The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 152

THE SUNDAY RECORD i DECEMBER 2. 1990 me JUL! WalliingtoE stratus Cresskill. GROUP 1 straight completions, two for touchdowns. "We should have put them away once we had them where they had to score three times to beat us," said Cresskill coach Bob Valli. "But we didn't have the knockout punch, something that's been missing in recent weeks.

But Wallington is a good team. They just outplayed us." Said Magrini, "Until now they Cresskill didn't know what it means to lose." NOTES Szamborski was a confusing player to everyone. The wide receiver caught four passes for 60 yards including a touchdown. He was listed as 28 in the program but wore No. 84 at the kickoff.

But he had the shirt torn so finished the game catching a pass as No. 88 Wellington's two-way standout lineman Ron Kudlacik suffered a leg injury and played only on offense. This put Drew Thorry into his defensive spot and he did a fine job. boomed a quick kick to the 8. The strategy appeared to backfire as the Cougars, behind the runningof Mike Horan, moved to the 39.

But as Horan broke up the middle for 11 yards, he fumbled and Magrini recovered with six minutes left. On the next play, Mike Die-drichs intercepted, but it was wiped out by an interference call. This time Wellington took advantage and went the distance with Magrini going in from 6 inches. "I was dying to get an interception on Doto because they got me when I slipped in the second quarter and he said something to me," Magrini said. On that play Doto tossed a touchdown pass to Die-drichs for a 14-6 lead.

"Paul is a super, super athlete," said Wallington coach Carl Von Tobel. "Ana we went to him for the win. I feel we've shown everyone that we know how to win after all those years of losing." The Panthers defense pressured Doto during the early going with Manuel Tejeda and Dave Miel-nicki posting sacks. But Cresskill's blockers settled down and Doto closed out the half with six Bfiob Kurland Retford SUtt Writer i CRESSKILL A quest for respectability turned into the impossible dream Saturday as Walling-ton, came from behind to dethrone defending Group 1, Section 1 champion Cresskill, 28-22. The Panthers entered the season with a new coaching staff striving to produce the school's first winning football season in seven years.

But championships belonged to teams like Cresskill. And Cresskill, riding a 21 -game unbeaten skein, looked like it woild do the expected when it opened a 22-6 lead early in the second half. But the Panthers came back behind the play of Paul Ma-grini. Although Magrini completed only 13 of 30 passes for 194 yards, his1 overall play was outstanding. With his team needing three scbres to come back, Magrini passed for two touchdowns and two conversions, then ran for the winning score with 31 seconds left.

If that wasn't enough, Magrini came up with a key fumble and an interception in the second half, V. JOE OIARDELLITHE RECORD Wallington receiver Walt Szamborski leaps high to grab a pass In the Panthers' 28-22 upset of Cresskill In the Group 1 sectional final. PV gains sweet revenge over Wayne Valley By Ron Fox Record Staff Writer HILLSDALE Three running backs gained redemption Saturday and he also had a 59-yard quick kick. "This is the greatest feeling in any game I've played," said Magrini, who also is an outstanding baseball and basketball player. "What a comebackt When we were down I told everybody to stay calm, there's plenty of time, don't give up." Mike Doto appeared to put the game away early in the second half when the Cresskill quarterback scored from the 3 and then ran for the conversion to open a 16-point lead.

But midway through the third period, Magrini directed a 68-yard TD march capped by a 6-yard-pass to Brian Mosher. It was a 14-point deficit at the start of the final quarter, but Magrini drove the his team 70 yards with a 7-yard toss to Walt Szamborski and a two-pointer to Manuel Tejeda which closed it to six. After stopping Cresskill, the Panthers were hit with two penalties for 30 yards, so Magrini then when Pascack Valley won its Group 3, Section 1 title, 14-0, over two-time defending champion Wayne Valley. PAROCHIAL A dictable. Senior Jeff Burke was alone on one knee.

A few yards away, junior Osterman pounded his fist into the turf. Junior Dan Quinonez sat alone on the bench before being joined by a few dejected teammates. Senior quarterback-safety John Gilmore just walked around expressionless, as if it hadn't sunk in. None of the players were in the mood to talk. But Queen of Peace coach Andy Cerco tried to explain what happened.

"We have no excuses," Cerco said. "We dominated in the first Scher was more than happy to run it in, and Greg Tietjen and Mike Gallucci were pleased to make their fakes and block for their running mate on the play. Revenge was theirs, too. "In last year's game, the coaches took me and Tietjen and Gallucci out and put in three other backs to run the play and they were stopped at the goal line," Scher said. "We wanted to run it this time." The three backs, plus Levin, accounted for 228 rushing yards, including Scher's 95 yards on 22 car- -ries.

He had 76 yards on 14 carries in the first half before a foot injury slowed him. And in that first half, the PV defense limited the usually explosive Wayne Valley attack to one first down and 30 yards. "Our defense has been tough all year," said defensive end Jeff Rice, who applied a heavy pass rush. "Last week, we held Cliffside Park running back Jon Shanker down, so there was no doubt in our minds we'd shut 'em out today." Wayne Valley coach Dave McMahon was impressed with the way PV's defensive line Craig DeBari, Jon Fischer, Mike Gen-none, and Rice pinched in and stymied the traps WV usually runs so well. He said it forced him to switch to a passing game.

"We're so much quicker than most teams outside with Rice and Gennone at the ends and Jim Bulger and Art Ludwig at outside linebacker," said defensive coach Ralph Cavalucci, whom head coach Ed Mullins calls the 'Dean "It was nice that we scored on the play that cost us the game laBt year Blue Right, 7 Power," said quarterback Matt Levin, who gave half and we felt we could dominate the game in the second half. We knew they were a great football team and we knew they could come back. We just didn't get it done in the second half." Don Bosco (8-3) had its own explanations. One player said Queen of Peace was too cocky at the half. Another questioned the Golden Griffins' heart.

"They had a 20-0 lead and couldn't keep it," one player said. "I guess they didn't want it as bad as we did." Senior running back Mike De-Marco, who scored Don Bosco's first two touchdowns on 1-yard plunges and ran for 96 yards on 26 carries, believed the Ironmen gave Related story 3-16 the ball to Marc Scher for the game's first score, a 1-yard run off right guard with 6:44 left in the first half. away the first half, then got down to business in the final two quarters. "We were still up at halftime," DeMarco said. "We knew they were making big plays on our mistakes.

We turned the ball over. That hurt. We couldn't make mistakes in the second half." The Ironmen, who have won six State titles, stormed back in the second half on the strength of a balanced offense. Their first drive of the third quarter featured eight running plays and the 5-for-5 passing of Pete Harteveld. The 73-yard march, which ate up nearly 6Va minutes, was punctuated by DeMarco's plunge up the middle.

"We like going to the wideouts," said receiver Dan McCann, who caught three passes and a two-point conversion and kicked the winning extra point following Har-teveld's 6-yard run with 1:16 remaining. "We have good receivers and I'm glad we used them today." Three turnovers led to Queen of Peace's first-half points. Gilmore intercepted a Harteveld pass and ran 65 yards for a touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Quinonez recovered a fumble after Steve Jaco-bellis was seperated from the ball at the Don Bosco 22. Four plays later, fullback Bob Wondolowski ran 2 yards for a score.

Don Bosco's next drive ended at its 35 when a scrambling Harteveld fumbled. Linebacker Leo Kil-leen pounced on the ball to give Queen of Peace possession. On the next play, Gilmore tossed a 35-yard scoring pass to Bill Bellenger, who made a brilliant over-the-shoulder catch at the goal line. I Related story S-16 STEVE HOCK5TEINTHE RECORD Scott Carllno (65) and Jim Gagllano of Pascack Valley team to stop Wayne Valley's Mark Doherty In 14-0 PV victory. Doe Bosco rallies to down QP GROUP 3 of Levin, who misfired on his first five throws, took charge in the second quarter, when PV scored all its points.

He attributed the slow start to the opposition's defense. "They were covering everybody so tightly, I was rushing things at first, he said. But Scher's 19-yard run and Steve Weinstein's diving catch for 7 yards set up Scher's TD, who followed blocks by DeBari and Gallucci. Following a punt, Levin went 3-for-3, hitting Gallucci and Bulger for gains before throwing perfectly to Weinstein in the far left corner of the end zone for the 24-yard score. Levin made that throw while under a heavy rush from John Martin and Matt Vuolo.

Wayne Valley's defense also sparkled, twice coming up with big Elays in the first quarter. Line-, acker Aaron Hall stopped a fourth-down play short of a first' down at his 30, and Aaron Tomas-kovic made an interception at PVs 40. Justin Riemer and Bill Formosa also had interceptions for WV. When the defending champions came back behind the 86-yard passing of Ryan Weiss in the second half, PV's Mike Pausz and Bulger stepped in to pick off passes to kill drives. Related stories S-l, S-16 GROUP 4 hope was lost, but we had faith in ourselves," said senior Mike Groh, whose 37-yard field goal on the game's final play made the difference.

"We had faith in ourselves because we've come back before." Randolph, in its first season in Group 4, was an underdog in each of its playoff games and overcame two of the state's finest teams. Seeded third, the Rams topped No. 2 Union last week in the semifinals, 6-0, to set up Saturday's monumental matchup. In Montclair, the Rams were facing a school familiar with ending streaks. The Mounties, ranked No.

6 in the nation in USA Today's Top 25, stopped Westfield in 1973, 20-15. With size and the home-field advantage on his side, Montclair coach Jack Davies was asked if fate lifted Randolph to victory. "It sure sounds like it," Davies said. "But you'd hate to think The Lord is involved in football games." The Lord may not have been watching, but at least one player believes someone was watching over the Rams. "I definitely believe he was smiling down' upon us," Groh said of John Bauer Sr.

Fate still favors Randolph streak ByJoe Chessari Correspondent RAMSEY If it's true that the bus ride home after an away loss seems to take forever, the ride back to North Arlington for the Queen of Peace football team Saturday must have seemed like an eternity. Don Bosco Prep 21, Queen of Peace 20 didn't tell the whole sto- Don Bosco's come-from-behind victory in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Parochial A North final was hard for Queen of Peace to take. The Golden Griffins (9-2) watched a 20-0 halftime lead vanish, and their reaction afterward was pre- Don Bosco's Dan Mlstretta tries to Pw- By Greg Mattura Correspondent It has been a bittersweet season for the Randolph football team. The death of coach John Bauer Sr. Nov.

14 brought great sadness to the program, but Saturday's come-from-behind 22-21 Group 4, Section 2 victory over Montclair kept alive the Rams' State-record winning streak and set another standard. By capturing the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association title against the state's No. 1-ranked team, second-ranked Randolph stretched its victory streak to 49. Earlier this season, the Rams surpassed Memorial of West New York's 40-game streak set during the late 1950s. The victory broke the record for the longest unbeaten streak in state history.

The Rams had shared the previous mark of 48 with West-field's streak from 1968-73, which included two ties. "This one tops them all," said John Bauer who took over the program after his father died. Randolph's come-from-behind victory was the most remarkable of several last-minute wins during a streak that began in 1986 and includes four straight Group 3, Section 2 titles before this season. "It definitely looked like all v. stt 'r-.

KLAUS-PETER STEITZTHE RECORD break the tackles of Queen of Peace's Dan Quinonez and Leo Killeen..