Friday Night Football Preview: Hillsborough Travels to Phillipsburg

PHILLIPSBURG, NJ - It’s not often that somebody punches the Phillipsburg High School football team in the face like Ridge did last week in the Red Devils 28-21 victory.

Usually, it’s the Stateliners with the constant jabs before eventually knocking the opponent out. Both lines dominated for the Red Devils as it held P’burg to 78 rushing yards. That’s the least the Stateliners have gained in the last five seasons spanning 47 games.

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Not since a 7-0 loss to Wayne Valley in a 2019 sectional semifinal loss have the ‘Liners been held to less than 78 yards rushing in a game when they gained 63.

On the other side of the ball, Phillipsburg allowed Ridge to gain 300 rushing yards with 220 of them coming from 6-foot-3, 210-pound power running back Aidan Stieglitz. That’s the most the Garnet and Gray have allowed since Immaculata gained 249 rushing yards in a 31-28 overtime loss all the way back in 2013.

So, how do the Stateliners respond against Hillsborough this week? The Raiders beat P’burg 14-13 last season, one of the two losses Phillipsburg suffered in the 2013 season, on one of the few Sunday games the school has ever played.

“We just have to get back to work,” Phillipsburg coach Frank Duffy said. “It’s the only thing you can do. You learn more from a defeat than a victory. That’s 100 percent true. Keep grinding and learn our lessons. We’re looking forward to this opportunity of playing at home again against Hillsborough this week.“

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Kickoff is set for 7:05 p.m. Friday at Maloney Stadium for the Big Central Conference American Silver Division contest. The game will be broadcast by Service Electric TV.

Hillsborough

The Raiders, who run a spread offense, jumped out to a 14-0 lead last season and held on when P’burg went for a two-point conversion and the win after a fourth quarter TD but failed to convert a run attempt.

Hillsborough is 2-2 this season with wins over Union (21-14) and Sayreville (35-0) and losses to Somerville (21-20) and Ridge (34-7). It likes to put the ball in the air as senior quarterback Ryan Seamon is 54-for-103 through four games for 537 passing yards, four TDs and four interceptions.

Senior wide receiver Roberto Santiago and junior running back Andy Schwartz have combined for 33 receptions, 335 yards and two scores. Senior running back Jackson Jankowicz leads the team with 282 yards rushing on 56 carries and has scored five touchdowns.

Senior linebackers Garrett Meyer and Mateo Del Toro and senior lineman Xander Borowski have been standouts on defense for Hillsborough.

“Defensively we’ll mix up our coverages which we’ve done in the past,” Duffy said. “And they have a very good running back in Jankowicz. He’s their guy so we have to make sure we tale care of him. We’re going to mix up a little of what we do on the back end and that’s worked out well for us in the past and we have the athletes to do it.”

Phillipsburg

There’s nothing senior Felix Matos can’t do on a football field. With Matthew Scerbo Jr. being double-covered all night, the 5-foot-11, 191-pound senior wide-out on offense went off for a career-high 140 yards on a career-high 10 catches.

The 10 receptions were the most in a game in at least the last 15 seasons and his yardage was the most since Manny Romero caught two passes, both for TDs, from 79 and 81 yards in a 31-28 loss to Bridgewater in 2015.

His 10 receptions are tied for fourth most ever in a game at Phillipsburg.

“Felix’s game is very diverse on what he can do,” Duffy said. “He has a great ability for yards after catch and creating separation from the defense in front of him. We ask a lot of him and he does a fantastic job.”

For good measure, Matos also threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Scerbo Jr. on a wide receiver option play to tie last week’s game at 21-21 midway through the fourth quarter. Oh, and he also chipped in with nine tackles from his free safety position. He also returns punts and kickoffs alongside Scerbo Jr.

“Yes, I like to be on the field all the time,” said Matos, who transferred from Bergan Catholic before last season and was a quarterback growing until his freshman season at that school. “Jett and I practiced all off-season with me running routes. We have the timing down and it showed last week.”

As for his touchdown pass, the team didn’t practice that play last week.

“We just we knew we had that call and coach (Ian) Decker told us that play might be called,” Matos said. “So, he said be ready and he called it and we executed the play. I couldn’t believe how open Matt was.”

With the running game stalled, it was senior quarterback Jett Genovese who helped keep last week’s game close throughout by having the second 200-yard passing game of his career. He finished with the most efficient effort of his career by completing 14 of his 17 passes with two touchdown strikes to get within seven of the all-time school record for passing touchdowns.

“They were giving us some stuff in the pass game and Jett took advantage,” Duffy said. “That’s playing balanced football. When they give you something and you take advantage of it. It was nice to see Jett get going. He was accurate, poised and that’s what you want to see.”

Last season Genovese threw a career-high 30 passes against Hillsborough, completing 14 of them, for 94 yards and a TD while playing after being injured in the first half. He finished that game but ended up missing the next two. The Red Raiders also held the ‘Liners running attack to 84 yards on 25 carries last season.

“Hillsborough covers up the nose in a 50 front,” Duffy said. “Very similar to what we saw last week, Obviously, we have to establish the run game and shore up our roles up front. We have some formations that we like and we’ll see what they’re doing. They’re going to have to make a decision whether they’re going to load the box and give us some one-on-one matchups in the passing game.”

Notes

Phillipsburg has beaten Hillsborough 10 times in its last 14 meetings although the Raiders have won two of the last three games.

Scerbo Jr. is closing in on the triple crown of all-time school career records for receivers. He already has the most receptions (95) and is tied for the most TDs (17) and needs 263 yards to complete his historic career.

P’burg now has two regular season losses in the last three seasons to Ridge and Hillsborough. Its only other two losses came in sectional final games.

The ‘Liners play just one more regular season home game after this week when they meet a very good St. Joseph (Metuchen) squad on Oct. 11.

Mike Moore contributed to this story.

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