Sunday, November 25, 2007

By Jim McConville
NJS.com Staff Writer

The Wayne PAL Wolfpack won their first Pee-Wee Division Super Bowl with a 28-13 win over Pequannock on Saturday in Wayne.

WAYNE -- The North Jersey Junior Football League completed its 44th season on Saturday with the playing of its championship games, and the Super Bowl XIX winners all reside in Conference A.

Wayne PAL, Ramsey and Wayne Boys Club each completed undefeated seasons with convincing victories over game opponents at the Barbour’s Pond Complex in Wayne.
The NJJFL is a 16-team league comprised of towns from Bergen, Passaic and Morris counties.

The championship game recaps:

PEE-WEE
WAYNE PAL 28, PEQUANNOCK 13 – The WolfPack scored on their first four possessions, using a strong running game spiced with the occasional pass to wrap up their first Pee-Wee title since 1999. Taking the opening kickoff, Wayne used runs of 11 and 26 yards by Daniel Abate to set up Joseph Kenny’s 5-yard scoring run. Quarterback Nick Goodwin added the first of his four successful conversion runs.

Tyler Maglio and Adam Lounsbery teamed on a fourth down sack, and the ‘Pack churned out a 12-play drive, culminating with a 1-yard TD pass from Goodwin to Kenny, putting PAL (11-0) up 15-0 with 5:25 left in the second quarter.

The Panthers responded with an 11-play drive of their own, featuring the running of Andrew Petrillo. He went the final three yards over the right side and quarterback Tom Crooks added the point after.

Wayne PAL answered right back, as Goodwin went deep twice, the first for 26 yards to Abate and the second to Kenny for a 19-yard touchdown with 26 seconds left to send the WolfPack off with a 21-7 halftime lead.

The increased it to 28-7 on a Goodwin 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter before Petrillo broke numerous tackles on a 53-yard kickoff return. Crooks got the touchdown on a 1-yard sneak with 5:05 left in the game.

Pequannock (9-2) got another possession off a punt, but Lounsbery has a solo sack and shared a second with Thomas Puleo to end any thought of a Panther rally.

Petrillo ran for 40 yards and Crooks, Derek Nelson and Jacob Kershaw each had eight tackles for Pequannock, which lost in the Super Bowl for the second straight season.
Abate (10 carries, 73 yards) and Goodwin (9-48) led a 181-yard running game, and Goodwin was 4 of 5 passing for 61 yards, 36 of them to Kenny on three completions. Lounsbery had nine tackles and Vincent Tedesco made seven stops.

JUNIOR
RAMSEY 35, GLEN ROCK 0 – It took all of 14 seconds for the Trojans to establish themselves, as Matthew Butler ran back the opening kickoff 52 yards for a touchdown. The offense then found the end zone four straight times, giving Ramsey (11-0) its first Junior championship since 2003 and its third Super Bowl title overall.

The Trojans completely shut down the previously undefeated Panther’s offense, limiting them to no first downs and nine yards in the first half, and they struck for three more scores in the first half. Brian Donovan went in from a yard out with a minute left in the first quarter and Daniel Yankovich went 21 yards for the third touchdown.

The final score before halftime was set up by Clayton Creadick’s interception and a 23-yard Eric Meile to Yankovich pass play. Jake Donnarumma capped the series with a 4-yard run off right tackle. Yankovich added his third PAT run (Brian Quinn and Alec Turer had the other two extra points).

Glen Rock (10-1) put together a nice drive with Nile Slater ripping off a 27-yard run and John Mackie finding Menas Hiras for a 7-yard reception, but Nick Catalano’s sack left the Panthers short at the Trojan 13.

Ramsey then went 67 yards in 12 plays, with the second offense getting the score on a Butler 15 yard run. Butler then preserved the shutout with and interception in the final two minutes. Slater had 56 yards rushing on 10 carries and Mackie had seven tackles and Aaron Slodowitz and Jeff Kopyta each made six tackles.

The Trojans racked up 186 rushing yards and 216 total yards, with Yankovich (10 carries, 69 yards) leading the way. Donnarumma forced a fumble and had four tackles for the Ramsey defense.

SENIOR
WAYNE BOYS CLUB 35, FRANKLIN LAKES 14 – The heavy underdog War Eagles gave the Panthers all they could handle and more before Boys Club used its speed to finally put a hold on their second Senior Super Bowl title and first since 2002.

The Eagles (7-4) forced three straight punts and Richard DeKorte forced and recovered a fumble on the fourth Panther possession, but they could not find the end zone against an equally stingy Wayne defense.

Boys Club (11-0) finally broke through with 1:38 left in the first half, converting a fourth and nine. Quarterback Frank Failace just beat a strong rush and lofted a pass into the right corner of the end zone, where Dominick Santoro ran under it for the TD. Santoro added the extra point run.

The Panthers got a jump on the second half, scoring on their first play after the intermission. Failace threw a screen pass to Luke Cervino, and he found a seam and raced 57 yards for a touchdown. Mike Caposella made it 14-0 on an extra point run.
Matt Alpert’s fumble recovery on the Panther 11-yard line set up Franklin Lakes’ first score, a Conor Scavone run around the right side. QB Austin Solecitto found Alpert for a two-point conversion pass.

Wayne broke the game open late in the third quarter, as Santoro went off right tackle for a 15-yard score and Cervino grabbed a two-point conversion pass. Erik Moskal then intercepted a pass and returned it to the FL 1-yard line, where Failace scored on a sneak.
The War Eagles then became the first team to score twice in a game against WBC this year, as Alpert threw an option pass to Aniello O’Connor for a 30-yard TD with 9:22 remaining in the game.

Cervino then iced the contest with a 36 yard touchdown run on a counter off the left side. Caposella caught the extra point pass from Failace. Solecitto was 10 of 23 passing for 81 yards, with Alpert grabbing six of them for 28 yards. Scavone had 36 rushing yards on 12 carries, and Alpert had eight tackles and one of three Lakes fumble recoveries.

Cervino had 78 yards on 7 runs and 73 more on 4 receptions, as Failace was 6 of 12 passing for 102 yards. Santoro ran 14 times for 71 yards, and Matthew Betz (8 tackles), Zach McKay (7 tackles) and Joey Lane (6 tackles, 4 for losses, 2 sacks) topped the Panther defense.

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