December
5, 2004
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| Ray Van Peenen's 66-yard catch and run gave Wayne Hills the winning touchdown in its 17-16 upset of Demarest in the North 1, Group 3 state final. | |
DEMAREST -- The play is called '594 Swing' and Ray Van Peenen's job as the slot receiver is to get down the field and bring a few defenders with him in order to clear out some space for Toby Dattolo, who was the intended receiver coming out of the backfield.
But when Wayne Hills quarterback Nick Worzel checked off his first target, he saw Van Peenen streaking down the middle of the field with two defenders trailing and one coming in from behind. Worzel threw the ball up, the last defender mistimed his leap, Van Peenen went up and got the ball at its highest point and when he came down, the race was on.
With
4:48 to go in the fourth quarter of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional final,
Van Peenan crossed the goal line and Worzel added the extra point, the one
Wayne Hills needed to complete its 17-16 upset of Northern Valley/Demarest
and grab its second state title in the last three years.
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| Tom Caporale celebrating the score that gave Demarest a 16-7 lead 2:54 to go in the third quarter. |
"When I caught it I saw stars and I just knew I had to score," said Van Peenan, a sophomore who caught six passes for 106 yards and the all-important TD. "That play isn't ever supposed to go to me, but I just saw the ball, out jumped the guy and caught it."
Van Peenen's catch and run was the last of the clutch plays that the Patriots made in the fourth quarter, but not the only one that Hills pulled off to wipe out the nine-point deficit that Demarest carried into the final period.
With
Demarest (10-2) facing a third and 7 deep in its own territory early in the
fourth, Vin Esposito connected with Jarrett Solimando (5 receptions, 59 yards)
for what appeared to be a first down. But after coming back to the short side
of the sticks to make a move, Solimando had the ball poked away by a defender
and the Patriots recovered.
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| Nick Worzel led Hills to road victories over the top two seeds in consecutive games to give Hills its second title in the last three years. |
On the ensuing drive, a defensive holding call against the Norseman on fourth down kept the Patriots in possession long enough for Worzel to kick a 21-yard field goal that got the Patriots to within one score at 16-10.
Demarest took over with 7:47 to play and, with a good drive, could have made it a two-possession game or at least forced Wayne Hills to spend its timeouts. Esposito (18 of 33, 249 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT) hit Solimando for 16 yards on a third and 11 to get the Norseman up near midfield, but a stuffed run up the middle, an incompletion and a Moe Petracco sack forced Demarest to give up the ball via a punt from its own 30.
On the
play following the punt, Van Peenen made the catch that gave Hills its first
lead since Dattolo scored from 11 yards out that put Wayne Hills (10-2) in
front, 7-3, with 2:40 to play in the first quarter. Demarest had taken a 3-0
lead when a Solimando interception set up Mike Siebold's 36-yard field goal.
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| Rich Guillod caight 6 passes for 139 yards in his last game for Demarest. |
Rich Guillod (6 receptions, 130 yards, TD) cashed a Wayne Hills turnover into a 60-yard scoring reception from Esposito that put Demarest up 10-7 after a sloppily played first half in which the teams combined for five turnovers. The score was the same well into the third until Demarest put together a 10-play, 51-yard drive that culminated in Esposito's 6-yard scoring strike to Tom Caporale and a 16-7 Norseman advantage.
A turning point came directly after that TD when a motion penalty forced Siebold's extra point attempt to be pushed back five yards and his kick sailed wide left, carrying with it the point that made the difference in the final score.
Having
dodged some bullets, Wayne Hills put itself in a position where one play or
two could make the difference and the Pats took advantage by scoring the only
10 points of the fourth quarter. Dattolo picked off Esposito near the goal
line with 1:36 left to short-circuit Demarest's last possession and Pete DeCicco
iced the win by running for six yards on a third and four that allowed Hills
to kneel out the final two plays.
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| Moe Petracco had a big sack that gave Wayne Hills the possession on which its scored the winning TD. |
"We were stumbling around a little bit today, but when we went into halftime down by just three points, we still felt like we were going to win this game," said Wayne Hills head coach Chris Olsen, who showed his pleasure after a timeout in the final few seconds when he trotted out of the huddle and off to the sidelines holding up the No. 1 sign on both hands. "Like I told the kids, this game was about a program versus a team. We have been a program for 18 years and (Demarest) is a team, a very good team but one that is just coming up."
After
losing in the state final five straight times from 1996 through 2001, Wayne
Hills has now gotten over the hump by winning two of the last three sectional
titles in a traditionally loaded bracket. This season the Patriots ran the
gauntlet, knocking off a talented Teaneck team in the first round before going
on the road to knock of Ramapo and Demarest, the top two seeds and the two
teams that met in last season's final.
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| Demarest's Vin Esposito threw for 249 yards and two TDs in his final high school game. |
"In all honesty, this team was a couple of plays away from being undefeated. For us it was just matter of making a play here or a play there in the big game to get us where we wanted to be," said Olsen. "I have to give my kids credit. If you look at our bracket, we had three killers and our guys got through it."
Wayne Hills also avenged both of its regular season losses with its wins in the last two games. The Patriots lost to Demarest in Demarest, 16-10, on October 1 and Worzel, for one, was glad to see the season come full circle.
"We didn't want to go to the Meadowlands. We lost to this team on this field and we wanted to be back here," said Worzel, who completed 8 of 12 passes for 138 yards and a TD. "Coach (Olsen) told us that we were two plays away from being undefeated and maybe if we had been 11-0 it would have been better at Giants Stadium. But I think things happen for a reason and now we are back here and we won."
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