Sunday,
October 20, 2013
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Pal Park/Leonia quarterback Adeyami Dasilva threw for two scores and ran for another as the Tigers held off Queen of Peace, 34-27, on Saturday night to improve to 6-0 on the year. |
PALISADES PARK – It is safe to say that the Palisades Park/Leonia football team has completely changed its image under Dave Schuman, the head coach who walked into what was an impossible situation in 2008 made worse by the one-year hiatus the program took due to lack of numbers in 2009. While the aesthetics of that image are still a little schizophrenic with blue jerseys to represent Pal Park and maroon numbers to highlight Leonia's contribution and a helmet that includes tiger (Pal Park's mascot) stripes and lion (Leonia's mascot) eyes, the on-field image is much more settled and impressive.
The Tiger/Lions won seven straight games last season to make it all the way to MetLife Stadium for the program's state final appearance since it won its only state title back in 1991 and this year they are gunning to make it one step further. They took another step in that direction by scoring on the opening drive of the first half to break a tie against Queen of Peace and then held on through some nail-biting moments to win their six straight game to start the season, 34-27, on Saturday night.
“It feels good to be a part of building this program, but we are only worried about right now. The past is the past and we are living in the moment and just focusing on winning games,” said Adeyami Dasilva, Pal Park's quarterback. “This was not the best game we have played, but we were able to win it and that is what it is all about. The goals are to win a league title, to go to the states and to win a state championship and that is what we are working towards one week at a time.”
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Queen of Peace's Kevin Momnohin, who ran for TDs of 83 and 49 yards, hauling in the 31-yard pass that was the game's first score. |
Pal Park has not really been tested since Week 2 in a five-point win over Waldwick, but it found out a lot about itself against Queen of Peace and its senior running back Kevin Momnohin, who will be playing somewhere on the Division 1 level next season. On the first drive of the game and facing a third-and-15, QP quarterback Anthony got the ball just over the hands of a leaping defender and Momnohin timed his jump perfectly in behind. The hook-up went for a 31-yard touchdown and Queen of Peace announced itself in the game with a 7-0 lead just 1:48 in.
The first half was back-and-forth with Malik St. Hilaire's 43-yard punt return setting up Pal Park's first score, a 12-yard keeper by quarterback Adeyami Dasilva that tied the game at 7 with 6:35 left in the first quarter and a key special teams play early in the second allowed the home team take its first lead. A dropped snap of a punt allowed Robert Then to get through and break up what turned into a rushed attempt and Eric Chun scooped the bouncing ball and scored from 33 yards away to give Pal Park a 14-7 lead.
Momnohin scored on an 83-yard run that was answered by a bulldozing 9-yard charge by Pal Park's Eric Johnson and Villano hit Tajier Jefferson for a 28-yard TD and Danny DovelFakar for the 2-point conversion. That last score came inside the final minute of the second quarter and the two teams hit the locker rooms tied 21-all at the half.
The turning point came on the first two drives of the third quarter as Pal Park went first and got a Dasilva to Taj Huggins 9-yard touchdown pass and Johnny Leon made his fourth straight PAT to make it 28-21. With Queen of Peace trying to respond, a tipped pass in the red zone fell into the hands of Khairi Noerdlinger for an interception. Pal Park cashed the turnover into a 34-21 lead when Dasilva hit St. Hilaire on a 6-yard slant, but Momnohin went 49 yards for his third score of the game on the final play of the third quarter to make it 34-27.
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Pal Park's Eric Chun scooping up the blocked punt that he returned for a 33-yard score early in the second quarter. |
“I have been watching that running back [Momnohin] on tape for weeks and I knew that he was going to give us trouble. How good is that kid?” said Schuman. “We knew he was going to get his, but we were able to come up with a couple of defensive stops along the way that helped us. The special teams TD and the [Noerdlinger] interception deep in our territory really were big plays because that is a tough offense to stop.”
The Tigers made one fourth quarter mistake that almost came back to haunt them when they punted right down the middle of the field to Momnohin, who took it on one bounce and, predictably, took it to the house for 58 yards away. An illegal block called the play back and the last two Queen of Peace drives ended in turnovers-on-downs.
“We had the punt return called back and we had the deflected pass and when you look at the final score, those two plays were big in the outcome. Even though the points allowed don't really show it, I thought this was our best defensive effort of the year. We got some stops and we held them scoreless in the fourth quarter,” said Queen of Peace head coach Robert Kearns, whose team fell to 3-3 on the season. “We've played a tough schedule, we have come through it healthy and I think we have shown that we can play with anybody. Last week [in a loss to Waldwick] we dipped in the second half so today was about getting back to playing 48 minutes of Queen of Peace football. Today wasn't about win or lose, it was about getting back to playing our style of football and I think we did that.”
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Queen of Peace quarterback Anthony Villano threw for 2 TDs. |
Pal Park's style is now confirmed to be putting up a lot of points and winning games and it has one-win North Arlington next up before a show down with Hasbrouck Heights in two weeks. If both teams get through this weekend unscathed and that is no gimmie with Heights scheduled to play Waldwick on Friday night, the November 1 matchup in Pal Park will be for all the marbles in the NJIC-Meadowlands Division.
“We have to take care of business next week against North Arlington and we are focused on that and if we do then that sets up the big game against Hasbrouck Heights. That game will be for the league championship and we will be ready. We beat Hasbrouck Heights last year, so we know how it feels to beat a team of that caliber,” said St. Hilaire, whose older brother, Elijah, is now playing at West Point. “We have a lot of seniors on this team and we want to make this season special. As you can see, we are not even really satisfied with this win, we wanted to play better. We are here to put our hearts out of the field every week.”
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