FOOTBALL: BRHS Survives at Elizabeth, 28-27, Despite 21 Unanswered by Minutemen

ELIZABETH, NJ – The phrase ‘game of inches’ was definitely true between the Bridgewater-Raritan High School and Elizabeth High School football teams on Friday night.

With these young, up-and-coming Panthers playing in their sixth different venue in as many games in front of a hostile Elizabeth Homecoming crowd, Bridgewater-Raritan was up for the challenge despite being on the wrong side of a furious, second-half rally by the Minutemen.

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Down by 22 points at halftime and then by two possessions with 10:21 to go, Elizabeth (2-4) finished with 398 total yards of offense and pitched a second-half shutout, and sophomores Arique Fleming (12/17, 220 YDS, 1 TD & 11 RUSH, 53 YDS) and Nahjae Smith (6 REC, 173 YDS, TD) commanded the Minutemen offense to a one-point deficit with 3:31 remaining. Bridgewater-Raritan (3-3) then denied Fleming at the goal line on what would have been the go-ahead two-point conversion, and the Panthers held on for a 28-27 victory Oct. 4, at Williams Field in Elizabeth.

“Throughout the whole week of practice, they bashed ‘constant effort’ into our heads and never stopping until that whistle is blown,” revealed after the win by Bridgewater-Raritan senior Ja’Sante Johnson (4 RUSH, 35 YDS, TD), who produced one sack, a pair of tackles for loss, and tied a team-high six solo tackles on defense with senior classmates Matt Kronengold and Alex Berberian.

Constant effort and never stopping being an understandable message this week by Panthers head coach DJ Catalano and his staff with Elizabeth and Bridgewater-Raritan sitting at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, and comfortably amongst the top 16 teams in the North New Jersey Group 5 playoff picture. Notably, the top eight teams in their respective sections at the conclusion of the regular season would open the postseason on their home field, so a lot was still at stake for the Panthers and Minutemen on Friday night.

Coming off of a tough home-opener loss, 47-10, on Homecoming Night to state-ranked No. 19 Ridge High School the week before, however, Bridgewater-Raritan bounced back, spoiled Homecoming at Elizabeth, and remained in contention for that coveted home playoff opener despite being on the wrong end of a furious second-half rally.

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Although both teams played to a scoreless first quarter, Elizabeth had what would have been a 45-yard touchdown pass from Fleming to senior Kyshawn Decartaret called back due to a holding penalty with 8:48 left in the opening period. After a 15-yard, first-down run by Fleming to the Panthers 30 instead followed, Bridgewater-Raritan stuffed Elizabeth on fourth-and-inches to end the home team’s opening drive at the Panthers 23 with 6:09 left in the first quarter.

Bridgewater-Raritan responded with an impressive 77-yard scoring drive lasting the rest of the first quarter and one play into the second quarter, as junior Denzel Amoafo (7 RUSH, 66 YDS) sparked the offense with 19-yard run near midfield right out of the gate. Johnson then opened the game’s scoring on a six-yard run to put the Panthers in front for good., and junior Joe Squicciarini booted the extra point with 11:50 left in the second quarter to make it a 7-0 game.

On its ensuing drive starting at its own 35, Elizabeth again got into Panthers territory on an eight-yard, first-down run by senior Joseph Desir (13 RUSH, 79 YDS, 2 TD). A personal foul by Bridgewater-Raritan with 10:05 left in the first half set the Minutemen up at the Panthers 33, and while the Minutemen found themselves inside of the 10-yard line, Bridgewater-Raritan’s defense kept Elizabeth out of the end zone.

Junior David Lazo then kicked the first of his two successful field goals for Elizabeth from 25 yards away to cut Bridgewater-Raritan’s lead to 7-3 with 7:23 remaining in the first half.

But Bridgewater-Raritan senior Nick DiEsso (10 RUSH, 48 YDS & 3 REC, 51 YDS, TD) returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards to the house, and just 13 seconds after a fumbled kickoff by the Minutemen, junior starting quarterback Declan Kurdyla (10/16, 133 YDS, 2 TD) tossed a 37-yard touchdown pass to classmate Mikey Bratus (3 REC, 61 YDS, TD) to surge the Panthers a 21-3 lead with 6:54 left in the first half.

With Elizabeth then taking over at its own 38, on a third-down bomb from Fleming, Smith made a 45-yard catch near the sideline over two Bridgewater-Raritan defenders with a flag also thrown for defensive pass interference accounted for: one of six big connections between these two Minutemen sophomores. A holding penalty inside of the Panthers 10 instead pushed Elizabeth back to the fringe of the red zone, but Lazo booted a 37-yard field goal with 2:41 left in the second quarter to cut Bridgewater-Raritan’s lead to 21-6.

The Panthers then found themselves starting at the Minutemen 46 on what ended up being their final drive of the first half. With 27 seconds remaining in the first half, DiEsso scored his second touchdown of the period on a 15-yard reception, and Squicciarini delivered his fourth extra point in as many tries to extend Bridgewater-Raritan’s lead to 28-6.

With Lazo’s two successful field goal attempts accounted for, Elizabeth appeared to be on pace for one more attempt after Desir rushed for 19 yards just beyond midfield with 11 seconds left in the first half. Although a defensive penalty on the Panthers then wiped away a sack by Johnson as time expired in the first half, Johnson capped off his big first half for Bridgewater-Raritan with one more sack on the resulting untimed down to keep his team up 28-6 at the break.

“A lot of our kids playing for us are sophomores and are really young,” credited Johnson of the performance of his squad’s underclassmen over their first six career varsity games. “It isn’t the easiest thing to come play on a varsity team without playing time. I give it to them – they do have a lot of heart. They bought into our program of what we preach about every day: effort, attitude, and toughness."

That effort, attitude, and toughness was the difference for Bridgewater-Raritan in the second half, even though the Panthers again faced adversity late on the road.

On the third quarter’s opening drive, Bridgewater-Raritan again found itself in Minutemen territory, but Elizabeth junior Quameen Williams nearly picked off a pass by Kurdyla at the 10-yard line and the Panthers had to settle for a field-goal attempt. With 7:51 left in the third quarter, the resulting 31-yard try by Squicciarini failed, and Smith caught a 39-yard pass from Fleming at the Panthers 41 on the first play of Elizabeth’s ensuing drive.

Fleming then completed passes of 19 yards and 10 yards to Decartaret and sophomore Qua’Yon Williams, respectively, to set up a first-and-goal situation for the Minutemen with 4:34 left in the third quarter. Just over a minute later, Desir punched in a four-yard touchdown run, and Smith collected a two-point reception from Fleming to cap an 11-point swing and bring Elizabeth to within 28-14: the score after three quarters.

Kurdyla and the Panthers’ offense then found themselves deep in Minutemen territory again, but Elizabeth took over on downs at its own 21 after a potential touchdown pass by Kurdyla fell just short in the back of the end zone with 10:21 remaining in regulation. Fleming then began the Minutemen’s next drive with a seven-yard run, senior Jalais Mendoza (8 RUSH, 46 YDS) then moved the chains with a 16-yard run, and yet another big Fleming-to-Smith play of 15 yards moved Elizabeth onto Bridgewater-Raritan’s side of the field with 9:07 remaining.

Desir then ran for a pair of first downs from seven and 12 yards out to get Elizabeth into the red zone, and the Minutemen capped their 79-yard scoring drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Fleming to Smith with 6:31 to go.

Lazo’s extra point cut Bridgewater-Raritan’s lead to 28-21, and a good kickoff return by sophomore James Loctrotondo set Bridgewater-Raritan up at the Minutemen 49. But on the first play from scrimmage, senior Jayden DeRosa recovered a fumble for Elizabeth at the Minutemen 38 to end the Panthers’ drive.

With Elizabeth down by just one possession and facing third-and-long due to penalties on their resulting drive, Fleming completed a 48-yard pass to Smith to set the Minutemen up at the Panthers 40. Not even one minute later, Desir scored on a two-yard run to cut Bridgewater-Raritan’s lead to 28-27, and Elizabeth opted for a go-ahead, two-point conversion attempt.

“It is really rough mentally having a team score, and then having to come back and get a two-point stop or block an extra point. But it just comes down to effort,” Johnson reflected.

But that effort paid off for Bridgewater-Raritan when it mattered the most.

Fleming took off on a keeper run ending with him extending his hand and the ball just over the goal line, but he was ruled down on a tackle just a few inches away – moments before the ball crossed the plane.

As a result, Bridgewater-Raritan remained in front by one point with 3:31 to go.

“We knew how to line up and we knew what they were going to do,” said Catalano of the Panthers’ defense on Elizabeth’s two-point try and the stop on Fleming’s keeper. “We saw that they were single coverage, so we wanted to bracket him. We played off with our corner really playing the fade. Then, we took our outside linebacker in case something like a slant came or if they wanted to do anything outside. That was a big moment for us and something that we practice, but we executed well, so I was really proud of them for that.”

Instead of needing to march down the field to break a tie and avoid overtime, Bridgewater-Raritan remained in front and had the opportunity to burn Elizabeth’s two remaining timeouts and run out the clock from its own 28.

An offside penalty on the Minutemen resulted in a first down to the Minutemen 46 with 2:27 remaining, and with 1:44 to go, DiEsso again moved the sticks to the Minutemen 32 to force one of these two timeouts by Elizabeth. The Minutemen defense then limited the Panthers to a two-yard run to force the home team’s final timeout, and after Bridgewater-Raritan ran the clock down all the way to 10 seconds remaining, the Panthers called timeout facing 4th and 15 from the Minutemen 36.

The Panthers went for the knockout punch deep in Elizabeth territory, but what ended up being a potential first-down, game-ending pass by Kurdyla fell incomplete. This gave the Minutemen one more play with 3.4 seconds left to go 64 yards into the end zone and win the game. Despite an admirable heave by Fleming as the endgame siren went off on the Williams Field scoreboard, Bratus, DiEsso, and Berberian had a 3-on-2 advantage on defense at the Panthers 15, where the ball was about to land.

The pass was deflected incomplete over their heads at this spot near the Elizabeth sideline, and despite being outgained 398-308 in total yards from scrimmage, Bridgewater-Raritan hung on to spoil Elizabeth’s rally and even their record to 3-3.

“The idea is to keep improving, and we are,” praised Catalano of his squad and how it overcame Elizabeth’s late rally. “We’ve never been up [by 22 points] like that before. And then we saw a team that fights really hard, because they’re really well-coached. Usually, we’re the ones that are trying to come back, but I was proud of how they kept their composure and how they made sure that the moment wasn’t too big for them.”

Next up for Bridgewater-Raritan (3-3, 1-1) is Marching Band Senior Night and a massive rivalry home game against Hillsborough High School (3-3, 0-2) at 7 p.m. Oct. 10, at John Basilone Memorial Field in Bridgewater. The Panthers will be seeking their first win since 2017 against the Raiders, who previously defeated Bridgewater-Raritan, 29-21, in last season’s meeting at John Basilone Memorial Field.

Elizabeth (2-4) will try to get back into the win column next at Morristown High School (2-3) at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10, in Morristown.

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