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Chiefs, Patriots advance in state playoffs
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Published in Straus Newspapers - 11/16/06
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| Hopatcong and Lenape Valley advanced to the semifinal rounds of the NJSIAA
post-season football playoffs while Kittatinny and Pope John had their campaigns ended with first-round setbacks.
The Chiefs rolled to a 41-13 romp over Ramsey while the Patriots rolled to a 35-7 rout of Lodi. Kittatinny fell
to and Pope John's hopes of an undefeated season were extinguished when Delbarton surprised the Lions 49-28. |
| Hopatcong, seeded No. 2 in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group II bracket,
will host third-seeded Pascack Valley on Friday. Joe Martinek scored five times on runs of 49, five, two and five
yards before picking off a Rams' aerial and racing 61 yards into the end zone. |
| LVR exploded with 21 unanswered points in the third quarter as the fifth-seeded
Patriots toppled the fourth seeded Rams for the fourth straight time in state playoff game after having defeated
the Bergen County squad in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Fullback Mike Groome, who toted the pigskin 22 times for 185 yards,
scored three times on runs of two and two yards and hauled in a 10-yard TD pass from quarterback Rob Klinck. Jim
Hamill put the Patriots on the board in the first quarter when he bolted five yards to paydirt and Rob Bergstrom
completed the scoring when he blasted five yards into the end zone. Lenape Valley travels to play top-seeded Montville
on Friday evening in Morris County. |
| Pascack Valley jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first 12 minutes in defeating
the Cougars. Kyle Hayes tossed a 58-yard TD strike to Kevin Ryan in the third quarter when Kittatinny cut the deficit
to 13-6. Pope John fell behind 20-7 by the end of the opening quarter and the Lions could never catch up. Jeremy
Tucker completed his scholastic career, scoring three times on runs of 41, 37 and 24 yards as he rushed 26 times,
picking up 254 yards. Quarterback Eugene McGuire, who connected on eight of 15 aerial attempts for 151 yards, hit
Theodore Lusardi with a 37-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to close the gap to 28-20 at intermission. |
| In the NJSIAA consolation round that includes all teams that did not earn
berths in the state playoff brackets, Vernon ended its campaign with a 35-21 victory over Morris Knolls while Sparta
shut out North Warren 24-0. Fair Lawn edged High Point 14-7 and Wallkill Valley was blanked 24-0 by Northern Valley/Demarest. |
| Sparta scored in every quarter while the "D" unit blanked the
Patriots from Blairstown. Quarterback Brendan McDonough flipped TD passes of four and 27 yards to Derrick Freligh
in the first half before Phil Tacakcs blasted one yard into the end zone. Chris Hoffman ended the scoring when
he split the uprights with a 30-yard field goal as the Spartans finished the season at 6-4. |
| Dan and Mark Lisa made certain the Vikings would close the campaign on a
winning note. Dan hit his brother with TD passes of 28 and 26 yards in addition to tucking in the ball and racing
22 yards into the end zone with the final six-pointer of the season. Mark Lisa blasted eight yards over the goal
in the second quarter while Dan Lisa pitched a eight yard TD strike to Mike Deutch in the third quarter as the
Vikings finished. Richard Fox converted all five PAT attempts as the Vikings finished with a 7-3 record. |
| High Point's effort to get into the win column ended in Bergen County when
the Cutters snapped a 7-7 stalemate at halftime. Matt Danko bolted two yards into the end zone in the second quarter
and Bernie Wawzyanick booted the extra point placement. Wallkill Valley finished 1-9 with its sole success coming
against High Point midway through the season. |