FOOTBALL: Bridgewater-Raritan dominates Piscataway to reach third straight final

PISCATAWAY – The Bridgewater-Raritan High School football team knew that if it played its game Saturday, limited the mistakes, and got a couple of breaks, it had a chance against powerhouse Piscataway in the NJSIAA North 2 Group V semifinals. What the Panthers probably didn’t know is that if they did all those things, they’d not only win, but do so in shockingly dominant fashion.

Bridgewater-Raritan imposed its will on both sides of the ball Saturday, with its defense not only limiting the Chiefs’ potent attack, but absolutely shutting it down. And after a quick early adjustment on offense, the Panthers’ O also had their way with second-seeded Piscataway, as No. 3 Bridgewater-Raritan advanced to its third straight championship game, topping the Chiefs 27-6 at Piscataway High School.

“We just knew we were coming out to a good team and we were being looked at as underdogs,” said senior Chike Nwankwo, who led the big-play defense with a host of tackles – including two for losses – a sack and a blocked punt. “So this week in practice we just put it all together and we knew that when we came out here we might not win, but it was going to be a big fight and they were not going to take it away from us easily.”

“It’s about everybody trusting each other and executing the plan we came up with during the week,” quarterback Greg Verano said. “Trust and execution are the two biggest words that we preach, and we did it.”

READ: Mid-State 37 playoff semifinals roundup and game-story links

READ: Two-time defending champion Westfield tops Elizabeth to return to North 2 Group V final

It took a couple of series for Bridgewater-Raritan to find its rhythm, but once it did, it was all Panthers, as they got it done early and often, and on both sides of the ball. After Piscataway scored on its first possession, getting a long 34-yard pass from Joseph Hatcher to Isaiah Colon, the senior fumbled the ball at the 16-yard line, but teammate Kamille Pryor was there to scoop it up and continue to the end zone for the touchdown, and the Chiefs led 6-0 after the missed extra-point try.

That would pretty much be the last positive enjoyed by the Chief, who had a would-be 74-yard touchdown pass from Hatcher to Nahjir Woods called back on a second-quarter illegal-participation penalty for having too many men on the field that could have tied the game.

Offensively, after having some trouble moving the ball on the game’s first drive, Bridgewater-Raritan made an adjustment and found success, as sophomore back Anthony Goffe galloped for 132 first-half yards, before giving way to Justin Bryant in the second half, and the senior added 73 more against the vaunted Chiefs defense.

The Panthers scored on its final four first-half possessions, getting two short scoring runs by Goffe and a pair of Verano-to-Brandon Myers passing touchdowns, and led 27-6 at halftime, taking the conservative ball-control, field-position route after halftime to sit on the lead, as neither team scored points after the intermission.

“Our initial thing was that we didn’t know if we’d be able to handle them in our double-tight-end set, so we came out in the beginning of the game in more of a spread, and I think that got us out of our element a little bit,” head coach Scott Bray said. “So our adjustment on the sideline was let’s just do what we do. Let’s get back to our regular pro set, and let’s just see where we bring it. And our kids just stepped up.”

Defensively the Panthers were even more impressive. BR allowed just 23 total yards from scrimmage in the opening half – negative 3 on the ground – and threw Piscataway rushers for a loss on five or 10 first-half rushing attempts, adding a sack. For the game, Piscataway managed just to gain positive yards on just 11 of 22 rushing attempts, netting only 49 total rushing yards, a far cry from the 245 running yards per contest the Chiefs had averaged this season.

“We just knew, this whole year, teams have had a hard time running the ball on us, so we made sure we emphasized the fact that they were not going to run the ball on us,” said Nwankwo, whose team held star running back Juwon Jackson to just 24 rushing yards, an amazing stat for a back that has totaled over 1,600 yards in just nine games entering the contest. “Their weak point was passing the ball, so we made sure they weren’t going to get rushing yards on us and we forced them to pass the ball.”

“Our defensive coordinators did a great job putting in the game plan and our kids just executed it,” Bray said. “Our key was, don’t let them get a head of steam going. Make sure we get to the heels of the offensive line, get gap control, and just don’t allow them to (run it), and our kids executed it perfectly. We gave up a big play early, they had a big play called back, but the rest of the game, we kept them in front of us. And that was the game plan. We said, just don’t allow the big play. We really felt that they couldn’t just take the ball and drive it down on us, that they needed a big play in there, and that’s what our secondary did, and our linebackers and D-line did a great job executing up front.”

Bridgewater-Raritan will face top-seeded Westfield in the final in two weeks, though the site, date and time isn’t expected to be announced until Monday morning. It’s the Panthers’ third straight meeting in the championship game with the Blue Devils, a team that beat them 15-13 and 10-7, respectively, in the past two finals. And BR knows they have their work cut out for them against a team that has the state’s longest current winning streak at 35 games after its 13-6 topping of Elizabeth in Saturday’s other North 2 Group V semi.

“You’re going into the game and you know Westfield’s a quality team,” Bray said. “Coach (Jim) DeSarno and staff do a heck of a job preparing those kids, and they’re on a roll, winning 35 in a row. They’re playing with confidence, they believe they can win every game, and even if you’re a little different personnel-wise (from last year), it’s that belief in it all. So going into the game in a couple of weeks you know you’re going to get a very tough game. You know you’ve got two very similar teams, I think, and that’s why the scores have been what they’ve been the past couple of years, and it’s going to come down to who makes the mistake and who doesn’t make the mistake.”

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

BRIDGEWATER-RARITAN (9-2) 7-20-0-0 -- 27
PISCATAWAY (7-3) 6-0-0-0 -- 6
SCORING PLAYS:
P – Pryor 16 offensive fumble recovery (kick failed)
BR – Goffe 2 run (Balliro kick)
BR – Myers 24 pass from Verano (Balliro kick)
BR – Goffe 1 run (Balliro kick)
BR – Myers 17 pass from Verano (kick failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:
RUSHING: BR—Goffe 25-132, Bryant 17-73, Verano 8-30; P—Jackson 14-24, Woods 2-9, Buckmire 1-4, Hernandez 4-15, Hatcher 1-(-3).
PASSING: BR—Verano 6-14-2-0-98; P—Hatcher 3-12-0-2-34.
RECEIVING: BR—Myers 5-89, Rosseland 1-9; P—Colon 2-40, Buckmire 1-3.