Senior Nick Rossi helped NV/Old Tappan get off to a fast start on the way to a 45-0 win over Paramus on Friday night.
OLD TAPPAN - NV/Old Tappan's offense exploded for 38 points in the first half en route to a 45-0 victory over Paramus Friday night.
The Golden Knights needed just over a minute to drive 64 yards on 6 plays to score a touchdown. Senior running back Nick Rossi ran for 28 yards on two carries sandwiched around an 18-yard gain on a pass from sophomore quarterback Zack Miceli to senior wide receiver Ronan Malady. Senior all purpose back Alex Orecchio tallied one play later when he took a handoff, cut left and sprinted into the end zone. After Orecchio kicked the extra point the Knights led, 7-0.
“We got off to a good start and made a couple of throws and some big, long runs early,” said Old Tappan coach Brian Dunn. “The first series was pretty good. We missed an open throw but we were able to move the ball quickly. I think we did a better job of communication in the overall operation than we did last week in terms of snapping the ball and everybody being on the same page.”
Moving the ball quickly would help the Golden Knights keep pressure on the Spartans defense all game long.
“It keeps the defense on their toes for sure,” Orecchio said of the hurry up offense. “When we’re on the same page we can do that fast-paced offense and that’s something we’ve been doing for years. Make a good play, get on the ball, run something again. When we slow down they have time to take a breather and get back up. We can’t let that happen.”
Paramus began a 14-play, 61-yard drive that consumed 5-½ minutes of the clock. Senior quarterback Cormac O’Hara hooked up with senior back Liam Jones for pass completions of 12, 16 and 9 yards and connected with junior back Uland Carroll for another 15 yards along the way.
But the Old Tappan defense stiffened and a 4th down pass fell incomplete so the Knights took over on their own 24-yard line with 5:15 to go in the first quarter.
This time they needed a little more than 3 minutes to score again, covering 76 yards in 8 plays.
Rossi busted loose for 34 yards on a 2nd down play to get OT into Paramus territory. A Zack Miceli to sophomore tight end Shane Small pass completion gained 7 more yards and four plays later Rossi scored on a 3-yard run to make it 14-0.
“We knew we were going to get after it at the start,” said Rossi. “There wasn’t anything different. We knew we were going to do the fundamentals hard. Everything we did was fast and physical. That’s what won us the game.”
“Our main thing is to come out firing,” added Orecchio. “We did an ok job at that today but we have to get better at it. There were still positives there. We ended up driving down the field and scoring - that’s what matters the most. We got the job done but we still have a lot of things to do. We gotta come out firing on defense. That first drive on defense was not good all around and we gotta work on that. There is still more season left and we gotta get better on that.”
The Knights defense made a big play as junior defensive back Aiden Nally intercepted a pass at the 45-yard line and ran it down to the 15. It only took Rossi two carries, including a 12-yard TD run to make the score 21-0 on the opening play of the second quarter.
“He’s a tank in the backfield,” Orecchio said. “He’s a weapon. It keeps defenses on their toes.”
On Paramus’ next possession Knights sophomore defensive back Christakis Nicolaou cut in front of a Spartans wide receiver on the right sideline and intercepted the ball before running out of bounds at the Old Tappan 40-yard line.
“They had a couple of good drives and we made a couple of nice picks on 3rd-and-long,” said Dunn. “The two corners both made really nice plays on one-on-one situations. That bailed us out.”
It only took one play, a superb long pass from Zack Miceli to Orecchio deep over the middle, good for 60 yards and a touchdown, to make it 28-0.
“The safety rolled down and coach Dunn saw it and made the right call,” Orecchio said. “Zack (Miceli) put a perfect ball right on the money and I caught it in stride and got into the end zone.”
Midway through the second quarter Paramus botched a punt and Old Tappan got the ball at the Paramus 18. After junior running back Devyn Radoian gained 5 yards around left end Zack Miceli and Orecchio hooked up again for a TD, this time good for 13 yards and a 35-0 lead.
As the first half came to a close, junior running back Devyn Radoian took over the offense, gaining 41 yards on eight carries. As the clock ticked down to 0:00 junior kicker Matteo Morrissey booted a 25-yard field goal to boost the Knights lead to 38-0.
Early in the second half Knights junior defensive back Anthony Miceli got Old Tappan’s 3rd interception off a deflected pass to halt the first Paramus offensive possession.
Old Tappan put the subs in and junior running back Damian Dutoit took full advantage of his opportunity, rushing nine times for 37 yards and he closed out the scoring with a 1-yard TD run.
Old Tappan improved to 5-0 and might have learned a few things about themselves in last week’s 27-21 win over Ramapo. It was the first time in a long time that the Golden Knights were able to beat the Raiders. They had come close a couple of times but just could not hang on for a win.
“We didn’t feel [we were] ahead until the very end,” Rossi said. “We were ahead of them [in previous games] multiple times the past few years and it wasn’t anything like, ‘oh my gosh we’re beating them.’ We definitely had to finish the game. And I think that’s what we did differently. We got after them. They’re still a very good team but this year we were able to be more physical than them. As a linebacker I remember last year guys on offense were not doing their best but this year we were able to step it up on the defensive side.”
Rossi finished with 91 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns on 8 carries, Orecchio ran twice for 29 yards and a touchdown and caught 2 passes for 73 yards and 2 touchdowns. Zack Miceli was 4-of-6 for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“We have a great wide receiver corps, great quarterback and a great running back,” Orecchio said. “We have great receivers but the defenses can’t just drop back because we can hand the ball to Rossi and he’ll get 20 yards on the play. It’s a weapon to have playmakers all over the field - Rossi, Shane (Small), Ronan (Malady). Everyone of our receivers can go out and make a play. Our line steps up too. The defensive team backs up because they think we’re going to pass and the line just pounds the D-line into the dirt and Rossi gets a wide open hole for 20 yards.”
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