Saturday, September 29, 2007

By Jim McConville
NJS.com Staff Writer

MAHWAH -- It was a situation that many thought the Wayne Hills football team wouldn’t face until the Old Tappan if at all this season, a tight game late in the third quarter with their lead seemingly slipping away.

Yet there was Mahwah on Friday night, giving the Patriots all they wanted and more. The Thunderbirds were marching, doing to Hills what they normally do to opponents, running the ball into the teeth of the defense with success.

A yard from the end zone and a tie game, the unexpected happened, a fumble on a second effort at the goal line that allowed Wayne Hills to dodge a huge bullet, the turning point that allowed the Pats to extend their winning streak to 32 games.

They tacked on a fourth quarter score to finish a 14-0 defeat of Mahwah that left Wayne Hills with a new-found respect for the T-Birds.

“We were in a dogfight,” wide receiver/defensive back Bryan Ogden admitted.

So much so that Wayne Hills was faced with a number of anomalies, including eight plays on which they were stopped for losses and two more that recorded no gain.

“They played really hard, they hit hard,” Ogden said of Mahwah, and quarterback Mike Giampapa agreed, saying, “They were a good test. They beat us in the eighth grade Super Bowl, and they have a moxey about them. They played tough.”

The fatal play was the 16th in a drive that lasted 9:14 and began at the T-Bird 30-yard line. All of the plays were runs, and Mahwah’s success forced WH head coach Chris Olsen to insert injured linebacker Tim Waller to try and quell the march. Olsen had hoped to hold him out until the Old Tappan game next Saturday.

On a first down from the 1-yard line, Mahwah QB John Ebeling tried to punch it in over right guard.

“It was a quarterback sneak,” Ebeling explained, “and on second effort I went to the right. One of my own guys pushed me from behind and the ball came out.”

Ronnie Driese recovered the ball inches from the goal line with 1:08 left in the third quarter. On a third down at the 10, Danny DeCicco got around the right side for a 48-yard gain that shifted the field position and sunk the Thunderbird spirits.

“Our intensity level picked up after we stopped them,” Olsen said. “They had us on our heels. We had our feet to the fire. You’re not going to win every game 40-0.”

An exchange of punts put the ball back in Wayne’s hands, and it went to Carlton Marcin on three straight runs, gaining 21 yards to the Mahwah 27. Giampapa then went play action, finding tight end Kyle Hanenberg behind the secondary for a 27-yard touchdown. Mark Romeo kicked his second extra point with 6:45 left in the game.

“We prepared to mix it up a little bit, but 7-0 in the fourth quarter, I think we got back to Wayne Hills football,” Giampapa said. “Run the ball and play action off that. When you’re worried about Danny and Carlton running for touchdowns, it leaves Hanenberg open.”

It was the second TD pass for Giampapa, who was 11 of 19 passing for 140 yards. The first came with 3:04 to go in the first half on a 36-yard fly to Ogden on a third and 11 play.

“The corner didn’t seem to be paying attention, and I just went right by him,” Ogden recalled. “I caught it right over him.”
“He was the third option,” Giampapa related. “We had Danny (DeCicco) to the left at tight end to move him out and try to get a mismatch, but he was covered. I looked to Jeremiah (Kayal) in the middle, and there was a safety on him.

“I looked to my right and Brian had his man beat and I let one go. I give that credit to the offensive line. Any time I get the chance to look at three guys, I’m going to make a good throw.”

“He makes big plays,” Olsen said of his signal caller.

DeCicco had 86 yards rushing on 15 carries, while Marcin had 50 on 9 runs and 6 receptions for 47 yards. Paul Drake recorded eight tackles and Kayal and Ryan Daddurno added seven stops apiece.

Greg Stripe ran for 53 yards on 8 carries for Mahwah and Dylan Meola rushed 9 times for 31 yards. Ebeling was 5 of 19 passing for 21 yards and two fourth quarter interceptions, by Kayal. Anthony Negron had nine tackles and Meola and Stripe (3 tackles for losses) seven each.

“We have to move ahead and put this one behind us,” Ebeling said. “We can take a lot of positives into next week (against Demarest), and we know now that if we can play with the second ranked team in North Jersey, we can play with anybody.”

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