For an entire year, Brandon Wimbush thought about what might have been. For a full 365 days, the brilliant St. Peter’s Prep senior quarterback had to wonder what if he didn’t suffer a concussion in the Marauders’ 13-7 loss to Paramus Catholic in the NJSIAA Non-Public Group 4 finals could Wimbush have made a difference in that game.
So Wimbush made it his personal mission to get another crack at winning the state title that slipped away a year ago.
Back in August, when the Marauders began practices in earnest for the coming season, Wimbush, headed to Notre Dame next fall, almost promised that the Marauders would make it back to MetLife Stadium to avenge that loss.
“We all knew we could make it back,” Wimbush said. “We’ve all been talking about it right after we lost.”
So when the Marauders took the field last Friday night to face Paramus Catholic once again for the state championship, Wimbush was determined to make sure that the Marauders would get that elusive state crown, the one that had been in everyone’s sights since the last state crown in 2005.
Wimbush put the Marauders on his back and carried them to a 34-18 victory, giving them the Non-Public Group 4 championship and the mythical state title as the No. 1-ranked team in New Jersey.
Wimbush merely passed for 167 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another 151 yards and score, putting on one of the best individual performances in state playoff history.
His 73-yard touchdown run was something out of a highlight film, breaking four tackles, then racing away from the defenders after making two different spin moves to prance into the end zone, giving the Marauders a 28-12 lead in the fourth quarter.
“This is something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life,” Wimbush said. “It’s great to have the ability to do this. I’m truly blessed to have this chance.”
It was the crowning moment of what was the best season a quarterback ever produced in Hudson County history.
“He’s awesome,” St. Peter’s Prep head coach Rich Hansen said. “Nothing he does surprises me. The kid is just special.”
After Paramus Catholic scored first in the first quarter, Wimbush hit Corey Caddle with a 14-yard screen pass for a touchdown. When Ryan Hernandez added the extra point kick, the Marauders had the lead for good at 7-6 – although the Marauders’ next score was the one that put it over the top.
The Marauders’ defense stiffened on the Paladins’ next possession, forcing a punt and catapulting junior Kolton Huber into the spotlight.
Huber said that he had been practicing a blocked punt all week and thought he had a chance to get one during the game. But he could have never imagined what would transpire.
Huber not only blocked the punt, but he literally took the ball right off the punter’s foot and raced 43 yards into the end zone, giving the Marauders a 14-6 lead.
“All week we ran the same block scheme and I told the coaches that if we ran that scheme, I’m going to block one,” Huber said. “I thought I blocked it at first, but it just sort of rolled up into my hands. I secured it and I was gone. I definitely knew it was a momentum changer and knew it would give us a boost.”
“Kolton is such a great athlete,” Hansen said. “I knew he had a chance to get it. It was a huge play, the turning point of the game.”
Incredibly, when the Marauders last won a state title in 2005, it was defensive back Andrew Booth who made the game-changing play, an interception of a Matt Simms pass that he returned for a touchdown in the Marauders’ 22-15 win over Don Bosco Prep.
Now, Huber, whose older brother Shane was the 2012 Hudson Reporter Defensive Player of the Year, made the play that helped the Marauders win the fourth state title in school history.
“It’s such a great feeling,” Huber said. “This is such a storied program. I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
Huber’s play will go down in Prep folklore, much like Wimbush’s incredible performance, avenging last year’s tough times.
“The performance was due to my teammates,” Wimbush said. “When a play breaks down, I know I have the legs to get yardage. It makes me who I am. This was my last high school game. I am so fortunate to be able to be considered with some of the greats who have come through this program. To be one of the greats means so much.”
Wimbush isn’t one of the greats. He’s the greatest high school quarterback to ever grace these parts. He merely threw for 3,200 yards and 37 touchdowns and added nearly 800 yards on the ground with nine scores. Those numbers aren’t a misprint. They’re real. It just shows how brilliant he really is.
“All the seniors like Brandon, Corey, Minkah [Fitzpatrick], Jordan [Fox], they’ve been with me for four years,” Hansen said. “These are the strengths of this team. We knew we had something special with these kids. It’s bittersweet, because I’ll never get the chance to coach them again. They’ve been through so much, so this means so much. It’s special just to be around them.”
Hansen lifted a huge burden off his shoulders. There had been many other chances to be the state’s best since 2005, but all of those opportunities fell by the wayside. Some people might have thought he would never get another chance.
But here it was, another state title, one to go with the ones captured in 1989, in 1994 and in 2005. It means that Hansen has won a state championship in four different decades.
“It also means I’m getting old,” said the 54-year-old Hansen. “We’ve been so close so many times in the past. The bottom line is that we’re the No. 1 team in the state of New Jersey. I’m just so happy for this team, for the school, for the program. These things are so hard to get in the mine field that we call the Non-Public Group 4, the toughest section in the country. We worked hard to get this one.
Added Hansen, “We beat the two-time defending state champions to get this one. It’s special. But it is what it is. We have to go back to work and try to get another one. But this one gets put on a pedestal.”
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com. You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.