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Spartans march to Giants Stadium
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Straus Newspapers - November 26, 2003
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| Sparta’s quest for a state sectional title and an undefeated season to go
along with the Sussex County Interscholastic League crown continued as the Spartans rallied to defeat Montville
14-10 on Saturday afternoon in Sparta. A capacity crowd of 4500 watched the Spartans chalk up their 11th straight
"W" of the campaign and advance to the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group II championship game against
Dover. The finale is the first of four games that will be played at Giants Stadium on Saturday, December 6 with
kickoff set for 10:30 AM. |
| With 11 ticks remaining on the game clock, Ryan Lindsley completed a 15-yard
TD pass play from quarterback Eric Reese when he dove into the end zone that rallied the Spartans from a 10-7 deficit.
The touchdown capped off a 10-play, 67-yard march. |
| Lenape Valley rolled to a 49-28 victory over Hopatcong. D.J. Hanna was top
gun on the Patriots' attack, scoring three touchdowns as LVR upped its record to 6-2. Hanna scored on runs of 25,
14 and 8 yards while quarterback Brent Freda hooked up with Scott Vladyke on TD aerials of 60 and 25 yards. |
| Montville had erased a 7-3 lead with a 48-yard TD strike from Colin Mahony
to Mario McLean that covered 48 yards with 4:03 left in the game. |
| Sparta built up a 282-168 edge in offensive yardage by trailed 3-0 going
into the fourth quarter. The Spartans finally got on the board when Reese connected with tight end Tim Yeagley
on a 15-yard TD strike on the first play of the fourth quarter. |
| Lenape Valley was ousted from the other half of the bracket when Dover pulled
out a 15-14 victory over the Patriots on Friday evening at Hamilton Field in Stanhope. With 49 seconds remaining
in the game, the Tigers scored on a nine-yard pass play from quarterback Ronnie Moore to split end Mike Steffen
to pull Dover to within one point of a tie. The Tigers elected to gamble on a two-point conversion attempt with
Moore tossing a successful pass to Justin Brown coming out of the backfield and going into the end zone to end
the Patriots’ season at 7-4. |
| Dover took a 7-0 lead off the field at the intermission. Billy Gallagher,
who toted the pigskin 17 times for 40 yards, plunged one yard into the end zone and Brent Freda split the uprights
with his extra point conversion to knot the score at 7-7. |
| Lenape Valley moved into the lead with 9:22 left in the fourth quarter when
quarterback Scott Vladyka plunged over the goal line from one-yard out and Freda booted his second extra point. |
| For the football fanatics, the price of admission to the Spartans contest
allows the fans to remain and watch Morristown againts Ridgewood at 1:30 PM, Piscataway versus Union at 4:30 PM
and at 7:30 PM, Ridge will battle Scotch Plains-Fanwood. |
