Wolfpack Stunned After Building 3-TD Lead

The football team played like champions for much of the football season. That’s what makes the second half of Friday night’s state football game against Parsippany Hills so difficult to understand and tough to take.

Parsippany Hills rallied from a 21-0 deficit to stun the Wolfpack 25-21 and advance to play in the North 2, Group III state sectional title game in two weeks.

For an extensive photo gallery from the game, head here.

Senior back C.J. Joyce plunged in from the 1-yard-line with 1:39 left in regulation to provide the winning score for Parsippany Hills. The arm of Vikings quarterback Tyler Simms provided much of the scoring. He completed 16 of 30 passes for 246 yards and rallied his team by throwing TD scores to Kire Milevski, Kyle Baxter and a 60-yard scoring strike to Danny Hardwick. It will be Parsippany Hills' first return to the title game since 2006.

West Morris had a nearly dominating first half by rushing for 232 yards. Senior back Jon Ciccone had touchdown runs of 73, 12 and three yards to help West Morris build a 21-0 advantage late in the second quarter. A bad snap on a punt and a Vikings touchdown seconds before halftime were harbingers of doom for the Wolfpack.

“They outplayed us in the second half and you try and tell the kids if you are up at halftime that you don’t win the game by playing a good first half,’’ Hennelly said. “You have to finish. We didn’t finish.’’

West Morris (7-3) might be best served to remember the good things it did in the first half. It took the opening drive 51-yards in 10 plays for an early score. After a holding penalty, Ciccone found a seam in the middle and burst for a 12-yard run to make it 7-0 less than four minutes into the contest.

In the Wolfpack’s next possession, Ciccone’s touchdown dash would be much longer. He took a handoff, found some space on the right side and on three separate instances made Vikings tacklers look silly with swift cut back moves to make it 14-0 with 4:25 left in the first quarter.

After forcing a Parsippany Hills punt, West Morris went on another time-consuming drive. The Wolfpack went 84 yards on 17-plays. The Wolfpack's march down the field took a little more than nine minutes to complete. When Ciccone plunged from the 3-yard line, he made it a 21-0 game with 3:42 left in the half.

The West Morris ground game did a great job of keeping Parsippany Hills’ explosive pass offense off the field. They stopped the Vikings on three incomplete passes the following series but then the Wolfpack had a stalled drive, too. However, a bad snap forced Ciccone, who was punting, to jump on the ball at its own 27 with 17.2 seconds left in the half.

However, it was all the Vikings would need for Simms to launch a pass to Baxter in the right corner of the end zone and get his team on the board and make it 21-7 at the half. After that play, the game was never the same.

“They made a big play before the half,’’ Hennelly said. “It might have taken a little something out of us. To their credit they came out and played a good second half. They outplayed us in the second half. Maybe they outcoached us a little bit in the second half but to their credit they made some big plays.’’

West Morris’ biggest second-half highlight was Tyler Amandos’ pick of a Simms pass to stop Parsippany Hills’ lengthy opening drive.

However, the Wolfpack made several second-half mistakes including a fake punt that fell short of a first down, a fourth-down interception and another drive that stalled on downs. Parsippany Hills converted all those mistakes into touchdowns.

The West Morris players and fans were both stunned into silence in the final minutes, when the Wolfpack's last drive fell short and their season ended while the Vikings rejoiced.

“Their quarterback just did a great job,’’ Hennelly said. “Hats off to them–I wish them the best of luck. Now they have to represent our conference and Morris County.’’