Immaculata football falls to Summit
SUMMIT - The Summit High School football team seized early control of the Mid-State 38 Conference Raritan Division with Saturday's 30-6 triumph over co-favorite Immaculata, but it wasn't all doom and gloom for the Spartans.
Immaculata, No. 3 in the Courier News Top 10, outgained the Hilltoppers on offense and may have found a solution to its quarterback dilemma with a breakout effort from sophomore Nathan Barnett.
Immaculata amassed 287 yards of total offense, 178 in the air and 109 on the ground, while holding Summit to 234 yards, 58 in the air and 176 on a game-controlling 47 carries. A majority of Summit's yardage came on two second-half scoring plays, an 80-yard run and 55-yard reception by Matt Murdock, who scored all three Hilltoppers touchdowns.
Barnett entered the game in the second quarter and wracked up an impressive 256 yards of total offense over the game's final 27 minutes, completing 12 of 21 passes for 173 yards. Barnett found a capable accomplice in senior Sean Gaffney, who hauled in nine of those passes for a whopping 151 yards. Barnett did have two interceptions, one of which caromed off his receiver, and two fumbles on shotgun snaps.
"Offensively, at times, we were pretty good, we moved the ball," Falato said. "We got there at the end and we were trying to make some things happen and squirted a couple."
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The game was a defensive struggle in the first quarter, which featured more punts (six, four by Summit) than first downs (two, one apiece). Four of Summit's scoring drives came on possessions that started inside the Immaculata 40.
"I thought our defense really started well and actually played pretty well the whole time," Falato said.
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Summit created its first break by blocking a punt early in the second quarter and assumed possession at the Immaculata 5. Murdock dove across the goal line from three yards, and Jack Johnson drilled his first of three field goals, from 42 yards, for a 10-0 lead at halftime.
Falato planned to alternate quarterbacks as his did in Immaculata's season-opening 35-7 victory over Plainfield and inserted Barnett to replace senior Brock Manning in the second quarter.
"Last week we split the time, this week, we got into what we got into," Falato said. "We just tried to play the hot hand, and he was pretty hot for a while."
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Barnett narrowed the gap and appeared to swing the momentum when he burst up the middle for a 49-yard keeper to reduce the deficit to 10-6 with 9:22 left in the third quarter.
That momentum shift lasted all of 21 seconds as Summit answered with an 80-yard touchdown jaunt by Murdock on the game's next play from scrimmage.
The Spartans would not score again and killed whatever chances it had for a comeback by turning the ball over on each of its last four possessions, finishing with five turnovers, not including the blocked punt.
"We've got a lot of work to do," Falato said as headed to the team's bus.
IMMACULATA (1-1) 0-0-6-0-6
SUMMIT (2-0) 0-10-10-10-30
SCORING SUMMARY
S-Murdock 2 run (Johnson kick)
S-Johnson FG 42
I-Barnett 49 run (kick failed)
S-Murdock 80 run (Johnson kick)
S-Johnson FG 35
S-Johnson FG 25
S-Murdock 55 pass from Tyler (Johnson kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - I: Barnett 9-83, Manning 4-16, Black 4-12, Sivetz 1-1, Thornburg 6-minus 3; S: Murdock 11-103, Tyler 24-45, Zanelli 12-28.
Passing - I: Barnett 12-21-2-173, Manning 2-2-0-5; S: Tyler 2-2-0-58.
Receiving - I: Gaffney 9-151, Dwyer 1-13, Cundiff 2-5, Black 1-5, Sivetz 1-4; S: Murdock 2-58.