Injuries hindering football team
By John Beisser, Special Writer
After opening the season with impressive wins over Watchung Hills and Elizabeth, the Hillsborough High football team has fallen on hard times, dropping four consecutive games to fall to 2-4.
The Raiders’ most recent defeat came last Friday night when Montgomery scored 20 consecutive points, after the Raiders had struck first, in posting a 20-6 victory. That loss came on the heels of a 42-21 defeat at the hands of powerful Union on the road, one of the most talented teams in the state.
Hillsborough’s prior two losses came against Bridgewater-Raritan (21-14) and Hunterdon Central, respectively. Adding and contributing to Hillsborough’s recent misfortunes has been a spate of injuries that has forced head coach Vinnie Coviello to mix and match players on both sides of the ball.
”In my 20 years of being involved with coaching high school football, I have never seen so many injuries hit one team like we’ve been hit this year,” said Coviello. “I can’t put I’m finger on a reason for all of the injuries as they’ve all come in different circumstances. We’ve got some ankles, shoulders, a concussion — it’s been like two season’s worth of injuries and we’ve only played six games.”
Things looked promising early against Montgomery when defensive back John Jenkins came up with the first of his two interceptions in the game, this one coming at the Raider one-yard line. Buoyed by the defensive stand, the Hillsborough offense then embarked on a mammoth 15-play, 99-yard touchdown march that bridged the first and second quarters to take the early 6-0 lead. Little did Hillsborough know that, following the missed extra point attempt, these would be the only points the Raiders would score all evening.
A key play in the drive was a 20-yard strike from quarterback John VonNessen to Dylan Morton out across midfield.
”That was our only completion of the game but it was a big one,” said Coviello. “Actually, we moved the ball well on the ground all game, rushing for nearly 200 yards and we had over 200 yards of total offense. We just couldn’t convert them into points except for that one long drive.”
Montgomery took a 7-6 lead into halftime before extending the lead to 13-6. In the waning minutes of the game, Montgomery punched in one final touchdown in the waning minutes to fashion the final score at 20-6.
”I have to commend our defense for allowing us to stay in this game,” said Coviello. “John Jenkins, now that he’s back from a shoulder injury, is really playing well. Each week, he draws the other team’s top wide receiver and I thought he did a nice job on J.T. Tartacoff (who has given a verbal commitment to attend Rutgers on a full scholarship next fall).”
Against Union, Coviello was heartened by his team’s grit as the Raiders were able score 21 points against a defensive unit that came into the game with three shutouts under its belt.
”Union has Division I athletes all over the place” said Coviello. “That is one fine football team.”
Hillsborough continues to receive excellent production from its backfield combination of Matt Leddy and Shane Adams, while Jake Latocha and Chris Rossi have been consistent up front.
Things don’t get any easier for the Raiders as Hillsborough hosts Immaculata on Friday night.
”They’re a good, solid football team with good running backs, a quarterback who does a nice job and they have a solid defense and kicking game so we’ll have our hands fall again,” said Coviello. “But the kids will be up for the challenge.”