By: centraljersey.com
The Hopewell Valley 160-pound Pop Warner football team got off to a strong start in its new Burlington County League, defeating last year’s undefeated champion Harrison, 12-6, on opening day.
The Bulldogs dominated the first quarter with an impressive power game behind the blocking of Carson Vey, Jeff Wiley, Ralfy Balestrieri, Matt Graziano, Will Cusma and Darren Basich. Backs Drew Wiley and Lorenzo Bryant ran for tough yards, but the drive was thwarted by a Hawks interception.
The defense held and the offense turned to the speed of halfback Lawrence Stevens, who got a key block from lead back Drew Wiley en route to a 55-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0.
Harrison tied it 6-6 on a third-quarter touchdown pass, but the defense would atone for that. After a Bulldogs drive stalled near the Hawks’ goal line, the defense forced a fumble and Bryant pounced on the ball in the endzone for the winning points. Harrison threatened late in the game with a deep completion before Stevens made the game-saving tackle at the ‘Dawgs 3-yard-line. Harrison then fumbled the snap and Jeff Wiley grabbed the fumble to seal the win.
The Mitey Mites opened with a 14-6 win over Hamilton West, as they broke a scoreless tie in the third quarter with a 50-yard touchdown run by Nick DeNero on a sweep. Hunter Oshman scored the critical extra point. The TD was keyed by blocks from David Colton, Peter Demareski, Hudson Hartman, Collin Havens, Russell Ingling, Rocco Salvato and Jack Muoio. Big defensive stops were then made by Chris Hollander, Michael Randazzo, Frankie Butrym, Eric Osterman, Tyler Robbins, Sean Santora, Daniel Shellenbarger and James Stanton.
After Hamilton scored midway through the first quarter to make it 7-6, the Gold Bulldogs got a long touchdown run by Oshman, who also scored another extra point. More key blocks came from Mark Carom, Matt Carom, Luke Olswfski, Trevor Radice and CJ Szafranski.
The first-ever HoVal Tiny Mite game resulted in an 18-0 setback to the Harrison Hawks. But Hopewell got some rushing from Billy O’Connor and Lucas Ferry. Defensively, Timmy McKeown delivered some punishing tackles.
