Saturday, September 12, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Iago Ladeia ran for 133 yards and two scores for Cliffside Park, which opened the season with a 33-6 win at Dumont on Friday night.

DUMONT -- While it is the goal of every team to start a new football season with a win in its first game, there are few teams in North Jersey that needed a win as much as Cliffside Park. The Red Raiders were winless in 2007 and did not win a regular season game last year while mourning the loss of Douglas Morales, a beloved team member who passed away in the preseason. Cliffside was due for a celebration and it finally had reason on the bus ride home from Dumont High School on Friday night.

When the final whistle blew after a dominating 33-6 victory, Cliffside Park could put the disappointment of the last two years behind it and look forward to what is now a promising season.

“It’s only the first game, but this is a huge win for us. There is no doubt about that,” said John Ranu, Cliffside Park’s head coach. “It started with the last game of last season [a win in a state tournament consolation game], we had a good summer and we had two good scrimmages and it continued right into tonight. We get on the bus and enjoy this one, but tomorrow it is right back to work. We have River Dell next week.”

William Fleishhauer's second quarter TD brought Dumont to within 7-6.

The weather did neither team any favors, especially in a first half that was highlighted mostly by penalties and turnovers as the rain blew in at a steady clip from the first snap to the last. Cliffside fumbled the ball four times in the first half, lost two of them and had to settle for a 7-6 halftime lead. Cliffside’s lone score came on a slashing 40-yard run by junior Iago Ladeia with 6:30 to play in the first quarter.

But Cliffside turned the ball over on each of its first two second quarter possession and Dumont (0-1) turned the second one into a score. Cody Sansone fell on a fumble deep inside Cliffside territory and, five plays later, William Fleischhauer dove over the pile from one yard out to draw the Huskies to within one point with 5:03 to go in the half. A penalty, however, wiped out a successful point-after, Cliffside kept the lead and then steadily built it after regrouping at halftime.

“I have to take the blame that we didn’t score more points in the first half. I had a couple of fumbles and it was pretty wet out there, but there is no excuse,” said Ladeia. “But we knew that we were playing a good game besides the turnovers. We went into halftime, cleaned stuff up and did what we did in the second half.”

Cliffside QB Chris DeLucca threw for 108 yards and two scores.

Cliffside used its defense to give itself some breathing room as it recovered a fumble on Dumont first possession of the third quarter and cashed it in just two plays later. Chris DeLucca lofted the perfect pass over two defenders up the right side and Omar Morales ran under it for a 20-yard score. Mickey Becovic made the extra point to give Cliffside a 14-6 advantage with 8:59 to in the third quarter and the Red Raiders never looked back.

Greg Faria scored on a one-yard plunge to give the Raiders a 20-6 lead after three quarters and Cliffside turned an interception into a 20-yard touchdown pass from DeLucca (105 passing yards) to Josh Alvarez two minutes into the fourth quarter that gave the Raiders a 26-6 lead.

“I was waiting for one all game, but it was raining, we were moving the ball on the ground and we didn’t throw that much,” said Alvarez, a senior. “But I had confidence in Chris [DeLucca], he has a good arm and we ran the play that I wanted. Chris made a great throw and we scored. You can’t ask for better than that. It was a great game for us tonight.”

Kyle Cullen had three catches for Dumont.

Ladeia, who rushed for 133 yards and two scores, closed out the scoring with 7:57 left in the game as he went over from three yards away to put Cliffside on the path to bigger things.

The Raiders will return to the role of decided underdog next week as two-time defending BCSL-American Division champion River Dell is next up on the schedule. River Dell opened its season with an impressive 34-0 win over Ridgefield Park on Friday night and is once again the league favorite. But for one night at least, Cliffside Park was looking forward to the possibilities and also paying respect to the past.

“As seniors we want to go out with no regrets. We are trying to flip the script and tonight was a great start,” said Alvarez. “But this year is about more than just us. This year is for Dougie [Morales], to say anything else would be selfish. We know that River Dell is going to be tough, but this year is for Dougie, that is what we are concentrating on and we are going to try to win as many games as we can.”

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