OLD TAPPAN - Northern Valley/Old Tappan is on its way back to the Group 3 championship game after virtue of a 35-0 stomping of previously unbeaten West Morris in the semifinals on Friday night. In all four of its state playoff games to date the Golden Knights have invoked a second half runniong clock, the the high school football equivalent of the mercy rule.

Old Tappan won the initial Group 3 title in 2022, the first year it was contested, and also won the title last season, but it was West Morris that prevented the Knights from winning in 2023 with a 21-17 victory in the semifinals.

"It's a great feeling, especially after losing to them 2 years ago," senior lineman Ryan Miceli said. "It's a really good feeling to get back at them, especially on our home field."

West Morris, known mostly for its superior running game, botched a handoff on a 2nd-and-5 play 52 seconds into the game. Knights junior linebacker Shane Small pounced on the loose ball and Old Tappan had a 1st-and-10 at the Wolfpack 25.

Senior running back Devyn Radoian burst through the middle for 5 yards and junior quarterback Zach Miceli connected with junior wideout Christakis Nicolaou for 9 yards to the 11-yard line. On 2nd-and-10 Radoian gained 5 more yards. On the next play Nicolaou took a handoff, rolled around the left side and pushed his way through the defense into the end zone. Senior Matteo Morrissey booted the extra point and Old Tappan led, 7-0.

The Wolfpack ran the ensuing kickoff back to the 32-yard line and began a 16-play drive, which consumed more than 8-1/2 minutes off the clock. A trio of running backs, senior Mikey Finlay, sophomore Deacon Frayne and junior Brody Mansolino took turns pounding the ball down the field. Finlay and Mansolino each converted 4th-and-2 plays and Frayne busted loose twice for a 7-yard gain along the way.

When the Wolfpack got to the 11-yard line the Old Tappan defense stiffened. Frayne gained 6 yards on 2 carries and Mansolino squeezed through the defense for a yard to set up a 4th-and-3 at the 4-yard line.

The ball was snapped and the Old Tappan defensive line converged on the ball carrier, stuffed him, and held him to a 2-yard gain. As a result Old Tappan took over possession at the 2-yard line, still leading 7-0.

"It was the biggest play of the game," said Old Tappan coach Brian Dunn.

"That was a huge stop," added Radoian, who plays cornerback on defense. "We had to toughen up down there and get one stop. That stop changed the whole game because we drove down the field for 98 yards."

On the first play of the drive Zach Miceli ran up the middle for 12 yards to get the Knights away from the shadow of their own goal line. Then he connected with Small for 14 yards up to the 36-yard line. On 2nd down Zach Miceli hooked up with junior WR Leo Etter for 13 more yards. Then Zach Miceli zoomed around defenders for a 13-yard gain with his legs. From the 38-yard line Zach Miceli spied Etter sprinting across the field from left to right and with a perfect lead pass he and Etter combined for a 38-yard TD and after Morrissey's extra point, a 14-0 lead.

And that, as it turned out, was pretty much a wrap.

"We got the fumble early and that got us the extra possession," Dunn said. "They wanted to keep us to 4 or 5 possessions in the whole game and they would need to get a couple of stops. And likewise we would need to get a couple of stops without them grinding off 10 [minutes of the clock] to do it. They wouldn't be able to put deep plays on us (due to their lack of a passing attack). So even if they pound us a little bit it would be hard for them to get plays of more than 10 or 15 yards so the clock started working against them. It flipped from where it was - really working against us at the beginning of the game."

"It (the fumble) pumped the whole team up," added Radoian. "You're so juiced that being tired isn't even a thing anymore. The adrenaline goes through your body and you're just ready to go."

On the next offensive possession West Morris got close to midfield but the drive stalled and then ended when senior quarterback Stephen Braccioforte was caught from behind by Knights linebacker Damian Du Toit on a 4th-and-5 play with just over 5 minutes to go in the first half.

After the change of possession, Radoian exploded from the Wolfpack 34-yard line for 16 yards and the Zach Miceli to Etter combo moved the ball another 6 yards. After a 3rd down play only netted 4 yards, Zach Miceli rolled right and tossed a pass to Radoian, who ran it down to the 2-yard line. Two running plays were snuffed out by the Wolfpack brick wall and after an incomplete pass Zach Miceli ran it in from the 2-yard line untouched through a big hole created by his offensive line to make it 21-0 with 1:57 to go in the first half.

"Big boys are always hard to block," said Knights senior lineman Ekin Yucel, "but leverage is a great advantage especially if you use it to your power. Getting off the ball and staying low was the most important thing. We trusted our coaches. They (Wolfpack) may have size but our team has a lot of heart."

After a strong defensive stand the Knights got the ball back before intermission with 15 seconds left. Zach Miceli gained 12 yards and stepped out of bounds with 8 seconds left. A Zach Miceli to senior Joey Crescitelli gained 10 yards down to the Wolfpack 25-yard line, but a last-second pass to Etter was knocked away in the end zone and the half ended.

Old Tappan got the ball to start the second half and 3-1/2 minutes later it was 28-0. Except for a Zach Miceli to Crescitelli pass play for 11 yards Radoian did all the work, running 5 times and gaining 40 yards down to the 1-yard line. Zach Miceli took it in from there through another big hole blown open by the offensive line.

"Our coaches said, 'they're pretty big' but it doesn't really matter," Ryan Miceli said, "because we have speed. Getting off the ball and getting the leverage is most important. It gets us moving."

The Old Tappan offensive and defensive lines have had their share of trouble with injuries this season. The starters are finally allback together and it shows. But it wasn't all bad while they were healing.

"We had a lot of people out at first and it kind of hurt us," Ryan Miceli said. "At the same time it taught us how to grow stronger and know every position. No one just plays one position. Everyone plays the whole O-line, the whole D-line and it helps in the long run. Everyone knows every position, everyone knows what they're doing."

"We're all back in business - everyone has healed up," added Yucel. "When all those players were injured for about 6 weeks, I think we learned that our team needed backup players to fill in big roles and we beat good, big teams with those people there. It was an overall good learning experience for them."

Old Tappan scored once more as Zach Miceli and Etter shined again. First, they combined for a 6-yard pass play and after a false start Zach Miceli raced down the left sideline for 43 yards. Ultimately, Zach Miceli found Etter all alone in the end zone for a 9-yard TD and 35-0 lead.

"Our whole line is willing to fight and die to protect Zach so we can get that ball off to one of our good receivers," said Yucel.

Lost in the final drive, however, was the tenacity shown by Radoian. On 1st-and-10 from the 12-yard line he took a handoff and ducked under, spun around and charged through defenders for a 3-yard gain, right before Zach Miceli and Etter ended the drive with their TD pass.

"Trying to score, doing anything to get into the end zone," is how Radoian described his tough run. "We came into this game thinking the run game was going to be stopped and we would have to pass the ball a lot. But we proved everybody wrong. Our line pushed them in and we were able to average close to 9 yards a carry in the first half. We were driving on them."

The substitutes entered the game and West Morris had one last try to get on the scoreboard. They drove down the field making it as far as the Old Tappan 22-yard line but a 2nd down pass was intercepted in the end zone by Knights junior defensive back Crosby Levine and one play later the game ended.

"We have a lot of respect for that team and how they approach the game," said Dunn. "It's similar mindsets between the coaches. They have had the same coaches for a long time and we've got the same guys here. They approach the game the right way and I'd like to think we do. We have different styles of play. We just focus on our business."

"You have to keep to the basics," Yucel added. "The foundation of the game is where you win it. You have to protect the ball, you have to get hats to the ball, you have to block to the whistle. It's all in the foundation of the game, the pillars of the game. Our coaches are the best in the state. They've been so good. They've had losing seasons in the past and they've learned from that. That's what I respect most out of them. They've lost and still got up and got us this far. A lot of respect to both Dunn coaches [Brian and Peter], coaches [Joe] Clause, [Ryan] Steffner, [Andrew] Puente, [Matt] Doherty, [Brendan] O'Neill. They're great coaches."

Brian Dunn was asked about the run his team is on, having won 2 state titles in 3 years and being undefeated so far this season.

"You don't think about runs with our squad," he said. "We have 45 kids. We had a really good team 2 years ago and 12 of them were hurt and we didn't go anywhere. So you don't think about it that way. You just hope you're doing things the right way. The kids are a pleasure to coach. They have a bit of 'little kid' in them. They're excited, they talk a lot, they chat a lot. We have some big kids, mature kids, but they're little kids at heart and they enjoy the game. A lot of that [heart] comes from that. It's like 7th and 8th grade enthusiasm."

With the win over West Morris Old Tappan moves on to play Cedar Creek Friday at 4 p.m. at MetLife Stadium.

"I definitely am looking forward to [the prospect of] back-to-back," Ryan Miceli said.

"We're on a roll right now and we just have to keep going," Radioian added.

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