Sports
Minutemen March Through Central, Advance to Title Game
Mendham beats defending champs in semifinal game on the road, will play top-seeded Phillipsburg in final.
The clock hasn’t struck midnight for Cinderella just yet.
Mendham’s Minutemen football team hopped on a bus Friday night, thousands of fans in tow, and battled its way through defending North 2, Group 4 sectional champs and sister school rivals West Morris Central on its home field.
The reward for such an effort? A trip to the state sectional title game against top-seeded Phillipsburg.
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Mendham played stout, shutout defense, beating the Wolfpack 16-0 and forcing three turnovers in the contest.
Quarterback Jack Horan hit Jack Powers for a seven-yard touchdown with 3:59 left in the half to start the scoring. Ross Coapman nailed the point after.
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Coapman had a monster first half, tackling Central’s Javier Murray in the backfield on a fourth-and-3, hitting the extra point, grabbing an interception, and knocking through a 27-yard field goal with 1:28 left in the half to put Mendham up 10-0.
Coapman wasn’t alone, as teammate Ian Graham snagged a Collin Sokolowski pass at midfield for a turnover. Mendham drove to the 22-yard line, but had its field goal attempt of 39-yards blocked as the half expired.
A scoreless third quarter left the door open for Central, until Horan put the nail in the coffin early in the fourth.
Finding his friendly receiver yet again, Horan hit Powers for a 60-yard touchdown pass with eight minutes to play in the game, putting the Minutemen up 16-0. The extra point failed.
A change in quarterbacks for the Wolfpack wouldn’t do the squad any good, as Mendham’s defense stamped its ticket to the title game with a Mike Frigo forced fumble of Cooper Sloan with two minutes left to play.
Mendham now stands at 6-4-1 on the season after winning just four games in the past two seasons combined.
The team will now play for a sectional title on the first full weekend of December.
All information aggregated from crowd reports on Twitter and Facebook.
Editor's note: This article previously stated the title game would be held Dec. 7; that information is not yet confirmed.
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