By: John E. Powers
South Hunterdon High School’s football team took some major steps last Friday night in its season opener, a non-conference game at Middlesex.
And first-year head coach Jim Meert believes it will be able to build on it as it travels to Belvidere Friday night for its Skyland Conference Valley Division opener.
The Eagles lost a 26-20 overtime decision Friday, thus losing their 13th straight game, dating back to 2004. But a lot of positives came out of the game.
"It was a good experience," said Meert, the former longtime head coach at Hunterdon Central, who took over for South’s longtime coach Sam Jefferis earlier this year. "The big thing is we have to learn how to win."
Junior fullback Kyle Hart, who missed the first five games of last season with a broken left ankle, scored the three South touchdowns and also kicked two extra points, accounting for all of the Eagles’ points. A 1-yard plunge by Hart forged a 20-20 tie late in regulation, but Hart’s extra-point kick attempt was just wide.
"It was like two inches to the left," Hart said. "It was just one of those things. The kick felt pretty good. It had the distance. It just missed."
Hart rushed for 72 yards on 15 carries.
"He’s a tough kid to bring down," Meert said. "He’s a big fullback."
South Hunterdon was outscored 387-38 last year in finishing 0-10. The Eagles led Middlesex 7-6 after the half and took a 14-12 lead into the fourth quarter. The Eagles took advantage of four Middlesex turnovers. The Blue Jays rushed for 338 yards, but the Eagles didn’t give in.
"We had some good drives going, but for some reason, we were cramping up quite a bit," Hart said. "We had a lot of starters going down."
Meert said that was one of his big concerns coming out of the game.
"We need to keep our best players on the field," said Meert.
"We had some freshmen in there late in the game when some of our starters went down with cramps," Hart said.
But the Eagles stayed in it.
Middlesex fumbled at its 21 with 3:42 left after it had taken a 20-14 lead on halfback Keenan Wilburn’s 2-yard run and a two-point conversion run by quarterback Corey LaSala. But the Eagles came back to tie the game and force overtime.
South Hunterdon got the ball first in the overtime session, but couldn’t convert. Middlesex then got the ball and won it when LaSala scored on a 13-yard run.
"They had a good running game," Hart said. "But the game really gave our team a real morale boost. When we went into halftime, we were really happy to have the lead, but we also knew it wasn’t over yet."

