After being tied 7-7 for a good part of the game, West Morris scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to beat West Essex and win the North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 championship on a wet night.
**This is from the broadcast at nj.com.
First Quarter: After a West Essex punt, West Morris took over on their 21. The Wolfpack went twelve plays, eight of them runs by Stefano Montella, scoring when he went 26 yards down the left sideline. West Essex answered with a drive of their own, going 80 yards on 18 plays that went well into the second quarter. A 12-yard pass from Jack Massotto to Dante Sellari and a pass interference that was 15 yards brought the ball to the 25. The Knights were on the board when Mike Maglione plunged from one yard out, tying the score at 7-7.
Second Quarter: West Morris moved the ball, getting a first down on the 15. But quarterback John Rolli mishandled the snap on fourth down and West Essex took over on their 11. The Knights advanced to midfield, but Luke Struss fumbled with West Morris recovering on the West Essex 47 with one minute left.
Third Quarter: West Morris came out with the ball and marched well into West Essex territory on eleven plays, but turned the ball over on downs when Rolli lost a yard after bobbling another snap at the West Essex 23. A Massotto run of 10 yards and a Maglione run for 13 brought them to their 46. A completion to Sellari brought them into West Morris territory, but it wasn’t enough as the Knights were forced to punt.
Fourth Quarter: Starting on their 16, West Morris got a big break when Montella burst through the middle for 64 yards and scored four plays later on a 2-yard touchdown to give the Wolfpack a lead they would not relinquish. West Morris forced West Essex into a three-and-out and took over on their 29. They went ten plays, breaking the game open on a 43-yard run by Vinnie Desiderio on the jet sweep down the right sideline. West Essex had one last chance, but a third down sack by Rolli and sandwiched between three incompletions turned the ball over to West Morris, who took a knee to run out the clock.
Comments: Overall, this was a very well played game with only two penalties, one coming on the game’s opening play. The game itself timed in at just under two hours. There were thirteen possessions in the game and the last one was simply West Morris taking a knee. There were only twelve passes in the game and West Essex had eleven to West Morris’ one.
West Morris had seven possessions, with one simply taking a knee at the end of the game and another with one minute left in the half. The other five produced three touchdowns and two ending with bobbled snaps on fourth down in West Essex territory. The Wolfpack rushed for 351 yards; Montela rushed for 250 and two touchdowns, Desiderio for 83, and Sam Rizzuto with 24. The offensive line of left tackle Tom Borgia, left guard Henry Frayne, center Bryce Cope, right guard Colin Leonhardt, right tackle Shaun Seabeck, and tight end Bryce Cammarata gave the runners room to run throughout the evening.
West Essex had 151 yards of offense and 65 of those came on their touchdown drive; they had 86 yards on their other five drives. The Knights had a very good year, but they ran into a better football team and were very competitive.