The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 3

DECEMBER 6, 1992. S-18 THE SUNDAY RECORD mides Hackeesack to moiamf aim top GROUP 4 lando Fuentes' 28-yard first-quarter field goal, had three completions for 26 yards. Once it fell behind, North Bergen, which had thrown one pass during the first 3Vn quarters, was forced to go to the air. The Bruins began their final drive on their 34 with 1:21 left, passing five times. But their hopes for victory ended when senior quarterback Daviani Cordero opted to scramble on a fourth-and-10 at the Hackensack 45 and was stopped after a 7-yard gain.

"I always feel we're going to be in every game until the last second, and we were today," said senior Todd Williamson for a first down at the North Bergen 12. "We're a balanced team. When it came down to it, we did what we had to do," said junior lineman Pete Donnelly, whose Comets defeated the Bruins in the season opener, 27-13. "We didn't win the game statistically, but we found a way to win." With four catches for 68 yards, Williamson did more than North Bergen's entire passing game. The Bruins, who led 3-0 on junior Or By GREGIKATTURA Correspondent NORTH BERGEN One way or the other, Hackensack can move the football.

Against North Bergen, there was only one way. its ground attack virtually reduced to nothing, Hackensack turned to the arm of quarterback John Krueger to come from behind for a 7-3 victory that gave the Comets the Group 4, Section 1 championship. "I'll tell you what, it doesn't get any better than this," coach Greg Toal said after Hackensack captured its first sectional title since ustice with Lodi win it 1 win over Lenape Valley in the Group Lenape running back Rick Blossom for no gain on a fourth-and-four from the Lodi 36. "I'd say 80 to 90 percent of high school football is emotion," said Tirico. "We were not going to be denied." mil i North Bergen coach Vin Ascolese.

NOTES This was North Bergen's third consecutive appearance in the final. Hackensack recovered a fumble prior to set up game-winning touchdown drive. Junior Pete Donnelly stripped Bruins' senior Gregg Ascolese and junior Dave Brown recovered. Late in the second quarter, As-; colese recovered a fumble on a goal-line stand. On a first-and-goal at the North Bergen 1-yard line, Krueger fumbled the snap and Ascolese dove on the ball and recovered it at the 4-yard line.

it itss. ED HILLTHE RECORD 2 title game. "Our inspiration came from within," Sizow said when asked if the Lodi seniors made inspiration- -al speeches during the week. "We've been motivated all The seniors knew there was no tomorrow." -v GROUP 3 them right away," said Conti. And Hayden's conversion pass to Lake made it 16-0 just 6:49 into the game.

"They're a great football team; and we didn't want to get into a shootout with them," said Ramapo coach Mike Miello. "Obvious-r ly, once they were up 16-0, we were in trouble." Things only got worse for Ram- apo (8-3). Ramapo went three- -and-out again and this time it Demarest seven plays to march 54 yards to paydirt, with Lee diving in from a yard on the last play of the first quarter. After Ramapo made its only two' first-half first downs, Demarest's defense again stiffened, forcing? another punt. The Norsemen; wrapped up the game with a two- play, 44-yard drive, courtesy of Edmundson.

First he turned in a -nifty piece of broken-field run- ning, taking a handoff and darting 39 yards to the 5. Then he swept the end again for the touchdown, and Hayden's second conversion run made it 30-0 by halftime. Demarest added touchdowns by -Hayden (on a 27-yard run with his own fumble) and sophomore Jeff. Gallucci. The Norsemen's second-" -team defense provided the game's final thrill when it stopped Rama-" po's second-team offense at the 1-1 yard line with 50 seconds remain-; ing to preserve Demarest's shutout of the season.

"But we've got the big one left," -said Conti. And then the Demarest coach returned to watch more '-film. UJCIAA SATURDAY NORTH JERSEY SECTION 1 Championship Wayne valley at NVDemarest, 1 p.m. PAROCHIAL A NORTH Championship Paramus Catholic at Bergen Catholic, 1 i A the playoff format was instituted in 1974. "We were pleased we were able to mix it up." That the Comets had more than one option was the difference in denying run-oriented North Bergen its sixth sectional title.

In a contest dominated by defense, the 6-foot-5, 200-pound Krueger completed seven of 13 passes for 114 yards. All seven of Krueger's completions went for first downs. Though Hackensack was held to 19 yards rushing and was out-gained, 154-133, its passing created the game's two best scoring serve arm? 2 stride for 36 yards. On the next play, Sizow ran his "dig" pattern a two-cut slant and DeSi--mone put it in his numbers for the 39-yard score. "The cornerback looked a little timid on the fade," said Sizow.

"I went to work on him and we got lucky with the wind. The ball was right there. "I'm the primary receiver on the dig, and I wanted to run a perfect route. I saw daylight as soon as I caught it." After DeSimone booted the point, Lodi's work wasn't done. It took a gallant goal-line stand on Lenape's ensuing possession to secure the win.

The Patriots moved 77 yards in nine plays to the Rams 3, where LV coach Don Smolyn was faced with a fourth-and-inches. He opted for a quarterback sneak by 230- pound Jim Haines, but the charged-up Lodi line stopped him no gain. "Jimmy's a tough kid to bring down and we only needed three inches," said Smolyn. "It was our best against their best. They won that one." Lenape consistently had success running the ball, gaining 219 yards Cresskill's Brian McGuIre In the GROUP 1 varone, who with the rest of the Cougars' defense held the Bucs' vaunted passing attack in check.

"To get revenge and win a State championship at the same time is amazing. "We knew all their plays and formations. I have to give all the credit to the coaches. They had us prepared. We watched a lot of film.

Last time we didn't know what to expect. This time we were ready." With Bogota (8-3) relying on the cannon arm of senior quarterback Dan Sabella, who had thrown for close to and his posse of Andrew Telford and Kevin 'i By BARRY GRAMLICH Record Staff Writer LODI As he engulfed a hero sandwich in the locker room, Lodi's Mike Sizow politely apologised for being hungry. It was a lunger similar to the one he had on the football field, when on back-to-back plays he chewed up Lenape Valley's secondary. It was a one-two third-quarter punch that finally scored a knock-put for Lodi, which had failed in the two previous Group 2, Section 4 finals. After absorbing two one-point losses to Lenape Valley one, in overtime the third consecutive one-point affair went to the' Rams, 7-6.

And it was fitting that Anthony DeSimone, who missed an overtime extra point last year, made his only attempt Saturday after throwing a 39-yard touchdown pass to Sizow. "It was only a matter of time before we connected," said Sizow, who has started in all three finals against the Patriots. "We knew it at halftime." At that point, Lodi trailed 6-0 and DeSimone was l-for-5 for 1 yard and one interception. But when the Rams took over with 5:47 left in the third period, the duo went to work from their 25. On first down, Sizow outran his defender on a left-side fade pattern and DeSimone hit him in lift W- i.

-9 Three Bogota defenders team to stop for i chances. After squandering the first try with a goal-line fumble, Hackensack converted its second chance. With 5: 1 8 remaining, junior Justin Lamber scored on a 1-yard run to give Hackensack its 7-3 lead. Not surprisingly, it took three runs into the middle of North Bergen's defense to travel the last 6 feet But the big play in Hacken-sack's six-play, 26-yard drive was Krueger's 14-yard completion to 71 Tom Ross of Lodi following the block to Lodi's 105. But it was the quick-strike ability of Sizow that saved the day.

"Sizow's as good a receiver as there is," said Lodi coach Pat Tir-ico, whose teams are 30-3 over the last three seasons. "We were not Group 1 final. Cresskill turned back Murray, the pressure was on the Cougars' defense. And it responded, limiting Sabella to 179 yards on 14-of-32. Brian Soudant intercepted Sabella twice.

Cresskill coach Bob Valli passed the accolades to his assistants, who prepared the game plan on Monday night while he was at the AU-Bergen selection meeting. "We planned to do three different things," said Valli. "One, play a zone with two linebackers. Second, install a nickel package. And third, drop eight guys back into coverage.

It worked out well." "Their defensive game plan was sound," said Bogota coach Jamie Bittner, who guided his team to a an 8-3 season, including a victory over top-seeded Becton in the the Demarest rolls over Rainapo fluffs of Jim Kadenas in the Rams' 7-6 going to muscle this team. We had to throw." Nevertheless, the Rams received a fine effort from tailback Frank Carriere, who carried 10 times for 68 yards. And in the fourth quarter, it was Carriere who stopped STEVE HOCKSTEiNTHE RECORD Bucs, 21-6. Bogota semifinals. "Having those eight guys in the coverage helped them a bit.

And we had a few dropped balls. We just didn't execute." Conversely, Cresskill's offense mixed things up nicely as Kreitz (8-of-17 for 71 yards, 67 yards rushing) orchestrated a brilliant game plan that caught Bogota off guard. Meanwhile, junior running back David Koroghian, who started in place of Pat Malloy (appendicitis), made the best of his opportunity as he gained 109 yards on 23 carries and made three receptions for 18 yards. "It feels good to have the oppor-, tunity to step in for Pat; and pick up where he left off," said Koroghian. "I just cut from the back lanes and used by natural instincts." Tsn By PAUL SCHWARTZ Correspondent DEMAREST The Northern Valley at Demarest coaching staff couldn't relax for very long following the biggest win in the school's history, a 43-0 rout of Ramapo Saturday in the semifinals of the Group 3, Section 1 football playoffs.

Fifteen minutes after Demar-est's first playoff win, head coach Rich Conti and his assistants were beginning to review game films and starting to think about the sectional title game against perennial champion Wayne Valley. But that didn't prevent Conti from being excited about his team's 10th straight win of the "We felt that if we could hold them to two touchdowns, that we'd be able to win the game," said Conti. "Our line has developed so well this year. We were able to control each side of the ball from the beginning of the game." And with Demarest's "Four Norsemen" backfield of quarterback Alex Hayden and running backs Steve Lee, Dave Edmund-son, and Toph Lake in high gear, Ramapo never really had a chance. The Norsemen marched 68 yards on eight plays to open the game, including an 11-yard pass from Hayden to tight end Rob Dorfman on the second play.

It turned out to be Demarest's only pass, with the exception of two conversion tosses. Lee, the County's third-leading scorer with 124 points, bulled over a Ramapo defender to score on a 7-yard run 4:23 into the game and Hayden swept right end for the two-point conversion. Ramapo tried three running plays, came up a yard short of a first down, then punted. Justin O'Connor's punt sailed 37 yards and appeared to be well covered when Edmundson caught it on his 31. The speedy junior made one cut away from the Demarest wall and eluded seven Ramapo defenders in the first 10 yards before outrunning the rest on the way to a 69-yard touchdown.

"It sort of took the hgart out of Cresskill puts clamps on By KEVIN NEWELL Record Staff Writer CRESSKILL The Bucs stop here! Having suffered its only loss of the season to Bergen County Scholastic League Olympic Division foe Bogota on its home field to boot Cresskill was in an enviable position as host to the Buccaneers in Saturday's Group 1, Section 1 State football final. In an exceptionally well-played game, Cresskill (10-1), behind a fired up defense and three Garett Kreitz touchdown runs, trimmed Bogota, 21-6, for its third title in six years. the best feeling ever," said Cresskill defensive tackle Guy la-.