West Essex 27 Summit 17
November 4, 2023
West Essex scored 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat Summit, 27-17 and advance to the North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 finals against Passaic Valley. Summit had taken a 17-14 lead on a field goal with 41 seconds left in the third quarter and were also up 14-0 in the first half before West Essex came back to tie it at 14-14.
First Quarter: It was a fast pace in the quarter with both teams having four possessions. Each team had an interception to end the second and third drives of the game. It wasn’t until West Essex punted that Summit made things happen on a two-play drive, beginning on their 48. Carter Shallcross went 50 yards on the first play and Cole Sabol found Jake Procaccini in the end zone on the second play for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with four minutes left in the quarter. Summit had a chance to add to the lead when a 17-yard pass to Ryan Schnall brought them to the 25. After three plays, a 39-yard field goal attempt went wide left.
Second Quarter: Summit made the most of a good opportunity when they recovered a fumble on the West Essex 35. The Hilltoppers stuck mostly to the ground; the one pass they attempted was a 14-yarder to Tyler Sebastian that brought them to the 17. The drive ended with a 2-yard plunge by Shallcross to make it 14-0 with seven minutes left. West Essex’s following drive ensured they might stick around, beginning with a 45-yard pass to Ryan Lasher that brought them to Summit’s 37. Five plays later, Sam Long found Jorden Simeone down the right sideline for a 25-yard touchdown to cut Summit’s lead to 14-7 with 2:26 left in the half. Summit moved down the field, but Max Garcia intercepted in the end zone with 14 seconds left.
Third Quarter: West Essex came out with the ball and Long scampered 31 yards to the Summit 39, but the Knights turned the ball over on downs. But trouble came Summit’s way when Garcia intercepted and went 50 yards for a touchdown, tying the game, 14-14, with seven minutes left. West Essex looked as though they would go in front when Riley Ruane burst through the line for a 37-yard run to the 18. But a bad shotgun snap was recovered by Charles Treger on the Summit 35. The Hilltoppers picked first downs on two of the following plays: a 22-yard run to the West Essex 43 by Shallcross, followed by runs of 7 and 8 yards by Schnall. They regained the lead, 17-14, on a 39-yard field goal by Seamus Browne with 41 seconds left in the quarter.
Fourth Quarter: West Essex bridged the quarters right after the field goal. Ruane went 10 yards to their 38 and Lasher went 59 yards to the 3-yard line for a first-and-goal. Two plays later, it was Long to Simeone for a 4-yard score to put the Knights back on top, 21-17 with 9:39 left. Summit’s following drive went twelve plays, but turned it over on downs on the West Essex 23 with six minutes left. West Essex was three-and-out and forced to punt. Procaccini fielded it on the 50, fumbled, and Garcia scooped and scored for 37 yards on the recovery. The extra point failed and it was 27-17 with 4:27 left. Summit drove past midfield, but Anthony Drago intercepted in the end zone to kill the Hilltoppers’ chance. West Essex picked up a first down and punted with 19 seconds to go to put the game away.
Comments:.West Essex hung in there and it paid off. Their touchdown before the half kept them in the game. The Knights adjusted to the fast pace Summit had – it was even hard for me to take notes when I would look up to see they already ran a play. They made turnovers count on defense, scoring two touchdowns: the fumble and interception. Garcia was their star of the game, scoring touchdowns on an interception and a fumble recovery, in addition to intercepting another in the end zone. The Knights also picked big runs they did not have in the first half: the longest run in the first half was 10 yards, but the second half saw runs of 16, 31, 37, 10, and 59 yards.
Summit moved the ball, but it is hard to win when five turnovers are committed, especially when the other team scores twice on them. Those turnovers will be remembered and prevented the offense from accomplishing more. Their fast pace off what looked like a power-I was effective, but it was not as effective in the second half; they had 235 yards in the first half, as opposed to 154 in the second.