Sunday, September 30, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Junior Zack AlSharif returning the interception that led to the go-ahead score for Old Tappan, which pulled away from Tenafly in the second half of a 42-15 win on Saturday afternoon.

TENAFLY – Every time it seemed like the Northern Valley/Old Tappan football team seemed to be pulling away, for the first 25 minutes of the game at least, Tenafly would reel it right back in. Old Tappan scored first, Tenafly answered with a touchdown of its own. Old Tappan added a touchdown and a two-point conversion...right-back-atcha as Tenafly did the same and tied the game heading into halftime.

Even after John Trainor returned the opening kickoff of the second half 66 yards to get Old Tappan to within 14 yards of yet another another go-ahead score, Tenafly responded with a defensive stop on fourth down to keep itself right in the game. Old Tappan had to find a way to shake free so instead of relying on offensive fireworks, it turned to its steady defense to finally provide some breathing room.

Two interceptions, one by junior safety Zack AlSharif and one off a screen pass by senior defensive end Benjamin Davis, led to two touchdowns and Tenafly gave another away when a snap sailed over its punter's head and into the endzone. Old Tappan scored 25 points in the third quarter and coasted from there in a 42-15 victory on Saturday afternoon.

“We've had some points in this season and some points where we have been awful. We've been trying to find that consistency and we were searching for it for a while today too,” said Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn. “You could see it today when kids like [Ben] Davis, AlSharif and Travis [Procida] finally got it going in the second half, it lifted the whole team up and we got it going a little bit.”

Quarterback Steve Sobo threw two first half touchdown passes for Tenafly.

AlSharif's interception was the game-changer as Tenafly's defense had just held when Nicho Blake sacked OT quarterback Christian Runza on a fourth-and-11 from the Tigers 14 yardline. But on the third play of the drive on which might have led to Tenafly's first lead of the game, AlSharif stepped in front of a Steve Sobo pass and returned it to the 5. Two plays later, Zach Frohlich scored from four yards out and Old Tappan had the lead for good, 21-15, even though its two-point conversion pass failed.

“We have been scouting out that play all week. I knew it was coming and I just jumped it,” said AlSharif. “It was a play action pass, a waggle right, and I read the quarterback the whole way. I jumped the route and I thought I was going to take it back all the way.”

Next it was Davis' turn to do some damage and he blew up Tenafly's next drive. He shared a sack with Anthony Saro on third-and-13 from the Tenafly 42 and moved the Tigers back 13 yards that would make a difference when the long snap in punt formation sailed high over Andrew Marino's head and toward the goal line. Chasing it toward the endzone, Davis occupied Marino in the scramble for the ball and freed up Ethan Fredricks to recover the loose ball for the touchdown.

Old Tappan senior Ben Davis finished with 1.5 sacks, an interception and a TD catch.

On Tenafly's next play from scrimmage, Davis sniffed out the screen pass and intercepted it from his position at right defensive end. Two plays later he caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Garret Seitsma to make it 33-15. Seitsma then hit Matthew Schramm with the two point conversion pass to make it 35-15 with 4:17 left to play in the third quarter.

“In the first half it was really like we didn't have the motivation we needed to play the best that we can. When Zack [Alsharif] caught that interception and I got my interception, those to plays kind of changed everything for us,” said Davis, who finished with 1 ½ sacks, to go along with two catches from his tight end spot for 22 yards and a score. “We put in a lot a work in practice, we work too hard not to come out and play our best and we finally started doing that in the second half.”

Tenafly had stayed close early behind Sobo, who hung in there at quarterback and also had a good day on defense from his safety spot. Sobo threw two first half touchdown passes, both to fellow senior Justin Waller. The first one came on a tipped ball that Waller hauled in on a third-and-5 and scored from 17 yards away.

On the second hook-up, Sobo stood tall in the pocket and took a hit from Davis while lofting a perfect pass up the left sideline. The ball dropped in over the shoulder of Waller, who scored from 30-yards out. Sobo hit Blake with a two-point conversion pass with 3:13 left in the second quarter and tied the game at 15 heading into the break.

Justin Waller caught both of Tenafly's touchdowns.

But turnovers on their first three second half possessions turned the tide against the Tigers, who fell to 0-3 on the season although that record is a bit deceiving. The Tigers have opened the season against three teams with a combined record of 9-3 and two of them, Old Tappan and Wayne Hills, have been state sectional finalists in each of the last two seasons.

Sobo was 7 of 11 passing for 137 yards and two scores in the first half before finishing 9 of 19 for 177 yards with the two TD passes and two interceptions. Waller finished with 5 catches for 91 yards and two TDs.

Old Tappan's was a balanced attack as Frohlich did most of his damage in the first half to keep his team moving the chains. The senior running back carried the ball 11 times for 115 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion in the first half alone and would up with 133 yards and 2 TDs in the game. Trainor, who broke the longest play off the game, an 88-yard dash for Old Tappan's final touchdown, finished with 118 yards on 10 carries and he also caught two passes for 19 yards.

The Knights two quarterbacks, Seistma (6 of 13, 89 yards, TD) and Runza (4 of 7, 66 yards) combined to throw for 155 yards. Procida finished with two catches for 27 yards.

Senior John Trainor had an 88 yard TD run and a 66-yard kickoff return for Old Tappan.

So one year after losing Devon Fuller, a once-in-a-generation type player to graduation and UCLA, the Golden Knights are off to a 3-1 start and are in position to make another run at the state playoffs. They are not as explosive as the teams led by Fuller, but they are trying to make up for it with some offensive diversity that is seeing more players get involved.

“It's a lot different for all of us and definitely different for me. Last year I was split out and doing a lot of the jet sweeps and play action-type stuff. This year I am in the backfield working up the middle and carrying the ball trying to pick up positive yards,” said Frohlich. “Today we kind of laid a goose egg in the first half. When we are not fired up we are an ordinary team; nothing special. But when we start hitting on all cylinders like we did in the second half, we feel like we are one of the best teams in the county.”

There was one negative in the win, however, as Saro, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound two-way lineman, went down with a what appeared to be a serious right knee injury early in the fourth quarter.

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