Football: North Hunterdon edges Phillipsburg for first championship since 1975

EAST RUTHERFORD – The North Hunterdon High School football team’s dream season had one blemish entering the NJSIAA North 2 Group V championship game, a Week 8 loss to Phillipsburg in which the Lions were uncharacteristically flat, unable to find the kind of rhythm that, to that point, had propelled them to an undefeated season.

Saturday, despite a wild and wacky start that featured two turnovers by each team in the game’s first 1:11, and an offensive performance for most of the first half that was eerily reminiscent to the bad day it suffered at Phillipsburg five weeks ago, North Hunterdon found its on-switch, not only avenging that 13-point loss, but claiming its first state sectional championship in 42 years and defeating the Stateliners for the first time since 1997, a span of 16 meetings.

Senior quarterback Matt Busher complete 18-of-35 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns, shaking off three interceptions, and senior receiver Jared McMahon caught five passes for 120 yards and a touchdown, as North Hunterdon capitalized on a missed extra point in the fourth quarter, forced a key fumble in the final minutes, and claimed its first title since 1975 with a 21-20 victory at MetLife Stadium.

“It’s just passion, hard-hat mentality, North Hunterdon football,” said Busher, whose club finished 11-1, capturing just the second state title in program history. “We fought through so much this year. We’ve been down games and we’ve fought back, lost to Phillipsburg and came back and beat Voorhees. We went on a state playoff run like I’ve never seen before. This is the first time for me and it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

“In the beginning of the season we talked about making a state-championship run, and we were like, ‘C’mon guys that’s a joke, let’s be real. We’ll be a good team, like a three-loss team,’” Jared McMahon said. “Then we start making that run, we hit a bump in the road with P’burg a few weeks ago, and we just kept grinding through it. We made this a reality and it’s unbelievable.”

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Whiplash started the action Saturday, as Phillipsburg fumbled the opening kickoff, with Quadree Smith stripping the returner and Anthony Masters recovering the loose ball, before Sean Morro intercepted Busher’s first pass. The Lions then recovered another fumble on the first play of the ensuing Stateliners drive after a bad handoff, with Connor McMahon grabbing the loose ball, before Morro tallied another pick, intercepting Busher at the 1-yard line after the quarterback escaped several would-be sackers and heaved it across the field toward the end zone.

Three plays into the next Phillipsburg possession, quarterback Jack Staggard hit Morro with a pass near the right sideline and the senior shook of a would-be tackler and went 94 yards for a score.

After the Stateliners stuffed North on five consecutive plays inside the 2-yard line two possessions later, P’burg increased its advantage to 14-0 with 2:43 remaining in the second quarter, as Sterling Walker-Sutton capped a 14-play, 98-yard with a one-yard touchdown dive and Billy Oertel added the kick.

But North Hunterdon wasn’t quite ready to pack it in, as it finally got on the board with a nice-looking drive in the final minutes of the half, going 79 yards on 10 plays, highlighted by a great 31-yard catch by Jared McMahon on a 2nd-and-9 from the P’burg 43. It was capped by a 12-yard TD strike from Busher to Griffin Honthy, followed by a John Spies boot, and the teams went into the intermission with Phillipsburg leading 14-7.

Whatever switch North Hunterdon flipped at the end of the first half stayed on, as the Lions continued to flow on offense, while its defense began to find consistency, as well.

After Busher’s third interception ended the Lions’ first drive of the second half, North forced Phillipsburg to go 3-and-out, before Busher piloted a nine-play, 88-yard drive, featuring another great Jared McMahon catch for a 22-yard gain and a three-yard scoring run by Luke Wain, who finished 94 yards rushing. Spies added the PAT and the game was tied 14-14 with 6:00 left in the third quarter.

Another 3-and-out from the Stateliners followed, setting North Hunterdon up near midfield, and the Lions cashed in again, as Busher hit McMahon with a beautiful 34-yard touchdown strike to go up by a touchdown with 3:30 left in the period.

“When we were getting shutout in the first half we knew we had to dig deep and get through it,” Jared McMahon said. “We knew we could beat these guys with what Coach (Jared) Mazzetta came up with, we just had to get going. And once we got going, you could see it at the end of the first half, we were clicking. And when we got that first (successful) drive going, we knew we could take this.”

“It was a couple of big plays and them sticking to the game plan,” Mazzetta said. “We knew we were going to take shots when the shots were there for us, and the rest of the game was just grinding it out. They (Phillipsburg) are the best defense around, so we knew what we had to do. There were going to be some negative plays, there were going to be some third-and-longs, but when we had the shots, our kids completed the passes, they made the big plays and the defense played amazing again.”

But North Hunterdon wasn’t quite out of the woods just yet. The Lions continued to hold Phillipsburg at bay for the balance of the third quarter and on its first drive of the fourth, but the Stateliners weren’t going to be limited forever and they proved it, as Staggard scored on a 24-yard run with 5:40 left in regulation. But the extra-point attempt sailed wide left, allowing North Hunterdon to maintain a 21-20 advantage.

The Lions couldn’t capitalize on the momentum swing, going 3-and-out on the ensuing drive, and Phillipsburg began its next drive at its own 48-yard line with 4:33, looking for a game-winning drive.

Walker-Sutton began it, ripping off runs off a 12-yard, seven-yard and eight-yard run to get the Stateliners to the North Hunterdon 21-yard line, before the Lions made the defensive play of the day, as Connor McMahon stripped the Liners’ back, with Matt Spichiger pouncing on the fumble, giving North Hunterdon the ball at the 13-yard line with 2:44 left and a chance to run out the clock. Wain did just that, securing the final first down on a four-yard run that allowed Busher to take a couple of knees to end it, completing the quest most of this group set out on four years ago.

“It’s amazing,” said Mazzetta, in his fourth season at the helm. “These seniors have been on a four-year journey (with me). They bought into everything we’ve preached to them. Hard-hat mentality, learning how to compete, learning how to be leaders. They’re great kids at North Hunterdon and I couldn’t ask for a better place to coach. I’ve got to take my hats off to them. They battled all game. Even through the turnovers, being down 14-0, and they made big play after big play.”

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

NORTH HUNTERDON (11-1) 0-7-14-0 -- 21
PHILLIPSBURG (10-2) 7-7-0-6 -- 20
SCORING PLAYS:
P – Morro 94 pass from Staggard (Oertel kick)
P –Walker-Sutton 1 run (Oertel kick)
NH – Honthy 12 pass from Busher (Spies kick)
NH – Wain 3 run (Spies kick)
NH – J. McMahon 34 pass from Busher (Spies kick)
P – Stagaard 24 run (kick failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:
RUSHING: NH—Busher 11-43, Wain 21-94, Honthy 1-10; P—Walker-Sutton 16-71, Staggard 5-50, Morro 1-(-4), Salahuddin 6-14.
PASSING: NH—Busher 18-35-2-3-240, Wain 0-1-0-0-0; P—Staggard 6-16-1-0-188.
RECEIVING: NH—C. McMahon 3-13, Honthy 7-81, J. McMahon 5-120, Ingenito 2-44, Wain 1-21; P—Morro 3-136, Boothman 1-22, Poremba 2-30.