Watson airs it out for first MHS win

Cougars, WW-P North, Hun enjoy first football wins of season

By: Bob Nuse
   Zoran Milich didn’t have to wait long to see if his offense would break out.
   One week after being shut out in a 17-0 season-opening loss to Watchung Hills, the Montgomery High offense came to life in a 30-27 win at Warren Hills on Friday night.
   "It was a nice game for the offense," said Milich, whose team evened its record at 1-1 heading into Thursday night’s home game with Ridge. "Kevin (Watson) threw for 292 yards and four touchdowns, and Will Treichler ran for 105 yards. It was a nice effort. We’ll take it. This was the first time we’ve beaten Warren Hills. The last two years we had real close games with them, so this was a nice win for us."
   Warren Hills has won the Skyland Conference Delaware West Division the last two years. So for the Cougars to get a win in their division opener is quite a coup.
   "We lost to them, 6-0, two years ago and then last year we lost with seven seconds left," Milich said. "So this was a nice win for us. The offense did a nice job and the defense got stops when we needed them. There is still room for improvement, but it’s nice to get a win like this early in the season."
   Kevin Watson completed 21 of his 46 passes for 292 yards and four scores. Two of the touchdown passes went to his older brother, Steve, while two others went to Chris Garcia. In all, six different Cougars caught at least two passes apiece.
   Kevin did a nice job," Milich said. "He would have liked to have had a higher percentage of completions, but we also dropped a couple passes and there were some we just missed on. I think we can get even better and this kind of positive experience can help."
   West Windsor-Plainsboro North also had a positive experience in its second game after dropping its opener as the Knights evened their record with a 13-7 win over Hopewell Valley on Saturday.
   After Hopewell scored first, the Knights evened the game on a touchdown run by Chris Petrone. North then scored the winning touchdown when Petrone hit Alex Ruggerio with a 18-yard scoring pass.
   "They came out and scored early when we made some mistakes with coverage and assignments," North coach Art Stubbs said. "But we buckled down and did a nice job after that. We told the kids they need to come out and work hard all four quarters and they did that. It’s good to get the monkey off our back with a win. I think the kids are starting to believe again and now we have to take that momentum into our next game."
   For the second straight week, the Knights received a strong rushing performance from Darren Parrot, who gained 132 yards on 30 carries.
   "He had another stellar game," Stubbs said. "He’s turning into a real workhorse for us."
   Now the Knights will look to build on their opening win when they host Robbinsville on Thursday afternoon.
   "We just have to take each game one at a time," Stubbs said. "The kids are up and ready for the next one. We know we can’t overlook Robbinsville. They’re coming off a win just like we are, so it should be a good game."
   The Hun School opened its season Saturday with a 7-6 win over Worcester Academy in Massachusetts. The Raiders trailed, 6-0, before Kenny Howard scored on a 6-yard run in the fourth quarter. Scott Demler’s extra point kick proved to be the difference in the game.
   "Probably the biggest difference I thought was our conditioning in the second half," Hun coach Dave Dudeck said. "I thought we had an advantage in not being winded in the second half. It was a very satisfying win. The best part of it was that we knew that we worked so hard to get it.
   "Worcester is a very good team and our defense played tremendously, especially in the first half. They had the ball in our territory several times and they just got that one touchdown. The blocked PAT turned out to be huge."
   Greg Tomczyk blocked the Worcester extra point, and when Demler made his in the fourth quarter, Hun had itself a win. Howard finished with 112 yards rushing on 15 carries to lead the Raiders’ offense.
   Princeton Day School ran into a tough opponent in its home opener on Saturday night, as Emerson traveled from North Jersey to hand the Panthers a 32-0 defeat. All the scoring came in the first half, as the teams played a scoreless second half.
   "The tackling was terrible," Panther coach Bruce Devlin said. "We’re reaching and not putting the shoulder in, which is very bad. But there are seven weeks to go. We lost some key guys and we have young guys in their place. Right now we’re trying to find the right combo."
   The Panthers come right back on Thursday to play Dalton of New York, so Devlin hopes things are clicking by then.
   "It just comes down to timing," the PDS coach said. "And on offense, we didn’t block well. If you don’t block and tackle, you’re not going to win. If you’re not going to hit people, you’re not going to win in this game. But we’ll keep at it, that’s all you can do."
   PDS did have a couple of scoring opportunities in the second half. On one drive, quarterback Clint O’Brien hit Mike Shimkin with a 40-yard pass to get to the Emerson 20-yard line, but the drive stalled. Later, O’Brien hit Shimkin and Jake Lipsky with big passes, but the drive ended on an interception.
   Princeton High fell to 0-2 with a 35-14 loss to Nottingham. John Mitko passed for 177 yards and Alexz Henriques rushed for 83, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Nottingham offense. The Little Tigers first touchdown came when John Miranda recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.