Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s football team rallied, but its uprising fell short when it was defeated by St. Joseph Regional High School, 43-36, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, September 5, in Metuchen.
Bridgewater-Raritan (1-1), the defending North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional playoff champion that ended 9- 4 a year ago, was trailing by two touchdowns in the third quarter, but behind the powerful running of hard-charging back Jahmier Black, the Panthers grabbed a 29-28 lead with under 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
But St. Joseph answered back and scored to take the lead for good, 35-29, with 8:05 remaining in the fourth period. Both teams scored again, including a fourth touchdown produced by Black, which cut the St. Joseph lead to 43-36 late in the game.
Bridgewater-Raritan then recovered an onside kick, but St. Joseph’s defense held, and the home team, which is ranked among the top teams in the Big Central Conference, won its season opener one year after it had finished 8-2.
Bridgewater-Raritan Coach DJ Catalano was not pleased with the final score, but he was proud of his troops.
"Losing is never fun, but there are so many great things we can do to learn and get better from this," Coach Catalano said. " The goal is to better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we were today."
The fourth-year head skipper continued.
"The one thing that no one can question is our toughness and grit. We will play hard for four quarters, and we will never stop fighting. We have a group of guys who love each other, and I will turn today into a positive."
Black thrived all afternoon, running through and past the St. Joseph defenders. The senior gained 168 yards on 25 carries to go with his four TDs.
Bridgewater-Raritan, which started its season with a 28-7 victory over Woodbridge High School on August 28, will next play at home on Friday, September 11, against Hillsborough High School in a 4 p.m. game at Basilone Memorial Field.