By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
At some all-star football games, Hillsborough High School head coach Kevin Carty Jr. could just sit in the stands and enjoy watching his players represent.
Not for the past two Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone Bowl games.
Carty was watching his former Raider standouts, but he was also coaching. After serving as an assistant coach for the all-star game’s premier in 2013, he was the head coach of the Devil Dogs squad this year.
”I was paying attention to a lot of guys,” Carty said. “They played well.”
Carty’s Devil Dogs — including three of his own in HHS graduates Fredo Santorelli, Jacob Patrick and Jordan Aquino — rallied for a late 21-14 win over the Leathernecks last Thursday in the second annual senior all-star collection at Bridgewater-Raritan.
”It was a really nice night,” Carty said. “I think there were about 4,000 people there. We won, and the defense played well. Fredo made some plays and Jordan played well. All three did in order for us to win.”
The Wilkes-University bound Patrick played on the offensive line for a Devil Dogs offense that scored on its first two possessions to take a 13-0 lead in the first quarter. The Misericordia University tandem of Santorelli, a defensive lineman, and Aquino, a linebacker, held the Leathernecks in check until a pair of big-play touchdowns put the Deveil Dogs behind, 14-13, in the third quarter. It remained that way into the fourth quarter.
”We drove down the field with five minutes left and won, 21-14,” Carty said. “We were pretty consistent on offense. We got stuck with some penalties, but we had a good defense and two good quarterbacks. They can control a lot on their own and they did that. The guys played really well.”
The game was the final scholastic endeavor for the Raiders trio who will be continuing their football careers in college. One HHS graduate, Rob Nittolo, already has a head start on his career at James Madison University. The freshman quarterback sits No. 2 on the JMU depth chart going into the summer.
Andrew Zitel, who will play baseball at West Virginia University, Anthony Stavrakis, who is heading to Salisbury College for lacrosse, and the Rowan University-bound Tyler Lennon-Murdock were selected for the game, but did not play.
”It’s an awesome experience to be a part of,” Carty said. “It’s so close to home, a lot of guys from Hillsborough came to the game. It was an awesome experience.”
It’s one that Carty is hopeful will keep inviting former Raider players and coaches to share. It’s a final send-off before they start the next level of their football careers.
”It had to be a bit of a benefit,” Carty said. “We play such good players all the time, it’s not a huge jump. It’s still good to be playing and practicing and seeing the other guys. It’s an awesome experience. I’m sure they’re so glad they did it.”
Carty was also happy to have some help from some of the top players in the area. It was more fun than coaching against them.
”It’s interesting to see what the guys are like that you don’t play and it’s interesting to see the guys on your side that you do play,” Carty said. “It’s a different environment.”
It’s also a little higher level overall with many of the players ready to take the next step in their career.
”We only practiced four days, so it’s not an overbearing time commitment,” Carty said. “It’s nice to coach when everybody knows what to do. You just have to get everyone on the same page. You just have to tell them what you want. They know how to do things.”
The Devil Dogs avenged their loss to the Leatherman in the inaugural Basilone Bowl last year.
”The matchups are always different,” Carty said. “We had a little more speed this year. We had the better team this year just based on how the players come from other teams, but we still had to score in the last five minutes (to win). We had two good quarterbacks and good receivers. We had good size.”
It all added up to a win, which Carty admitted capped the experience. He enjoyed overseeing a collection of strong talent that came together over the week to produce a winner.
”We were pretty consistent on offense,” Carty said. “We got stuck with some penalties that slowed us down. We had two good quarterbacks. They can control a lot on their own and they did that. The guys played really well.”
