December
4, 2005
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| Senior Nick Romeo had two interceptions and three touchdowns in the second period alone as Wayne Hills dominated from start to finish. | |
EAST RUTHERFORD -- Football is an intricate game that requires plenty of teaching and learning. There is one part of the game that you can’t teach, and that is athletic instinct. It is where players are just that, players. They have that sense that sets them apart.
Mike Peischl and Ray Van Peenen showed just that kind of instinct early in Saturday night’s North 1 Group 3 championship game at Giants Stadium, and because of that, the Patriots got on a roll that anyone would be hard-pressed to stop.
They hooked up for a 26-yard touchdown pass that opened the floodgates, as Wayne Hills not only successfully defended their title, but dominated Parsippany Hills to the point of embarrassment, winning 46-0.
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| Wayne Hills senior Dave Ogden broke the single season school record with his 16th sack. |
It was the third most lopsided shutout in state championship history, behind a pair of 50-0 Paulsboro wins, and it left little doubt that the Pats were North Jersey’s finest public school football team in 2005.
Hills simply did not allow the Vikings to do any of the things that they had done in their first 11 games, either offensively or defensively. They had a mere 37 total yards in the game, and only 17 at the half, and the Patriots claimed four takeaways. The Parsippany Hills defense could not put any pressure on the Wayne Hills offense, which only stopped itself with two fumbles
“We knew coming in about their 60 sacks (in the first 10 games),” Olsen said, “but we’ve only been sacked three times all year (and none in this game). I just think we were too physical for them.”
They were also too instinctive. Knowing that an early strike would set the Vikes on their heels, the Pats got it on their first possession, despite a pair of penalties that set them back 20 yards. The score came on the Peischl-Van Peenen touchdown pass, with Van Peenen making the grab behind the secondary.
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| Kickoff returner Will Fowler was Parsippany Hills' busiest player. |
“I just started rolling, and I saw Ray out in the flat with nothing but green (FieldTurf) behind him,” is how Peischl described the play. “I was hoping he was going to see it and break it off. He was looking at me.”
“It wasn’t even supposed to go to me,” Van Peenen continued. “I was just supposed to bring the corner out on me so Nick (Romeo) can get open, but I saw Peischl start rolling. We made eye contact and I adjusted my route.”
A fumble on a handoff on the first play after the kickoff was recovered by Scott Schultz at the Viking 14, and Van Peenen scored from the 1 three plays later. Peischl hit Schultz with a two-point conversion pass to make it 14-0, which is how the first quarter ended.
The second quarter was Romeo, Romeo where art thou Romeo. The senior had two interceptions and three touchdowns in the period as WH buried PH with a 25-point quarter to take a 39-0 halftime lead.
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| WH Junior Ray Van Peenen finished with 131 yards on 26 carries, moving his season total to 1,935 rushing yards. |
His first pick led to Van Peenen’s third TD of the game, a New Jersey-leading 38th of the season, from 5 yards out. After a punt, Romeo took a jet sweep 27 yards around the right side for a touchdown.
“All week it was, they’re going to throw the seam, they’re going to throw the deep ball,” Romeo said, “and I was ready for that.”
He had
a spectacular end zone INT, and cashed that one in himself with a 39-yard
touchdown grab from Peischl. After another Viking punt, He had receptions
of 11 and 29 yards that led up to a 35-yard TD catch with five seconds left
in the half.
In that quarter alone, he had four catches for 114 yards and was 5-121 overall
in the game while adding 2 carries for 33 yards.
“You can’t get any better than Romeo did tonight,” Van Peenen said of his teammate. “He made the big plays when he had to.”
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| Omar Rodriguez (3) and the Wayne Hills defense held Par Hills to just 36 total yards. |
“He’s a dynamic player,” was Olsen’s take on Romeo. “I told him that we had to get him involved early. We needed him to take the pressure off of Ray.”
Peischl was no slouch, either, going 7 of 8 for 151 yards and three scores in the first half while running for 49 yards in 7 tries.
“What can you say about Mike Peischl,” Olsen lauded. “You hear about Ray, you hear about the offensive line, but Peischl’s the key. He runs the ship.”
The Patriot defense got on the score sheet early in the third quarter, as Zack Mink picked up a fumble forced by John Ihne and went 44 yards to the end zone. Schultz’ second PAT kick set the final score.
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| Wayne Hills QB Mike Peischl completed 7 of 8 passes for 151 yards and three scores in the first half alone. |
The Pats ran for 259 yards and passed for 161while averaging seven yards a play against a Viking defense that had allowed only 62 points total in its first 11 games. Dave Ogden broke the single season school record with his 16th sack, and Van Peenen finished with 131 yards on 26 carries, moving his season total to 1,935 rushing yards. Fullam had 1 ½ sacks and 5 tackles and Justin Dubin also had 5 tackles.
“I couldn’t picture this any better,” Romeo said of the night.
FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GAME OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.
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