P’Burg v. St. Joseph Preview: Phillipsburg Faces a Major Test Against Undefeated St. Joseph’s in Cross-Division Showdown

PHILLIPSBURG, NJ - The downfall of the Phillipsburg High School football teams defense may have been greatly exaggerated.

One thing’s for sure though. It’ll get another quality test on Friday night at Maloney Stadium when undefeated St. Joseph’s of Metuchen invades the friendly confines for a Big Central Conference cross-division contest.

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The Falcons (5-0) beat the only team that has defeated the Stateliners this season, Ridge, 37-34 back on Sept 7. Senior quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo went off for 392 yards through the air against the Red Devils with three touchdowns as St. Joe’s took a 21-10 lead in the first quarter.

Ashton Irving and Jacob Pappas combined for 13 receptions and 335 yards while the Falcons gained just 43 yards on 25 carries on the ground. The only other close game St. Joe’s has played was a 21-20 victory over Elizabeth (2-4) when it jumped ahead 21-0 at halftime before holding on.

A week after surrendering almost 800 yards from the line of scrimmage in back-to-back games, P’burg’s defense and special teams came up big last week by holding an explosive West Orange team to 281 yards in an impressive 21-14 road victory to improve to 4-1 on the season.

“We just stayed with our plan,” Phillipsburg coach Frank Duffy said before Tuesday’s practice. “And we know we’re a good defense and we have the horses to get it done. We matched up pretty well against West Orange and we played a lot of man coverage. Our guys in the back did a great job.”

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P’burg’s front four on defense -- tackles Aedan and Luke Hywell and ends Khallil Lewis and Ben Coury – also made their presence felt throughout.

“We moved the D-line around a lot,” Duffy said. “And West Orange had a tough time dealing with it. Even if we didn’t get a sack we put a lot of pressure on the quarterback. The guys up front played their tails off.”

St. Joseph’s

Scaramuzzo has passed for 1,100 yards this season with 10 TDs to just one interception. And like Phillipsburg senior quarterback Jett Genovese, he can hurt you with his feet as well, with 191 yards rushing on 41 attempts and five touchdowns this season.

Senior running back Javon Hudson has gained 232 yards rushing with three TDs. He is also the Falcons top tackler from his linebacker position. Sophomore Jaylen Frias is another menace on defense along with senior lineman John Kelly.

“There are a lot of similarities between them and us,” Duffy said. “They want to establish the run with two backs. Then, they’ll give you one back with the quarterback running like we do. And then they’ll play action on you a lot which Is what we do in our boot series. They run some of the same stuff we do, belly, trap and power plays. It’s a gap scheme and they create angles. It should be a physical game.”

The Falcons have passed for twice as much yardage passing as they have running the ball.

Phillipsburg

Sensational seniors Felix Matos and Matthew Scerbo Jr. continued their story-book seasons. On all sides of the ball -- offense, defense and special teams. They are also both two-sport stars, Matos in the spring with the baseball team and Scerbo Jr. in winter with basketball.

Matos, in his second season since transferring from Bergen Catholic, blocked a punt and scooped and scored from 17-yards away to open up the scoring last week. Matos has also scored two TDs rushing from 55 and 85 yards this season and two more in the passing game from 45 and 65-yards. For good measure he has also thrown a 25-yard TD pass.

The P’burg coaching staff saw a gap in West Orange’s punt blocking unit and Matos, who is usually back with Scerbo Jr. returning punts, took full advantage to give Phillipsburg a huge momentum play to get it started.

“They kind of just let me go right through the line,” Matos said, recalling his blocked punt. “I just put my hands up and tried to make a play at the ball. Our defense is the reason we won last week. I trust what we’re doing on that side of the ball. We really executed the game plan.”

And for the second week in a row, Scerbo Jr., the school’s best wide receiver ever, intercepted a pass and scored, this time from 35-yards away from his safety position. The week prior Scerbo Jr., who is starting full-time on defense for the first time in his career, scored from 75-yards away with an INT.

“I was covering one of their top receivers,” Scerbo Jr. said of his interception return. “He was trying a little too much to get open and I stayed over top. He miscommunicated with the quarterback who threw it one way and he continued to run the other way. I saw the ball in the air and went to it. We’ve been giving up too many points on defense. We knew we had to buckle down just like we have to this week.”

Scerbo Jr. is the all-time leader at Phillipsburg in career pass receptions (100), is tied for the top spot in receiving TDs (19) and is 110 yards from becoming No. 1 in receiving yards.

Scerbo Jr. and Matos are two of the best two-way starting players in the state who can break open a game from anywhere on the field. The tandem are not only two-way starters but two-way stars as well.

“Matt and Felix help us every single week in all three phases of the game,” Duffy said. “They put points on the board last week and it wasn’t offensively. We were up 14-0 because of plays those guys made. They are special and dynamic. They are game changers.”

Notes

P’burg junior Ky Stocker filled in for the injured Zack Pherson at left tackle and played well in his first career start. The Stateliners hope Pherson is back by Thanksgiving Day at the latest. Junior Jah’quil Dooley returned last week after missing a game due to injury.

Phillipsburg is ranked fourth by United Power Rankings among 28 Group 4 schools. Top-ranked Morris Knolls (5-0) and No. 3 Woodbridge (6-0) are the last of the unbeatens in Group 4. Ridge (4-1) is ranked second.

St. Joseph’s is ranked fourth among eight Non-Public Group A teams.

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