught six passes for 119 yards. "During warmups this afternoon I felt really tight," said Trechock, "I thought it was weird because when we played at the Meadowlands a couple of weeks ago I felt good during warmups, and had a bad night. "And when I I guess I don't know how I felt. I knew today was going to be different than last time, but that was a bad way to start." Alexander, who also plays safety on defense, added a fumble recovery and an interception.

The junior recalled that he had enjoyed a productive day in the first South game. "We knew they had a safety who was kind of weak," he said, "we did Continued on Page B9 Courier-News Photo By Oavld Rosenthal Piscataway High fullback Mark Brown picks up yardage against Middletown South. The Chiefs posted a 20-0 shutout as they won the Central Jersey Group 4 championship. Middlesex silences South River make the score 7-7. "I was more concerned about the point after," said Murphy.

"If that was a normal game, I would have gone for the two points. But knowing we have a good defense, I felt secure in the decision." Middlesex's defense, which only allowed six points a game, held the Rams in check until the other break came. With Weis punting for the seventh time in the game, South River's Dave Kosa dropped the ball at his feet and AI Platten dived on the ball at the Rams' 21-yard line. Girvan ran the ball down to the three and Mike Esposito gave the Jays the championship when he too.X it over from the one-yard line with 2:31 left in the game. "I hate to say anything negative about Middlesex," said South River coach Bill Csatari, "but we beat ourselves.

"WE fumbled the ball, WE blocked below the waist, WE missed blocks. In the championship creed, it says, 'a champion is a state of mind. It's a mental thing. We allowed those things to happen." Girvan, who picked up close to 50 yards on the afternoon, almost became the goat in the first half. With neither team getting across the goal line, the Blue Jays had their best scoring chance late in the first quarter.

Middlesex had the ball on the Ram six-yard line, but South River's defense stiffened. Three plays later, Girvan dived over a pile of players from the one-yard line and appeared as though he crossed the goal line. He had, the only problem was that the ball popped out of his hands and out of the end zone. "When I saw that thing fly out, I couldn't believe it," expressed Murhpy. "He felt he was over for the touchdown, but I guess the ref didn't Continued on Page B9 "The reason we went to the power explained Murphy, "was that I anticipated bad weather.

We worked on that in practice in the hope we could use it in the game." It wasn't the power I that gave the Jays their title, it was a couple of opportunities that Murphy's club took advantage of. The first came with Middlesex down 7-0 in the fourth quarter. Pat Weis put the Rams in a hole when he punted the ball down to their two-yard line. South River appeared to get some breathing room when Mike Wallace sprinted 33 yards down the sideline. The junior tailback was hit by safety Jeff Maree who forced the ball loose.

Linebacker Mark Brower pounced on it and Middlesex was in good shape. The Blue Jays moved 33 yards in six plays to tie the game. Mike Girvan twisted into the end zone from the one-yard line and Joe Mastrul kicked the extra point to By EVERETT MERRILL Courier-News Sports Writer MIDDLESEX Toward the end of the field a ram was lying down. The poor thing looked like it had just been put to sleep. Not only was the South River High mascot resting, but just a short 30 yards up the bench the entire football team was quiet.

A dynasty had just been silenced. Middlesex High School had just ended South River's four-year domination of Central Jersey Group 1 football by stopping the Rams 14-7. The victory gave Middlesex its first state championship since 1974, when the Blue Jays bumped off Hillsborough. Coach Paul Murphy pulled out all the stops on Saturday to help his team to the championship. On offense, the Blue Jays used a shotgun formation and ran out of the something that the Rams weren't ready for.

OK Springfield disappointed in finals it I first down by inches. Roessner then punched it in for the score from the two. No problem now. Just kick the extra point and tie it. Holder Dan Ambrose got set to take the snap and quarterback Dan Circelli got set to kick.

But somewhere something went wrong and the ball was bobbled. Ambrose, realizing that the kick would be blocked, attempted a pass into the end zone. It fell incomplete and the score remained 7-6 at the break. "It was just an unfortunate situation," noted Senese. "I hope the boys involved don't lay the blame on themselves.

Those things The second half was a defensive struggle. Hackettstown had the best chance to score after getting a first-and-goal at the Springfield six but three tries into the line resulted in Continued on Page B9 have to accept it." Springfield will have to shoulder the loss, there's no denying that. But the battle, played at Morrison Field in Hackettstown before 3,000 spectators, was one that neither team should have had to lose. Earlier in the week, Senese had predicted that the outcome of the game would rest on his offense. If his club could put points on the board against the scrappy Tiger defense, then they would win.

If, as it turned out, Hackettstown (8-2-1) was able to contain the Bulldogs' triple-option, then Springfield would be in for a fight. Both teams relied on their running games in the early going and the main result was a quick period. Following a short punt at the Bulldog 35, Hackettstown tailback Tom Annese (8-45) carried for 11 yards and the first down before taking a pitch from Tiger quarterback Bob Williams By LEONARD J. BACCARO Courier-News Sports Writer HACKETTSTOWN It was a war and it was a tough one to lose. Saturday's 7-6 loss to Hacket-tstown High was difficult for Springfield coach Angelo Senese to accept.

His team had fallen one point short of winning the North Jersey Section 2, Group 2 football championship. By losing, the Bulldogs saw their eight-game winning streak snapped as they closed their season with an 8-3 record. "You guys hold your heads up," Senese told his players after the game. "We played a good game and we had a great year. Don't let this loss spoil everything that we've achieved.

"Hackettstown did what they had to do," he added. "We didn't get here without proving ourselves and we have nothing to be down about. We down to the Springfield 22. Two more runs brought the ball to the 16 and a fourth-and-one situation Bosques' number was called. He took the handoff and was hit immediately by the right side of the Bulldog line.

But Bosques spun through, broke a tackle at the eight and scampered into the end zone. Rich Middlebrook's PAT kick split the uprights for the point that ultimately meant the championship. After taking the ensuing kickoff, Springfield went to work. Starting at their own 44, the Bulldogs put together a 12-play, 56-yard scoring drive that consumed nearly six minutes. Fullback Ron Martignetti (13-54) picked up 36 yards on six carries and halfback Joe Roessner gained 15 yards on four tries.

The key play came when Springfield was faced with a fourth-and-three at the nine. Martignetti's second effort off right tackle produced a 3 Courier-News Photo By Hal Brown Bruce Phillips and Dan Zakashefskl celebrate Middlesex's state championship victory over South River. Central Jersey Group 3 -5 1 Somerville High bows to Ewing in overtime 1 1 -f. 2- 1 w7 i I i f'Jl KV If. I i f1 it Vimiiill -or starting from the Somerville 49.

A face mask penalty against the Pioneers, coupled with a pass in-terfernce call, moved Ewing to the 19. Two plays later, Faherty sent the home crowd into hysterics when his 31-yard attempt cleanly split the uprights. Faherty's kick, however, was only the end result of a valiant comeback effort forged by the Blue-and-Red clad victors. Trailing 15-12 with 1:06 to play, and staring at a second and six situation from the Somerville 43, it appeared Ewing had run out of miracles. But just as Pioneer fans began to raise their index fingers, quarterback Anthony Parascando connected on a 37-yard strike to wide receiver Scott Fracasso.

Two plays later Brian Bevins, whose 125 yards on 20 carries gave the Pioneers headaches all afternoon, scampered six yards to give the Central Valley Conference champions an 18-15 advantage with 57 seconds left on the scoreboard. Then, when panic seemed the obvious thing to do, Somerville (8-3) summoned up the pride and poise that earned the Pioneers a birth in the championship game. Starting from their 25-yard line, the Pioneers used three Chris Pres- Continued on Page B9 By BRIAN FLORCZAK Courier-News Sports Writer EWING With six seconds remaining in Saturday's Central Jersey Group 3 Championship Playoff game, Ewing and Somerville High decided to play Russian Roulette placekicker style. minutes later, in overtime, Somerville lay dead on the muddy turf, 21-18, killed by the toe of Ty Faherty. By virtue of Faherty's 31-yard field goal, Ewing capped a furious rally which saw the 10-1 Blue Devils battle back from a 15-12 deficit with a bit less than five minutes to play.

foments earlier, with six seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Somerville's John Dowling had stood calmly amongst the face of a howling crowd and booted a 39-yard field goal that sent the game into overtime tied at 18. However, Dowling's heroics would soon go for naught in a game that changed personalities more times than a schizophrenic. Three times in the waning minutes of this memorable tussle did Pioneer and Blue Devil fans take turns at sensing a state championship. But it was on Ewing's first possession in ovlertime that a victor finally arose from this see-saw battle. Ewing had the ball first in OT, r4 I if 1-1 si 1 J- I 'V.

Courier-Newt Photo By Vlnce Kremer Somerville's Steve Holloway (left) and Tom Gray are Pioneers' happiness didn't last as they eventually dropped a overjoyed following a second half But the 21 -18 overtime decision to Ewing..