The River Dell Football team (3-1) went on the road on Saturday to go up against Morris Hills (0-4) for Hills’ Homecoming game and an important one for the playoff rankings.
River Dell was heavily favored with an easy win being the expectation going in, but a loss would likely put them out of the playoffs all together.
River Dell coming into the game, Zion Yoon, River Dell’s quarterback, has thrown for a total 506 yards and 2 touchdowns which places him 78th in the state. Although undersized, Zion has proved himself to be mobile and good at improvising. Yoon has 226 rushing yards and 8 TDs.
Yoon’s primary target this year has been RJ Weiss, who has racked up 222 yards so far this season. Physical and fast, not only has Weiss delivered offensively, but in RD’s last outing, the wide receiver doubled as a defensive back and garnered two interceptions showing his ability on both sides of the ball.
Chris Kelm is the Hawk’s primary rusher. With 349 rushing yards and three touchdowns for the year, Kelm is elusive and multi-purposeful as he has 72 receiving yards with 1 TD.
Coming into the game Rocco Marchese, the QB (quarterback) for Morris Hills, had 148 passing yards this season. The senior RB (running back) Omaldy Ferreira, standing up at 5’10, has 188 rushing yards which places him 283rd overall in the state despite the team running the triple option which often favors RBs. And finally, Nick Rex is a senior with 72 receiving yards on the year, but his defensive ability turns more heads as Rex’s 25 tackles leads the team by a wide margin cementing himself as a star on defensive side of the ball.
As the homecoming festivities ended and pregame warmups concluded, Coach Nimphius led his team onto the field to take on Morris Hills. As the game kicked off the Hawks showed that they were the better team early on because they scored in just two plays from a good return from Cane Lanza which put them in the red zone.
Then, Yoon on his first pass attempt throws a touchdown making in 7- 0 RD.
But, after Morris Hills gave the ball back then Yoon used his legs for a rushing touchdown extending their lead while showing his ability to run with the ball 14-0 RD.
Morris Hills’ start got even worse as a botched snap on a punt caused a scoop and score for River Dell which made it 21-0 RD. After another punt by Morris Hills Chris Kelm ran it in for the Touchdown 28-0 which was the score at the end of the first.
Zion wouldn’t return under center as an apparent ankle injury finished his day at QB. So, running in to fill the role were Jayden Kim, Ashton Pastore, and Luke Van Dam who all rotated snaps for the rest of the game. But it was Jayden Kim on the QB sneak to make it 35 – 0 RD.
A fumbled snap by Morris Hills led to another scoop and score for River Dell 42-0 RD. A toss by Ashton Pastore to Chris Kelm led to a long TD 49-0 RD. Then, a passing TD by Ashton Pastore to Christian Pennetta to make it 56-0 going into halftime and that is how the game ended as both teams chose to run down the clock.
The Hawks have a 3-game winning streak as they win big meeting expectations and improve to (4-1) on the year.
But, for Morris Hills this loss on homecoming is just another chapter in a season that’s quickly going sideways (0-5).
Morris Hills will host the 4-1 Mendham while River Dell will go to Bergenfield (0-4) where they are expected to win big again.
