December
4, 2005
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| Eddie Hernandez finished with 150 rushing yards on 26 carries as Lodi earned its first state champiohsip since 1998. | |
EAST RUTHERFORD -- As they gathered in the locker room after the game, Lodi’s backfield tandem of Eddie Hernandez and Keith Dobish grabbed each other. Dobish got in his face and told his teammate, “that’s the way we run the ball, baby. That’s the way we run it.”
Not that either of them needed to be reminded. In fact, they had spent the previous two hours and change reminding Chatham how they run it, and the Rams used their efforts to eclipse their first state championship since 1998.
Lodi spotted the Cougars a 7-0 lead, then stifled their option running game and intercepted four second half passes enroute to a 21-7 win.
“I’m proud of my kids, the way we came back,” Lodi head coach Lou Tirico said. “We fought for four quarters against a very good team. Chatham is on the map now.”
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| Chatham's Matt Carlton hauling a TD pass for the game's first score. |
As are the Rams (10-2), the only Bergen County public school to win a state title (the first time since 1989 the county has only one public school titlist). It was sweet redemption for their two losses, including the wild one to Glen Rock one month ago.
“We were going for a league championship, and we lost to (North 1 Group 1 champion) Pompton Lakes, and this is what we had left,” Tirico said. “We don’t come away with this, we’re just second place. We did it, and it means a lot to this team.”
Lodi found itself on the short end of a 7-0 score when the Cougars got a second quarter touchdown 8:41 before halftime. Chatham quarterback Chris Betz had three pass completions, 12 yards to Henry Weismantel, 17 yards to Mike Bracken and a 19-yard TD to Matt Carlton off a rollout to the right. Carlton added the extra point.
The Rams answered back with a key drive off the kickoff, going 65 yards on 14 plays, converting all four of their third downs, including a third and 10 pass from Joe Romeo to Anthony DiPaolo for 16 yards on the third play.
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| Lodi's Keith Dobish added the football state title to the one he earned as a wrestler last season. |
Hernandez ended the march with a 1-yard touchdown, but the extra point try was wide with 1:59 to go. Still, the tide had begun to turn.
“The score before the half gave us a little momentum, even though we missed the extra point,” Tirico pointed out. “We felt the offense would get going, and it did. Once we got rolling, we were going.”
The Rams’ defense took center stage in the second half, ending four of the six Cougar possessions with interceptions and stopping another on a fourth and 2 at the Lodi 20-yard line.
“In the first half it looked we didn’t play any defense in the secondary, the way they were getting behind us, but we made a few adjustments in the second half and really juiced it up,” Tirico commented.
The offense got the lead with 1:07 left in the third quarter off an interception by DiPaolo at the Cougar 22. Hernandez scooted to the 3 on the first play and, on second down, Dobish bulled in off left guard for the lead. Romeo then scrambled left on the two-point conversion and found a seam, beating the defense to the left pylon to make it 14-7.
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| Henry Weismantel helped set up Chatham's lone TD with this reception that went for 17 yards. |
“He made something out of nothing,” Tirico said of Romeo. “That was a great play for us.”
The stop at the 20 helped protect the 7-point lead, and it came after a Betz run for 9 yards on first down. Dobish and Carmine DeSomman stopped James Warburton on first down for a yard loss and a third down pass went incomplete. On fourth down, DeSomman and Chris Enriquez stuffed Tim Lutke for no gain.
Dobish then ripped off a 16-yard run on first down that got Lodi some room, even though it eventually had to punt.
“I knew they would be all over Eddie, and he got his (touchdown), but Keith is a tank, and he gave us some big runs in critical spots,” Tirico said.
Two plays after the change of possession, Kyle Capabianca grabbed his second interception of the game at the Ram 29, which Hernandez cashed in with a 58-yard touchdown run with 2:02 left. Marc Scimeca’s PAT ended the scoring, though Romeo would come up with a final pick with a minute to go.
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| Center Frank Licata and Lodi's offensive line wore out Chatham in the second half. |
Hernandez finished with 150 rushing yards on 26 carries despite cramping up a couple of times, and Dobish complimented him with 62 yards on 13 runs.
“We wanted to come out and run it down their throats,” Dobish said. “Keep getting first downs, drain the clock and keep to our game plan. The runs just opened up.”
Romeo was 3 of 15 passing for 71 yards and two interceptions, and Corey Paladino added 35 rushing yards on 7 carries. DeSomman had 9 tackles and a forced fumble, while Capabianca and DiPaolo had 7 tackles each and Dobish chipped in with 6.
Betz had 119 yards on 15 carries for Chatham (7-5) and Lutke had 14 runs for 48 yards, but the Cougars could not sustain the option running game in the second half. Betz was 5 of 16 passing for 75 yards with 3 INT (the other pick came on an option pass by Lutke), and he had 9 tackles to top the Cougar defense. Warburton, Lutke and Carlton each had 8 tackles.
For Dobish, it is his second state championship, the other coming last winter on the wrestling mat.
“Wrestling is individual,” Dobish said, “but to win a football game, you need all 11 guys going all out. Winning a state championship is the greatest thing.”
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