Kelly, Boyle, Amerman, Short lead assault
By: Rudy Brandl
John Oxley, the head coach of the Middletown North High School football team, pretty much summed up what those at Noonan Field witnessed Saturday afternoon.
"Wow. That was like a college line out there," Oxley said after Hillsborough dismantled his team 38-0 in the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals. "That’s the biggest line we’ve played against all year. I mean, we’ve seen teams with one or maybe two guys that big. But this team? They’re big all the way across."
Big is just part of it.
Oxley saw what Raider opponents in the Skyland Conference have been seeing for years. But the Raiders might have had their best-ever performance from a front line in their playoff history.
Take a look at the second half of Saturday’s game: Hillsborough had a time of possession advantage of 20:30 to 3:30 over the Lions. The Raiders had two monstrous drives – both ending with points. The first one, an 18-play, 85-yard drive that took 9:18 off the clock, ended with Kristian Molloy’s 25-yard field goal with 39 seconds left in the third quarter.
The next one was even longer. The Raiders went 11:11, 19 plays and 75 yards. That series was capped with Steve Hess’ third TD of the day, a one-yard plunge with 29 seconds left in the game.
Time and time again, Raider linemen Nick Boyle (center), right guard Don Short, left guard Andrew Demaio, left tackle is Bill Amerman and right tackle is Steve Popadiuk and tight end Eric Westfall knocked the Lions back. Even Jeff Kelly, known more for his defensive play, came in to help out as a backup tackle and tight end.
"We just grinded them down," Boyle said. "We really believe that we can play with anybody in the state up front. We heard that Middletown North was about power football. Well, we weren’t going to let that happen on our field."
By the time Boyle made these comments, the crowd at Noonan Field had cleared out and he had time to reflect on the hard work that went into this.
"I lived in that building all summer," said Boyle, pointing to the Raiders’ pole barn weight room. "Jeff, myself, the others. Our whole line. Five hours a day lifting weights and running on this track."
Kelly took exception to one reporter’s question to Raider head coach Rick Mantz.
"The reporter apparently asked coach Mantz if we were intimidated by Shore Conference smash mouth football. Well, I think you got the answer today," Kelly said.
Short was happy to see Hess get a game for himself in the spotlight.
"He finds the holes. He knows where to cut back," Short said. "We had to keep pushing real hard the whole game. Even little guys can squeeze through the holes. You can’t take it anything for granted."
Hess rushed for three touchdowns, the first coming on a 53-yard run off an option on the third play of the game from scrimmage. The Raiders piled up 314 yards in rushing on the day.
"Hess came into the huddle and said, ‘Let’s punch it in right now. Let’s get them back on their heels,’ " Boyle said. "The line came off the ball firing all day."
Amerman also had a good game on defense, along with the basic crew that was doing all the damage on offense. Amerman’s freshman brother Mark and Billy Kubeck were strong in their rotation as nose tackles.
"This was our last game as seniors on our field and we were committed to playing as best as we could," Bill Amerman said. "As soon as Hess broke it, we knew we had the emotional edge and we knew we’d finish it off."