No victory is ever a guarantee for any high school football team.
Especially for teams with the daunting schedules like Bridgewater-Raritan High School, which is in the grueling Big Central Conference American Silver Division.
Victories, therefore, on top of strength of schedule go a very long way in both qualifying for and winning in the state tournament, which Bridgewater-Raritan High School did last season despite its 4-7 record.
While the Panthers defeated Hunterdon Central Regional High School within last season’s division slate, Bridgewater-Raritan was defeated by Ridge High School, Phillipsburg High School, and Hillsborough High School last season by an average of 25 points.
Including the Panthers, all four of these teams won at least one game in the state tournament on their home fields, as their hard-fought matchups proved valuable in preparing them for playoff football in November when winning mattered the most.
Phillipsburg went on to finish as New Jersey’s runner-up amongst all Group 4 squads, but Bridgewater-Raritan advanced in the Group 5 playoffs for the first time in eight years to set the stage for what has been a successful fall so far.
Now, factor in five more regular-season games versus strong programs outside of the Panthers’ division, including a Morris Knolls High School team that collected 324 rushing yards and defeated the Panthers by 20 points in Morris County on a Saturday morning last year.
Results like that have proven to be quality bulletin board material this fall that has clearly motivated Bridgewater-Raritan, which got revenge on its home turf and sent a clear message to its division rivals.
Don’t forget about us.
Bridgewater-Raritan (3-0) ran 25 of the game’s first 26 plays from scrimmage against Morris Knolls (1-2), which surrendered a safety against the Panthers’ rejuvenated defense on its lone play in this impressive stretch. This enabled Bridgewater-Raritan’s offense to dominate time of possession and take early control of the game, particularly on the ground, and senior running back Denzel Amoafo’s two-point conversion after the home team's ’ last of three touchdowns helped them build a 17-point cushion early in the third quarter.
Although the Golden Eagles staged a valiant rally from a three-possession deficit, time was ultimately on the side of Bridgewater-Raritan, which tallied 218 of its 306 total yards of offense on the ground before holding on for a massive 27-21 victory Friday, September 12, at John Basilone Memorial Field in Bridgewater.
That victory lifted Bridgewater-Raritan's record to 3-0, the prgram's best start since the 2016 team posted an 11-0 record before losing in the state sectional playof final.
“We were very emotional after the safety, because we knew we should have scored on our [opening] drive,” revealed of the game’s early turning point for Bridgewater-Raritan by Amoafo. “We cleared our minds, got back on defense, and we knew we had to make a big play to make up for it.”
“That’s what we did.”
The game-swinging safety happened immediately after Bridgewater-Raritan’s 15-play drive: all of them runs, to begin the contest. Even though the Panthers started at their own 20-yard line, their three-headed rushing monster in Amoafo (19 rushes, 92 yards, one touchdown), junior Jahmier Black (19 rushes, 72 yards), and senior quarterback Declan Kurdyla (nine-for-11 passing, 88 yards, two touchdowns and nine rushes, 53 yards) quickly wore out the Golden Eagles’ defense. Each of them managed at least one of a whopping six downs for Bridgewater-Raritan on this productive, seven-plus minute opening drive to keep Morris Knolls’ revered triple-option offense off of the field early.
Facing fourth-and-one from the Golden Eagles’ two-yard line, it looked as if the Panthers moved the chains again on the resulting run, but a measurement by the game’s officials proved otherwise to seal a critical stand by the visitors.
One play later, it turned into the best-case scenario for Bridgewater-Raritan, whose defense swallowed Morris Knolls in the end zone with 4:32 left in the first quarter for a safety and an early 2-0 lead for Bridgewater-Raritan.
“[Senior Justin Simpson] and the whole defensive line got back there,” recapped of the safety by Amoafo, who added four total tackles as a cornerback on defense on top of his big day as a running back on offense."
“We wrapped them up and got a big stop.”
Most notably, this ended the Golden Eagles’ possession and resulted in the Panthers receiving another kickoff. This would not have happened if the Panthers cashed in via a seven-point scoring play or even a three-point field goal courtesy of the reliable leg of senior kicker Joe Squicciarini.
Talk about an absolute gut-punch for Morris Knolls’ defense, which knew it had to retake the field after thinking it had escaped Bridgewater-Raritan’s 15 rushing plays unharmed at its goal line.
The Panthers certainly were not complaining.
“That was our defensive coordinator who made that call,” praised Bridgewater-Raritan head coach DJ Catalano of the safety drawn up by assistant coach Kyle Paustian. “It was funny, because he was actually talking about giving that look the first play anyways. I talked him out of it and did not want us to show that. But then when [Morris Knolls] was backed up, there was a chance for a safety if we ran this.”
“We went with it, and that was him.”
After coming up two yards short on the 80 yards they needed to reach the end zone, the Panthers took advantage of their second chance on offense from their own 38-yard line that started with 4:24 left in the first quarter.
The result was a 10-play, 62-yard scoring drive featuring five more first-down runs: three on keepers by Kurdyla, one by Black, and one more by Amoafo, to set up first-and-goal from the three-yard line to end the first quarter with Bridgewater-Raritan up 2-0.
On the first play of the second quarter, Amoafo barreled into the end zone on an eight-yard touchdown run, and Squicciarini’s extra point gave the Panthers an early 9-0 lead.
Valuable breathing room for Bridgewater-Raritan, whose well-rested defense was tasked with stopping Morris Knolls’ triple threat in junior quarterback Ryan McDonald, senior running back Luke Shivas, and senior running back Jaylin Jones: the latter rusher tallying 200 rushing yards alone one week earlier in the Golden Eagles’ 41-31 defeat against West Morris Central High School. A different trio than the one Bridgewater-Raritan saw in its 34-14 defeat last season against that Morris Knolls squad, which won its first 10 games before falling in the state sectional finals.
Yet still dangerous of breaking through for big plays at any given moment.
With 5:16 left in the second quarter, Morris Knolls finally got on the board thanks to an 11-play scoring drive capped off by McDonald’s 14-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Gavin Toland: the Golden Eagles’ first passing play of the game. Junior kicker Trey Steinman’s resulting extra point cut Bridgewater-Raritan’s lead to 9-7, and the Panthers looked to be in their first jam of the night after a pair of negative plays set up 3rd and 20 on their own side of the field.
Enter Bridgewater-Raritan junior Evan Woodring, who caught a 27-yard pass from Kurdyla to move the chains, and the Panthers extended that by 15 more yards due to a personal foul against Morris Knolls. The Golden Eagles’ defense responded with three straight stops of Amoafo, and the visitors called timeout with the Panthers facing 4th and 4 from the Golden Eagles’ 21-yard line.
Black substituted in to take the resulting pitch from Kurdyla, and his eight-yard run on fourth down put Bridgewater-Raritan into the red zone.
“It’s great to have a backup and it takes a lot of pressure off,” Amoafo praised of Black, who also made seven total tackles on defense. “I know that there is someone who can fill my shoes behind me. We have a really good offensive line and we want to run the ball, but if I need a break, I can come off. Shoutout to our offensive line for doing the hard job, because they clear it up for me and Jahmier.”
“We just have to do the easy job and run through the holes, lower our backs, and go get yards.”
And in the Panthers’ case, go get touchdowns.
Two plays later, Woodring scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Kurdyla with nine seconds remaining in the first half. As a result, Bridgewater-Raritan went into the locker room with a 16-7 lead after cashing in on its 11-play, five-minute scoring drive with Morris Knolls set to receive the opening kickoff of the third quarter.
“You can’t get the pass going if you don’t get the run going,” credited Woodring of the Panthers’ productive ground attack. “That starts with our running backs and our line. When we keep on pounding them, they can’t stop it, and it opens up the pass game.”
“I was just in the right place at the right time, and my quarterback hit me both times.”
After Bridgewater-Raritan’s defense launched the second half with a three-and-out, its ground game again set up another key play from Kurdyla in the air.
An 11-yard run by Black for a first down plus a 15-yard facemask penalty against Morris Knolls set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Kurdyla to senior Jack Cifuentes with 7:29 left in the third quarter.
Amoafo’s subsequent two-point run was successful, and Bridgewater-Raritan took its largest lead of 24-7 and looked positioned to put the game out of reach.
Morris Knolls then quickly used big plays to march down the field, notably on runs of 22 yards and 17 yard by Shivas and Jones, respectively, plus a 28-yard catch by junior Nick Wong in between. McDonald’s one-yard keeper run for a touchdown with 3:57 left in the third quarter got the Golden Eagles to within 24-14, and Morris Knolls kept Bridgewater-Raritan out of the end zone on another long drive that extended into the fourth quarter.
Still leading by 10 points after three periods and eating seven more minutes off of the clock, Bridgewater-Raritan extended its advantage to 27-14 on a 26-yard field goal by Squicciarini with 8:52 remaining. Cifuentes then hauled in an interception in the end zone to thwart Morris Knolls’ ensuing drive with 6:14 to go, but a rare punt by Bridgewater-Raritan gave the Golden Eagles another chance from its own 46-yard line with all three timeouts intact.
A 12-yard keeper run by McDonald kept Morris Knolls alive with 2:50 to go and now trailing just 27-21, and after Bridgewater-Raritan sophomore Jack Winne recovered the onside kick, the Panthers had a chance to close the game out.
Morris Knolls did what it needed to do by forcing a three-and-out and getting the ball back at its own 18-yard line with 2:13 to go and a 27-21 deficit, but the Golden Eagles had no timeouts left. A holding call wiped away a big run by the visitors before Jones’ tackle-breaking 15-yard run moved the chain with 1:06 left. After another 14-yard, first-down run by Shivas set Morris Knolls up at its own 41-yard line, Bridgewater-Raritan’s secondary forced two incomplete passes to bring up 3rd and 10.
Woodring made a clutch stop for no gain, and on 4th and 10, Morris Knolls’ final pass fell incomplete to keep Bridgewater-Raritan perfect to begin the fall season.
“We knew what some of their passing concepts were and practiced them, but it’s really all about eye discipline,” Catalano explained about the game’s final drive. “At that point, when we knew they were going to have to put it in the air, we just couldn’t give up a big, explosive play. We actually went to our base defense, and that’s the cool thing when you have a system. Even though we didn’t practice with that, they just followed their rules. We wanted to keep them in bounds and let the clock run.”
“Even though we didn’t get the [first-down] conversion on offense, we knew that if we punted them back, the clock was on our side.”
What a way for Bridgewater-Raritan to head into its Big Central Conference American Silver Division opener.
To round off its four-game homestand to begin the fall, Bridgewater-Raritan will launch its division slate next against Hunterdon Central Regional High School (2-1, 0-1), which will be heading into Somerset County following a 55-14 home defeat against New Jersey’s No. 16 ranked squad in Phillipsburg (2-0, 1-0). The road team has won the last two matchups between the Panthers and Red Devils, including a 28-20 win for Bridgewater-Raritan in last season’s meeting in Flemington.
Kickoff against the Red Devils will be at 6 p.m. Friday, September 19, at John Basilone Memorial Field in Bridgewater in front of what will be another massive home crowd on the Panthers’ newly-renovated turf.
“I’m just happy we got this win,” concluded Woodring. “It’s awesome being here with our fans, and we have great fans. We have a mentality that if a team comes into our place, we want to win and send them home with a loss. We take no team lightly, especially with the schedule that we play.”
“We’re going to flush this game in the morning, watch film, and be ready for Hunterdon Central.”