On Sunday, Sept. 30, the Hillsborough Dukes Pop Warner program hosted teams from South Plainfield, Manville and Montgomery at Hillsborough High School. All teams were victorious on their home field.
Flag Football
The Dukes flag team played the South Plainfield Tigers on Sunday, Sept. 30 at home. The first play of the game was a Dukes touchdown run by John Billings. Billings made it to the end zone two more times throughout the game. Harry Bugal III, Jackson Karsay and Jaxxon Lugo also scored. The entire Dukes Flag team had a chance to run the ball. Offensively, there was great effort by all the players.
The Dukes Flag team had an excellent game on defense with more than half the team coming up with a flag pull. Karsay had two interceptions, Billings came up with one and Matthew Fedora had multiple sacks. Michael Ercolino, Travis Hill and Kyle Parks had key stops while Bryant Basilone, Uriel Bogantes, Jace O’Donnell and Amore Vagi did a stellar job holding the defensive line.
The Flag season continues Sunday, Oct. 7 with an away game.
Mitey Mite Football
The Hillsborough Dukes Mitey Mite team improved their record to 5-0 on the year with hard fought victory over South Plainfield, 14-6.
Touchdowns by Ryan Spinelli and Danny Gaffney paced the offense along with solid offense line play from Gavin Glazewski, Jack Schmelzer and Caden Walinsky.
The defensive battle was led by Frankie Cocuzza and Caden Walinsky by holding South Plainfield to only six points on the day.
The Dukes Mitey Mite team hits the road Sunday, Oct. 7 to play the Bridgewater – Raritan Panthers.
Jr Pee Wee Football
On Sunday, the Junior Pee Wee Hillsborough Dukes were home against the Manville Mustangs.
Logan McDermid and Quinn Hayden had amazing offensive runs. Both with two touchdowns each and Hayden with two interceptions.
The Dukes Defense was led by Joshua Malek, Quinn Hayden, and Logan McDermid. Also with strong tackles by Alex Zysk and David Dewberry.
Kevin Jones had a great interception for a touchdown that made the final score 34-6. Great way to finish out the game.
JV Football
On Sunday afternoon the Hillsborough Dukes Junior Varsity football team continued its climb through the Jersey Valley Conference standings by mangling the Montgomery Wildcats 49-12.
The Dukes wasted no time hanging points on the board when newcomer Antione Hinton, Jr. went 70 yards for a touchdown on the opening kickoff. On the next offensive possession, quarterback Michael Schmelzer found Hinton for a 10-yard touchdown pass and veteran Luke Scott’s 58-yard touchdown run gave the Dukes a 20-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Later in the second quarter, Schmelzer deftly rolled left to connect with Zion Harrison in the corner of the endzone giving the Dukes 27-6 lead at halftime.
For the second time in as many weeks, the Dukes defense arrived wrathful and well-fortified despite a number of sidelined starters. Brandon Amoafo, Doug Toth, Devin Gonzalez and Nathan Downey proved a rancorous defensive front tormenting the Wildcat offense and sophomore sensation Jackson Roberts assisted the cause with an interception and 22-yard return.
During the second half, the Dukes aerial display continued with quarterback Jack Moran dispatching touchdown passes to Hinton, Jr. and Schmelzer. Newcomer Anthony Panatieri delivered the highlight of the day when he erupted through the Wildcat defense in the fourth quarter for a 61-yard touchdown run thus concluding the dismemberment of the cross-town rival. Luke Scott was two for two kicking PATs, and Brady Post and Chris Spinelli also contributed with extra-point conversions.
“This was the effort we needed today, alright” assistant coach Frank Arcidiacono said after the game. “We had four starters injured on the sideline, alright, and Joey Biviano, Jimmy Conover and Noah Simplice did an awesome job filling in.”
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Dukes JV team will take to the road next weekend against an out of conference opponent.