White helps Spotswood football win GMC Blue Division

Upon being converted from end to outside linebacker, which is more like a strong safety in the Spotswood High School football team’s scheme, Mason White was asked to fence the edge and play the pass.

Known more as an outstanding tackler who never fatigues than for having sure hands, White sure looked like he had been playing in the secondary his entire life on the decisive play of Spotswood’s thrilling 10-6 victory over Metuchen on Saturday.

White tiptoed along the sideline to intercept a pass at the Metuchen 30 with a minute remaining as the Chargers (6-3, 5-0) claimed their third Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division championship and first such title since 2000 in dramatic fashion.

“I saw the ball in the air and then I saw the Metuchen sideline,” said White, who stepped in front of wideout Danny Briggs to intercept Jake Lebovits after the quarterback sprinted to his right while trying to find an open receiver against a nickel package on second-and-10.

“I figured that it was pretty close and it was going to be a tough play. I just tried to keep my body weight as far back as possible and stay in bounds and I was lucky to do that.”

Both teams have unofficially qualified for the NJSIAA playoffs. As the No. 4 seed in Central Group II, Spotswood has earned a first-round home game against No. 5 seed Delaware Valley. As the No. 6 seed in Central Group I, Metuchen will open at No. 3 seed South Hunterdon.

With the exception of Lebovits’ 53-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Valovcin that produced the final margin with 3:27 remaining, Spotswood was stellar on defense, recording three interceptions and limiting the Bulldogs to 39 rushing yards.

“The defense did a terrific job,” White said. “Metuchen has an awesome offense. They’ve put up a lot of points throughout the season. We were just able to come together as a family and a unit and shut them down when the time was needed.”

Jake Bacchetti intercepted a pass just in front of the end zone on first-and-goal from the 9 with 38 seconds left in the second quarter to preserve Spotswood’s 10-0 halftime lead.

Teammate Chase Fee intercepted another fourth-down pass, this was on the Spotswood 6 with 5:40 left in the game.

Fee’s pick came right after Metuchen had a first-down completion inside the red zone nullified by an ineligible man down field penalty, the same infraction that negated Valovcin’s 62-yard touchdown reception early in the second quarter.

Spotswood took a 7-0 lead with 27 seconds left in the first quarter when quarterback Ryan Smolin completed a 27-yard waggle pass to Ryan Long. The touchdown capped a nine-play, 70-yard drive on which Long carried four times for 25 yards.

The Chargers built a 10-0 lead on their ensuing series, driving from midfield to set up Conner McCloskey’s 25-yard field goal with 7:01 left in the second quarter. McCloskey’s 35-yard field goal in overtime the previous weekend lifted Spotswood to a 17-14 win over Middlesex and kept alive the team’s division title hopes.

Fee, who rushed a career-high 37 times for 191 yards against Middlesex, was the workhorse back again, but Metuchen limited him to 83 yards on 25 attempts.

Fee has worn No. 7 all season in honor of former teammate and best friend Jeff Szatkowski, who was tragically killed along with sweetheart Nicole Surace, a former Spotswood cheerleading captain, in a car accident last Nov. 30.

The postgame celebration of Spotswood players included a gathering for a team photo in front of the north end zone, where they posed with a Blue Division championship banner the cheerleaders made.

Using one hand, each player pointed an index finger to the ground while extending their thumb perpendicularly in the air to form a No. 7 in honor of Szatkowski, whose younger brother Ryan is a sophomore on the team.

“Jeff would have loved a game like this because he was a scrappy kid and played hard defense and I think he kind of imbued this defense with that kind of ‘we are not going to let up’ personality,” Spotswood coach Andy Cammarano said, his eyes welling with tears.

White said Cammarano frequently pointed to his chest in the fourth quarter, reminding his players the division title game, which Spotswood lost a year ago to South River “was all about heart.”

“We had that in the back of our heads,” Fee said. “We didn’t want to lose it two years in a row. Everybody on the field last year wanted to make sure of that.”

Had Metuchen defeated Spotswood, the Bulldogs could have claimed the division title outright with a victory over winless Highland Park on Thanksgiving eve and a Dunellen loss to Middlesex on Thanksgiving Day.

The best the Chargers could have then hoped for was a share of the division title with Metuchen and Dunellen.

“We knew what we had to do,” White said. “It was just a matter of being focused and having the energy to keep going, even when times were getting tough and the game was on the line.”

Cammarano said the passing of Szatkowski at the end of last season and in February of Gerard Reichardt Jr., the father of former 2014 Snapple Bowl participant Gerard III and current Spotswood lineman Raymond who was a staunch supporter of the program, was on his mind.

“I don’t talk to them about angels and stuff,” Cammarano said, “but I know that there’s people looking after us, and when you believe and you stick together, whether it’s through tragedy or something as silly as football, it will see you through.”