Phillipsburg football builds big lead early, rolls into North 2 Group 5 semifinals

The Phillipsburg High School football team capitalized on its chances with ruthless efficiency to advance to the sectional semifinals.

The Stateliners scored four touchdowns of their six possessions in the first half and those early scores helped them withstand Ridgewood’s rally in the second half of the NJSIAA North 2 Group 5 quarterfinals.

The third-seeded Stateliners defeated sixth-seeded Ridgewood 38-27 in the at Maloney Stadium Friday night.

“It really shows how versatile our team is. If one guy is covered up, we have two more guys you have to worry about, two, three, four, whatever it is,” said Phillipsburg senior running back Shane Moore, who matched his career-high rushing total with 191 yards on 23 carries. “It really just shows how versatile our team is and how much we’ve grown as a unit the past couple years that I’ve been here.”

“We’re never gonna switch up from our style of football, we’re gonna run the ball, but we’re gonna have to pass it,” said Phillipsburg junior quarterback Dominic Bracco, who threw for two touchdown passes in the second quarter. “We did, coaches let me, and it worked out.”

The Stateliners (7-2) will face the winner of the quarterfinal between second-seeded East Orange and seventh-seeded Union City in the semifinals. That quarterfinal is set to kick off 1 p.m. Saturday at East Orange.

The Maroons finished the season 5-4.

A good punt return by senior Amir Heath and a personal foul on Ridgewood after Heath was hit out of bounds set the Stateliners up at the Maroons’ 16 halfway through the first quarter.

Phillipsburg converted on third-and-7 courtesy of a 7-yard connection from Bracco to sophomore Caleb Clymer. Three plays later, Moore plunged into the end zone out of a heavy formation for a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:32 left in the first quarter.

Ridgewood responded in just four plays courtesy of a little trickery.

Sophomore quarterback Colt Kaschenbach threw a quick pass backwards to fellow sophomore Brody Perrapato. Perrapato looked upfield and lofted a pass to a wide open Sam DiMaulo and the senior sprinted the rest of the way on a 48-yard touchdown to cut the Stateliners’ lead to 7-6 with 1:08 left in the first.

Phillipsburg went three-and-out on its next drive, but ended the Maroons’ next possession just five plays in.

Junior Greyson LoVecchio looked to have picked up 9 yards on first down but fumbled near the home sideline and junior Vincent Berger recovered for the Stateliners at the Ridgewood 44.

Three plays later, Moore took a carry over left tackle, turned upfield and sprinted untouched on a 37-yard touchdown run. Sophomore Hunter Garrison’s PAT extended P’burg’s lead to 14-6 with 9:02 left in the second quarter.

That run helped Moore surpass the 1,000-yard mark on the season.

“It was a big goal of mine. It was something I was really working for this year,” said Moore, who has now rushed for 1,155 yards this season. “I wanted to be up there with the history of running backs in the history of P’burg. It’s a meaningful thing for me… 1,000 yards, I believe, is the standard at P’burg."

“We take a lot of pride, we celebrate everything,” Phillipsburg sophomore lineman Donnell Johnson-Hullum said. “If a guy gets a 1,000 yards, we’re happy.”

The Maroons went three-and-out after Kaschenbach scrambled for a gain of 6 on third-and-10.

Bracco rolled right on a play action fake on the first play of the drive and found junior David Pacewicz, who weaved his way out of tackles for a gain of 42 to the Ridgewood 26.

Five plays later, Bracco moved the other way on a play action play and lofted a pass to Pacewicz, who leapt up and hauled in the catch for a 31-yard touchdown with 4:35 left in the second.

A long kickoff return by Perrapato and a personal foul that followed on Phillipsburg helped the Maroons take over 5 yards past midfield, but they failed to take advantage and turned the ball over on downs without moving the chains.

A pass interference call on Ridgewood followed by runs of 8 yards and 7 yards by Moore helped the Stateliners pick up three first downs and move the ball to within eight yards of the goal line.

After 2-yard runs by Berger and Moore, Bracco threw a pass up to his right on third-and-goal that sophomore Caleb Clymer grabbed for a 3-yard touchdown. Garrison’s fourth PAT of the night extended Phillipsburg’s lead to 28-6 just 28 seconds before halftime.

“I was just trusting my receivers, we’ve built that connection throughout the whole season,” Bracco said. “I’m with David a lot, he’s one of my closest friends. Caleb, I’m with in basketball season. You build these connections with the guys and this is what happens on the field.”

“It was a gritty effort. At times, we had a tough time getting yards on the ground in terms of what we’re accustomed to, but just making some plays in the air,” Phillipsburg coach Frank Duffy said. “Dominic finding David in the corner of the end zone here and then Caleb Clymer at the end of the half. That was really good, to find different ways to score. Just a good overall effort by our guys.”

Ridgewood looked ready to mount a comeback in the third quarter.

Two plays after hitting LoVecchio for a gain of 30 along the sideline, Kaschenbach scored on a keeper from a yard out less than five minutes into the third.

The Maroons got the ball back two plays later after Phillipsburg junior Xavier Campbell-Graham fumbled, but they went three-and-out before senior Donovan Sampson blocked sophomore Charlie Grassi’s punt.

Two plays later, Campbell-Graham scored on a 15-yard run up the middle.

“Mistakes are gonna happen, but how you respond from those mistakes is gonna tell a lot about you,” Duffy said. “We believe in Xavier just like we believe in all of our guys. Just from one mistake, we’re not gonna forget about our guys.”

After Kaschenbach’s first touchdown pass of the night, a 14-yard throw to LoVecchio on a slant, Grassi’s PAT cut the deficit to 35-21 with 2:52 left in the third.

The Stateliners responded with a 16-play drive that took close to 10 minutes off the clock before Garrison hit a 19-yard field goal to extend their lead to 17 with 4:26 left to play.

“That was huge there to kick that field goal. He’s pretty much automatic from that range and to make it a three-possession game there,” Duffy said of Garrison. “It really sucks any momentum, any life that they have at that point… We haven’t kicked a field goal in a while, we did earlier in the year, so it was good to get him one.”

Perrapato made a leaping grab along the home sideline, turned upfield and ran the rest of the way on a 56-yard touchdown for the game’s final points with 2:45 left.

Kaschenbach completed 21 of 32 passes for 266 yards and two scores.

Duffy acknowledged that Phillipsburg will need to defend the pass better if it hopes to win a third straight sectional title.

“There’s a lot, there’s a lot in the pass game, from a back-end standpoint, secondary, we’ve gotta do a much better job of,” the 11th-year coach said. “We’ll watch the tape and see what we can do to be better. Offensively, why are we having a tough time running the ball at times? We’ve got to take a look at the tape and see why.”

“Keep practicing hard every single day. No breaks,” Johnson-Hullum said. “Film, every single day.”