Wayne Hills 35 Passaic Valley 14
October 11, 2024
Wayne Hills dominated the first half with a balanced offense and superior line play, jumping out to a 35-0 halftime lead, and beat Passaic Valley, 35-14. The second half was played on a running clock. Wayne Hills used backups the entire second half, while Passaic Valley also substituted freely.
First Quarter: Wayne Hills marched down the field on ten plays, eight in the air, and scored on a 29-yard pass from James Wolf to Chernoh St. Paul, and a 7-0 lead. Wold completed 7-of-8 passes for 75 yards on the drive. After a Passaic Valley punt, the Patriots only needed four plays, as Evan Rapoport went 76 yards down the right sideline for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead. The Wayne Hills defense forced a three-and-out, and the offense picked up three first downs: a run and a reception by Ethan Zacharski, followed by a completion to Chris Battaglia. At that point, Zacharksi did the rest with a 43-yard touchdown run, and it was 20-0.
Second Quarter: Passaic Valley picked up two first downs when Nick Huliev ran for 18 yards and Dante Benvenuti connected with Vinny Berardi for 13. But a fourth-down pass to Huliev lost a yard, and Wayne Hills took over on their 35. On their first play, David Van Hook took the jet sweep handoff and galloped 65 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown. The two-point conversion succeeded, and it was 28-0. Passaic Valley picked up a pair of first downs, but Zacharski intercepted for Wayne Hills and returned it 30 yards to the 43. The Patriots were faced with a fourth-and-1 on the Passaic Valley 48 when Rapoport went 13 yards through the middle for a first down to the 35. Wolf then connected with Van Hook for 23 yards, followed by a 12-yard touchdown to St. Paul to make it 35-0 with two minutes left.
Third Quarter: Nothing happened with a running clock and liberal substitution.
Fourth Quarter: Passaic Valley scored on an 8-yard run by Benvenuti and a 46-yard run by Ryan Correntin.
Comments: Wayne Valley dominated the first half for a 35-0 lead. They picked up 377 yards of total offense: 226 on the ground and 151 through the air. Wolf was 13-15-151 yards and two touchdowns. Rapoport ran for 96 yards and a touchdown on four carries, Zacharski ran for 63 yards and a touchdown on six carries, while Van Hook had 65 yards on his only carry to go with 2 receptions for 26 yards. On the receiving end, St. Paul had three receptions for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
An offensive performance such as this is driven by the line, which was dominant. The quintet of left tackle Anthony Cuccinello, left guard Johnny Krause, center Vinnie Romano, right guard Evan Taibl, and right tackle Moe Nofal paved the way for all the production.
Passaic Valley has good players, such as Benvenuti, Huliev, and Berardi, but the line was unable to generate any movement, and the defense failed to stop Wayne Hills.