Fee performance honors former Spotswood star Szatkowski

• The mood inside the Spotswood locker room%2C which is usually loose%2C was understandably reserved.
• Wearing Szatkowski%27s No. 7 game jersey%2C Chase Fee rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
• The Chargers wore lime green %28Szatkowski%27s favorite color%29 helmet stickers with a black No. 7.
• Dunellen%27s entire team attended Szatkowski%27s wake. Players wore their red-and-white game jerseys.

The mood inside the Spotswood High School football team's locker room, which is usually loose during pregame, was understandably reserved.

The Chargers were a couple hours away from Saturday's season-opener against Dunellen when head coach Andy Cammarano walked in on his players, who were about to take the field for the first time since former teammate Jeff Szatkowski and his girlfriend Nicole Surace were tragically killed in a car accident.

A moment of silence for the teenage sweethearts, who are buried alongside one another, was scheduled to take place just before the opening kickoff, but Cammarano's players got an unintentional jump start on the show of respect.

"They were just really serious," Cammarano said of his team. "I know Jeff was on everybody's mind."

Senior running back Chase Fee, a Home News Tribune preseason All-Area selection, was apprehensive about stepping onto the gridiron without Szatkowski by his side for the first time since he was 5 years old.

The best friends began their football careers together as Pop Warner players.

"I was thinking about him, hoping he would be able to help me out in the game," Fee said. "I thought he absolutely did."

Wearing Szatkowski's No. 7 game jersey, Fee rushed 22 times for 166 yards and three touchdowns, leading Spotswood to an emotional 28-14 victory.

Fee, who also had two catches for 36 yards, enabling him to finish with 202 yards from scrimmage, is the Home News Tribune's Football Player of the Week.

"The main goal was to win the game," Fee said, "but wearing that No. 7, I was hoping to make him proud with him looking down on us, and I hope I did that."

Szatkowski was a senior and Surace, a former Spotswood cheerleading captain, was a Monmouth University freshman at the time of the crash, which occurred last Dec. 1, just two weeks after the conclusion of the 2013 campaign.

Dunellen's entire team attended Szatkowski's wake. Players wore their red-and-white game jerseys, leaving an indelible impression on the Spotswood football family.

"It meant a lot to our school, to Jeff's friends and to his family," Fee said of the Destroyers' show of solidarity. "A lot of them reached out to numerous kids on the team after the tragedy. They were there the whole way though this winter checking up on the team, making sure we were OK. We have lots of respect."

Dunellen coach Dave DeNapoli hadn't seen Szatkowski's mother, Kim, since the wake but got a chance to talk to her before Saturday's game. Unable to find the right words to express his emotions, DeNapoli simply wrapped his arms around her.

"I got a chance just to give her a hug," DeNapoli said. "I remember at the wake her and her husband. I don't know how to explain it. I'll start crying now. That kind of stuff gets me, parents losing their children. They were up front, greeting people, smiles on their faces, thanking people. They made you feel better. It's always tough to go to those things. I remember how strong they were and the courage they had. We left talking about how good we felt after talking to her, so my heart goes out."

The Chargers wore lime green helmet stickers, representative of Szatkowski's favorite color, with a black No. 7 in the center. Szatkowski's younger brother Ryan, who plays on the kickoff team, sported Fee's No. 20 jersey.

Cammarano pulled Fee aside in the locker room before the game and said he told him: "Play the game. Enjoy yourself. You know he's watching over you."

"I didn't want the emotions to make him lose control," Cammarano continued. "Chase is a great kid. He's really mature. He doesn't have any problems dealing with pressure and he doesn't mind people going after him because he's small (5-foot-6, 150 pounds). He knows because he's skilled on the football field, he's going to be a target, and he doesn't mind."

After Dunellen had taken a three-point lead with 2:08 left in last year's meeting, Fee returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, leading Spotswood to a dramatic 29-19 victory.

The Chargers put their Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division rivals away early this time around with Fee scoring on runs of 40, 3 and 1 yards to help his team build a 28-6 lead in the third quarter.

Not unlike Szatkowski's wake, a large crowd attended Saturday's home opener, during which the Chargers got a chance to play the way Jeff would have wanted.

"It's amazing how the whole community has been so positive in the wake of something so bad," Cammarano said. "My mantra for the kids in preseason has been, 'You are never alone on the football field because you are a family, you are together and you are a circle that can't be broken.'

"There was something cathartic about going out to play hard, being able to give it your all. I wish football was more poetic, but I guess going out there and playing together was the best way to leverage us and play for him."

David Johnson returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for an apparent Dunellen touchdown, but a holding penalty negated the score. Cammarano sensed there may have been some divine intervention on the tide-turning flag.

"After the game I said some things to the team," Cammarano said. "I don't believe in fate, but don't tell me things that happened today were coincidental. You worked hard and you executed but you had a lot of help. Don't think for a moment that people weren't watching over you today and not rooting for you."

As is Spotswood tradition at home games, the players convened at the conclusion of the contest near the south end zone, with each taking a turn to ring the victory bell and to touch the newly displayed No. 7 sign that rests in the backdrop.

"After the game I said a little prayer next to it and sort of patted it and rang the bell," Cammarano said. "It's like he was there."

Staff Writer Greg Tufaro: 732-565-7289; gtufaro@mycentraljersey.com