Junior Raiders Team Bests No. 1 Seed Watchung Hills

The Hillsborough Jr. Raiders Varsity team (ages 12-14), led by Head Coach Mark Melillo, went into the playoffs as the 4th seed at 5-3 against Watchung Hills, the #1 seed, with a 7-1 record, and a team that had won the Jr. Skyland Championship for the past two years.  However, Hillsborough was riding high with a 4-game winning streak, including victories over two top 4 teams and averaging 5 touchdowns a game and the defense giving up very little.  Both teams knew it would be a war and it was just that.

Hillsborough drove the ball on their first series down to the Watchung 20 but couldn’t put any points up on the board.  Watchung broke open the scoring on the next series with a 65-yard touchdown run to take an 8-0 lead.  Hillsborough answered on a long pass to Danny Stoddard (2 catches for 50 yards) who was forced out of bounds at the 2-yard line.  Ryan Melillo punched it in for his first of 3 touchdowns (22 carries for 106 yards) but the extra point was no good and Watchung led 8-6.  The Hillsborough defense led by Damian Gonzalez, Jimmy Suseck, Matt Matson, Frankie McCarter, Shay Sarkar, Connor Genes and Ben Pasternack kept the pressure up and forced several punts.  Late in the 2nd quarter Hillsborough mounted a drive and struck pay dirt on a 25 yard touchdown pass to Zach Williams (2 catches for 34 yards).  The extra point was good by Zach Eilbacher and Hillsborough led 14-8.  However, Watchung returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown and went into the half with a 16-14 lead.

Watchung started with the ball in the 3rd quarter but was forced to punt.  Hillsborough mounted another drive behind strong running by both Paul Michinard (6 carries for 42 yards) and Melillo.  At this point Hillsborough’s O-line of Sam Crisci, Connor Genes, Ben Pasternack, Mike Grabon, Nick Digirolamo, and Jimmy Suseck started to take over the game.  Hillsborough ran the ball 32 times for 157 yards on the day!  Again Melillo took it into the end zone and the extra point by Eilbacher was good and Hillsborough led 22-16 late in the 3rd quarter.  But once again, Watchung answered with a drive of their own, after another strong kick return and scored with just over 8 minutes left to take a 24-22 lead. 

Hillsborough then put together what will be known this season as “the drive” and took it 62 yards and used up over 6 minutes of the clock.  Melillo and Michinard chewed up large chunks of real estate setting up a 1st and goal from the 3 with about 3 minutes left.  Watchung made a valiant goal line stand but was forced to use all 3 of their timeouts, which brought about a 4th and goal from the 1 yard line.  With the balance of the season on the line Hillsborough put the game in the hands of its offensive line and sent Melillo behind backs Michinard and Stoddard into the end zone with less than 2 minutes left capping a 30-24 victory over Watchung.

Hillsborough plays Bridgewater this Saturday night at 8pm at Phillipsburg stadium for the Jr. Skyland Championship.  The game MVPs were the Entire offensive line of Sam Crisci, Connor Genes, Mike Grabon, Ben Pasternack, Nick DiGirolamo, and Jimmy Suseck

The Hillsborough Junior Raiders JV team (ages 10-12), led by Head Coach Jamie Moore, solidified their Jr. Skyland Championship berth by defeating the Ridge Red Devils (5-2) 8-7 in overtime on Saturday evening at Hillsborough High School. Defense was the name of the game for both squads as both teams battled to a 0-0 score at the end 4 quarters. The Raiders were led by J. R. Metallo with 7 tackles, Jack Edwards and Jackson Parham with 6 tackles, Shane Terrancino, Justin Tubby and Patrick Vinchur with 5 tackles and Brian Reilly and Trevor Pavenski with 4 tackles. Vinchur and Terracciano each had key fumble recoveries.  Vinchur recovered a Ridge fumble in the fourth quarter with less than two minutes remaining at the Jr. Raider 3-yard line.  Offensively, J. J. Bagdan ran for 33-yards and forced a fumble. Matt Moore threw for 123-yards; the leading receivers were Parham for 97-yards and Tyler Boatwright for 24-yards.  Moore connected with Parham with a minute left in the game, Parham broke a tackle then made a spin move and took it 95-yards for a touchdown.  However the play was called back due to a penalty.  The game then went to overtime.

Ridge took the lead 7-0 in overtime with a touchdown score and a 1-point conversion. The Jr. Raiders answered the call with Reilly grinding out a tough touchdown score. Coach Moore and his team decided to go for the win with a two-point attempt. Patrick Vinchur’s perfect long snap to Sean Jackson’s secure hold and J. R. Metallo’s perfect kick sailed thru the uprights sent the Jr. Raider faithful crowd and the dedicated Hillsborough Jr. Raider Cheerleaders into a joyous uproar as the Jr. Raiders won 8-7.

The Jr. Raiders JV team will face the Bridgewater Panthers next Saturday night at 6:00 PM in Phillipsburg for the Jr. Skyland Championship. Come out and support the Raiders!