Dunellen football team snaps 19-game losing streak

The Dunellen High School football team, which nearly pulled off victories in each of its last two outings, finally snapped a 19-game losing streak with an impressive 50-20 win over North Warren at Columbia Park on Thursday night.

Junior running back Mike Harmon, who had stellar back-to-back games in consecutive narrow losses to Metuchen (28-22) and South River (27-20) over the past two weeks, rushed 20 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns to pace Dunellen’s sound ground attack.

“It’s great for the kids,” said Dunellen head coach Dave DeNapoli, whose Destroyers (1-8) rushed for a season-high 393 yards on 47 carries. “The kids have been working so hard.”

Sophomore Joe Olsommer carried 16 times for 113 yards, while backfield mate Baraka Yabidi had 118 yards on seven attempts. Yabidi and Olsommer each scored twice.

Yabidi moved from tight end to the backfield as teammate Alain Diaz unselfishly moved from the backfield to offensive tackle, strengthening Dunellen’s line.

Dunellen, which started six freshmen and four sophomores a year ago, has steadily improved. The Destroyers fared well in the Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division but were overmatched – as was the rest of the division – against Shore Conference foes in league crossover games.

“In a bunch of those (division) games, we couldn’t finish them out,” said DeNapoli, whose team scored 20 unanswered fourth-quarter points to build upon its 30-20 third-quarter lead. “We couldn't close out games. It was great to get the monkey off our back.”

Dunellen’s last win was a 42-19 victory over Hoboken in the North 2 Group I semifinals on Nov. 21, 2014. The Destroyers went on to drop their next two games, falling 24-22 to Middlesex on Thanksgiving Day and 14-6 to Shabazz in the sectional final.

DeNapoli said he hopes Dunellen can build some momentum heading into its meeting with Middlesex later this month.

“We are going to have to play a real solid game to have a chance,” he said, noting that the Blue Jays play solid defense and have become multi-dimensional on offense.

OTHER NJSIAA REGIONAL CROSSOVER RESULTS FROM THURSDAY NIGHT

Franklin 26, North Brunswick 25 (2OT)

Linden 48, J.P. Stevens 15

East Brunswick 34, Perth Amboy 0

Metuchen 44, Secaucus 7

Matawan 32, Middlesex 3

Delaware Valley 42, Spotswood 6