Football: Passaic Valley Topples Caldwell, 34-7, in Opener

WEST CALDWELL, NJ – Caldwell committed three first-half turnovers, and Passaic Valley turned two of them directly into touchdowns on its way to a 34-7 football victory over the Chiefs on opening night Thursday at Bonnel Field.

With Passaic Valley holding a 13-0 lead, Caldwell looked like it was ready to gain some momentum heading into halftime, as the Chiefs drove from their own 27 to the Passaic Valley 12-yard line in eight plays. But, instead of cutting their deficit to a touchdown before the half, a killer stretch of 18 seconds on the game clock did the Chiefs in.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

On second-and-seven, Passaic Valley linebacker Christian Meletta intercepted a pass over the middle at the 13, found daylight along his right sideline and rumbled 87 yards for a touchdown that gave PV a 20-0 lead with 1:36 to go in the half after Dante Benvenuti's extra point.

When Caldwell took over on its own 25 after the kickoff, a running play resulted in a 3-yard gain and a fumble that was scooped up by Kenny Van Winkle and returned 28 yards for a TD to extend the Hornets' lead to 27-0 with 1:18 left in the second quarter.

To its credit, a young Caldwell team with a lot of players making their varsity debuts actually did compose themselves enough to mount a 45-yard, five-play drive at the end of the first half to cut Passaic Valley's lead to 27-7 on sophomore quarterback Jake Matanin's 15-yard TD pass to Mike Mignone on a slant pattern with 26 seconds showing. Matt Murtagh kicked the extra point.

Both teams' defenses stopped their opponents on fourth-down attempts on the first two series of the game. Passaic Valley broke out on top, 7-0, on Ralphie Cintron's 4-yard TD pass to Vincent Berardi and Benveniti's PAT.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

A'Meire Simpson's 1-yard TD run capped a nine-play, 83-yard drive with 9:26 left in the second quarter to extend the Hornets' lead to 13-0. Benvenuti had a 35-yard run on an end-around reverse to the Caldwell 27-yard line on the fourth play of that drive. Simpson scored another TD on the ground in the second half.

Caldwell will play at rival West Essex next Friday, Sept. 13. Passaic Valley will be at Wayne Valley.

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net