WEST CALDWELL- Dan Fulton had seen plenty of both Caldwell and West Essex as an opposing coach of both during his tenure at Hanover Park before accepting the position of leading the gridiron squad for the North Caldwell regional school heading into this season.
Now, he’s been able to absorb first-hand just what is special about the local rivalry between the Knights and Chiefs following Friday night’s memorable battle before a large crowd packed in at Bonnel Field where West Essex (1-2) rode its potent ground attack spearheaded by senior quarterback Jake Long, who was a veritable machine as he scored all four of his team’s touchdowns, including the game-winning tally, a 2-yard TD burst with just eight seconds remaining for a 28-21 Knights victory in a memorable Super Football Conference-Patriot White Division showdown.
“I got my butt kicked by Caldwell enough times when I was at Hanover Park, and it was great to get a victory here tonight thanks to an incredible effort by our quarterback and a tremendous job by our O-Line,” said Fulton, who installed the spread offense this season to replace the time-honored Wing-T which had been the offense for more than a generation for the Knights. “I didn’t like our players doing dumb stuff like jawing at their fans after what was a great game, but our kids deserved this victory after I’ve been kicking their butts for a while now in practice.
“These are very similar communities and this was the type of game that you want to see in terms of the excitement as both teams played their hearts.”
West Essex dominated when it mattered most in the trenches where its superb O-Line of left tackle DJ Fiore, left guard Matthew Celenano, center Santino Perri, right guard Jonathan Rizzo and right tackle Danny Harraka opened up gaping holes for Long (38 carries for 321 yards and 4 TDs) to put on an absolute show in terms of his relentless advances forward with many QB draws or hard-driving bursts off tackle.
“I give so much credit to our entire O-Line along with our ‘H’ back Frankie Iavarone and our halfback Michael Lozito who all did such an incredible job blocking for me,” said Long, who excelled for the second straight year vs. Caldwell, which includes scoring the decisive TD in last fall’s 20-14 Knights overtime win at Travis Field in North Caldwell. “I’m also grateful to my coaches for putting me in a position to achieve what was able to do.
“Caldwell is a great local rival and we had to earn everything we did to come out of here with a victory tonight.”
Caldwell (0-2) impressed throughout the evening with its proficient aerial attack spearheaded by the very talented sophomore quarterback Adam Sepe (15-of-23 for 200 yards and 2 TD passes and a TD run), who connected with his junior wide receiver Santino Russo (5 receptions for 106 yards, 2 TDs), who made an outstanding catch in the right corner of the end zone to give the Chiefs a 21-14 lead with 4:07 left in the third quarter.
That’s where the momentum of the spirited contest changed for good as West Essex proceeded to mount a nearly 10-minute march, moving 80 yards on 18 plays with Long capping the time-consuming march with a 4-yard TD run to deadlock matters 21-all with 6:37 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Following Caldwell having to punt after a quick 3-and-out, the Knights moved briskly with their ground game once again, putting together a game-winning drive starting with 4:50 remaining from their own 24-yard line.
The rapid march downfield was highlighted by a 23-yard burst up the middle by Long as West Essex moved to Caldwell’s 13-yard line followed by a 8-yard run by Lozito (9 carries for 31 yards) as the Knights moved the ball even closer to the goal line.
