SCOREBOARD

Hudson comes up empty as St. Peter’s, Hoboken and Emerson all fall

The Academy Award winner for the Best Picture of 1945 was a shocking (at the time) film called “The Lost Weekend,” starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman, written and directed by the legendary Billy Wilder. It drew rave reviews for telling a vivid and descriptive tale of alcoholism.

According to the New York Times‘ All-Time Movie Review, “The Lost Weekend is a timeless study of the chains of addiction, excellent in all departments and horrifying at every turn.”

“A lost weekend…horrifying at every turn.” It sounds like the perfect way to describe the local teams’ performances in the NJSIAA football state playoffs last weekend.

Because it’s safe to say that the three games featuring local teams, namely St. Peter’s Prep against Don Bosco Prep in the NJSIAA Parochial Group 4 semifinals, Emerson facing Morristown in the North Jersey Section 1, Group IV semis and Hoboken tangling with Becton in the North Jersey Section 2, Group I bracket, certainly provided horrifying results, some worse than others.

Are there any words to describe what transpired in Ramsey, where St. Peter’s Prep, ranked No. 2 in the state and undefeated at 10-0 at the time, found themselves down 46-0 to juggernaut Don Bosco Prep at halftime, only to fall by the frightening score of 59-16?

If that’s not horrifying, nothing is.

The Marauders seemed totally invincible within the humble confines of Hudson County. They totally steamrolled everyone all year – with running backs totaling 2,700 yards and scoring an incredible 57 touchdowns.

Yet, at halftime Saturday, that same talented and seemingly unstoppable backfield collected all of 12 yards and was totally demoralized. Twelve yards? For the whole half? Is that a misprint?

Watching the game on television, it was hard to figure out what was going through St. Peter’s Prep head coach Rich Hansen’s head. In speaking with Hansen a week ago, he was certain that his team had a chance to knock off the mighty Ironmen, who are ranked No. 2 in the entire country. He believed that history had a chance of repeating itself, like in 1994, when the Marauders shocked another apparent juggernaut, Bergen Catholic, in the state finals that year.

But there is no way possible that Hansen could have ever imagined that the Marauders would get smoked as viciously as they did. Down 46 at the half with 12 yards in the bank has to be beyond demoralizing. What do you say to a team at that point? What do you do as a coach?

That’s why the expression on Hansen’s face during the final five minutes of the first half of Saturday’s game said it all, when the game went from a somewhat manageable 25-0 to an uncontrollable 46-0 in a heartbeat, when the wheels came off the cattle cart faster than Ben Cartwright used to witness on “Bonanza.”

This senseless, helpless feeling was all over Hansen’s face.

“Face it, that team is on another level, another plateau,” Hansen said. “Everyone has run out of superlatives for them. It’s time to just watch, enjoy, given them their credit and wait for June graduation. They are not a normal high school team. This is a once-in-a-lifetime situation. I’m disappointed we didn’t play better and disappointed we didn’t keep it closer. But when someone is that good, take the hats off.”

There is some light at the end of the tunnel, considering that St. Peter’s will be a dominant force once again next season, with the entire backfield of running backs Mike Brown, Rashawn Jackson, Kee-Ayre Griffin and quarterback Ryan Boysen all returning.

In some respects, the Marauders are a lot like DBP was a year ago, a team with a host of talented skilled people returning – except for one glaring difference. Bosco won the state title last year and will leave a legacy as a two-time powerhouse in a few weeks. The Marauders end the year at 10-1 for a second straight year – with the lone loss coming at the hands of powerful Don Bosco Prep (in lopsided fashion, no less).

But the Marauders will be back, no doubt about it. Just the sting of this horrific loss will take some time to get over.

At Hoboken, the pain can’t be as severe as the wounds suffered by the Marauders. The Red Wings suffered a 24-23 loss to undefeated Becton team, a loss that finished the Hoboken season at a totally uncharacteristic 5-6.

Just how different is it? Well, it marks the first time in head coach Ed Stinson’s 27-year coaching career that his team has more losses than victories. How about this? During an eight-year span, from 1994 through 2001, the Red Wings lost all of six games. They lost six games this season.

“What really bothers you is the suddenness of it all,” Stinson said. “You work for 11 months to get to one point and then like that, it’s over. We set our clocks and calendars for coaching in December. We want to be out there coaching and playing and we’re not. It’s not just that we lost, but it’s the circumstances how we lost. We had a lead against Emerson in the last minute and lost. We lose the game on a fumble against North Bergen. We lost the game against Becton, a good undefeated football team, and had our chances. A play here and there. The record could have been better.”

Does the first-ever losing season put more of a desire in an already driven Stinson?

“I cannot have any more fire in my belly,” Stinson said. “When you consider we won’t play again for another nine months, it’s an eternity, a lifetime. But we’re going to become 100 percent consumed and start all over again. We’re going to get in and roll up the sleeves and get at it.”

Stinson realizes that the job of coaching has taken on a new meaning.

“We have to be all things for everyone, in terms of academics, in terms of social life, in terms of economics,” Stinson said. “It’s not like the days when you just rolled out the balls in September. It’s about eligibility, accountability, citizenship. It’s about strength training, conditioning, nutrition. And you have to be the monitor to all of that.”

Stinson also sees light at the end of the tunnel.

“We have no less than eight underclassmen who played big roles with this team,” Stinson said. “That’s the upside. These kids learned how to deal with adversity. I know we’ll come back.”

The coach who suffered a losing season for the very first time wouldn’t have it any other way.

At Emerson, which suffered a 26-0 loss to Morristown, the Bulldogs can take some solace in the fact that they knocked off the top seed in the section (Randolph) a week ago, after somehow managing to wiggle their way into the playoffs in the first place.

But no team wants to end a playoff run on the bad side of a shutout loss. At least the Bulldogs will have their Turkey Day showdown with Union Hill to lessen the pain.

Three games, three losses. Certainly a lost weekend. And this one isn’t about to win any awards along the way.