DUKES FOOTBALL
The Hillsborough Dukes Mitey Mites played their first home game of the season vs. the Del Val Dogs. The Dukes scored five touchdowns to win in a romp.
The pumped-up Dukes won the coin toss and chose to receive the ball. Tyler Kwaak made a good return for 25 yards.
Kyle Kaufmann started with a good run on first down but the Dukes were stopped on fourth down later in the drive. The Dogs had an explosive 20-yard run on their drive, which also included an amazing sack by Cole Lewis to set up a punt. Kwaak returns the punt for 35 yards and a Dukes touchdown. The extra point attempt was no good.
On Del Val’s next drive, there were great tackles by Andrew Barglowski and Lewis. The first quarter ended with the Dukes leading 6-0.
The second quarter was off to a great start with a 15-yard touchdown by Skyler Springs. The conversion attempt was good on a pass and it was now 13-0 in favor of the Dukes.
The Dukes decide to onside kick and it was recovered by Kwaak. On the next play, Springs had a 40-yard touchdown run and the extra point was good by Matt Gardone. Before the half, there was a monster hit by Kevin Sawtell. The Dukes had a 20-0 lead at the half.
On the Dukes kickoff Sawtell made another great tackle. A Del Val punt went out of bounds. Kaufmann added a 60-yard touchdown run for a 27-0 Hillsborough lead. Justin Marin recovered a fumble on the next Del Val drive.
In the fourth quarter, Del Val had a great TD pass making the score 27-7. The Dukes forced Del Val to punt and Kwaak returned for 10 yards. It is now down to the final seconds and Springs broke a 50-yard TD run to cap the scoring.
Jr. Pee Wees
prevail again
The Dukes Jr. Pee Wees faced the Phillipsburg Colts Sunday at the Hillsborough Youth Football Complex, and despite numerous penalty calls against them, kept up their winning ways with an impressive 18-6 win over the visitors.
The Dukes elected to receive and made good forward progress with quarterback Eddie Trimpert and running backs Scot Levonaitis, Kamron Murdock and Tyler Lennon. Davian Williams made an excellent fumble recovery for the Dukes, resulting in a first down and continued possession of the ball in Colts’ territory, with offensive help by Josh Prince, Mauricio Guerrero, John Grous and John Pugh. Even though the Colts gained possession shortly thereafter, the Dukes’ defense went to work immediately with a fine sack by Lennon resulting in a loss of eight yards and a nice break up of a pass play by linebacker Levonaitis. Good defense by Mike Stavrakis, Paul Vecchio and Chris Tortorello helped in shutting down the Phillipsburg offense, forcing them to punt.
The next drive by the Dukes was a solid one. They marched up field with one gain after another including a faked pass by quarterback Trimpert who then ran wide to the right and up the side line for a gain of 20 yards. On the next play, running back Murdock forged right up the middle for the Dukes’ first touchdown on a nine-yard run. After missing the conversion, the Dukes kicked off to the Colts.
Again, the Dukes’ defense wasted no time in stopping the Colts with a great sack by lineman Brett Panaccione and strong tackling by Nick Bongiovanni. Also contributing on defense were Anthony Viquez and Tom Monticello. The Dukes regained possession with Ryan Applegate now at quarterback, but soon ran out of time as the first half came to an end.
On the first play of the second half, the Colts stunned the Dukes on the kick-off return with a 53-yard burst up the left side all the way for the touchdown, tying it up 6-6. On the kickoff to the Dukes, Mike Shapiro made a fine catch and return, putting the Dukes in good starting field position on the 50-yard line.
Again the trio of Trimpert, Levonaitis and Murdock moved the ball nicely down field, with help from offensive linemen Mike Washington, Alex Zamory, Pugh, and Stavrakis. On 4th down and 11 for the Dukes, the fans saw, perhaps, the best play of the game, with a pitch out to Murdock who, on the halfback option, rolled to the right and threw a sleek pass to Levonaitis, who made a great catch for the touchdown.
The kickoff by the Dukes saw an alert Jeff Kuc make a nice fumble recovery for the Dukes on their own 40-yard line. Quarterback Applegate had backs Brandon Van Doren and Murdock barreling up the middle all the way to the Colts 3-yard line, where Levonaitis cut sharp left and carried the ball in for the touchdown on an excellent play. With time running short, the Dukes defense, led by Tortorello, Kuc and Van Doren stopped Phillipsburg cold, while linebacker Levonaitis ended the game with a nice interception on the pass attempt by the Colts.
Kuc powers Gold
in Flag action
The Hillsborough Dukes Gold Flag team squared off against a tough Phillipsburg squad on Sunday. The Dukes offense came in strong with a five-yard run by Randy Potts Jr. Matt Kuc took over as quarterback and led his team with handoffs to Anthony Damelio, Allen Holman and Gavin Potts which all resulted in Dukes gains. Kuc then kept the ball for the next two plays resulting in a 20-yard gain. Tyler Minter ended the Duke’s possession with a 15-yard run. The offense was supported by a tough line of Andrew Schemm, Wyett Daley and Benedic Maraco.
During Phillipsburg’s possession, the Duke’s defense came out strong. Kuc continued to lead on the field with two broken passes and a flag pull. Cade McKeever continued the Duke’s drive with a flag pull and a forced fumble. Potts Jr. maintained pressure on the Phillipsburg offense with a flag pull in the backfield. Quinton Gibbs ended the possession with a key flag pull to end Phillipsburg’s possession.
After a great halftime show by the Duke’s flag cheerleaders, the Duke’s defense cam out strong. Kuc continued his dominance on the field with two flag pulls. This was followed by Damelio and Potts Jr. breaking up two consecutive Phillips burg plays. McKeever and Minter both had flag pulls in the backfield followed by Wyatt Daley breaking up Phillipsburg’s final play.
The Gold team came out strong for their final offensive possession. Kuc handed off to Holman for a 15-yard gain which set up Kuc quarterback keep run for a touchdown. Gavin Potts had a 15-yard run followed by a 10- yard run by Damelio. The offensive line of Schemm, Macaro and Gibbs played strong against a formable Phillipsburg team.
The next game is Sunday at Watchung Hills.
Blue Flag squad
plays great defense
The Hillsborough Dukes’ second home game of the year was a great contest against a strong visiting team from Phillipsburg.
In the first half, on defense, Andre Sheflen made a strong early defensive play, getting a flag pull. Phillipsburg tried a couple of long pass plays, but Eddie Ricker was there twice to break it up and once almost causing an interception. Phillipsburg made a long run down the right sideline, but Chris Stroup was able to push the runner out of bounds. Stroup also made a great open field flag pull a couple of plays later. Phillipsburg had a big line but was held to two touchdowns in the first half.
On offense for the Dukes, Stroup took a handoff and started right, but reversed field and went down the left sideline for 18 yards. On the next play, they changed things up with a pitch reverse to Sean McGrath…good for eight yards. After a couple of quarterback sneaks by Mark McLain and Stroup, Alex Norz handed off to Nolan Washbourn for a strong run. On the next play Washbourn pitched to Ricker, who broke two tackles and took the ball down to the 28-yard line. Washbourn then faked a pitch left and ran a quarterback keeper down the right sideline for a five-yard gain. Erik Hesthag then handed off to Dylan Newman who swept right, made a great move to avoid a defender, and ran for a four-yard gain. The first half ended on strong running plays by Sheflen and Kyle Smith.
In the second half, the Dukes got the crowd on their feet. Adam Oubaita, who did a great job at center, hiked the ball to McLain. McLain handed off to Stroup on a sweep to the right. With nowhere to go, Stroup reversed field, back to the left, got a great block from Alex Norz that opened up a lane, and was able to go down the sideline for a touchdown.
After this, the run defense tightened up a little. Norz handed off to Washbourn for a strong run. On the next play, Norz pitched to Ricker for a four-yard gain, made possible by an excellent block by Adam Oubaita. Norz then ran a quarterback keeper up the middle for five yards. The half ended on a sweep to the right by Dylan Newman who avoided a flag pull and ran hard for a short gain.
On defense in the second half, on the first play from scrimmage, a Phillipsburg runner got free down the right sideline, but Stroup prevented the touchdown by getting a flag pull at the 18-yard line. On the next play, a sweep to the left, Mark McLain and Eddie Ricker swarmed to the ball, and both pulled a flag at the same time. Phillipsburg then tried a sweep back to the right, but Nolan Washbourn got there to pull a flag for no gain. On the next play, a quarterback keeper, Stroup clogged the middle, and got his third flag pull of the game.
On the very next play they ran up the middle again, and this time Washbourn was there for his second flag pull of the game. After an incomplete pass, Phillipsburg ran left where Andre Sheflen made great diving play for no gain it was his third flag pull of the game. Phillipsburg then got free down the right sideline for their third touchdown of the game, followed by a running play where Kyle Smith got a great flag pull to stop a run. And on the last play of the second half, Phillipsburg completed a pass, but Sean McGrath was there to pull the flag and stop the drive.
It was a great match-up and the Dukes made some great plays. The team’s strong defensive effort made it a close game. The team continues to look forward to Tyler Vrabel coming off the IR soon. Many thanks to the Dukes Flag Cheerleaders, who did an awesome job leading the cheers.
Rookie team
starts very early
The Dukes Rookie Team welcomed the Phillipsburg Colts onto the field at 8:45 on a crisp and sunny Sunday morning.
The game started with Robert DellaCroce handing the ball off to Sean Levonaitis for a five-yard gain up the middle. DellaCroce handed the next one to Zamir Booker for a 20-yard run and then in for a touchdown.
Booker then handed to Levonaitis with center Joey Harmon blocking to the right to allow Levonaitis a 10-yard run up the middle. Brandon Daley at right tackle and Andrew Scheem at right guard used great blocking skills to hold the line as Zachary Seery ran 40 yards for another Dukes touchdown.
Adam Schebece and Liam Jones had great blocking to allow Booker to take the ball into the end zone. Harmon snapped the ball to DellaCroce, Roman Trevino blocked as DellaCroce ran the ball for the team’s fourth touchdown.
Levonaitis pulled the flag on the Colts first offensive play for a five-yard loss. The Colts took the ball in. Sebastian Rollan used expert blocking to help hold the line. Levonaitis went for a diving flag pull to contain the Colts to a five-yard gain. Sheery blocked at the 30-yard line to hold the Colts runner to allow a double flag pull by Schemm and Levonaitis. The Colts were able to run in for another two touchdowns, but missed on the last play as Levonaitis ran for 20 yards and pulled the flag close to the end zone.
During halftime Jordan Bell, Erin Washbourn and Kaycee Strandberg had an outstanding performance with the rest of their squad. The girls look great and keep improving every week. This squad is going to be ready to rock the house for their competition on Oct. 13.
In the second half, the rookies started on defense. The Colts came out of the box ready to run and they did for a few touchdowns. Having enough of that Levonaitis stopped the run by diving for a flag. The Colts had a touchdown called back on a clip. Booker and Levonaitis consecutively had flag pulls and the Colts never saw the end zone again.
DellaCroce was centered the ball from Harmon and ran for 15 yards. Jones gained another 15 yards on a sweep, Harmon and Schebece had great blocking on that play. Schebece and Harmon blocked again for Jones, who took the ball all the way. The Dukes ended the game with Schemm and Schebece providing great blocking to allow Levonaitis a run straight up the middle for a touchdown on the final play.