FOOTBALL: Somerville defies elements, advances past Rahway in Central Group III
SOMERVILLE – The Somerville High School football team didn’t just compile an undefeated regular season, the Pioneers did it by bludgeoning their opponents on a regular basis, putting up eye-popping offensive numbers, mostly through the air, averaging 50 points a game.
Friday, as Somerville played its first playoff game in seven years, looking for its first postseason victory in a dozen seasons, the cold and windy weather certainly appeared to be a threat to the Pioneers’ offensive machine, especially its bread-and-butter passing attack. And though it took a while to get going, once The Ville found its groove, it might as well have been a perfect and calm 80 degrees at Brooks Field.
Senior receiver Nasyr Petties-Jackson showed he can be a threat out of the backfield as well as catching passes, ripping off 99 yards and two rushing touchdowns, adding a third score on a second-half pass, and five different Pioneers rushers gained 50 yards or more, as top-seeded Somerville posted its first playoff victory since 2004, 47-21 over eighth-seeded Rahway in the opening round of the NJSIAA Central Group III Tournament.
“We’re making history right now,” said Petties-Jackson, whose 10-0 club had already beaten the Indians 59-35 in Week 5. “We (the current class) have never been in this position before. This is our first playoff game ever as a team. We came in confident in ourselves and all the work we put into practice and we came out and it showed on the field today.”
“Our coaches we’re just telling us, ‘Seniors, this possibly could be your last game, you just have to go out and play hard,’” said senior quarterback Nick Couzzi, whose squad will play host to fourth-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven in next weekend’s semifinals. “And every day at practice we just went hard, ran our plays, and we got it done.”
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Early in the game, it did look as if the elements might be a factor, as Somerville lost possession on its second play from scrimmage on a bad snap, giving Rahway the ball on the 1-yard line and the Indians
Somerville retorted immediately, getting a 69-yard touchdown return from Duke McDuffie on the ensuing kickoff, but, the Pioneers continued to struggle on offense, especially trying to get its running game going, as they went 4-and-out on their next possession and saw the following drive stall on their own 36.
Rahway took the lead on a 63-yard hook up from quarterback Zahir Wilder to Justin Lacefield, who finished with six catches for 148 yards, before Somerville cut the deficit to 14-13 on a 49-yard Petties-Jackson run off a direct snap on the ensuing possession.
That’s when it became clear the Somerville running game had found its rhythm, and, after attempting only three unsuccessful passes in the first half, Couzzi got the air attack going after halftime, as well, tossing two scoring strikes, one to Petties-Jackson and another to Chris Ciempola.
Somerville led 20-14 at halftime after a 49-yard Marcus Burnside run with 3:34 left in the second quarter, and came out firing in the second half, starting with a 23-yard Petties-Jackson scoring run.
“We had full confidence in our offense, running the ball and throwing the ball,” said Petties-Jackson, whose team held Rahway to just 29 second-half rushing yards and just 105 through the air. “Coach told us forget about the wind, we’re going to throw the ball. We’re an air-raid offense and we’re not going to take ourselves out of our own element. Once we got the momentum, things just started clicking. Then we just started imposing our will.”
Simeon Pincus can be reached atSPincus@GannettNJ.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SimeonPincusCN
