It did not take long for No. 3 Chatham High School football team (N.J.) to establish itself against six-seeded Montgomery (6-4) in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 quarterfinal playoff game.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Set up by a nice kick off return, the Cougars (7-3) scored 11:34 into its contest after sophomore Ryan Gabriele caught a ten-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ryan Hogan. They proceeded to pour it on from there, winning, 41-20, Saturday at Cougar Field in their first postseason home since 2015.
Firing on all cylinders, Chatham’s offense compiled 330 yards, while its defense limited the opposition to 67 yards. Hogan threw for three scores and rushed for one in another expectational performance.
Playing well to end the regular season and into the playoffs, Hogan said he is keeping things simple and in perspective, which has helped him and his team find success on the gridiron.
“I feel I’m playing confident, playing well. I’m seeing the field really well,” Hogan said. “I’m just taking what the defense has been giving us, and just capitalizing off of that. That has led to big plays.”
Hogan connected with senior Owen Colletta on a 93-yard touchdown strike for a 14-0 lead with 10:15 remaining in the first quarter.
Using his legs this time, Hogan hit paydirt on a two-yard TD rush for a 21-0 advantage with 10:32 to go in the second period.
After junior Milo Semoli deflected the pass into the air, junior Yuki Stevenson out jumped everyone, plucked the ball out of the air, and proceeded to blot for a 35-yard pick-six that extended Chatham’s lead to 28-0 with 9:32 left in the second period.
Next, Hogan threw another long touchdown pass (82 yards), this time to senior Nick Lagunowich, for a commanding 35-0 advantage anear the end of the first half.
With the contest pretty much in hand, the Cougars’ coaching staff inserted their backups into the game.
Montgomery scored the next two touchdowns — a Xavier Harrigan 58-yd punt return and a 27-yard TD pass from signal caller Zach Mutton to Xavier Harrigan — to slice the deficit to 35-14 with 4:35 to go in the fourth quarter.
But Quinn Byrne returned a botched onside kick off attempt 52 yards to make it 41-14 late in the game.
Zach Furey’s one yard touchdown rush brought the contest to 41-20, but it was a little too late for Montgomery.
Chatham head coach Evan Picariello said that his boys are clicking at the right time, and they are in the thick of things. All they have to do is keep that momentum going, and the rest will fall into place.
“We can compete with anyone in the section, and that’s what we want to be; we want to be a playoff team,” Picariello explained. “We want to be competitive. And now we get a chance to play another home playoff game in a semifinal game here against a really tough opponent. We were well prepared (today). I want to say that we’re playing good football right now, and we just got to keep it going”
The Cougars host No. 7 Mount Olive Friday in the semifinal round, hoping to exact revenge on the Marauders for a 21-14 defeat during week four action.
https://amzn.to/3VLNlX6 — Featured Awesome Item: New Jersey NJ State T-Shirt — $21.99.
Note: If you click on the above Amazon.com blue hyperlink and purchase something, I may earn some revenue to help support my sports and health/food/entertainment blog.
Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you stop by again real soon, as I provide content with a paywall. Please feel free to follow me on social media at JerryDelPriore on X and Instagram.
— Jerry Del Priore