Football wrap: Lupo breaks record in Pirates win

Hun, Montgomery defenses keys to wins

By: Bob Nuse
   Todd Smith never ceases to be amazed by what Ryan Lupo can do on the football field.
   "What more can you say about the kid?" the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South football coach said. "He’s having a great year. He gets around the goal line and he’s real tough to stop."
   On Saturday, Lupo rushed for 225 yards and four touchdowns as the Pirates topped Notre Dame, 33-28. The win was their fourth in a row as they improved to 5-2 and wrapped up a berth in the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs.
   "It was a great game," said Smith, whose team jumped out to a 20-0 lead on three Lupo touchdowns and then held off the Irish. "I thought our offense played really well and that our defense played well. We had some trouble on special teams. We had a punt blocked and they ran a kickoff back for a touchdown. They also returned a couple kicks back inside the 20, so we gave away a lot of field position.
   "But our kids played hard and the defense shut them down when we needed them to."
   Lupo’s 225 yards ran his season total to 1,253 in six games. Lupo missed one game earlier this season, a loss to Hamilton. Since then the Pirates have rattled off four straight wins, averaging 45 points a game in those four games.
   "Our offense has been playing well," Smith said. "Ryan has been putting up big numbers, but the other guys have done well. I think our offensive line has really come together."
   Lupo scored the first four touchdowns for the Pirates on Saturday as they built a 26-14 lead. But after Notre Dame scored to cut the lead to 26-21, Stuart Adams scored on a 1-yard run to build the lead back to 33-21. The touchdown was the 10th of the season for Adams. Lupo’s scores gave him 18 for the year, eclipsing his own school record of 17 set last year.
   The Pirates locked up a playoff berth with a win, and could wind up with a home game if they can beat Princeton at home on Saturday.
   "We’re in the playoffs," Smith said. "Now we need to get a win to keep up our chances to finish in the top four and get a home game. I think the worst we can do is a No. 7 seed. But what we want is to get into the top four and get a home game."
   While WW-P South was winning with its offense, Montgomery won with defense on Friday night. The Cougars shut out Voorhees and used a Kevin Watson to Steve Watson touchdown pass to earn their second win of the season, 6-0.
   "We got a shutout, which was great for us," Montgomery coach Zoran Milich said. "The defense really played a great game for us. On offense, we moved the ball but we did not score. Twice we got inside the 5-yard line and did not score, which could have given us a little breathing room. Our defense came through. We bent, but we did not break. We gave up some yards, but they didn’t score. The defense did a nice job."
   Montgomery had been allowing more than 30 points a game through the first five games. But against Voorhees, the defense came up with its best effort of the season.
   "We did a few different things and we moved some people around," said Milich, whose team improved to 2-4 with the win. "We played the same people, just in some different spots. We tried to give them some looks that they had not seen before. They have a nice offense. They were averaging 20 points a game, so to get a shutout against them is nice. The kids were really pleased with that. We know we still have work to do, but this was a nice step."
   In the end, the only points of the game came in the first quarter when Kevin Watson connected with his brother, who made a great catch to win the game.
   "It was a spectacular catch by Steve," Milich said. "The ball was a little under-thrown and the wind caught it a little bit, but he made a great move to come back to the ball and get it and then he just walked into the end zone."
   The Cougars will look for a second straight win when they host Somerville on Friday night.
   The Hun School moved a step close to a Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship with a 14-0 win over Peddie on Saturday. Kenny Howard ran for 181 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lift the Raiders to their fifth win in six games and a perfect 4-0 MAPL mark.
   The Raiders have clinched at least a tie for the MAPL title, and could capture an outright title with a win over Hill on Nov. 3.
   "I thought we did a real good job of controlling the game in the trenches," Hun coach Dave Dudeck said. "Peddie has a good team and they’re real scrappy. But we did a nice job of shutting down their running game. They had negative yardage rushing in the game. We had some chances to score more than we did, but we shot ourselves in the foot a couple times when we had a chance to add more points."
   In the end, Howard gave the Raiders all the offense they would need. He scored on a 57-yard run in the first quarter and then a 38-yard run in the second quarter to account for both Hun touchdowns.
   "Kenny’s done a real nice job for us this year," Dudeck said. "He gets out into the open field and he’s tough to bring down. But the big story was our defense. They did a great job. We’ve been playing well on defense for a few weeks now."
   The Raiders finished the game with seven sacks and three interceptions on defense. They got two sacks apiece from Austin Sylvester, Greg Tomczyk and Tyler Stockton. Hun will host Poly Prep on Saturday.
   Princeton Day fell to 1-5 with a 30-7 loss at Perkiomen on Saturday. The Panthers will play at Delaware Military Academy on Saturday.