HONORARY COACH: JERRY MOORE SOMERVILLE H.S.
A beautiful night for football at the College of NJ! Game #7 in our series brought a RECORD crowd of over 4,300 fans
and
another 1st for our game = OVERTIME ! Fans were treated to an entertaining evening of football
MERCER took the opening kick-off and Notre Dames JAY GRABER showed why he was one of the best QBs in the state. With a great mix of runs (MOHAMMED SIDDIQU of Pennington) and pass
MERCER worked down the field, inside the SKYLAND 20 yd. line. Enter NORTH WARRENS
Randy Tosh. Stepping in front of a Graber pass, Tosh streaked 86 yds. with an interception and Skyland was up 7-0 ! MERCER bounced right back with another drive
and Notre Dames GRABER took in a QB sneak. The point after was missed
and SKYLAND was still up 7-6.
The Defenses settled down to dominate the 2nd quarter
with both sets of Defensive Lines showing their stuff ! MERCER was led by BILL OWENS / Steinert
MARK GUNTHER / Notre Dame
GLEN CAIN / Ewing
and SKYLAND
let by
NICK FEO / Voorhees
NICK STEFFNER / Bridgewater
CHRIS MUSSELMAN / South Hunterdon. But late in the 2nd quarter
the running of JOSH WAGNER / West Windsor and MOHAMMED SIDDIQU / Pennington combined with Grabers passing and Mercer went into the locker room up 14 -7.
A quiet 3rd quarter ended with a strong SKYLAND drive
JAMES DAVIS / Bridgewater found paydirt
and as we started the last 15 minutes
MERCER 14 SKYLAND 13 ! MERCER created some space
a 17yd. TD pass from Notre Dames JAY GRABER to Hamilton Wests JARED CROWLEY opened up MERCERS lead to 21 13. Enter a NEW HERO
Warren Hills RYAN PIERSON. Showing great touch, poise and leadership
PIERSON engineered a late drive consuming almost [8] minutes on the clock
and JAMES DAVIS / Bridgewater finished it off with a (6) yd. run. 2:00 to go
and a (2) point play necessary for a TIE. ENTER
the TRICK PLAY ! SKYLANDS coaches came up with the TIGHT END FALL DOWN SCREEN PASS
executed to perfection by JAY FRANK / Watchung Hills. ALL TIED UP
21 -21. MERCER went 3 and out
and SKYLAND had a chance to get the win
but
DAVE NEMETH / Notre Dame
picked off a PIERSON pass
and it was time for OVERTIME !!!
MERCER had the ball 1st
and seemed to have it won
but a dropped TD pass forced them to settle for a Field Goal try
which was just wide from 35 yds. out. SKYLAND had their chance for the win
MERCER stiffened
and PIERSON found JAY FRANK / Watchung Hills
across the field on the sideline
and in walked FRANK KURTZ / Delaware Valley
who kicked an 18 yd. FIELD GOAL for the WIN !!!
1st Union Bank / MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: JAY GRABER Notre Dame H.S.
OUTSTANDING BACK MERCER: MOHAMMED SIDDIQU Pennington
OUTSTANDING BACK SKYLAND: JAMES DAVIS Bridgewater H.S.
OUTSTANDING LINEMAN MERCER: MARK GUNTHER Notre Dame H.S.
OUTSTANDING LINEMAN SKYLAND: NICK FEO Voorhees H.S.
Anthony Bottoni Memorial Award
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