Delbarton Wins Thriller Against W. Morris Central

In a football game as unpredictable as the one the Delbarton Green Wave played against the West Morris Central Wolfpack on Friday night, sometimes it comes down to taking a risk.

The Green Wave did just that, and it certainly paid off.

After a Jamie White touchdown brought the score to within one with 2:14 left to play, quarterback John Shaffer connected with Cole Riccardi on a two-point conversion that would seal a breathtaking, 22-21 win for the Green Wave in an important conference showdown.

“I just had a hunch that because of all the rain, and it seemed to pick up in the fourth quarter, I just thought to myself, boy, oh boy, that would be a real crusher to lose a game on a muffed snap or that sort of thing,” said Delbarton head coach Brian Bowers. “So I just said ‘let’s go for it.’ We scored in a clutch situation, we thought we had a good play, and we said ‘what the heck? Let’s run it.’”

Despite the positive end result, the Green Wave found itself down early. After West Morris tailback Jon Ciccone returned the game’s opening kickoff 51 yards to give the Wolfpack excellent field position, fullback Stephan Quatorze would take the ball 19 yards to score the game’s first touchdown. Connor Young’s extra point made the score 7-0, and it would stay there for the remainder of the quarter.

The Wolfpack would jump out to a bigger lead after forcing a Delbarton punt in the second quarter. Junior quarterback Jon Gutowski was able to lead the Wolfpack’s offense down the field before connecting on a six-yard touchdown pass to his classmate, tight end Tyler Amandos. Young would connect on the extra point again, but the Green Wave would be quick to respond.

After a Quatorze fumble deep in West Morris territory, Delbarton;s White would score from 13 yards out to give the Green Wave their first points of the day. Heading into halftime, the score was 14-7 in favor of West Morris.

Delbarton opened the third quarter with a strong drive against the Wolfpack defense, until a fumble by White wound up in the hands of West Morris linebacker Jason Mackewicz.

The Wolfpack had a hard time getting the offense going to start the second half, however, failing to capitalize on that and another chance, after an errant pass from Shaffer wound up in the hands of the Wolfpack’s Nick Hamilton on Delbarton’s next offensive series.

“West Morris performed unbelievably well,” said Delbarton head coach Brian Bowers. “We had some turnovers in our red zone, but I felt like we could still score at any time. We just had to hold on to the ball.”

Delbarton would put another solid drive together to end the third quarter, following an interception of Gutowski by the Green Wave’s Rob Fajardo. Delbarton would keep the drive going into the final quarter, punching the ball into the end zone on a two-yard run from White to tie the game at 14 with 10:01 left to play.

The Wolfpack, however, would strike back. Following another quality return from Ciccone, Mackewicz received the hand-off from Gutowski and marched 33 yards for the Wolfpack's final touchdown, giving Central momentum and a 21-14 lead with 4:43 left to play.

The momentum would soon swing back into the Green Wave’s favor. A first down stop by West Morris on the ensuing series was negated by a personal foul on the Wolfpack, giving Delbarton a free fifteen yards and an automatic first down. From there, White slashed through the West Morris defense on his way to another score.

That was when Delbarton decided to go for two, putting themselves in the lead for good.

“It was a pretty risky call, but that was a play that we run a lot. I had faith in Riccardi and the line to hold tight,” said Shaffer about the play. “They gave me the opportunity to make a play, and it’s a team effort on that end. It’s great to come out of here with a win.”

Despite each team having its share of turnovers and the heavy rains worsening field conditions as the game wore on, both teams showed plenty of resolve. In the end, however, it was the Green Wave who won the second half and, in turn, the game.

“I said it in the huddle (after the game); it’s a validation of our ‘win this play’ philosophy,” said Bowers. "You gotta just go out and you win the thing in front of you, and at the end of the day, hopefully the scoreboard validates your effort. We gave a great effort today.”

Delbarton will employ that same philosophy next week, when it hosts the Parsippany Hills Vikings on Saturday, Oct. 1.

“This means that we’ve got to go get the next one. We’re playing Parsippany Hills next week, and they’re a great team,” said Bowers. “We’re very well-coached, and we just have to go out and have a great week in practice and win the one in front of us.”

Notes: For Delbarton, White carried the ball 27 times for 149 yards and three scores, with 110 yards and two touchdowns coming in the second half. Dennis Benscko led the Green Wave with ten tackles, while Shaffer was 12-22 passing for 152 yards and an interception. Amandos finished with a team high eight tackles for West Morris, while Mackewicz and senior Shawn Barnes had seven apiece. Quatorze finished with 14 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown, while Gutowski was 4-for-10 passing with 55 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.