Wayne Football Recap – Valley Wins, While Hills Takes a Tough Loss

WAYNE, NJ – Under their home lights, the Wayne Valley Indians won their fourth game of the season against the Hackensack Comets 26-21, moving to a record of 4-1. Meanwhile, Wayne Hills traveled to Caldwell High School and fell to the Chiefs 34-27, their record now 3-2.

Hills

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After a 35-0 shutout against Paterson Kennedy in their previous game, the Patriots defense walked onto Caldwell’s home field feeling confident. There were times that they held their own, but in the end, they just couldn’t stop the Chiefs when they needed to.

“We struggled defensively - that’s why, ultimately, we fell a little short,” said Hills Coach, Wayne Demikoff. “We’ve got a lot of young kids on defense. We’re going through the maturing process and we’re seeing progress, we just need to be more consistent through four quarters.”

Offensively, Demikoff said, “We were able to move the ball in the air and on the ground, which is good.”

Quarterback Mike Fitzsimmons threw for 265 yards and one touchdown throw to Senior Mike DeLegarde – who had a total of five receptions for 122 yards. The junior passer also ran in a touchdown from five yards out.

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Sophomore Chernoh St. Paul had 89 receiving yards and Senior Aaron Viray had 44 receiving yards on the night.

Senior, Jonnie Mongelli was a menace on the ground, gouging Caldwell’s defense for 122 rushing yards in total, and sophomore, Evan Rappaport gained 30 yards on the ground, scoring once.

Sophomore, Matt May’s foot gave Hills seven points on one field goal and four successful extra points.

But scoring 27 points was not enough.

Despite tough defensive performances from junior, Braden Viray, who led the team with 10 tackles and senior, Jack Monisera with nine tackles and sophomore Troy Demikoff, who intercepted one pass and also had nine tackles -plus six tackles each for senior, Jack Rewick and junior, Luke Bacchioni, the Chiefs could not be stopped when it counted.

Caldwell scored five total touchdowns – a 24-yard run in the first quarter, then a 26-yard passing touchdown, followed by a 50-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. In the third, Caldwell scored from 6-yards out on a running play, then in the fourth, they sealed the game with a 71-yard touchdown catch.

“It's one of those things, when you're young,” said Demikoff. “You're, kind of, throwing kids in the fire, and some games - some quarters are good, some not so good. “We're going through the maturing process.”

Talking about the adversity this team has faced this year, Demiloff said, “When they find themselves down, they've come back every time, and we've been very happy about that; It doesn’t seem to faze them. They just keep going back to work and that's a really good thing that's something to build off of. We'd like to get to the point where we're not down, so we don't have to come back."

“We’ve got good character on this team, so it's just a matter of being more consistent,” he said in conclusion.

Valley

The Indians were the ones to take an early lead in their game at home on Friday night against Hackensack. But the Valley offense cooled down in the fourth, while the Comets mounted a second-half comeback and made the game close before time ran out.

“We jumped out to an early lead, but I knew this wouldn’t be a blowout,” Valley Coach Roger Kotlarz said. “Hackensack has a lot of good pieces. They scored right before the half and really got some momentum.”

Junior quarterback Danny “Dimes” Ferrauilo threw for 200 yards and two touchdown passes – one for 30-yards to senior, Darrius Rivers, and another 21-yard TD throw to senior, Jeriah Cabrales.

Rivers finished with three catches for 63 receiving yards, and Cabrales had four receptions for 40-yards. Junior, Bryce Flower had four receptions for 52 yards and senior Luke Rubino caught four balls, gaining a total of 44-yards.

On the ground it was junior, Eli Estevez who tore it up for the Indians, going for 116 yards on 18 rushing attempts and scoring two nine-yard touchdowns.

At the half, the game was looking one-sided with Valley up 20-7, but the Comets would not roll-over, and Valley’s defense, which had only given up 20 points in the last two games, showed some signs of vulnerability.

“We gave up some big 3rd down conversions in the second half,” said Kotlarz. “That really hurt us. But we were able to score late and hold on.”

Defensively, junior Anthony Rankin led the team with 14 tackles with classmate Rian Zuta right behind with 10. Adam Noufal, also a senior notched the only sack for the Indians, which was one of his seven tackles. Junior, Brayden Dunne had four tackles and covered well with three passes defensed.

Next up for both of these teams are each other. The Patriots are hosting their cross-town rivals on Saturday night, October 5th – kickoff at 6:30pm. It’s the annual orange-out game to honor Rocco Sivolella and ought to be a great game.

Skiffo Drake contributed to this article.

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