At halftime of Saturday’s NJSIAA Non-Public Group 4 quarterfinal showdown between Camden Catholic and the state’s No. 2-ranked high school football team, St. Peter’s Prep, the local heroes, the Marauders, were actually trailing, 21-17.
Everyone in attendance at Caven Point Cochrane Stadium was in a state of shock. Could the mighty Marauders actually be headed for a first-round playoff loss, like five other Hudson County teams? It certainly wasn’t what the people in attendance had in mind. Frankly, an upset loss wasn’t even on the radar for the Marauders.
Ever since losing so horrifically to Don Bosco Prep, 41-0, in the state finals at Giants Stadium last December, everyone involved with the Prep football program had been thinking of one thing: Getting back to the Meadowlands. It wasn’t a rally cry. It was a mission.
And after 24 minutes of their first playoff game, the mission was teetering on the edge. The upstarts from the south had come to Jersey City and put a collective fear in the Marauders.
One had to figure that Prep head coach Rich Hansen went into the locker room at halftime and opened up a can of his worst screaming tirades.
“I don’t want to be in that locker room at halftime,” one Prep fan was overheard saying. “He [Hansen] must be ripping into them.”
The Marauders did everything wrong in the first half. They had more penalties than points. At one point in the first quarter, they were flagged for false starts on three consecutive snaps. That’s unheard of on the Pop Warner level. It’s totally unacceptable for the No. 2 team in the state.
They turned the ball over twice, once on an interception inside the 10-yard line.
They played lackluster and lackadaisical defense, allowing a team with not a lot of firepower to run the ball down their throats for two sustained scoring drives.
And to cap it all off, they made a really bad play right before the half, when a little swing pass from backup quarterback Justin Perez, intended for superstar Will Hill out of the backfield, was somehow intercepted and returned 55 yards the other way with just seconds remaining before halftime.
So instead of the Marauders increasing their 17-14 lead at the half, the turnover gave Camden Catholic a 21-17 advantage at intermission.
You would figure that the fire and brimstone would be bellowing from the usually volatile Hansen.
Guess what? Far from it.
“I’d say it was the calmest we’ve been all season at the half,” Hansen said. “I never thought we were in trouble. I was concerned, yes, but not upset. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. I just told the kids that they were building something for 12 months and it would be bad to let it go just like that. I told them that it was alright to get smacked in the face, but that it was up to them how they would respond.”
They responded with the most dominating second half of football perhaps ever recorded on the high school level, keyed by the most dominating player that these parts have ever seen.
The Marauders, keyed by the play of the brilliant Hill, scored 42 unanswered points in the second half. It was complete and utter domination, rolling to a 59-21 victory and setting up a showdown with Bergen Catholic this weekend at Caven Point.
Hill scored four touchdowns after intermission, three on short runs and one on an unbelievable 73-yard punt return that ranks among his best plays in a series of spectacular plays.
On the punt return, Hill fielded the ball and was hit hard almost immediately. It looked as if he was finally going to be stopped.
But the University of Florida-bound Hill bounced off that vicious hit and spun away from two other would-be tacklers. He then high stepped to the outside, shook his way past two more defenders with a simple stutter step and then – BAM! – Hill was gone, down the sidelines for the touchdown of highlight film variety.
Hill has made his share of sensational plays over his amazing four-year career at Grand and Warren. This punt return was right up there with the best.
“I’ve said, ‘Wow’ a few times watching him,” Hansen said. “He still amazes me. He just took over the game. He’s a high school All-American who showed why he’s an All-American. I think he was a little mad at halftime and he’s a much better player when he’s mad. We expect him to take over like that. When he does, the other guys jump on his shoulders. We’re asking him to take us to Giants Stadium once again.”
The other impressive side to the second-half devastation was the play of the Prep defense. The Marauder defenders were all over the place in the second half, swarming like bees at a southern barbecue. After Nyshier Oliver intercepted a pass on Camden Catholic’s first possession of the second half, the Marauders allowed a total of 19 total yards of offense the rest of the way. Greg Kohles had a nice interception return of 53 yards, setting up the touchdown that pushed the Marauders’ lead to 31-21. Andre Graham intercepted a pass that set up the third of Hill’s four scores, making the lead 38-21 just 1:24 later.
Linemen Anthony Blake (clearly the best defensive lineman in Hudson County this season) Rich Zadroga and Darryl Greene, linebackers Dan Hansen (the coach’s kid) and Paul Martino gobbled up tackles and Kenny Smith was everywhere any Camden Catholic player turned.
It was sheer domination.
“From the second quarter on, the defense was awesome,” Hansen said. “They were lights out. They played fast and loose and really controlled the tempo. We capitalized on their mistakes. It was a great defensive performance.”
For good measure, the Marauder coaching staff got a little taste of the future as well. Freshman running back Savon Huggins, who will eventually become the next in the line of talented Prep tailbacks and perhaps will be as coveted of a college recruit as “Binky” Hill, turned on the jets on his two carries of the game, breaking loose on touchdown runs of 44 and 78 yards.
In just two carries, Huggins collected as many yards as the starter Oliver did with 15 attempts. If that’s a peek into the future of Prep football, then it’s looking pretty good.
So after the scare, the Marauders move on. The challenge gets tougher this week. Bergen Catholic, a much better team than a year ago, comes to Jersey City, hell bent on reversing that torturous 63-14 shellacking that was laid upon the Crusaders by the men in maroon and gray last season.
When Hansen was reminded that Bergen Catholic will be coming with their guns a-blazing, driven by revenge, the coach replied, “Well, we’ll have our guns blazing, too.”
The Marauders do have one really big gun that the invaders from Oradell don’t have. He wears No. 3.
During Bergen Catholic’s win over Red Bank Catholic last Saturday, the BC faithful started chanting, “We want Will Hill…we want Will Hill.”
Bergen Catholic should be very wary of what they wished for. Now, they got what they wanted. It’s up to the Marauders to make the Crusaders pay for that request, including the one they wished for the most.