McDonald sparks North Hunterdon rally past Immaculata

SOMERVILLE – It wasn’t until quarterback Ryan McDonald took a knee to run off the final two seconds when the North Hunterdon football team could finally relax.

North Hunterdon found itself behind for the first 47 minutes of the game, but came back thanks to the elusive McDonald, a tough defense and workhorse Jordan Ditzel, who scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 20-yard run with 58 seconds left to give the Lions a 35-31 victory over Immaculata last night at Brooks Field in Somerville.

Diztel finished with 112 yards on 18 carries, with 94 of his yards coming in the second half.

“We wanted to throw more early and spread them out,” Ditzel said. “But in the second half, we saw that our tempo was getting on them because we were more conditioned and saw we could capitalize on that. When you get more and more carries, you’re able to see where the spots are.”

North Hunterdon cut the deficit to 31-29 with 5:32 left in the fourth quarter when McDonald rolled right and heaved a 17-yard TD pass to Joe Montemurro, but when the two-point try failed, it was up to the defense to get the ball back.

The Lions quickly forced a three-and-out, but Michael Colantuono recovered a fumble on a muffed punt for Immaculata to give the Spartans the ball back with 2:56 to play. However, the North Hunterdon defense stood tall, giving McDonald and the offense the ball back with 2:26 remaining.

North Hunterdon proceeded to go on a nine-play, 73-yard drive, keyed by a 14-yard scramble on a third-and-12 from the NH 48 that was capped off by Ditzel’s 20-yard scoring run.

The final defensive stop came when Joey Modzelewski picked up his second sack on a fourth-and-11 from the Immaculata 47. Ben Sosidka had an interception and a fumble recovery.

“We didn’t do anything fancy, we just played our base defense,” Modzelewski said. “We knew we could stop them. This year at North we are trying to change everything. Change our attitude and our legacy. Our attitude is blue-collar and we just go as hard as we can.”

Immaculata was led on offense by Ibn Bailey, who caught 10 passes for 207 yards and two TDs, Yajaha Banks, who had 170 yards rushing on 15 carries and two scores and John Phelan, who finished 19-for-29 passing for 272 yards with two TD passes and an interception. Banks gave Immaculata a 31-23 lead with 7:00 left in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard TD run.

The Immaculata defense had six sacks.

NORTH HUNTERDON (2-1)…7 3 13 12 — 35

IMMACULATA (0-3)…14 3 7 7 — 31

SCORING SUMMARY

I-Phelan to Bailey 56 pass (Rasimowicz kick)

I-Banks 88 run (Rasimowicz kick)

N-McDonald 43 run (Beadle kick)

N-Beadle 23 field goal

I-Rasimowicz 25 field goal

N-Gallo 82 kick return (Beadle kick)

I-Phelan to Bailey 70 pass (Rasimowicz kick)

N-Ditzel 3 run (pass failed)

I-Banks 3 run (Rasimowicz kick)

N-McDonald to Montemurro 17 pass (pass failed)

N-Ditzel 20 run (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – I: Banks 15-170, Szymanski 3-13, Yorey 1-9, Walker 1-4, Bailey 1-(-2), Phelan 17-(-11); N: Ditzel 18-112, McDonald 18-59, Marron 1-(-2).

Passing – I: Phelan 19-29-1-272; N: McDonald 11-22-0-182.

Receiving – I: Bailey 10-207, O’Neil 3-20, Banks 2-17, Costantino 3-18, Walker 1-10, Szymanski 1-0; N: Marron 3-51, Gallo 2-41, Schaedel 2-38, Fogel 3-35, Montemurro 1-17.