Saturday, November 22, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Damian Bates carried the ball 36 times for 238 yards and a score as Hoboken handed Secaucus its first loss of the season, 14-0, on Friday night in the North 2, Group 1 sectional semifinals.

SECAUCUS -- Frigid conditions like the ones Friday night brought might force some teams to make at least some concessions. With the wind whipping and the air freezing some teams might have to eliminate at least some of its more risky plays that include putting the ball in the air. But not Hoboken, which would hardly be bothered if the forward pass was eliminated entirely. The Red Wings run the ball, always have, and it is going to take a lot more than a chill in the air to make them change what they do.

“People that follow Hoboken football know that we run the football and only throw it when we have to. The pass plays stay right here,” said Hoboken head coach Louis Taglieri, pointing to his back pocket. “We have some big guys up front and we like to push on people, maybe outlast them and out-condition them.”

When all was said and done, Hoboken ran the ball 45 times and threw it only three times and one of those technically didn’t count, helped instead by a pass interference penalty. Of the other two pass attempts, one was completed for 14 yards the other was intercepted. The real story was the Red Wings’ ground game, which churned out 353 yards and the two touchdowns that Hoboken needed to post a 14-0 win over previously undefeated Secaucus in the North 2, Group 1 state sectional playoffs.

Lucas Litwin and the Secaucus offense moved the ball throughout, but were held off the scoreboard.

The win sets up a rubber game against Verona, which knocked off Brearley, 26-7, in Friday night’s other semifinal. Hoboken beat Verona in the 2005 section final, lost to the Hillbillies in last season’s semifinals and will look to return the favor in two weeks at a time and place to be announced, most likely at Giants Stadium.

While the weather conditions made no dent in Hoboken’s playbook, it was the opposite for Secaucus, which uses the spread offense and like to put the ball in the air. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it worked against the Patriots, who made plenty of trips inside Hoboken’s end of the field, but came up short of the goal line every time.

Secaucus had the game’s first possession and, highlighted by a 32-yard pass from Lucas Litwin to Bob Roesing, reached the Hoboken 26 before turning the ball over on downs. Its second possession got at far as the Hoboken 17 before it was cut short by Travis Rivera’s interception near the goal line gave Hoboken the ball back.

The Patriots’ third (and final) possession of the first half was a doozy, a 12-play, 82-yard march that hung on a fourth-and-goal from the Hoboken 8. Litwin hit Roesing at the 4-yard line, but Desmond Bates hit Roesing where he stood to end the threat.

Hoboken's Travis Rivera (34) pulling in a first quarter interception.

Hoboken also turned the ball over twice in the first half and neither team put up any points over the first two quarters, but it was Secaucus’ missed opportunities that really took a toll. Getting a lead might have forced Taglieri to pull the pass plays out of his pocket, but Secaucus missed its chances to apply that type of pressure.

“If we could go up by a score or two maybe we could have forced them out of their comfort zone, get them away from what they like to do and make them throw the ball a little bit,” said Secaucus head coach Charlie Vorhees. “We were never able to do that. We came to play tonight, our defense was hitting out there and gave us some chances, but we couldn’t put points on the board.”

Secaucus’ defense bent, but never broke over the first three quarters, even though Hoboken’s huge offensive line and its talent running back tandem of Bates and Corey Willis were gaining ground. Penalties (6) and turnovers (2) stymied the Red Wings in the first half and they turned the ball over (a fumble recovered by Sid Makker) on their first possession of the second half, but after the teams traded punts, Hoboken got the break it needed to take the lead for good.

Bob Roesing and Secaucus will play for a third straight BCSL-National Division title on Wednesday.

Facing a fourth-and-9 from his own 34, Roesing dropped back to punt but never got the chance when the snap sailed over his team. Hoboken took over on the plus 29 and two plays later, Willis swept right, stiff armed the first would-be tackler, left the second one on the ground grasping at air and found the right corner of the endzone with 10:59 to play in the game. An offside call as Hoboken was lined up for the extra point coaxed Taglieri to put his offense back on the field and Bates found the space to score the two-point conversion to put Hoboken up 8-0.

“We were moving the ball all night and didn’t have anything to show for it,” said Willis, who finished the night with 94 yards on 13 carries. “So it definitely felt good to get that touchdown. We needed to score and I was going to do whatever I could to get in there.”

With 7:38 to play in the game, Secaucus took over with what turned out to be its last shot. Litwin hit Roesing for 20 yards to reach midfield on the first play of the drive. On the next snap, however, Hoboken got pressure on Litwin and forced an underthrown pass that was intended for Matt Traynor, who was behind the secondary, but it floated and left time for Robert Foster to retreat in time to make the interception.

Corey Willis and Hoboken will play for the North 2, Group 1 title in two weeks against Verona.

When Hoboken took over, it went on the kind of drive that wins championships, or at least state sectional semifinal playoff games. The Red Wings ran 10 straight running plays and ate up the 96 yards that stood between them and the end zone in 4:22. The drive started with a 44-yard run by Bates, who carried the ball nine times for 78 yards on the march and capped with an eight-yard scamper off left tackle for the games final score. Bates finished the night with 238 yards on 36 carries.

“I took us a while to score, but that doesn’t matter,” said Bates, whose team improved to 8-3 on the season with one big one left to play. “The bottom line is that we are playing to win a state championship. We have one more game to go and it doesn’t matter how we got there.”

The outcome was obviously disappointing for Secaucus (9-1), which suffered its first loss of the season. The bad news is that there will be no state championship this year, but the good news is that the Patriots could lock up a third straight BCSL-National Division championship with a win over Weehawken in the season finale on Wednesday night.

“We have plenty to play for. Wednesday night against Weehawken is a big game. We win that and it is three straight league titles. That is something to be proud of for sure and hopefully, when they wake up in the morning, our guys will be ready to go,” said Vorhees. “What I am going to remind them of is that we have an 11th game where most teams play 10 and No. 11 is very important.”

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