Sunday, December 8, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Jake Morra celebrates after scoring the first touchdown of the game, the one that gave Pascack Valley the lead for good in a 32-8 win over Paramus in the North 1, Group 4 state sectional final.

EAST RUTHERFORD – Head coach Craig Nielsen has led Pascack Valley's football team into the state playoffs in every season since 2004 and the Indians have had more than a few close calls in trying to win the program's first sectional title since 1990. There were two one-point losses in the semifinal round (2004 and 2005), a one-point loss in the 2006 final and a five-point loss in the championship game a year later. Last year the Indians reached the final as the undefeated top-seed before falling to Roxbury.

If there was ever a coach who earned the right to crow a little bit after his team finally broke through like it did on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium, it is Nielsen. Pascack Valley beat Paramus, 32-8, in the North 1, Group 4 state sectional final to claim the program's first trophy since 1990, but his new-found success has not changed the man.

Nielsen, an old-school, stand-up football coach who has taken all of the blame after the tough losses, refused to take any of the credit immediately after the biggest win of his career.

“I am not talking about that. This is [the players'] night, not mine,” said Nielsen. “I had my day 38 years ago. This is their day and let's talk about them.”

Mike Mimmo scored the lone touchdown for Paramus, which was making its first ever appearance in a sectional championship game.

OK, let's talk about the Indians, who started the season at 2-2 while trying to replace the 30 seniors who left the program last year. Since then there have been eight straight wins with none more important then the one last night at MetLife, the scene of last season's bitter, season-ending disappointment. This time around, Pascack Valley (10-2) grabbed momentum early and never let Paramus settle into the game.

Special teams have played no small part in Paramus' march to the final, while PV has struggled with its kicks and punts, but there is more to the 'third unit' than putting a foot on the ball. After being forced to punt on its first offensive possession of the game, Steve Farrell hit a knuckling line drive of a punt that bounced more like an onside kick, careening up into the facemask of the Paramus return man.

Ricky Tiburcio arrived at the same time, separated the ball from the returner with a big hit and PV fell on the fumble. Two plays later, Jake Morra scored from two-yards out and the Indians had the lead for good at 8-0 after Colin Dedrick hit Jack Madden with a two-point pass 4:32 into the game.

Paramus (8-4), which was making its first ever appearance in a state sectional final, actually had a solid drive going in its attempt at a response, moving the ball to the PV 41 before a penalty and a botched snap forced the Spartans into a fourth-and-26. Enter Rocco Swatek, who broke through and blocked the punt before Farrell scooped up the loose ball and returned it all the way to the 2. Jorge Cortes scored on the next play and Pascack Valley had the 14-0 lead it took into halftime, where Nielsen had a plan to made his lead stick.

Steve Farrell piloted the Wildcat in the second half, which was more than effective for Pascack Valley.

Normally a strict Power I team, PV went to the Wildcat with Farrell taking the snaps and Tiburcio running the jet sweep. Paramus had never seen formation on tape and Nielsen sprung it on the Spartans when they were at their most vulnerable.

“We have been practicing that for seven weeks for whenever we might have to use it, but for the last seven weeks we have never had to break the 'I'. I told the kids that they have worked on it for seven weeks so tonight we were going to use it,” said Nielsen. “We waited until the second half because they couldn't [adjust]. They all play both ways, how were they going to make the adjustments?”

That was a tough question to answer.

“Give their staff credit for having that in. That was a great wrinkle for them to throw in. They really didn't show that much this year. It really changed the tempo of the game, they were getting on the perimeter on us pretty good and it was a little bit of the perfect storm for us today,” said Paramus head coach Dan Sabella. “We were getting reach-blocked, we were getting crack-blocked, we weren't getting off blocks very well and at that point they had a lot of things they knew they could do against us.”

Junior quarterback Tyler Smith led Paramus to an 8-4 season.

Farrell scored from 42 yards out on the first possession of the second half to make it 20-0 and Tiburcio scored from 27 yards away on PV's next drive to make it 26-0. Paramus avoided the shutout when Tyler Smith hit Mike Mimmo for a 11-yard score on a fourth-and-goal with 8:51 to play and Darius House caught the two-point conversion, but Rocco Swatek's 44-yard run to the end zone put the finishing touch on the Indians' first state title in 23 years.

While Nielsen refused to turn the spotlight on himself, his players knew how close he had come in years past and winning one for the coach was a motivation that carried over onto the playing field.

“It's a huge win. Coach has made it this far in the past, but we are happy to be the group that finally won it for him,” said Farrell. “We said in the locker room at halftime that we really wanted to do this for him and for ourselves. We deserves it and we felt like we did, too.”

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