Union avenges regular-season loss, stuns Ridge in double OT football playoff win
The sixth-seeded Union High School football team avenged a regular-season loss to third-seeded Ridge, stunning the Red Devils in a thrilling 41-34 double overtime victory in the opening round of the North 2 Group V playoffs on Friday night.
Ridge posted a 34-21 victory in the regular-season meeting between the schools on Oct. 21, a defeat that set Union on a three-game losing streak, which it took into the playoffs.
The Red Devils (8-2) entered the postseason on a seven-game winning streak, during which they averaged 38.9 points.
Union will face the winner of Saturday's opening-round game between No. 7 Bayonne and No. 2 Westfield, the defending sectional champion which owns the state's current longest winning streak at 21 games. Westfield defeated Union 28-13 on Oct. 8.
Justin Beckett's touchdown pass to Nasir Wooten in the second overtime produced the final margin and broke the game's fifth and final tie.
Ridge took a 34-28 lead on Aidan Murphy's scoring strike to Dan Skea. The extra point was blocked. Al-Tariq Jones answered with his fourth touchdown run of the night, knotting the contest at 34-34. Union's ensuing PAT attempt sailed wide right and the score remained deadlocked.
The Red Devils forced overtime when Devin Stieglitz scored on a 42-yard run with 5:10 left in regulation. Jones' third touchdown of the night just three minutes earlier gave Union a 28-21 lead.
Trailing 21-14 at the half, Ridge took the opening kickoff and marched 97 yards during a drive that consumed nearly 10 minutes. Fullback Reed Handabaka capped the epic march with a short scoring plunge.
A Union interception set up the Farmers first score, a 42-yard Jones touchdown jaunt that gave his team a 7-0 lead. Murphy scrambled for an 18-yard TD run to forge a 7-7 tie midway through the first quarter.
Union retook the lead 14-7 on Jones' second score, a 78-yard run. Ridge forged a 14-14 tie as Murphy connected with Stieglitz on 43-yard scoring strike that set Skea up for a 7-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.
On their next possession, the Red Devils put together a lengthy drive to the Union 9, which led to a 26-yard field goal attempt that never got off the ground because of a botched snap as the score remained 14-14 early in the second quarter. Justin Beckett answered with a 34-yard touchdown run that gave Union a 21-14 lead.
Adens Georges recorded his second interception of the game - this one at the Union 3 yard line - late in the second quarter to preserve for Union a 21-14 halftime advantage. Murphy entered the contest having only been intercepted five times in 157 attempts.