Football: Watchung Hills topples Ridge to win fourth straight

BERNARDS – The Watchung Hills High School football team is proving an 0-5 start doesn’t necessarily mean something very memorable can’t happen.

The playoff-bound Warriors won their fourth-straight game Friday night by scoring 21 unanswered second-half points to topple Ridge 31-21 on senior night. Both teams, which knew they had North 2 Group V playoff berths before the game, are 4-5.

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“Our boys believe in themselves and they play hard, it’s fun to see them play hard, it’s fun to see them happy and fun to see the crowd really into it,” said coach Rich Seubert, whose team lost 42-22 to Ridge last season.

Watchung Hills’ streak, the longest since 2012, began by outlasting winless Plainfield in overtime at Hub Stine Field. The Warriors built on it by upsetting Linden before pulling out another overtime win last week against Hunterdon Central.

“Confidence, right?” Seubert said about the turnaround. “A lot of people said this game didn’t mean anything for the playoffs, but we told these boys when we started the week that it did matter. This is Watchung vs. Ridge and its better to be on a roll going into the playoffs.”

Ridge looked poised to take control of the game when Nolan Haddad scored from 10 yards out on the Red Devils’ first drive of the second half. Nolan Hughes’ extra point gave Ridge a 21-10 lead. That drive came after a Watchung Hills three-and-out.

But three plays into its next drive, Watchung Hills freshman quarterback Chad Martini hit senior tight end Mike Asante for a 63-yard touchdown with Brian Puccio’s extra point, cutting the Ridge lead to 21-17. Senior Jeff Poggi then picked off a pass on Ridge’s second play after the score. A 41-yard completion from Martini to Lavern Ronoh sustained the momentum and it set up Caleb Parker’s 1-yard score.  Puccio’s extra point gave the Warriors a 24-21 with 4:49 left in the third quarter.

“We caught the football, we played catch and Martini was putting balls out there and we were catching them, that’s how you score points,” Seubert said.

The passing game was a major part of the comeback, but so was the rushing of Parker.

Seubert suggested Parker runs better when he’s mad and that he’ll try to get Parker in that kind of mood earlier in games. Parker said Seubert has told him to "put on the work boots," meaning, "you don’t have time to dance, you have to hit the hole, give it all you have and run with all the force you have, and that’s what I did tonight.”

Parker came through with a big second half. He carried for 35 of the Warriors' 7-play, 42-yard drive in the fourth quarter that ended with Martini’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Poggi with 6:14 left in regulation for a 31-21 lead.

“The mood for us was really to stay focused on the task at hand to make sure that we as a team performed," Parker said. "We handled all our assignments, eventually one thing led to another."

WATCHUNG HILLS (4-5) 3-7-14-7-31

RIDGE (4-5) 0-14-7-0-21

WH: FG Puccio 40

R: Stieglitz 5 run (Hughes kick)

WH: Badger 39 run (Puccio kick)

R: Lusardi 20 pass from Hudkins (Hughes kick)

R: Haddad 10 run (Hughes kick)

WH: Asante 63 pass from Martini (Puccio kick)

WH: Parker 1 run (Puccio kick)

WH: Poggi 12 pass from Martini (Puccio kick)