Saturday, November 22, 2014

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Matt Ferrara accounted for all of Cresskill's points with two touchdowns, a field goal and two extra points as the Cougars shutout out Boonton, 17-0, in the North 1, Group 1 sectional semifinals.

CRESSKILL – If not of the chain link fence that separates school grounds from residential Cresskill, Matt Ferrara would be able to call Arch Shaw Field behind Cresskill High School his backyard. His house backs right up to where he practices and plays his high school football and he certainly looked right at home on Friday night in the semifinals of the North 1, Group 1 state sectional tournament.

Ferrara scored the game's first touchdown, he provided the turning point/highlight play of the game and kicked a 25-yard field goal and two extra points to account for all of the scoring. He also made 11 tackles on defense as the Cougars posted their first shutout of the year and earned a spot in the championship game next weekend at MetLife Stadium with their 17-0 victory and first shutout of the season.

“See those lights over there?” said Ferrara, pointing just behind the home stands. “That is my house. My backyard comes right down to that fence and I am Cresskill through and through. I come out here every night and daydream and I have been thinking about this moment my entire life.”

The shutout was the first of the season for the top-seeded Cougars and they controlled every facet of the game to pull it off. They owned a lop-sided edge in time of possession, won the battle of turnovers, controlled the line of scrimmage and made every play that mattered in the outcome.

Sometimes it takes a little work in the film room or a thorough review of a reporter's notebook to figure out the play that turned the tide of the game. Sometimes it is just a cumulative effect of 48 minutes worth of effort and there is no one snap to point at as the tipping point, but everybody knew the one that won it for Cresskill on Friday night as soon as it happened. It stuck out like the Empire State Building in the New York City skyline.

Josh Smith and Boonton finished the season with a 7-4 record.

Ferrara had given Cresskill the lead with a 5-yard touchdown run off left tackle with 2:02 left in the first quarter, but Boonton was on the verge of answering. Evan Fajardo kept the march alive when, back to punt, he mishandled the snap but secured the ball and looked up to see the Cougars racing back in punt coverage. Fajardo ran into Cresskill territory for a first down and the Bombers were on the 3-yard line facing a fourth and goal when Josh Corporan took off on a sweep left with space in front of him.

Corporan looked like he was going to win the race to the pylon and tie the score, but James Picinich, Cresskill's starting cornerback, had other ideas.

“I saw him break contain to the outside and I just lowered my head and try to make a hit on him,” said Picinich. “And then the ball popped loose.”

Picinich, listed in the program as 5-foot-8, 155-pounds, lowered the boom and Ferrara, charging down the line of scrimmage from his linebacker spot, scooped up the loose ball in the end zone and headed up the right sideline.

“I got scared for a second. I thought [Corporan] was going to power through, but we came up and stuck him and the ball was at my feet. James Picinich made that hit, 'Mighty Might,' a little guy but he can play football,” said Ferrara. “I picked it up, started running and looked to my left and saw I only had one guy to beat. I turned it on and that was it.”

Ferrara beat the last man and went 101 yards and, instead of being tied at 7, Cresskill had a 14-0 lead that they carried into halftime.

Sean Kelly and Cresskill with play the winner of Becton vs. Verona in the state final in two weeks.

Cresskill was able to answer every time Boonton (7-4) looked like it might sneak back into the game. When the Bombers' Josh Smith blocked a punt with 2:17 left in the second quarter and marched to the Cresskill 25, AJ Gentile picked off a pass on fourth down to keep the lead in tact heading into the break.

And even when Cresskill (9-2) was stopped on a fourth-and-2 from the Boonton 19 on its first drive of the third quarter, the Cougars had already run seven minutes off the clock and pinned the Bombers deep in their own territory.

Ferrara scored the final points of the night with his knuckleball of a field goal that just cleared the crossbar in the lower left corner of the uprights with 9:36 left in the game. That secured top-seeded Cresskill's spot in the North 1, Group 1 final at MetLife Stadium in two weeks.

“We are not pretty. We are not a glory team, we are not [University of] Oregon that is going to wooo and wow people. We do what we do and we just play hard. That is our formula,” said Kevin Quinn, a Cresskill alum and long time assistant who is in his first season as the Cougars head coach after taking over for the legendary Bob Valle. “This is awesome, but this is not about me. I am the last guy who should get credit. There are 40 kids over there who work their butts off and I am so happy just to be a part of it. They make it so easy for us as a staff to work hard because we don't want to let them down.”

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