Underdog Cougars Primed to Score Upset

Riding a three-game winning streak, the Chatham High School football team will encounter another hot team—top-seeded James Caldwell High School, winners of seven straight—in the first round of the North Jersey Section 2, Group 2 state tournament Saturday afternoon in West Caldwell.

The No. 8-seeded Cougars were optimistic at practice Friday, with many players confident they could come away with a win.

Coach Don Morgenroth said the team's biggest advantage over the Chiefs was the Cougars' recent hot streak. After a shaky first half of the season, the Cougars have rallied for victories in their last three games, and they're not looking to end their run anytime soon.

"We're doing everything right, everything's cooking on all cylinders," Morgenroth said. "We had a great week of practice, and I think the guys are ready to go."

"I think we're primed for a big upset," running back and linebacker James Demato said. "We're really excited. We've got a lot more tools on offense, and our strategy is going to help us against them."

In September, the Cougars suffered a 10-0 loss at the hands of the Chiefs' impenetrable defense. In response, the Cougars disassembled and rebuilt their entire offense, and its success has been obvious.

Morgenroth said the new offense was, "simplified. I think by us simplifying, our kids understand our blocking schemes and what we're doing. That's going to help us attack Caldwell's defense."

"We've reconstructed our whole offense," quarterback Nick Guida said. "The past couple of weeks we've been going with what worked for us. We've just been running that over and over in practice trying to get it perfect."

Cornerback Sam Nessler concurred with Guida's sentiment, adding that the Cougar defense has made some adjustments as well.

"The defense is just focusing on Caldwell's quarterback [Chris Lawshe]. He's a Division-I prospect. We're really trying to stop him from passing."

The Cougars understand the challenge ahead of them against the Chiefs (7-1), who haven't lost since the first game of the season.

"There's a lot of pressure," Guida said. "We've lost to Caldwell the last three times we played them and they've all been really good games. We just need to come out and play the best we can."

Nessler said finding a way to put points on the board will be key against Caldwell's stout defense.

"Everyone's confident," Nessler said. "We've had the best three weeks of practice and we're on a three-game winning streak. We average about 35 points a game. As long as we score points, I think we can beat them"

Morgenroth articulated the feeling of the whole team.

"I believe we're really champions," he said. "I believe we can really do it, and I think they believe that too right now. We're hoping to be the underdog story."