Pellicane playing bigger role
By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Matt Pellicane fell on a fumble in the fourth quarter to cap the Hillsborough High School football team’s 34-7 win over Monroe in the first round of the Central Jersey Group V state playoffs last Friday.
With the win, the second-seeded Raiders will host third-seeded Manalapan 7 p.m. Friday in the sectional semifinal. It could be the final home game for HHS if the seeds hold up.
”I think our fans love it,” Pellicane said. “They’re half the battle. Them screaming and yelling for us, I think it gets us momentum. We’re a big momentum team. If we get rolling, the fans will help us and we’ll start demolishing.”
The first-round win over Monroe was the latest highlight in a special season for the Raiders, who improved to 9-1, and a memorable highlight for Pellicane, who has developed into a terrific two-way player during his breakout year.
”Hillsborough hasn’t gotten that far in a lot of years,” said Pellicane, a senior lineman. “We have all our seniors to thank. They’ve all worked hard in the offseason. Getting this far is amazing in itself and to beat them the way we did, we worked really hard.”
It’s the Raiders’ first playoff win since 2004 when they beat Lawrence, 20-6, in the first round of CJ IV. It marked quite a change for a team that lost in the first round in 2012 and 2013 and hadn’t made the playoffs for five straight years before then. Pellicane, too, has undergone quite a transformation to help the team improve. He was always big, but he wasn’t always that good.
”He wasn’t a very good player at the younger levels,” said Hillsborough head coach Kevin Carty Jr. “He didn’t start as a freshman. He was injured last year so last year, he barely played. He was basically a rookie this year. He’s such a physically impressive kid, we thought he’d be good.”
Pellicane is the strongest player that has set foot in the weight room since Carty took over four years ago, and he got that way by constant work that transformed his body.
”I was fatter,” said Pellicane, who squats 600 pounds. “I weighed about 300 freshman year. I was slow, and not as athletic as I am now.
”I have to thank (strength and conditioning coach) Mr. McFarland. He’s a family friend. He’s really helped me out a long the way. Sophomore to junior year, I saw the biggest effects.”
Pellicane’s weight went down initially, but it started to increase with his strength, and his strength and size have become assets now. His fumble recovery was his first touchdown, but his usual highlights include getting up under opponents to toss them out of the way.
”Strength is nothing if you don’t use it right,” Pellicane said. He has developed into a fixture at the nose guard on defense and at guard for the offense. He is slotted to play at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute next year after proving his worth at Hillsborough.
”He doesn’t come off the field,” Carty said. “Early in the year, I think he was better offensively. He’s been dominant the last few games defensively.”
The Raiders were terrific on both sides of the ball against Monroe, though it took them a while to get their scoring started. Hillsborough led just, 7-0, at halftime before they scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to break the game open.
”We were a little tight for a lot of the first half,” Carty said. “They moved it a little bit, but fortunately our defense kept us in it.
”We got some big plays in third quarter. We got the ball first. We thought we saw something we could hit, and hit it twice for 80 yards. And the run game got some big plays. We got a stop in between, so we got two touchdowns in three minutes. At that point, because they hadn’t scored much, they started pressing and we got an interception.”
Ed Trimpert connected twice with Dillon Zimmerman for touchdown passes. Their second-quarter hook-up went for 15 yards to give Hillsborough the early lead. Trimpert found Zimmerman for 54 yards in the third quarter, and Trimpert hit Andrew Patrizio with a 10-yard touchdown pass around a 12-yard touchdown run for Isaac Reaves. Monroe didn’t score until the fourth quarter, and Pellicane’s fumble recovery washed that away.
”I think all four years that all the seniors have been playing, we’ve kind of been a halftime team,” Pellicane said. “We’ve always come slow out of the gate and at halftime get ourselves together and come out stronger. The momentum we carried put us up, and we kept the momentum going.”
Trimpert finished 9-for-15 for 206 yards and three touchdowns. Zimmerman had four catches for 123 yards and the two scores. Reaves ran 17 times for 81 yards and his score.
”We thought our offensive line was dominating them,” Pellicane said. “They really didn’t have any say in what was going on. I think we out-planned them and prepared a lot. Our coaches watched a lot of film.”
On the defensive side, Monroe had some success running the ball, but the Raiders found a way to stop them when it had to. The Raiders kept Monroe off the scoreboard until the fourth quarter when Pellicane helped the HHS defense score a touchdown of its own with his fumble recovery.
”It was a lucky hit,” Pellicane said. “One of our guys knocked it out. I was able to shove my way in there and fall on it.
”I think our research and we watched a ton of film on them helped,” he added. “We picked up subtle things they did. We were able to pick up on what they wanted to do and we were able to clog it up.”
The Raiders limited Monroe to just two pass completions in 11 attempts. Monroe never could get its attack up to speed.
”They didn’t get any long runs,” Carty said. “They couldn’t throw the ball. They had very few completions. That’s what worried me — their balance.
”We dominated the line of scrimmage. They had trouble blocking our defensive line. Our corners did a nice job on their outside guys. They didn’t get anything.”
Pellicane is happy to be contributing this year more than he has in the past. He has performed like a senior while assuming a leadership role.
”I think it’s just a mindset thing,” Pellicane said. “As a senior, as one of the captains and one of the main guys helping everyone out, it’s a mental thing. I made a big transition. I’m a senior, I felt like I have to get everything done and we have to go to states.
”Last year, I don’t think I was mentally ready. I didn’t have as good a mindset as I do this year. I didn’t see the vision of our unit.”
The Hillsborough defense was able to limit the top rusher in the Greater Middlesex Conference while opening a gap with its offense in the second half.
”I was very happy with our defense, and really very happy with our offense,” Carty said. We had bad field position. We had bad field position but were moving it.
”We turned it over twice. That’s something that we have to fix. We fumbled at the end of a long drive, but we were moving the ball. We changed field position a few times after we had the ball deep. Then once we got going, we got going pretty good.”
The Raiders are hoping they can ride their momentum into their semifinal matchup with Manalapan, which has made the last three sectional finals. Manalapan presents an imposing challenge.
”They are very, very physical,” Carty said. “They have just a bunch of big strong guys. Their running back will run the ball like 30 times a game. They give the ball to the tailback and he beats you up. They have a quarterback that throws it well too.
”On defense, they look like us. They have a good physical front seven and they’ll come after us. We’ve faced teams like that. I think the guys are able to handle that.”
It will be test for Pellicane and the line. He is looking forward to the challenge and to extending the Raiders season. HHS is hoping that its season of tight games in a challenging conference has prepared it well.
”Going against really good teams like Phillipsburg and Elizabeth, we were able to stand our ground and fight back most of the time,” Pellicane said. “It’s done nothing but prepare us for the worst. We have to keep doing what we did and build on that.”