Sunday, December 2, 2007

By Jim McConville
NJS.com Staff Writer

Andrew Nass piled up 164 yards on 25 carries and scored the clinching TD as Hasbrouck Heights knocked off New Milford, 26-16, in the North 1, Group 2 state final at Giants Stadium.

EAST RUTHERFORD -- A.J. Scoppa was getting all of the pre-game hype. The New Milford junior was closing in on 2,000 rushing yards and he was the leader of the Cinderella Knights, looking to once again thwart Hasbrouck Heights’ quest for a state championship.

Andrew Nass is a pretty fair running back himself, and the Aviator senior showed everyone in attendance at Giants Stadium on Saturday night that it isn’t always the best-known back that walks away with the hardware.

After 25 carries and 164 yards, including the clinching touchdown, Nass was a champion as Heights finished off a perfect season with a come-from-behind 26-16 win. It was also a measure of revenge for HH head coach Nick Delcalzo, who watched New Milford deny him state championships in 1985 and 1986, his first two years as Aviator head coach.

“Nobody expected us to be here,” Delcalzo said. “We were picked to finish third in our league, we had to beat a really good Cresskill team twice and New Milford twice (once in the regular season). We won the league and ran the table.”

New Milford's A.J. Scoppa had 17 carries for 65 yards, leaving him 29 yards short of 2,000 for the season.

The day wasn’t about the coach, however. This day was about the Aviators’ resiliency, as the Knights held them in check for the better part of three quarters before Heights began to wear down the New Milford defense.

The Knights had grabbed a 16-14 lead with 2:03 left in the third quarter on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Rob Hackett to Pat Mitchell, with Mitchell going over the top of the defensive back to make the catch along the left sideline.

When the kickoff was returned to the 16-yard line, Heights needed to scale 84 yards to try and regain the lead. Thirteen running plays later, they had the lead.

“We re-game planned at halftime,” Nass related, “and we came out in the second half and took it to them, running the ball hard. It worked, and now we’re state champs.”

“We thought we had something there at halftime,” Delcalzo said. “We told the staff and the guys, let’s be patient and we’ll win this game. We had to come back twice, but we stayed patient.”

They converted a pair of third downs, the latter on a 17-yard scramble by QB Bobby Kistner, and a 22-yard counter run by Kevin Delcalzo, the coach’s son, helped set up a Shawn Zaun 5-yard touchdown with 7:50 left in the game. A two-point conversion try failed.

Junior Bobby Kistner led Heights to a perfect season and its first state title since 1994.

Hasbrouck Heights (12-0) then changed up and kicked off deep, and it turned into a major game-changer, as Tyler Blake stripped the return man and Mike Denichilo recovered for Heights.

“Our kicker said, let me kick it deep this one time, trust me,” Coach Delcalzo recounted, “and we get the big turnover.”

“The turnover hurt us in the end,” NM head coach Billy Wilde commented. “We were feeling pretty good about ourselves, we had gone down and scored, but giving it up there was key.”

The Knights defense held and got the ball back with 5:33 left, only to see a Lorenzo Tattoli sack force a punt. The short kick went out of bounds at the NM 36-yard line, and three plays later, Nass burst off right tackle and went virtually untouched to the end zone from 21 yards out with 2:40 to go.

“It was just a matter of time before something popped,” Nass said. “There were holes there; it just felt like we were missing by inches.”

Nass found one of those holes with 4:50 left in the first quarter, scampering 30 yards off right guard to open the scoring. He helped set up his score with a 23-yard catch on the previous play.

Rob Hackett's TD pass to Pat Mitchell with 2:03 left in the third quarter gave New Milford a 16-14 lead.

The Knights (8-4) got even in the second quarter after they stopped Heights on a fourth and goal at the 3-yard line. After a first down at the 17, Hackett found Mitchell deep along the left sideline.

He made the catch and broke a tackle, finishing off an 83-yard scoring play. Tommy Montecuollo added the PAT, and he gave NM the lead with four minutes left before halftime with a 24-yard field goal.

“They’re a very good defense, and we knew we had to take our shots with our skill guys,” said Wilde. “Hackett with his legs, John Esposito and Mitchell (4 catches, 126 yards), we had to get the ball in their hands, and A.J. is a threat on every play.”

Will Walsh and Mitchell grabbed late interceptions to keep Heights off the board before halftime, but the Aviators made good on their first second half possession.

It ended on a 20-yard pass from Kistner to Delcalzo, who ran a flag pattern and grabbed the perfectly thrown ball at ht pylon.

Scoppa had 17 carries for 65 yards, leaving him 29 yards short of 2,000 for the season, and he never was able to get that big run. His longest jaunt was 14 yards.

“We’re explosive,” Wilde said, “so I thought we could score at any point. They did a nice job on A.J.”

Tattoli led the HH defense with 10 tackles and two sacks, and Zach Ketcho made six tackles. Zahn (16 carries, 49 yards) and Kistler (8-33) helped Hasbrouck to a 270-120 rushing yardage advantage.

Matt Norton and Jim Morgan each had nine tackles for New Milford and Hackett was 5 o 13 passing for 143 yards.

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