Par Hills Falls to West Morris in Slugfest

Even though summer is technically not over, it felt like a brisk fall night in Chester, where the Parsippany Hills Vikings traveled to take on the West Morris Central Wolfpack in a gridiron showcase on Friday night.

For a full photo gallery from Friday night's action, head here.

In the end, a first-half deficit was too much for the Vikings to overcome. Despite showing some life in the second half, the Vikings would fall to West Morris by a score of 28-21.

“They absolutely manhandled us in the first half. The kids came out in the second half and did a great job,” said Vikings’ head coach Dave Albano. “Special teams really hurt us, but in the second half, I was proud of the way the kids played. Against a team like this, you can’t spot them 14 points on special teams and expect to win.”

The scoring began on the second play from scrimmage when West Morris tailback Jon Ciccone, after returning the opening kickoff for 49 yards, took the ball at the Vikings’ 36 and didn’t stop until he reached the end zone. Connor Young’s extra point made the score 7-0.

The Vikings responded on their opening drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Simms to wide receiver Dan Hardwick. Hardwick kicked the extra point to tie the game at seven. Simms would finish the game 16 of 26 passing with 144 yards and the touchdown to Hardwick.

The Wolfpack opened things up in the second quarter. After Ciccone gained 13 yards on a fake punt on fourth-and-3 to keep a West Morris drive alive, he would later score on that same drive. Later in the quarter, junior quarterback Jon Gutowski scored on a quarterback keeper. Young made both extra points, and West Morris went into the half up on the Vikings 21-7.

The Vikings rebounded in the third quarter by tightening up their defense and preventing any more West Morris scoring opportunities for most of the period. Still down 21-7, however, the Vikings ran a flea flicker to fool the Wolfpack. The end result was Hardwick hitting receiver Mike Comerford on a 68-yard touchdown pass that would close the gap to seven after the extra point with 1:07 remaining in the third.

“I’m not a big flea flicker guy, but sometimes, you’ve got to pull out all the stops, especially against a team like West Morris,” said Albano. “We did that, and it got us back in the game.”

The momentum, however, was short-lived. On the ensuing kickoff, West Morris tailback Joe DeBiasse came away with a 61-yard return to put his team inside the Vikings’ 15-yard line.

“You just can’t do that,” Albano said. “You can’t make mistakes on special teams.”

A few plays later, Gutowski hit DeBiasse on a 20-yard touchdown pass to widen the margin to 28-14 following the extra point. DeBiasse finished the game with six receptions, 72 yards and the touchdown, while Gutowski completed seven of his 13 attempts for 86 yards and the score.

The Vikings put together one more scoring drive, capped off with 6:21 remaining in the game when tailback C.J. Joyce ran the ball in for a five-yard touchdown. Joyce finished the day with 72 yards on 15 carries and the score, and also contributed seven tackles and a sack on defense.

In a game featuring two high-powered offenses, it was the West Morris defense that sealed the deal on a third-down play.

With 3:20 remaining in the game, Simms fumbled the snap and was sacked by Nick Hamilton and Chris Carfaro to force the Vikings to punt. From there, the Wolfpack ran out the clock and came away with the win.

The Vikings now move onto next Saturday, when they host Morristown for their homecoming game. The game, which will also feature homecoming festivities, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Parsippany Hills High School.

Notes: For the Vikings, linebacker Andrew Cupo notched 10 tackles, while defensive lineman Sean Weg finished with eight. Hamilton, defensive lineman Rob Hughes, and cornerback Austin Roland shared the West Morris team lead in tackles with six apiece. Hamilton also finished with 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. For the Vikings, Hardwick finished with 10 catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. Stephan Quatorze, playing fullback in place of the injured Jason Mackewicz for the Wolfpack, finished with 22 carries for 107 yards, while Ciccone ran the ball 11 times for 105 yards.