FOOTBALL: Governor Livingston rediscovers its momentum, tops Delaware Valley

BERKELEY HEIGHTS – The Governor Livingston High School football team has had a brutal stretch of games. After a 2-1 start, the Highlanders came out of their bye week and ran smack into a trio of top-level clubs, almost beating then-undefeated Summit, before being routed by Somerville and Cranford.

So when Governor Livingston entered Saturday’s meeting with Delaware Valley, the Highlanders’ backs truly were up against it, as their chance at a playoff berth was slipping away, and GL not only needed to beat a very hot Delaware Valley team Saturday, but also would need a victory over A.L. Johnson in Week 9, even to have a chance.

Yet despite Governor Livingston’s long odds, made even longer by a seven-point halftime deficit that saw the Highlanders shutout for the first two quarters Saturday, this team had no intention of letting its season slip away that easily.

Governor Livingston snapped to it in the second half, getting a clutch performance by a defense that held Del Val to just 46 second-half yards and using its single-wing rushing attack to near-perfection, tying the game on a three-yard scoring run by quarterback Pat DeAngelis on their first possession of the second half. The Highlanders then got a game-winning 24-yard field goal from Doug Anderson with 4:46 left in the game and posted a 10-7 victory.

“This game was the most important game of our season,” said DeAngelis, whose team improved to 3-4. “This was our championship game and we got all our momentum back today, so it was huge. We’ve faced a lot of adversity this season and we’ve had our ups and downs, but It think our momentum is back after this game.”

“We needed this win in a big way coming off three tough games against three pretty good teams,” Governor Livingston coach Dan Guyton said. “I couldn’t be more proud of my team and the discipline they showed, especially up front. I thought our offensive and defensive lines played as disciplined as, maybe, we’ve ever played. I thought Delaware Valley played really, really tough, especially in the first half, and it’s just one of those hard-fought games where it could have gone either way.”

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Governor Livingston’s offense has made life difficult for plenty of defensive coordinators, as the Highlanders are one of only a handful of team that still run a single-wing attack, using a variety of runners in different formations to keep defenders on their toes, rarely going to the pass, something they did just six times Saturday.

Delaware Valley, however, had, perhaps, an advantage most of GL’s opponents don’t, an intimate familiarity with the single-wing, a system the Terriers themselves had run for several seasons under former coach Mike Columbo. So when it came time for Del Val’s scout team to simulate the Highlanders’ offense in practice this week, it gave the defense an authentic look at what was to come.

And that familiarity showed in the first half, as Del Val held GL without a point, taking a 7-0 lead on a one-yard touchdown run by Nick Perno three plays in to the second-quarter, cashing in a blocked punt that had given the Terriers the ball on the Highlanders 25-yard line.

But Governor Livingston’s defense played an excellent game otherwise, holding Del Val to just 81 total yards, including just 38 on the ground, with 23 of those yards coming on one first-half play on a scramble by quarterback Jared Pershyn on a 4th-and-12.

That gave the offense time to regroup in time for the second half, and it showed, as Governor Livingston executed long drives on each of its second-half possessions, led by Will Nicholson, who gained 157 yards on 25 carries, with help from DeAngelis and Turner Haddad, as well as a couple of key play-action pass completions on 3rd and 4th downs to sustain drives.

“There wasn’t much game-planning stuff that changed (at halftime), it was all mental,” said DeAngelis, whose team’s victory put a serious crimp in Del Val’s CJ2 playoff plans, although a Terriers berth is still possible, if not likely, thanks to Spotswood’s loss Friday night. “We just came out and knew we had to win this game.”

“It’s just us staying disciplined and staying true to who we are,” Guyton said. “I thought we did a really nice job of play-action when we needed to, and being very efficient, and I don’t know that we had done that earlier and that really helped us seal the deal in the second half. We knew Del Val would know exactly what we’re trying to do and it wasn’t going to be one team out-tricking the other team. It was just going to be the players playing and making plays, and it was a fun game to coach.”

The game’s deciding drive was the perfect example of GL’s game, a 16-play charge that began on its own 17-yard line, capped by a 24-yard boot from Anderson, whose extra point earlier in the half had tied the game.

“When I set up for a pressure kick like that, I just try and clear my mind and not think about anything,” Anderson said. “I think I kick better that way. I kind of tell myself before any game that it can come down to a game-winning field goal and I have to be ready. I’ve got to do it for my team, it’s up to me, so I’m always ready for it.”

Simeon Pincus can be reached atSPincus@GannettNJ.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SimeonPincusCN