When the 2014 high school football schedule was released last spring, veteran Hoboken head coach Lou Taglieri had to be shaking his head, wondering how in the world could that happen. How would the schedule maker be so unkind and designate that slate of games for his Red Wings?
The first two games were against solid Essex County foes, including Shabazz, the team that the Red Wings had to miraculously defeat to win their second straight NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I state championship last December.
If you remember, the Red Wings had to score a touchdown on a run by Josh Mercado with just 12 seconds left, set up by a stunning 55-yard pass from Dante Bass to DeShawn Reed with less than a minute to play, giving the Red Wings the stunning 13-7 win.
Not only did the Red Wings have to face Shabazz again to start the season, but then the Red Wings had to face Cedar Grove, another familiar foe in recent state playoffs.
“Cedar Grove always plays us tough and Shabazz was coming back with a ton of talent,” Taglieri said. “We lost a lot of key players from last year’s team. We lost our quarterback, our top wide receiver, our tight end and most of the right side of the line. Chemistry takes a while to develop.”
But somehow, some way, the Red Wings are 3-0 after their first three games of the new season. Don’t ask Taglieri how. He doesn’t have answers as to why the Red Wings, with that tough schedule, are off to their best start since the beginning of the 2006 season, when the Red Wings, under then-new head coach Taglieri, were reeling off 22 straight wins without a loss.
“I’m definitely surprised we’re 3-0,” Taglieri said. “I thought maybe we would be lucky to be 2-1. But definitely not 3-0.”
The Red Wings seem to be doing it with mirrors, because once again, the team is beset with injuries.
Running back Mercado, the hero of last year’s state championship game, has been out with a calf injury. Fellow running back Michael Williamson, who just can’t seem to stay away from the injury bug, had a concussion. Two-way performer Jarius Mills is battling an ankle problem.
But the Red Wings manage to keep on winning.
“Everyone gets hurt when we play games,” Taglieri said. “I don’t get it. They don’t get hurt in practice.”
In the season opening win against Shabazz, the Red Wings needed a little divine intervention, scoring two touchdowns in the final 35 seconds to somehow get the 19-14 victory.
In that game, little-used sophomore Wilden Germaine made the first two catches of his career. The first was the touchdown with 35 seconds to bring the Red Wings within a point of tying the game and the second came with 10 seconds left to win the game.
“I had old-timers calling me and telling me that they never saw anything like that before,” Taglieri said. “We were losing 7-6 the whole game and they broke a long one to go ahead, 14-6, with 1:41 left in the game. We drive down, score with 35 seconds on the pass from Elijah Mercado to Germaine, go for two and the tie and didn’t get it. We then go for the onsides kick and kicked it to the second row. The ball was just laying there on the ground and our kicker Jacob Fermaint knocks down two blockers. Isaiah James falls on it at the 40-yard line.”
Trailing 14-12, the Red Wings then got the game-winner, when Elijah Mercado (no relation to Josh) threw the ball up for Germaine.
“He just ran a go pattern and beat two cornerbacks and a safety to the ball,” Taglieri said. “It was incredible. I was saying, ‘This just didn’t happen, did it? No way. Last year, I couldn’t believe it and then it happened again.”
Taglieri said that senior center Preston Mars was inspirational in gaining the win.
“He led the charge,” Taglieri said. “He said, ‘We won last year and we’re going to win it again.’ I think the game last year enabled them to gain so much confidence. I think that confidence carried over.”
The second game against Cedar Grove was another close one, but the Red Wings held on to a 12-7 victory.
Only last week did the Red Wings exhale, when they soundly defeated Snyder, 52-14.
So as the season marches into October, the Red Wings are undefeated. No one knows how, but they are.
“What I’m most impressed with is that the kids are there every day at practice,” Taglieri said. “They want to be here. They’re having fun and they can feel there’s something special brewing. Maybe we do have a shot to do this again this year. They have to go to study hall before practice every day and I never hear a complaint. There’s a surreal feeling. I think they’re buying into this.”
New quarterback Mercado has made a difference. The transfer from Union City has stepped in and led the way, making big play after big play.
“He’s gotten better and better,” Taglieri said of the newcomer signal caller. “We ride him pretty hard. He knows what we expect from him. We knew he had talent, but week by week, he keeps getting better.”
The quarterback will get a familiar face back in practice this week, as the Red Wings prepare to face St. Anthony and old coach Ed Stinson.
Noah Mercado, Elijah’s little brother, just received clearance to return to action after suffering a torn ACL last year. The younger Mercado is a wide receiver. There are certainly a lot of Mercados on the Hoboken roster these days.
The Red Wings got big rushing performances from Marquise Roberts and Williamson, both of whom had over 100 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Snyder.
“Williamson just gets cleared, so we decided to put him in for only a few plays and he breaks two long ones for touchdowns, with no one touching him,” Taglieri said. “Roberts is our fullback, our workhorse. He knows he’s going to carry the ball more with Josh Mercado out. We’re also throwing a little bit more than we did in the past, because we have a kid [Elijah Mercado] that can throw it.”
All in all, football life is fun in the Mile Square City, just like it seems to always be.
“Being 3-0 is just an extra added bonus,” Taglieri said. “We didn’t expect this. We thought we could win one [of the Essex County games]. To win both is just gravy. If you talk to the kids, they all think this can happen again. They’re just fun to be around.”
Winning does that to a team. After St. Anthony and Dickinson, Lincoln looms for the Red Wings. Then the real fun begins.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com. You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.