Sunday,
November 23, 2014
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
|
|
Andrew Tummino reacts to his sack and forced fumble that snuffed out Ramapo's last chance as River Dell posted a 10-7 upset win in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals. |
FRANKLIN LAKES – After losing a handful of talented players and moving up a classification into Group 3, just getting as far as the section semifinals would have been considered a successful season for the River Dell football team. But after a decade-plus of consistent success, 'good enough' is never good enough for the Golden Hawks, who traveled to Franklin Lakes on Saturday in search of a second straight trip to the section final after making it to MetLife Stadium last year.
To accomplish the task, River Dell went about it in its traditional fashion: Nothing flashy, no highlight-worthy material; just good ol’ smashmouth football and grinding it out from the opening kickoff until the final whistle.
Dylan Connolly had a long touchdown run in the final minute of the first half to give River Dell the lead and the defense made that lead stand up by recovering two fumbles in the final five minutes as third-seeded River Dell earned a trip to a section final with a hard-fought 10-7 triumph over second-seeded Ramapo in the North 1 Group 3 semifinals at Ramapo High School.
“This was a total team effort and the grind-it-out type of game that we seem to love winning here at River Dell,” said River Dell head coach DJ Nimphius. “Ramapo is a great football team and we had to be more physical at the line of scrimmage if we were going to have any type of success. Our kids aren’t happy if they aren’t running the wishbone on offense, slowing our opponents down on defense, and just grinding it out from the first play until the last.”
It was an old-school defensive battle right from the opening possession as the teams combined for five consecutive three-and-outs to start the game. River Dell embarked on the first significant drive of the game. Alec Lanza’s tackle-breaking 20-yard run on a third-and-14 kept the drive alive and moved the Hawks into Ramapo territory. They marched all the way down inside the one-yard line, but a false start penalty pushed them back and they had to settle for a Tommy Shindnes 21-yard field goal to make it 3-0 with exactly seven minutes remaining in the first half.
Ramapo answered right back by speeding up the pace. Senior quarterback Sean Dougherty hit fellow senior Matt Furrevig for a 28-yard completion. Two plays later, Keith Woetzel swept around the left end and stretched over the pylon for a 6-yard touchdown that put Ramapo in front, 7-3, with 4:35 to go in the half.
|
Keith Woetzel turning the corner on the touchdown that gave Ramapo a 7-3 lead. |
Ramapo got the ball back and had it at midfield with 55 seconds to play. River Dell’s Jake Fletcher got it right back stepping in front of a Dougherty pass over the middle and returned it to the Hawks’ 47. On the very next play, Connolly rolled out to his left and was on the verge of being sacked. He eluded the pressure and then found a whole lot of running room. Sprung by wide receiver Chris Weber’s block, Connolly took it all the way to the end zone with just 35 seconds and gave the Hawks a 10-7 halftime lead.
“It was a designed pass play but when I got an opening on the back side, I just took off to try and get some yards,” said Connolly. “Chris (Weber) made a great block downfield and that allowed me to get in for the score. Our defense played great all game and we wanted to reward them by getting some points before we went into the locker room.”
The score remained that way into the fourth quarter. With the Hawks driving for a score, Ramapo’s Wes Hartgers forced a fumble and Matt Giacose recovered, but the Green Raiders coughed up the ball three plays later with Fletcher making the recovery for River Dell.
River Dell had a chance to put the game away with a third-and-goal at the Ramapo 3 with just over three minutes to go, but the Green Raiders’ defense stuffed two straight running plays, including a fourth-down tackle by Justin Yandoli, to get one last crack at a comeback win.
On a fourth-and-4, Dougherty kept his team alive with an 11-yard completion to Matt Del Duca. On the next play, he hit a wide-open Greg Latushko for a 41-yard gain across midfield. With just over a minute to play and a first-and-10 from the River Dell 27, Dougherty got hit from behind by Andrew Tummino, who knocked the ball loose and Charlie Connell recovered the fumble to clinch the upset and also end Ramapo's season at 8-3.
|
Dylan Connolly scored the lone TD for River Dell, which will play Sparta in the state final. |
“We worked so hard to win this game and we didn’t want to let it slip away at the last moment,” said Tummino. “There was a lot of pressure on that last drive, but we stayed poised and kept playing our game. We knew they were throwing so I was just trying to get to the quarterback any way I could. When I saw the ball out there, I just tried to get my hand on it to knock it loose.”
River Dell advances to the North 1, Group 3 final, the program’s fourth section final in the past five years. There they will face a familiar opponent in top-seeded and two-time defending champion Sparta. The Spartans have knocked River Dell out of the states in each of the past two years, including a 40-0 drubbing in last year’s North 1, Group 2 final. With one game left for all the marbles and all the pressure off of the Hawks, they are excited to take their shot at glory.
“To be the champ you’ve got to beat the champ,” added Nimphius. “Sparta has a great program up there and a great team this year. But we feel we have a pretty great team here, too, and we’ve worked all year to get to this position. We’re excited to keep working hard and see how we respond to the challenge.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME. TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT
OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com. |