Sunday,
October 18, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Junior Frank Quatrone took over at quarterback and led Hasbrouck Heights' offense to an efficient day in a 42-28 win over St. Mary, which dropped its first game of the season. |
RUTHERFORD – The look was one of bewilderment as the Hasbrouck Heights defense walked off the field less than three minutes into the game. In just two plays, the Aviators allowed St. Mary standout Derius Stone to run for a pair of 60-plus yard touchdowns. It looked like it was going to be a long day for a Hasbrouck Heights team that was desperate for a signature win. Once the defense eventually settled in and started making plays that look of bewilderment became a collective look of determination to get the offense rolling as well.
The two units worked in harmony for the remainder of the game as the defense gave the Aviators great field position, and the offense took advantage.
James Pikowski and Seth Scalvino each rushed for two touchdowns as Hasbrouck Heights scored 28 straight points to rally from that early deficit to score a mild upset with a 42-28 victory over previously unbeaten St. Mary on Saturday at Tamblyn Field in Rutherford.
“This is a huge win for us, but we have to keep taking things game-by-game,” said Hasbrouck Heights' Frank Quatrone.
Stone was the story early for St. Mary as he scored on a pair of scintillating runs on his first two touches. On the first play from scrimmage, he busted up the middle and went 69 yards to the house for a 7-0 just 20 seconds into the game. Hasbrouck Heights answered right back with a big play on a fourth-and-two from the Gaels' 34-yard line. Pikowski kept the ball on a read option and went 34 yards for the tying score. Just seconds later though, Stone pulled St. Mary back in front, breaking five tackles, three of them by using a stiff-arm, en route to a 65-yard TD to make it 14-7.
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Derius Stone was a one-man wrecking crew for St. Mary. He ran for 227 yards and threw for 100 more. |
Hasbrouck Heights regrouped quickly and marched right back down the field for the tying score. Once again, it was Pikowski who would get the ball across the goal line. This time, he had to stretch the ball across the plane to score from five yards out to knot the score at 14.
After being gashed on their first two plays, the Aviators came up with a stop to force a punt before forcing and recovering fumbles on the following two Gaels possessions. Hasbrouck Heights took full advantage with a three-yard TD run from Brian Moran to pull in front. Then, when Pikowski went down with an injury, Quatrone came on in relief with the offense not missing a beat. On a perfectly executed play-action pass, he tossed a high ball down the seam where only his receiver could make a play on it. Josh Hanrahan outleaped a defender at the goal line to haul it in for a 15-yard scoring strike that gave the Aviators a 28-14 halftime lead.
“We had that play installed and Josh made a great catch,” said Quatrone. “The offensive line is everything and they allowed us to make plays. They led all of our runners and gave me time to throw the ball.”
After deferring the opening kickoff, the Aviators got the ball to start the second half. Seth Scalvino came alive, rushing for 52 of the 65 yards accounted for on the scoring drive. He mixed speed and power throughout the drive, capping the march with a 23-yard jaunt for a 35-14 lead.
Stone tried to single handedly will his team back in the game. He ran for all 60 yards on the ensuing drive with an eight-yard score cutting the Heights lead to 35-21. The Gaels never got closer than that margin as Scalvino busted loose for a 44-yard touchdown run with 6:56 to go that put the game away.
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Seth Scalvino ran for 147 yards in the second half and had two scored for Heights, which improved to 5-1 on the season. |
“We started slow but we kept our heads up and kept pushing hard until we got going,” said Scalvino. “Our O-line did a great job and I just ran through the holes. I knew with our line that I had to just hit the hole and break the first tackle. They work 24/7 to get better and they came up big today.”
Scalvino rushed for 147 of his 148 yards in the second half for Hasbrouck Heights (5-1). Moran and Pikowski had runs 69 and 66 yards, respectively, and a combined three rushing touchdowns.
Stone was a one-man show with 327 yards of total offense (227 rushing, 100 passing) and all four touchdowns on the ground for St. Mary's (5-1). The loss was a crushing one in two ways for the Gaels. Not only were they knocked from the unbeaten ranks but also lost two-way linemen Logan Gardner and Kyle Labrincha to what appeared to be serious injuries.
Hasbrouck Heights cannot rest on this win in a loaded North 1, Group 1 bracket. With two games left to count among the power-point standings, the Aviators will face Cresskill next week and Saddle Brook the following week. Those two teams are currently No. 9 and 8 in the North 1, Group 1 power-point standings with the top 8 teams qualifying for the playoffs. With that in mind, the Aviators have to cut short the celebration of this win and get right back to work for the stretch run.
“This was a very emotional, physical game and our kids did a great job,” said Hasbrouck Heights' head coach Nick Delcalzo. “St. Mary's and us have always had battled. Stone was phenomenal today, like a one-man team. He had a long run twice and we came right back and scored. We had kids banged up and we really stepped up when we needed to.”
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