Unlikely hero hauls in game-winning TD to help Phillipsburg football upset No. 1 Parkland

Junior Blake Paulus made an instant impact on the Phillipsburg High School football team. Paulus, who rushed twice for nine yards and recorded a single tackle last season, recorded his first career varsity catch during the Stateliners’ season opener against Parkland Friday night.

“I’m only in on one personnel,” Paulus said. “They just told me my route, I ran it, that’s it.”

The junior did a little more than “just run his route.”

Paulus motioned from left to right, got free on a play-action boot to the right, fought through contact by Parkland junior defensive back David Scherb, hauled in the pass from fellow junior Dominic Bracco and sprinted down the away sideline.

That 57-yard touchdown reception and sophomore Hunter Garrison’s extra point gave Phillipsburg a 28-21 lead with 8:25 left to play.

“That’s the best feeling in the world,” Paulus said. “The dopamine rush, the crowd, I couldn’t explain it.”

“How about that? That was pretty amazing,” Phillipsburg coach Frank Duffy said of Paulus’ touchdown catch. “Unbelievable for the kid to come up and make a play.”

The Trojans came close to responding with a touchdown pass of their own. Senior quarterback Finn Coen threw just behind senior Michael Car up the seam on second down and just overthrew senior Blake Nassry on a deep post in the end zone.

A third straight incompletion resulted in a turnover on downs that gave the Stateliners the ball back at their own 35 with 5:19 remaining.

Phillipsburg gained 33 yards and drained the clock down to 0:05 when Parkland took its final timeout. On fourth-and-5, Bracco collected a shotgun snap, sprinted back about 30 yards and slid down with no time remaining to seal the Stateliners’ 28-21 win at Maloney Stadium.

“You gotta love it. We worked for this; we deserve this,” Bracco said. “We’re not a team that should be doubted.”

Parkland went 12-1 last year and entered this season ranked No. 1 in the region by lehighvalleylive.com and fifth in the state among PIAA Class 6A teams by PennLive. The Trojans returned the majority of their starters from last season, including All-State selection and Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Defensive MVP TJ Lawrence.

“They came off the ball, got after us, we didn’t respond the way I thought we should,” Parkland coach Tim Moncman said, “It was a lesson learned, 0-1. I thought were reading a few press clippings. We’ll get back to work. I said, ‘Let it hurt for 24 hours and get back at 8 a.m.’”

“I don’t think too many people, quite frankly, thought we would win. It was good to be able to get that done,” Duffy said. “I know the belief that our guys had. Being able to establish the run early and the physicality early was important, but hats off to Parkland, that’s a quality football team.”

Phillipsburg’s first possession of the second half was the exact type of drive it needed to have a chance at the upset. The Stateliners moved the ball 83 yards on 19 plays, 16 of which were runs, in a drive that lasted 10:30 of game time.

“It’s a high-powered offense,” Duffy said of Parkland. “Let’s control the clock, let’s run the football. We were able to do that.”

P’burg moved the chains twice before back-to-back incompletions brought up fourth-and-11 from near midfield.

Bracco, who performed a pooch punt in the first half, looked like he was going to do so again before he fired a pass to the left to senior Amir Heath, who made a contested catch for a gain of 16.

Senior Shane Moore and junior Xavier Campbell-Graham rotated in and out as the Stateliners gained 37 yards on seven straight runs before they faced fourth-and-goal from the Trojans’ 3.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, junior Vincent Berger powered his way into the end zone from 3 yards out to give P’burg a 21-14 lead.

The Trojans responded quickly as they moved the ball 31 yards on five plays before Coen rolled right and lofted a ball to Nassry, who leapt over a defender to make the catch in the end zone on a 27-yard touchdown connection.

That toss and senior Andrea Giroudon’s extra point tied the game at 21-21 with 8:44 left.

A big kick return by Heath, though, set up the connection between Bracco and Paulus that proved to be the decisive touchdown.

“Blake Paulus, love the kid, just gotta give him a shot,” Bracco said.

“Wide open, just threw my hand up. I want to thank Dom. ‘Dom, way to see that,’” Paulus said. “I think they (Parkland) were expecting the run and just got them over the top.”

The Trojans, who used their second timeout of the second half just before their last touchdown, may have known what was coming on P’burg’s last drive, but they still struggled to contain Moore as he powered his way forward time and again.

The senior gained 29 yards on the Stateliners’ final possession to finish the game with 116 yards on 26 carries.

“Shane just ran like a grown man tonight. He ran like a Phillipsburg football player,” Duffy said. “He allowed us to stay on schedule and, for our offense, that’s important.”

Moore gained 28 yards on six carries on P’burg’s opening possession before senior lineman Elijah Montgomery, from the fullback spot, plunged into the end zone from 3 yards out halfway through the first quarter.

The Stateliners went a bit up-tempo to tie the game at 14-14 before halftime.

P’burg moved the ball 65 yards in 10 plays, aided by a 21-yard connection from Bracco to Heath and a 15-yard penalty on Parkland. On second-and-3, Moore shook off a couple would-be tacklers on his way to a 15-yard touchdown run.

“I can’t even put into words how this feels. I’m so proud of my defense, offense, all those guys stepped up huge today,” Moore said. “This win is not on one single person, it’s on the whole team. We played phenomenal today. Of course, we have a lot of things to work on. We’re gonna get back at it tomorrow.”

“We didn’t tackle well at all tonight ... We made a lot of mistakes tonight. Just technique wise, blown circuits a little bit,” Moncman said. “A couple guys got dinged up, cramps, other guys in there, but no excuse. They outplayed us tonight.”

Bracco completed 8 of 14 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown. The junior gained 32 yards on the ground before the final play.

“Dom was great, I really saw Dom grow up tonight,” Duffy said. “Some of the really good (quarterbacks) we’ve had here, I saw that from him tonight. Just his ability to make plays, extend plays, not panic when things broke down, keep his eyes down the field. He was fantastic.”

The Stateliners, who hadn’t played an EPC team, apart from Easton, since 2005, will now travel to two more teams from that conference. P’burg plays at Emmaus 7 p.m. Sept. 4 and then travels to Freedom 7 p.m. Sept. 11.

Lawrence lived up to the hype as a playmaker on both sides of the ball, albeit with limited carries on offense as P’burg dominated the time of possession. The Villanova commit gained 76 yards on just nine carries and broke free for a 48-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, to tie the game at 7-7, before he scored from 2 yards out in the second quarter to give Parkland a 14-7 lead.

Coen completed 13 of 19 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown. Nassry had seven catches for 102 yards.

The Trojans will look for their first win when they travel to Freedom 7 p.m. Friday. Freedom defeated Downingtown West 51-20 in its season opener.

“I told them, it’s a long season,” Moncman said. “We’ve been through things like this before, but that’s up to them how they respond at 8 a.m. tomorrow.”