It was not a fantastic offensive output for Chatham High School (N.J.) football team, but it scored when it mattered most. The Cougars played solid defense behind their timely offensive play en-route to a 7-3 victory over Roxbury Saturday afternoon at Cougar Field.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Instead of concentrating on how much Chatham needed a triumph, head coach Evan Picariello focused on establishing team-wide objectives to help it bring home the W.
“Right now, I’m incredibly proud of our team,” Picariello said after the emotional victory, “I think when you’re 2-3, you start focusing on we need a win, we need a win. I challenged these guys to set team goals. If we accomplish our goals, the results will take care of themselves.
“So, we went into this game saying want to get 15 first downs offensively,” he continued. “We wanted to have six defensive stops. We got number six there at the end, defensively. And offensively, I think, we got about 13-14 first downs. It was shrunken game, because of how much they run the football. But I’m proud of our team, that they stuck together and believed in each other.”
Trailing 3-0 midway through the fourth quarter, Chatham (3-3) put together a solid drive that resulted in a senior quarterback Ryan Hogan three-yard touchdown run with 5:34 remaining in the game.
After the Cougars kicked off to the Gaels (4-2), they started their drive at their own 32. Junior Cooper Pizzonia and sophomore George Pijut combined to sack Roxbury junior signal caller Frankie Falco on second down, pushing them back.
But Falco converted on fourth and three to the 36 to keep the drive going. The Gales converted again on fourth and one. Then, a penalty pushed them back to their own 48-yard line.
Chatham’s defense stood tall the rest of the way, as an upfront valiant push thwarted Roxbury’s last-ditch effort, ending the contest in favor of the home team.
The Cougars travel to Mendham Friday for a 7:00 p.m. contest.
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