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The Football Show! Section finals in words · NorthJerseySports.com

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  Back on The Football Show, North Jersey, sport.com's original
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  multimedia series talking all things football across North
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  Jersey. This is Season 13 episode 12.
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  Where did the time go? I am Corey Doviak, being joined
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  by my illustrious panel of North Jersey football insiders,
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  starting with the venerable 1. He is Jimmy Avatable.
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  What's going on, Jim? What's up court?
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  Two weeks to go and then we can relax for a little while.
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  Yes, see, you can YouTube old games from the comfort of your
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  own home in just a few short weeks as the weather turns cold.
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  But a guy doesn't care about that.
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  A guy who's willing to layer up in various swag, whether it be
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  T-shirts, long sleeve, dry fits, old jerseys, you name it.
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  He is the former head Husky, the current Pope of the Cardinal of
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  the Westwood, the former head Dog in the lead pack of the
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  Bulldogs and a Red Wing. At heart, he is Bryan Carr.
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  What's going on, Bryan? Hey, core, we're getting down to
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  the finals here and as a, as we said earlier in the year, the
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  cream's going to rise to the top and it has.
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  So we're you're seeing a lot of the teams that we were tracking
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  all along. They seem to be rising to the
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  top. The old pans around the pose.
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  We're getting them. We're getting what we we
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  expected to see here, Corey. And we'll see our non public
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  too. We're getting the same thing
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  over there. Got rematches of galore all over
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  the place, Corey. Yes, and as Jimmy just said
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  before we came on the air, a lot of chalk.
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  Lots and lots of chalk. Let's just settle some
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  accounting here as the state sectional finals are behind us
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  now. In our picks, of course, we
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  picked all of North One and N 210 groups.
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  Jimmy Avatable is this year's winner of a North Jersey
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  sports.com Dry Fit T-shirt color of his choice with an 8 out of
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  10 selection success rate. Missing only on What you missed
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  on Jimmy, You missed on Group North. 1 N two, Group 1.
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  North Two Group One, Group 1. And what was the other one you
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  took new N one group 5? Yes, N one, group 5.
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  Right. And you took East Orange campus
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  Brian Carr, who already has about 100 N Jersey sports.com
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  drive fit colors of his choice came in second place this season
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  with a six out of 10 and bring up the rear yours truly.
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  I can't believe that some of my out there picks didn't come
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  through for me. I finished with five.
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  Yeah, it it really right. It was a tie had DuMont come
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  through in. Northwest.
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  That was my place. But anyway, yeah, crazy stuff.
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  All right, so you guys were running around this weekend.
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  I was running around this weekend.
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  Where should we start? And I think you know what?
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  Let's. You know what?
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  Let's. I will start with the one
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  closest to the world headquarters of North Jersey
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  sports.com. It is a lead story on North
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  Jersey sports.com written by our very own JC Balmuller, who's
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  been on the old Japan beat all season long.
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  I joined him on occasion and I was there on Friday night.
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  Now, you know, as Brian said, setting this whole thing up,
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  we've been talking about the same teams all year.
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  There's been an obvious pecking order, you know, shelves of
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  teams. You know, in Bergen County,
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  you've had Old Japan, Ramapo, Northern Highlands, and then
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  Westwood joined the group, too. So those four have pretty much
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  separated themselves from everybody.
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  And then after that in North Jersey, at least on the public
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  school side, I feel like there was a little bit of a step down,
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  a climb down. And Ultipan beat Wayne Hills
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  earlier in the season comfortably.
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  And then you figure, you know, like this is Wayne Hills,
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  Ultipan in the state sectional final.
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  This is a classic. This is a early 2000s, 2012,
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  1314, something like that. Chris Olsen, Brian Dunn, Devin
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  Fuller, all those things, you know, like it's going to bring
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  the juice. And then on the first play from
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  scrimmage, Ultipan's now he's got, he's got the name
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  Christakis Nicolau steps in front of a ball, picks it off
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  and goes a pick 6 to the house. So, and you know what, as they
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  used to say when people used to watch games on regular TV, you
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  could have turned your sets off there.
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  You could have turned your set off there.
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  They went up 14, nothing. Wayne Hills returned a kick for
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  a touchdown to make it 14 seven to briefly inject a bit of juice
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  into the game. Then old Japan went down the
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  other end scored. They were up.
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  I forget what this 28 seven by halftime and it was running
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  clock early third, third quarter.
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  The second-half took a about 26 minutes to play in full and
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  again I was out of there early. So pretty amazing.
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  I I want to get I have sound. I talked to Christakis Nicolao
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  after the game. I also talked to Brian Dunn.
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  I have two quotes I want to play from him.
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  But first, Brian, I want to get your thoughts on just the, you
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  know, whatever you want to say about old Japan, undefeated
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  season to this point heading into a showdown with Wes Morris
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  this weekend in Ultipan in the Group 3 state semifinals.
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  Yeah, Corey, these, these two have played each other in the
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  past. Wes Morris been zooming in here.
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  We, we, we picked them to be the win there section.
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  We picked both of them. Both we all picked Ultipan and
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  Wes Morris and we're getting exactly who we wanted.
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  And we've seen this stage before.
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  The two have met. Ultipan beat them in 2022 to go
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  on to their Group 3 championship and then they they met again in
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  23. So these two have met each
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  other. So it should be exciting.
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  Most of the games have been out there.
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  I know a few years ago they went out there and lost.
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  But you know, it'd be interesting, you know, Ultopan
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  having a home game. You don't have to travel out
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  Route 80. It's a long ride, a lot of
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  traffic going West on a Friday night.
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  So Ultopan, you know, you get that top seed, you get that home
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  game. So I think that's pretty big to
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  have that. Maybe we'll get a couple of semi
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  final winners out of Bergen County as well, Corey.
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  Yeah, no doubt. Is it Jimmy?
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  Well, I want to hear your thoughts on the game too.
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  And old fan season. But is that that high the more
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  PowerPoints or higher seed got the home game or?
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  Yeah, it's, it's no more. Yeah, as far as far as I know,
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  it was whoever was seeded higher, OK, Even though they
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  were both #1 seeds in their section, Old Japan had the
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  ultimate higher points. Better better N thing number.
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  You you had to have, you know, better PowerPoints, you had to
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  have the the higher rating. You know, Ulta Pan was #1 in
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  this, they were number one in the whole bracket overall.
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  Big W Morris was #2 in the bracket.
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  So and then what they do is they took the first two and they
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  became the number one seeds in each bracket.
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  And then they N everybody else right North and South, everybody
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  else out of that. So these two, the two teams,
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  these are the two teams in Group 3 in the north that are, you
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  know, we expected to be here. So it should be exciting.
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  You know, W Morris ground and pound heavy, heavy run, run,
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  don't run too much, you know, and then you're up against old
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  Japan, who mixes it all in. You know, you have so much, you
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  don't know what's going to happen.
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  They're going to run, they're going to pass.
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  So it should be exciting football.
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  And I was looking at that. It's a six O clock star Corey.
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  I was looking to over there because this is the other thing
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  too. Last weekend, even this weekend,
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  you only can go to one game because now this weekend there's
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  only one game that's not a one of these semifinals, state
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  semifinals. That's not Friday night either
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  6:00 or 7:00. There's one game at the
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  Millville. I think it's yeah, the Winslow
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  game is on Saturday. It's the only game every other
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  game. So same with this past weekend.
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  You could only go to basically one game.
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  There's a, again, there was a public look down the shore on
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  Saturday, no public up north. So you would left with going to
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  parochials on Saturday. So you know, it's tough for us.
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  But So what I'm going to do is try to go over there early like
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  I used to do years ago, get to a game at six, see what happens,
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  read and react and then look at going West with the 7:00 start.
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  So that's kind of what I'm looking at on Friday night and
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  I'm excited to see all the pan. You know, these guys, I don't
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  even know how many state championships they won now.
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  It's can't keep track. Probably about 7 right now in
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  the last 20 years. Is it that now?
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  I don't think it's that many. It seems like they've been good
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  for so long, but you know, don't it's not good.
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  They used to play in North One Group 3 when the teams were the
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  same every year. And then there goes Wayne Hills
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  and Ramapo and. They lost to Riverdale.
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  Riverdale. In lost, yeah.
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  So, you know, I, I think they've won.
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  I, I would say like, can we look it up on on grid?
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  I got. You got to search it.
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  I think they've won like four or five sectional titles.
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  I'm on Gridiron New Jersey right now.
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  They've won five state sectional titles, Jimmy, but two Group 3
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  state titles out of the three that have ever been contested.
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  I mean it, it's wild what's going on there.
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  Jimmy, your thoughts before I play some of the sounds from the
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  game? That, you know, we said it, I
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  said it multiple times this year.
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  They, they are the most consistent team week in, week
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  out. I mean, they've, they really had
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  in my, in my eyes, two close games, Northern Highlands and
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  Ramapo. In the Ramapo game, they, you
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  know, they sustain a bunch of injuries.
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  They have kids that have never played before stepping in at
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  halftime. And probably haven't played
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  since. Right, right.
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  It's not like you know, you're, you're playing the worst team in
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  the league where you say we can get away with it.
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  They're they're plugging kids in and they're having success.
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  Same thing with Northern Ireland.
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  I mean that they were missing a bunch of kids against Northern
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  Irelands and they found the way and, and and they're not a
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  program with 85 kids on a roster either.
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  Nope. You know.
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  They've got 20/21/22 kids when they're all healthy.
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  Yeah, the consistency is what you marvel at.
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  Forget, forget, you know, forget winning the state championship
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  or not year in and year out. The consistency and, and, and,
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  and. But you you have a consistency
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  of the coaching staff that pieces have been there for a
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  long, long time as well. So I you know that that leads to
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  the success that they're having. But you know, the game against W
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  Morris is, you know, like they say in boxing styles make
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  fights. Well, W Morris should know, you
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  know what you're going to get. You're going to get a team
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  that's going to come in and try to run the football down your
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  throat against a an old Japan team who's more versatile, so to
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  speak, you know, maybe maybe a little bit more athletic than W
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  Morris. But again, you know, we're going
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  to see who who comes out on top. That's that's one of the
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  interesting games. No doubt about it.
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  I, I don't remember if it was 7 nothing or 14 seven early.
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  You know, as I said, they get the early pick 6, they score,
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  they're up 7, nothing. And then I think Wayne Hills
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  went down the other end looking to punch it in.
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  I could be wrong on the sequence, it might have been the
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  next, but whatever. It's a fourth down play.
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  Wade Hills goes for it for I think it was about the six yard
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  line, 4th and goal from the 6th and Shane Small gets his
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  fingertips on a pass. There was obvious pass
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  interference on the play. You know, ref throws at the the
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  side, judge throws the flag, it's Pi, they go, you know,
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  referee does the job, goes over there and says Nope, he got a
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  piece of it. So no pass interference, which
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  you know, like so right there that the fingertip makes a huge
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  difference. Otherwise it's first and goal
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  there. Maybe they go in and it's a
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  different kind of game and then they come to yes, that's what
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  happened. So it was 7 nothing.
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  Shane small gets his hand on the junior.
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  Shane Small gets his hand on the pass to thwart the 4th down
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  play, and then Zach Micelli Michelli leads a drive down the
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  other end of the field. And who's the guy who scores the
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  touchdown on touchdown catch? Jane.
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  Small, Jane, small on the other end.
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  So, you know, and, and I will tell you Michelli, we've been
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  watching him now for two years as the starting quarterback and
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  like he, he, you know, he looks off defenders, he reads
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  defenses, he makes throw, he, he makes a lot of good decisions.
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  He makes a lot of great throws. Like it's not a kid, just he,
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  he's actually thinking the game and it's really impressive to
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  watch. They can run the ball, they can
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  pass the ball, they can go for the home run pass.
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  They can work the middle of the field.
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  They have so many options available to them.
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  You know, I again, it's public school football, but in this
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  realm and this level, they execute and have athletes pretty
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  much at every position. And one of them was Christakis
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  Nikolao, who right here talks about his pick 6 on the first
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  play from scrimmage that turned the game in old Tappan's favor
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  for good. Christakis Nikolao, after the
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  game, do you want me to ask the question or you just want to
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  answer it? Go ahead.
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  First play of the game. You know, first play of the
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  game, just just doing my job, being where I need to be,
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  knowing the coverage, knowing the situation.
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  We knew they were going to have to come out with something.
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  It's like because obviously we've played them before.
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  They were a great team. Most points that was put on us
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  all year was the first time we played them.
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  So I just. All week.
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  Working on it, seeing what plays they run, so just being where I
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  had to be, knowing the coverage, that's how big plays happened.
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  Just take us through it. Like what did you see and and
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  how did it all go down? Well, I was, we just, we called
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  the coverage and then I saw it was a slant by the outside
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  receiver and a a bench route like a quick out from the inside
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  receiver. So I knew.
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  The quick out was coming. I played in between it, I got
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  undercut the three out and from there I was like there's only
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  one play to go and that's the end zone.
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  All right, good stuff there with Christakis.
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  And now I got a couple of quotes from head coach Brian Dunn.
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  The first one I'm going to play has to deal with game situations
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  here and the way he thinks everything played out.
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  And obviously starting with Nikolaus, pick 6.
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  I think that plays a lot of, plays a lot into the game and
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  that, yeah, there's a little bit of like a little bit of
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  uneasiness for coaches, probably more than kids.
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  Kids come in and they feel whatever, fine.
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  But yeah, that took a little bit off.
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  And especially since it's just something we practice, just
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  drilling kind of that quick route they had into the boundary
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  and the kid just didn't what you've been working on.
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  So it's just happening. But when you see that and you
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  guys see that the thing you worked on really hard, all of a
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  sudden it jumps out. Everybody sees it worked.
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  And that does a lot for everybody's spirits and
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  confidence. Yeah, for sure.
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  She's able to tip that pass on 4th down and prevents yeah,
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  yeah, that momentum. Shift to really keep things in
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  in yeah, huge. I mean, obviously we don't want
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  to give up a kick return for a touchdown you know like we were
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  dominating the game but at that point the score is not dictating
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  it. So you want to make sure that
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  you are not letting them back in in situations like that like a
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  big play down the field and let them complete a deep post and
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  just a blown coverage. So yeah, you know, being able to
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  recover, that's what great teams do.
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  You got to be able to recover and and bounce back.
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  So yeah. And your quarterback makes good
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  throws and good decisions, you know.
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  Yeah, we'll just talk about him. He's been through the wars here
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  a little bit. Yeah, showed again tonight.
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  Yeah, well, he, he can spin it and there's no question about
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  it. And he's just got great
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  composure in the pocket, keeps his eyes downfield and never
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  gives up on a play. So I mean, the kids, he he's we,
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  we go into every game. When we got him, we got a
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  chance. Good stuff there and the last
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  thing I want to play sound wise from Old Japan's 4214 win over
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  Wayne Hills in the North One Group 3 state sectional final is
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  Brian Dunn here talking a little bit more big picture.
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  It's not often that you get Brian Dunn.
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  The unfiltered or unabridged Brian Dunn is the word probably
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  that I'm looking when he kind of lets it fly a little bit,
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  talking about just the state of high school football and how a
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  public school roster can be built and developed.
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  So rather than me do it, let's let Brian Dunn in his second set
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  of quotes here after the game. I mean, this run is amazing when
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  you look at the scores. I mean, I know it's not as easy
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  as it looks from the outside, but, you know, to get a section
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  title with a running clock in the second-half, I mean, yeah,
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  this has been a pretty impressive performance at a
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  program where there's been a lot of them.
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  So how does this one? Well, how do you put this one in
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  perspective? So I'll tell you, well, I'll
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  tell you this, coaching like public school, high school
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  football might be the last sport in America where you actually
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  are building a team for four years like and you actually
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  start from scratch. There's no trainers, no AAU,
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  there's no club, there's no transfers, there's no building a
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  roster. Like we take the guys and it's
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  development and it's building a team.
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  So we building a team and I'm proud of that.
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  I'm proud of that, that that has had staying power and be able to
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  keep kids on the same path and working with kids since they're
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  in 8th, 9th grade all the way up through 12th grade.
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  Like there's no other sport you can do it anymore.
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  Can't do it in basketball, can't do it in the other sports I
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  coach. But in in high school, public
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  school football, you can do it. So as a coach, like a coaching,
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  like old school coach, whatever, a coaching purist, like that's
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  what you want to do, build a team and and be able to work
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  with kids for years putting together.
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  And you know, we've not been on a good run, but like it's years
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  of work. Like the kids who play tonight,
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  they put in years for this. Like, so even though we're good
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  last year's, you know, there's still a lot of kids weren't on
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  the field last year and now they're putting their years of
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  work in and getting their chance this year.
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  We've been talking about it all year.
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  Like last year no one ever heard of Leo Etter.
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  And now like no one can stop Leo Etter, you know?
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  So that I think is the point maybe you're trying to make is
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  that it's it's next man up, but it's kind of an outlier because,
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  you know, we get to go to we go to different games and this is
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  not the norm at other places. I mean, you know, you got
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  Westwood, you got Rand Paul, you got Highlands, you got Old
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  Japan. After that, public school
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  football in Bergen County is a little sketchy.
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  I mean, why he, you know what I'm, you know, I guess the
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  question is how have you been able to do it considering that
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  there are a lot of other places with tradition have not been
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  able to keep up? Yeah.
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  I mean, it goes through waves and whatever we happen to have
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  tremendous talent in in our junior class also, that helps a
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  lot. I mean, you know.
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  Brandon, they've lost one game. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  So we go through waves of everybody goes through waves.
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  I got great respect for the guys who just stick with it, keep
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  plugging like Wayne keeps plugging and grinding.
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  He went through some tough years and he's got a great team with
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  with all all young kids playing. All right.
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  Well, I mean, we were too much for them tonight, but they're
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  going to be back and. And pounding it and get getting
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  it back like they're going to have a great team next year.
• 20:03
  So you have to go through you go through cycles and you just
• 20:07
  stick with it and it it takes like some support and people OK
• 20:11
  with like some failures and and some struggling times and and
• 20:15
  you got to have good people behind you making sure that you
• 20:17
  still get the opportunity to ride the wave out and keep
• 20:20
  people in the same direction. So it's not easy to do today
• 20:24
  all. Right, Great stuff there with
• 20:25
  Brian Dunn. Sounds like we're all going to
• 20:27
  see him again on Friday night. But let's now move over to what
• 20:32
  happened at Westwood or actually in Washington Township.
• 20:37
  The home field where the the address of the home field of the
• 20:42
  Westwood Fighting Cardinals, that's where it's located.
• 20:45
  The boys were over there. And Bry, why don't you say what
• 20:48
  you're going to say about another impressive victory about
• 20:51
  the by the Cardinals? Yeah, it's, you know, we keep
• 20:55
  talking about Stevie Klein and it seems to be that most games
• 20:58
  they kind of set him up. He kind of sets the table and
• 21:01
  gets things going for them. So Stevie, I think it was a
• 21:04
  second play of the game, He took a hand off and ran into the
• 21:07
  house, scored and pretty much the only thing they did wrong,
• 21:10
  they missed the extra points and now they're only up 6.
• 21:12
  Nothing. Comport conversion or.
• 21:17
  Didn't they missed the first one though?
• 21:18
  No, they converted all their touchdowns.
• 21:21
  Oh, my. You're right.
• 21:22
  Right. I'm thinking.
• 21:22
  I don't know why. I'm thinking somebody else
• 21:24
  didn't do it. My bad.
• 21:25
  My bad. Yeah.
• 21:26
  I love it. Fact fact checking here.
• 21:29
  Fact Check. Maybe too many games watching
• 21:32
  too many games, thinking about maybe that was last game, maybe
• 21:35
  it was last game, it was 6 nothing and they didn't missed
• 21:38
  it. But anyway, Steven called you,
• 21:40
  right? Third game of the season in 2005
• 21:44
  could have been. Well, Stevie Klein touchdown, 2
• 21:47
  point conversion, the key. I think another key thing right
• 21:50
  after that in the first quarter, Westwood was able to recover a
• 21:54
  fumble in the scoop and score by Connor Reedy.
• 21:57
  And pretty much then again, they just get a 2 point conversion
• 22:01
  that was a pass from from Bruno Vega to Ryan's Slovanos.
• 22:06
  Slovanos, right? Ryan's bonus.
• 22:08
  And now, now they're up 16 or up 16 nothing.
• 22:11
  And it was kind of like, wow, you know, Ramsey, you know, you
• 22:15
  thought they had a chance in the game, but just a big play like
• 22:18
  that, really kind of I think that kind of set the stage for
• 22:22
  the rest of the game. And Westwood then was able to
• 22:24
  get another touchdown early in the second quarter and now we're
• 22:27
  sitting at 24 nothing. And and, you know, and then they
• 22:31
  they went on in the third quarter and kind of iced it with
• 22:33
  another score, another Bruno Vega on that one too.
• 22:37
  So, you know, they, they just play good football sound.
• 22:41
  They tackle well, you know, Ramsey noting they needed to
• 22:44
  finish. I don't think they got a chance
• 22:46
  to finish as much this time. Last game.
• 22:49
  They had a lot of times they were inside the Westwood 25 this
• 22:52
  time very few times and really didn't get down there until
• 22:56
  fourth quarter. Did they really get into
• 22:57
  Westwood territory before Ramsey was able to finally score late
• 23:01
  the game? I just just thinking all around
• 23:04
  solid effort by Westwood and the Cardinals.
• 23:07
  And, you know, and you know, I think with Stevie Klein started
• 23:11
  off kind of sets this tone for everybody else.
• 23:13
  And the other guys, a lot of young guys we will, you know,
• 23:16
  even one of their guys was down. We won't mention the name.
• 23:18
  One of the kids went down in the third quarter.
• 23:21
  So, you know, they have a program and a lot of kids.
• 23:24
  And it's not just the Stevie Klein, just the other guys that
• 23:27
  are stepping up because he's not making old tackles.
• 23:30
  The other guys are making tackles.
• 23:31
  You know, it's Tyler Hanson. We just talked about Slavonis.
• 23:35
  There's a Nikki Klein, the younger Klein brother.
• 23:39
  They're doing very well. I think they had now coming up
• 23:41
  next. This is going to be a tough one.
• 23:43
  I I was watching some of that earlier.
• 23:46
  I was watching a little bit of the Madison Shabaz game played
• 23:50
  in Newark. We talked about earlier, right,
• 23:52
  Corey, about the seed. W was the higher seed.
• 23:55
  So they will host the game with Shabazz and not have to go to
• 23:57
  Newark to play the game again. Like we talked about old Japan.
• 24:01
  It's nice. And not having to make that ride
• 24:03
  into traffic, you know, a lot of, you know, getting up early
• 24:06
  to go down there. This way they can stay at home
• 24:09
  and do their normal thing, what you're used to doing.
• 24:11
  So it's going to be a challenge. I think there's a lot of skill
• 24:14
  over there. I think I forget the guy's
• 24:16
  number. Best is their running back
• 24:18
  place, defense, offense. They're going to be tough.
• 24:20
  They're a lot of skill. Jimmy may have more to talk.
• 24:23
  Obviously Jimmy used to the Westwood game, so I don't want.
• 24:25
  To take away anything, Jim, I know you have an interview with
• 24:28
  Steve Klein. We'll play that after.
• 24:29
  But I just want to I just want to let's get Jimmy's thoughts.
• 24:32
  He was there too. And Jimmy, how how did Westwood
• 24:37
  get to be? I mean, Northern numbers and
• 24:38
  everything else notwithstanding, Westwood, the number one seed
• 24:43
  over Shabazz seems to me a little bit crazy.
• 24:44
  But anyway, that's just my thoughts on the matter.
• 24:48
  But what are your thoughts on Westwood Ramsey?
• 24:51
  You know, Westwood has just gotten better as the playoffs.
• 24:54
  They they're probably their toughest battle was their first
• 24:58
  round match up. You know, then it got a little
• 25:01
  easier against Caldwell. And then they really not that it
• 25:03
  was easy, but they made it look easy against Ramsey.
• 25:06
  I mean, Cardinals have just got better since they won of the
• 25:08
  season. No, you know, we actually saw
• 25:11
  them in a in a scrimmage against Brian wasn't there.
• 25:15
  But we, myself and Bobby, yeah, myself and and Bobby Maine were
• 25:19
  at the scrimmage and and Northern Islands, who we all
• 25:23
  knew was going to be very good, you know, got that, got the best
• 25:26
  of them in a scrimmage. And so, you know, you said to
• 25:29
  yourself, OK, you know, they've had an incredible run there.
• 25:33
  I don't think they've had a losing season in Westwood in 30
• 25:36
  years, which, you know, what a public school is.
• 25:39
  Crazy. Pretty accomplishment,
• 25:41
  unbelievable accomplishment. And you said to yourself, OK,
• 25:44
  let's look at the schedule because, you know, Westford's
• 25:46
  always going to play a very, very Coach Vervino is always
• 25:49
  going to give them a very tough schedule.
• 25:51
  And you're saying, well, if everything goes right, maybe
• 25:54
  they win these. And and, you know, you look at
• 25:57
  them now, one loss, which was an overtime loss, they've just got
• 26:01
  you. Yeah, you, you've hit it on the
• 26:03
  head, Corey. They've gotten better and better
• 26:06
  and better. And one thing about their
• 26:08
  coaching staff, there's always a couple of kids that at the
• 26:12
  beginning of the year, you don't know who it is.
• 26:14
  And then come playoff time, who's that kid?
• 26:18
  Where do you come from? Yeah, yeah.
• 26:22
  He's, you know, they've gotten better And, and defensively,
• 26:26
  they they really do a great job. Coach Amir, the defensive
• 26:30
  coordinator, and we've seen them a bunch, really, really has
• 26:33
  them. And the rest of the coaches, to
• 26:35
  be honest with you haven't prepared and they execute the
• 26:39
  game plan and they were bend but don't break defense.
• 26:43
  And you know, the first game against Ramsey, it was very
• 26:47
  competitive into the second quarter and then and then
• 26:50
  Westwood took over from a physical standpoint.
• 26:54
  And we knew Ramsey was going to have to, you know, try to match
• 26:58
  their physicality. And I'll tell you what, they
• 27:01
  couldn't do it. And, and from, you know, from
• 27:03
  the second play on, as you mentioned, Mr. Klein, you know,
• 27:08
  breaks 2 tackles at the line of scrimmage, runs over somebody
• 27:12
  and goes 60 yards. And and the message was was
• 27:15
  sent. And, you know, listen, Shabazz,
• 27:20
  are they the more talented of the team?
• 27:22
  No question. But, you know, don't, don't
• 27:25
  overlook Westward here on Friday at home.
• 27:29
  Yeah. Huge.
• 27:31
  I think it's I think that's a huge factor.
• 27:34
  And Jimmy did say Steve Klein Bry.
• 27:37
  So would you like to follow up on that?
• 27:39
  Yeah. Hey, talk about Stevie Klein.
• 27:41
  He's a senior now. He's a four year player for the
• 27:43
  team. The team's record in those four
• 27:45
  years, 43 and 4, a pretty good record, I think.
• 27:48
  You know, Yeah, one loss. Proceeded like the four one was
• 27:52
  in overtime, one was in a state final right I mean it's just
• 27:56
  crazy they. Don't they don't lose.
• 27:58
  They don't lose regular season too often.
• 28:00
  So solid. But Stevie Steve gave credit to
• 28:04
  his line. The guys up front did a good job
• 28:06
  blocking for him. You know, he thinks it's very
• 28:09
  important for them to continue the program, the success they've
• 28:12
  had. And he credited the boys before
• 28:15
  him. Some of the guys like RJ Rusher
• 28:17
  was at the game and Brandon Roberts was at the game.
• 28:20
  So you've seen it. And even a couple weeks ago you
• 28:22
  had Robbie Carsick there. He was on the state championship
• 28:25
  team. Michael Carsick was there.
• 28:27
  So hey, credit to the guys who are supporting them and they
• 28:30
  continue to success. So Stevie Klein is our man going
• 28:34
  on a Boston College. So he's playing every game like
• 28:37
  it's his last game and any game now he's got two more possibly
• 28:40
  left. Of course, there's Stevie Klein.
• 28:43
  Stevie Klein with Bryan Carr after the game.
• 28:46
  Here at Westwood, after Westwood wins N one Group 2 sectional
• 28:53
  final 32 six decisively over Ramsey got some players cozy
• 29:01
  fine 3 championships in four years for Westwood.
• 29:06
  What does that mean you guys? Everything, everything man.
• 29:08
  Just want to thank God for making this possible.
• 29:11
  So proud of this guy, so proud of these guys.
• 29:12
  And we're not done yet. So a couple years ago you guys
• 29:16
  went to the final, got one, one more game to get there.
• 29:20
  What do you have to do you think to to get that win?
• 29:22
  Yeah, we got to watch film tomorrow.
• 29:23
  I don't know who we got yet, but watch film tomorrow, take Sunday
• 29:27
  off and we're back at it Monday and we're I love these guys man.
• 29:29
  They're like family to me. Talk about your teammates, Bruno
• 29:32
  Vega. Couple good runs, good, you
• 29:35
  know, leading the team. He's a bowler, he's a sophomore
• 29:37
  that's a sophomore, that's a sexual championship for a
• 29:39
  sophomore. Unreal.
• 29:40
  So proud of that guy. A lot of good guys helping out,
• 29:42
  talk about some of the line guys open up the holes for the
• 29:45
  running game. Charlie Sarlo, Teddy Clan, Logan
• 29:47
  Stewart, all those guys, Mark minutes, just bowlers.
• 29:49
  I'm so proud of them. Talk about some of the guys.
• 29:51
  You got RJ Rusher here. You've got one of the Roberts
• 29:55
  brothers here, a lot of alumni here supporting the team.
• 29:58
  What does that mean to you guys and the program?
• 30:00
  Everything I just show the Western football is all about
• 30:02
  lady alumni system awesome. And RJ Stanley to me.
• 30:04
  So there's a lot that he's here. I'll let you go.
• 30:06
  Thank you. Congratulations okay, good stuff
• 30:10
  there Bride with Stevie Klein and his latest appearance on the
• 30:14
  football show. I mean, I think that marks
• 30:17
  interview #30 for your career and probably going to get two
• 30:20
  more before it's all said and done here.
• 30:23
  But all right, So those are the games that we were at
• 30:25
  physically, the ones we were able to be at physically.
• 30:28
  And again, let's just reiterate that the, you know, state
• 30:33
  sectional playoffs, so much juice has been taken out of
• 30:35
  them. Let's let's be honest.
• 30:38
  I mean, I'm shocked that Northern Valley, Old Japan
• 30:43
  hosting Wayne Hills in the North One Group 3 state sectional
• 30:46
  final was not close to being sold out.
• 30:50
  I mean, the student section was, you know, I don't want to say
• 30:54
  thin, but I'm trying to think of a better word.
• 30:58
  If the band wasn't taking up 1/3 of the bleachers, there would
• 31:01
  have been 1/3 of the bleachers that were completely empty.
• 31:03
  So a little disappointing on that front.
• 31:07
  Maybe it'll grow as we, you know, Jimmy, too bad they don't
• 31:11
  play down in Franklin because then we could have expected a
• 31:14
  sell out crowd in the state semi finals.
• 31:16
  But maybe they'll get a few more people at old Japan this week
• 31:19
  against W Mars as the stakes get bigger.
• 31:21
  I mean, maybe the old Japan fan base a little bit spoiled
• 31:23
  because they don't lose anymore. But one place where I know it
• 31:28
  was packed because I was there the next day covering some
• 31:31
  soccer and a couple of Ramapo people that was talking about
• 31:34
  saying it was a madhouse on Saturday night, The return leg
• 31:38
  of Ramapo Northern Highlands. They play each other all the
• 31:41
  time. It's, you know, the a, a public
• 31:45
  school equivalent of Bergen Bosco or Bergen Joes or
• 31:49
  anything. You know, whatever the sport is,
• 31:50
  they go nuts. And an all time classic.
• 31:53
  Jimmy Ramapo 28. Northern Highlands 27.
• 31:59
  Yeah. I mean, every year you can, you
• 32:01
  can just fill in the year 2022-2023, you know that there
• 32:05
  are two teams, very, very similar schools in a lot of
• 32:11
  ways, very similar teams. And you knew was going to come
• 32:15
  down, you know, to the end as it always does.
• 32:18
  From what I understand, Northern Highlands really held an
• 32:22
  advantage running the football that night with a very physical
• 32:26
  offensive line and lo and behold it comes down into overtime.
• 32:33
  Ramapo scores 6 the extra point, Ultipan scores and and give
• 32:37
  coach scored and then credit going for the win, going for the
• 32:41
  two point conversion to win it. Unfortunately they got stopped
• 32:45
  on a run. Playoff tackle and Ramapo.
• 32:50
  Ramapo advances. It was crazy.
• 32:53
  I mean, you know, Ram PO, just again, I was talking to some
• 32:55
  people. I had made a couple of invites
• 32:57
  to come on the show. No takers.
• 32:59
  No, I couldn't set the hook on anybody.
• 33:01
  But I did get some background on the game.
• 33:04
  And, you know, Ram PO was having a tough time stopping the run
• 33:07
  all night long. And listen, yeah, Highlands in
• 33:10
  in, in my opinion and in evidenced by the, you know,
• 33:16
  named the great college coach who has done it so many times
• 33:19
  going all the way back to Doctor Tom Osborne in in Nebraska.
• 33:22
  You have one play to win or lose the game.
• 33:25
  And they took the opportunity, one play from the three yard
• 33:28
  line. It didn't go their way.
• 33:29
  But in my opinion, that's the absolute right call.
• 33:33
  I mean, if there's 10 plays that could change the game and
• 33:36
  overtime, there's one play that can change the game at the end
• 33:39
  of regulation with a chance to win it.
• 33:41
  So I think Highland did the right thing and they, it, it's
• 33:45
  fitting, you know, Highlands and Ramppo this year are separated
• 33:47
  probably by one point. You know, if they played 10
• 33:49
  times, maybe the total margin of victory between each side
• 33:53
  winning five games would be 0, you know?
• 33:55
  But this time, it went Ramppo's way.
• 33:58
  And this time they get the trip out to Brian.
• 34:04
  Your favorite place, the football Mecca of North Jersey.
• 34:09
  Pillsburg state liners waiting for Ramapo in the North.
• 34:13
  Group 4 or the Group 4 state semi finals.
• 34:17
  Yeah, He on this rivalry with Northern Highlands, we were at
• 34:21
  the game a few years ago where the lights went out and that was
• 34:25
  a, that was a comeback game. Ramapo was up by a score, the
• 34:29
  lights went out. I think Highlands was down by a
• 34:32
  score and ended up needed to score and then another score.
• 34:37
  I I happen to go back and was reminiscing about that when we I
• 34:41
  think I don't know if you were there, Corey.
• 34:42
  I think I know Jimmy is there, Bobby probably Pat.
• 34:45
  So there's been some great games up there.
• 34:47
  And you know, it's just too bad we can't get to all the games,
• 34:50
  you know, but hey, all we can do is just report on him as we see
• 34:54
  him after the game. So now on the other hand, so
• 34:57
  Ramapo is going to get the inevitable task to ride out to
• 35:00
  probably 80 to 287 and out 78 out to Phillipsburg and just cut
• 35:07
  off 78, go down on Route 22 and go right into Phillipsburg.
• 35:11
  And they were there last year and last year they came out on
• 35:15
  the losing side of that 35 to 6. So I'm sure they want to get a
• 35:19
  little payback here, Corey. And you know, it's just like a
• 35:23
  similar to old Japan with Wes Morris, heavy running, running,
• 35:28
  running game. All they do is run.
• 35:31
  They just run and more running and a little bit of passing,
• 35:35
  just very little. But it's a upfront, you know,
• 35:37
  battle and they're used to that. That's what they just finished
• 35:39
  doing with Northern Highlands playing about upfront, you know,
• 35:43
  handling the run. And they're going to deal with a
• 35:45
  lot, a lot of running because Northern Highlands has 2 running
• 35:47
  backs and was running on them, Chase, Calarco and Canning.
• 35:51
  So they're going to have AI forget the guy's name it
• 35:54
  Pillsburg, but all year long he's been just running up this,
• 35:58
  you know, his his running yardage all season long.
• 36:01
  So that's going to be a tough one for them to go out there on
• 36:05
  the road, get get ready and play a very, very good, you know,
• 36:09
  traditionally good program here in the Phillipsburg liners.
• 36:12
  And if you haven't haven't been to a game, we've talked about it
• 36:14
  before. You want to go out there for
• 36:15
  Thanksgiving and see them play Eastern.
• 36:18
  It's such a great crowd that goes out and shows up.
• 36:21
  I think this week past week was a big crowd too.
• 36:23
  I heard it was a great crowd at the stadium.
• 36:26
  They usually play the Thanksgiving game, Italy at
• 36:28
  Lafayette College. They play their regular games
• 36:32
  over in Pillsburg at their home field.
• 36:33
  They don't play at Lafayette, only Thanksgiving at Lafayette.
• 36:36
  So, but it should be a good game.
• 36:38
  It's crazy great football. You feel like you're at a
• 36:41
  college game with the rivalry and the bands playing, the
• 36:45
  cheers, leaders cheering. So, you know, hopefully Ramapo
• 36:48
  can bring some fans out there to support them because you know,
• 36:51
  there's going to be a lot of Pillsburg people there.
• 36:53
  They've been playing football a long time out there and they
• 36:56
  like football. It's like Pennsylvania football.
• 36:58
  Corey. No doubt about it, it is.
• 37:01
  I, I, you know, Round PO could bring the entire stands with
• 37:05
  them, but they're not going to outnumber the state liners over
• 37:09
  there anyway. Round PO's got a good a shot as
• 37:10
  anybody though. They're filling things up and
• 37:13
  talking to somebody who is involved with the junior
• 37:18
  programs in Wyckoff. There is no let up coming up.
• 37:22
  Tonight. So many teams between Franklin
• 37:25
  Lakes, Oakland and Wyckoff. The feeder system for Ramapo is
• 37:30
  strong. And you know, like, Can you
• 37:33
  imagine, Jimmy? They might even have to make
• 37:34
  cuts one day from the football team, whereas every other public
• 37:39
  school in North Jersey is trying to pull kids out of the hallway.
• 37:42
  The, I heard the numbers they have at the junior program are
• 37:46
  just like you said, are, are crazy and not I kind of, I kind
• 37:51
  of hope some of those kids would, would slide on over to
• 37:55
  Indian Hills to make them a little bit more competitive.
• 37:58
  Because as you mentioned, core, you can only play 11 kids at a
• 38:02
  time, But you know, kids want to go where you want it, you want
• 38:05
  it where you win and and you compete for championships.
• 38:08
  And that's certainly Ramapo High School.
• 38:11
  You know, Phillipsburg, you know, they are what they are.
• 38:14
  It's, it's, it's old school football.
• 38:16
  They run an eye formation. And and like Brian said, it's
• 38:21
  it's run, run, run, run, run, run.
• 38:23
  And and again, that game is going to come back, come down to
• 38:26
  the physicality up front. If Ramapo could shut rundown,
• 38:30
  you know, I think they might, they'll have a tough time of
• 38:33
  Phillipsburg, you know, stopping Ramapo with Grasher and and and
• 38:38
  the skill kids, but they're going to have to shut the
• 38:40
  rundown. Yeah, and Grasher has been great
• 38:43
  all year. I mean, for them, he's going to
• 38:47
  Merrimack, or at least, you know, as an offer from
• 38:49
  Merrimack. And you know, Ramapo wins the
• 38:54
  kick, you know, takes the kick off, goes down field.
• 38:56
  You know it. It's not like if if there was a
• 38:59
  line on the game, it's not like round PO would be a 30 point
• 39:01
  underdog. I mean, you know, they they got
• 39:03
  a shot. And I don't know how good this
• 39:05
  Phillipsburg team is first team from previous years or whatever.
• 39:09
  But I would say round PO has, you know, a a chance to make
• 39:13
  things interesting and it would be crazy.
• 39:15
  It'd be a great story to go out to Phillipsburg and and come
• 39:19
  home with a victory. We'll see what happens, I think.
• 39:21
  All right, so that's that. That's Group 4.
• 39:23
  We've done group 2. We've done Group 3, dealer's
• 39:27
  choice, Brian. We got one and five left before
• 39:29
  we head over to big boys. Your choice.
• 39:32
  Any let's let's go to five. That's kind of a little close to
• 39:36
  my home there. I knew you were going to say
• 39:38
  that we might as well go there. Group 5.
• 39:42
  It's you know, this group 5 we've talked about it most of
• 39:45
  the year was a little down PCT here and this right now we're
• 39:49
  going into the semi final. We have PCTI state County Tech
• 39:54
  will meet my alma mater Bridgewater Raritan on Friday
• 39:58
  night at Bridgewater. You know, PCTI had come into
• 40:02
  this game, I think 3 losses, couple of them early and we'll,
• 40:05
  you know, have some question marks, you know, getting into
• 40:07
  the playoffs. But they had a, you know, take
• 40:10
  on the number one seed West Orange and go to West Orange and
• 40:14
  they got into a shootout. And I, I think the big play was
• 40:17
  early in the in the latest in the second quarter, West Orange
• 40:21
  was driving and down by less than a.
• 40:23
  Score was about 2116 roughly and not quite that I think it was
• 40:28
  more like 2421. So but anyway these West Orange
• 40:33
  is going to score and and PCTI got to pick 6 turned it around.
• 40:37
  Now we now they go up 3321 1/2 time and it kind of set the tone
• 40:42
  for the second-half with that late touchdown getting up by
• 40:46
  1112 points and they went on to A5642A shootout.
• 40:51
  PCTI usually plays a lot of games are really low scoring.
• 40:55
  So here they showed, you know, we can play, you know, high
• 40:58
  scoring affair. And you know, the the kid, the
• 41:01
  interception there was Tony Baldwin Harris with the big play
• 41:05
  for them there in the second quarter that picked 6 and that
• 41:08
  sent them on the way for their win.
• 41:10
  And by the way, West Orange running back 3 green had six
• 41:14
  touchdowns in the loss. So there's some talent on both
• 41:17
  sides of that, you know, so you didn't expect that, you know,
• 41:21
  none of us picked PCTI. They've been under the radar as
• 41:25
  a lot of the teams in Group 5 have been.
• 41:27
  They're going to take my on my alma mater, Bridgewater.
• 41:30
  I think they're now like 7 and one or not 7 and 1, seven and
• 41:34
  three or six and three, seven and three.
• 41:37
  But Bridgewater has lost the number of games.
• 41:39
  We mentioned the Phillsburg. That's one of the losses that
• 41:42
  Bridgewater has. They lost the Phillsburg.
• 41:44
  Not, not too not not a blowout or anything, but a close scoring
• 41:48
  game. I happened to watch the game on
• 41:50
  Friday night when I got home because celebrating, by the way,
• 41:54
  Bridgewater's first sectional title.
• 41:58
  We've been at MetLife. I think it was 2016, 1718, I
• 42:02
  think all three games at MetLife Intersectional finally lost to
• 42:05
  Westfield. I'm not sure if it's exactly all
• 42:08
  three to Westfield, but they lost 3.
• 42:10
  And so they've been there, but they just haven't got over the
• 42:13
  hump. This was a big one.
• 42:16
  They got 2 good running backs at Bridgewater.
• 42:19
  The line is big, Big up front quarterback, nice quarterback,
• 42:25
  has good wheels and they kind of got lucky.
• 42:28
  The bees from Bayonne were driving late.
• 42:31
  It was a tie game. Bayonne's driving, I forget if
• 42:34
  it was an interception or a turnover.
• 42:36
  Anyway, Bridgewater got the ball and they end up with like third
• 42:39
  and like 18 and they get this crazy play.
• 42:42
  The receiver is wide open and they go for like a 60 yard score
• 42:46
  and now they're up by 7:00 and then they kick off on top of
• 42:49
  that. Talk about being a little lucky.
• 42:51
  Sometimes they kick off was like a squib kick they recovered at.
• 42:55
  So they go on to get the ONS that kick and then they finished
• 42:59
  it off, winning 2114 for their first sectional title.
• 43:02
  So I think Bridgewater is pretty excited.
• 43:05
  I hope they can keep up the momentum.
• 43:07
  But PCTI, as we see it, they've been here many times before.
• 43:10
  They've been in the finals. I can't remember how many times
• 43:13
  they've been down there. And they lost to Toms River
• 43:16
  North a couple times down there at Rutgers.
• 43:20
  And so PCTI has more experience than being there.
• 43:25
  I hope my alma mater can put up a good fight against a very good
• 43:29
  PCTI team for. Yeah, no doubt about Jimmy.
• 43:32
  Anything to add North in the Group 5?
• 43:35
  But you know, Passaic Tech did lose a couple of games early
• 43:38
  because their quarterback, who was originally at Paramus
• 43:43
  Catholic, transferred to the Safe Tech.
• 43:46
  Then in the summer, he decided to transfer somewhere else, then
• 43:51
  came back before the start of the season.
• 43:54
  So he had a fit because it was, you know, not.
• 43:57
  Yeah. And and he had a 50 days out as
• 44:00
  a senior in the three games. And he's come on and, and, and
• 44:04
  you know, they've done a good job and, and they took control
• 44:07
  of that, that section. Yeah, All right, Jimmy N one,
• 44:13
  Group 1, the little guys, you love them.
• 44:15
  Your your your turn. Yeah, You know, we saw Butler
• 44:18
  against a couple times this year.
• 44:21
  We sought him against coach Dunn and the Bulldogs of Rutherford
• 44:24
  and the NJSAI final. And you had to love their their
• 44:28
  quarterback, David Smith. You had to like the physical
• 44:31
  offensive line, the athletic wide receivers.
• 44:34
  They took on a very athletic Kinnelon team and came out with
• 44:40
  a 28 to 14 lead. And they will, you know, their
• 44:44
  next semi final will be against guess who, Cedar Grove.
• 44:49
  I mean, they are another, another team that you know, OK,
• 44:52
  we're down. We got 3 losses.
• 44:54
  But well, you know what, look at the schedule.
• 44:56
  They they play, they were always playing up.
• 44:59
  They were always playing powerful move to schools and you
• 45:02
  know what, we were talking about it in school today.
• 45:04
  You know about them. When you have a championship
• 45:07
  pedigree like they do, you expect to win.
• 45:11
  And sure enough, they won it. Out of the four seed, they were
• 45:15
  four seed, they won it and that'll be a very, very
• 45:18
  interesting game between Cedar Grove and Butler.
• 45:24
  Yeah, I'm just as you're talking here, I'm looking through the 10
• 45:27
  sections of public schools that we pay attention to, N 1 and N
• 45:32
  two groups, one through 5 in North one Group 1.
• 45:36
  Butler was the one seed they won, the only really low.
• 45:41
  The Cedar Grove was the only four seed to win, and the only
• 45:46
  non. You know, was there another?
• 45:48
  Yeah. OK, So PCT was a 2.
• 45:50
  Butler won, they won, W would have won.
• 45:53
  They won. Shabazz wins as a one or Japan,
• 45:55
  W Morris, Ramapo, Phillipsburg at Bridgewater all win as #1
• 46:00
  seeds. The only two outliers are Cedar
• 46:02
  Grove, which was the number four seed, which is crazy considering
• 46:05
  that the schedule that they played during the year as a
• 46:08
  group on school and PCT, which Jimmy just mentioned some
• 46:12
  adversity at the beginning got better towards the end.
• 46:14
  So it really was a ton of chalk for the state sectional finals.
• 46:20
  And you know, that's what this whole change in system was meant
• 46:24
  to bring about. Keep the good teams away from
• 46:26
  each other for as long as possible.
• 46:29
  You know, don't have any, you know, brackets where that are,
• 46:33
  you know, no N ones can be tougher than group.
• 46:35
  You know, North twos, you know, that was always the gripe, or at
• 46:39
  least the the perceived imbalance was a gripe between.
• 46:43
  So we changed it. We got N ink numbers and we got
• 46:46
  a lot of chalk. So this is the week when we're
• 46:48
  supposed to have best on best and we'll see what happens.
• 46:52
  Jimmy, big boys, you want to go there?
• 46:55
  Finally, you know, let's. See.
• 46:57
  Let's talk. Let's talk about non public a
• 47:03
  only eight teams in the bracket. They all received the buy the
• 47:06
  previous week. Yeah.
• 47:08
  Bosco seasonal prep. And Bosco beat him up for the
• 47:12
  second time. You had Saint Peters prep
• 47:16
  against Saint Augustine from Richland, NJ, down by Atlantic
• 47:21
  City. And give credit to Saint
• 47:24
  Augustine, the the Hermits. They were in that game.
• 47:28
  That probably was the most competitive game out of the
• 47:32
  four. Bergen.
• 47:34
  Bergen Catholic just dismantled. Saint Joe's been touching and
• 47:39
  you know, a very workmanlike effort by Saint Joe's Regional
• 47:42
  35, nothing over a, a very, very young Del Mart team.
• 47:48
  And you know that that's the team.
• 47:50
  You better get them now because in another couple of years
• 47:53
  they'll be, you know, two years ago they were in Giant Stadium,
• 47:56
  MetLife Stadium, playing for a championship.
• 47:59
  A lot of young kids playing and and you could see the youth when
• 48:04
  you watch that game. Unless, of course, they all
• 48:07
  transfer, but that's remains to be seen because, yeah, we'll
• 48:10
  see. You you almost feel like you
• 48:12
  almost feel like there should be a BIT for the non public A, you
• 48:15
  know, like, all right, you go and you take your whooping from
• 48:18
  Bosco and then you go drop down into the BIT and get into a
• 48:20
  tournament they actually might have a chance to win.
• 48:23
  I mean, that's the way it's going nowadays.
• 48:24
  But Bosco Bergen and Saint Joe's Saint Peter's Prep sees one
• 48:28
  through 4 still alive and non public.
• 48:29
  A Brian. Anything to add?
• 48:32
  You know, we've got rematches here all over the place.
• 48:36
  You know what I mean? Regular season rematches, you
• 48:38
  know, Bergen. Bergen is going to have to go to
• 48:41
  Bosco. They lost to Bosco at home.
• 48:43
  We were there. They lost at Bosco, 14, nine
• 48:47
  close game. Bergen could have, should have,
• 48:49
  could have won the game, you know.
• 48:52
  And then Joe's, you mentioned Joe's.
• 48:54
  Joe's lost to Saint Peter's late fourth quarter.
• 48:57
  Saint Peter's scores to come within one and goes for two to
• 49:02
  win it and does and win it. They won that.
• 49:05
  So they're you know, they're going to come back and rematch
• 49:08
  both at the same places, say Peters will have to host Joe's
• 49:12
  at the same place they play the regular season.
• 49:14
  And then you've got PC. Well, that's there's a rematch
• 49:20
  over here on the other side in North in B, but in A those are
• 49:24
  rematches there. So oh, Red Bank, I'm sorry, Red
• 49:27
  Bank and premise Catholic. Red Bank premise Catholic beat
• 49:32
  him in the regular season 30 to 16.
• 49:34
  So that's a rematch to a regular season game and a Holy Spirit.
• 49:38
  DePaul didn't play each other, but that's we'd expect DePaul to
• 49:42
  get through that. Holy Spirit schedules a little
• 49:46
  late. They lost early in the year.
• 49:49
  I'm not maybe that's not a good indicator now, but they lost
• 49:52
  early in the year to Northern Highlands, the beginning of the
• 49:55
  season at the Battle of the Beach down there.
• 49:57
  So Holy Spirit, you know, we'll have a little bit of a challenge
• 50:01
  as they take the ride up to Parkway and come off the
• 50:04
  Parkway. And however, they going to get
• 50:05
  up to DePaul and Wayne, either 46 or whatever route they take.
• 50:09
  So they will have a little trip and Red Bank I have a little
• 50:11
  shorter trip as they travel up to Paramus Catholic and have
• 50:15
  their hands full to take them out again.
• 50:19
  Jimmy Paramus Catholic, This is going to be their 12th game of
• 50:22
  the season and you know most of them against top notch
• 50:26
  competition. You know, it just strikes me
• 50:30
  because, you know, a college team that plays in a bowl game,
• 50:32
  plays 13 games in a year, and asking high school kids to do it
• 50:36
  is rough, especially with the type of schedule that the big
• 50:39
  boys play. But, you know, what's the mood
• 50:41
  at Paramus Catholic? They're they're, you know, 2,
• 50:44
  two games away from A state championship.
• 50:46
  So I'm sure they're they're pretty buoyant.
• 50:49
  Yeah, you mentioned, you know the schedule they asked to play.
• 50:52
  You're allowed to play 10 regular season games.
• 50:55
  And Coach Russo did that, he added.
• 50:58
  I own a prep to the schedule when you know they're they're
• 51:02
  they were, they were defending state championship.
• 51:04
  So you look at the schedule, they look at the schedule they
• 51:07
  played and you know, they I think what what got, you know,
• 51:12
  Green, their quarterback Green, as we call him, hurt his elbow
• 51:15
  early, you know, middle of the year.
• 51:17
  And since they put in the sophomore Rowan Martin that
• 51:22
  offense, it's been more of a run offense, his only concept
• 51:27
  offense, you know, with their running backs and, and the kid
• 51:31
  Odo, their their transfer last name Odo transfer from from St.
• 51:37
  Saint Thomas Aquinas actually hurt his ankle slash Achilles in
• 51:42
  the first game against Saint Peters and it took him the
• 51:45
  better part of the year to come back.
• 51:47
  But you know, I think what really has has gotten going
• 51:51
  Corey, is their win 2 weeks ago out there, Barton a dominant
• 51:55
  win. And the other day you take it on
• 51:58
  Immaculata nine and two and, you know, putting up 63 points, it
• 52:03
  was a competitive game for almost 1/2.
• 52:06
  And then Paramus Catholic went on like a 43 nothing run to
• 52:11
  really put the game out. And you know, Red Bank Catholic,
• 52:15
  one of those dominant programs coming back up, Paramus Catholic
• 52:19
  beat him the first game. But you know, it's going to be a
• 52:24
  really good game. If you're looking for a good
• 52:26
  game that that might be the one on Friday night.
• 52:30
  OK, yeah, definitely good. All right, last order of
• 52:34
  business as we look to wrap up this episode of the football
• 52:38
  show on North Jersey sports.com, we got to do our picks.
• 52:42
  So let's I I am not it's double or nothing because I I'm not
• 52:46
  giving up my T-shirts without a fight.
• 52:47
  So Jimmy, you're going to have to earn your second round of
• 52:51
  T-shirts. Who my friend will win the
• 52:56
  talking only N so Group 1 Jimmy. You know, that's a good one.
• 53:02
  I'm going to go with this. I'm going to go with Butler.
• 53:07
  I I just think they got a little bit too much up front.
• 53:10
  But you know, that's like, that's like a 5545 pick to me.
• 53:15
  Would it surprise me if Cedar Grove won?
• 53:18
  No, but I'm going to go with Butler.
• 53:20
  Bryce. I'm going to go the same way.
• 53:22
  I'm going to go with the NGIC champs.
• 53:25
  I think they're on a roll. David Butler.
• 53:27
  David. Yeah, he's going to David.
• 53:30
  David. You might as well name him David
• 53:32
  Butler. After all, David Butler, David
• 53:34
  Smith, David Smith, You. NJIC Championships.
• 53:37
  Might as well just name him David Butler and it's the
• 53:40
  perfect opportunity for me. Who came in last in the
• 53:43
  sectional tournament that we played amongst ourselves?
• 53:47
  Perfect opportunity for me to take Cedar Grove and try to get
• 53:50
  some revenge. Corey.
• 53:51
  Yeah, we're all right. So I guess Bra, you go first in
• 53:54
  Group 2. Group 2, Let's stay with the
• 53:58
  local team here. We'll go with Bergen County's
• 54:00
  finest, the Cardinals of Westwood, here.
• 54:03
  All right, Jimmy. Yeah, yeah.
• 54:06
  You know, Brian mentioned before they met last year in the semis
• 54:10
  of the sectional and Shabazz came out with a with a hard
• 54:14
  fought close win. It was when it was a game that
• 54:18
  was played in a heavy wind and it just seemed that Westwood was
• 54:24
  behind the wind in the field position game all night.
• 54:29
  You know, she listen, she make no mistake, Shabazz is, is the
• 54:34
  most talented of the two teams. But I, I really like the
• 54:38
  Westwood coaching staff. I really like the way this
• 54:41
  team's coming. I really like the way how hard
• 54:44
  they play. I'm going to go with Westwood.
• 54:46
  I like all those things too, and I also like Shabazz Group 3.
• 54:52
  I'm first and the world headquarters of North Jersey
• 54:56
  sports.com located in downtown Northvale, New Jersey, the
• 54:59
  hometown of the great Brian Dunn.
• 55:01
  NVOT for me please Jimmy. Yeah.
• 55:06
  You know, I think Coach Klaus, their defensive outstanding
• 55:09
  defensive coordinator is going to, you know, is going to know
• 55:13
  what he's got to do to shut them down.
• 55:15
  He's going to have to win first down with that running attack.
• 55:18
  You know, they'll they'll be willing to bend and not break.
• 55:22
  And when they get the the opportunity to put some points
• 55:25
  up. You mentioned their quarterback
• 55:27
  and Mr. Small and their skill kids.
• 55:30
  I think old Japan stays on meeting.
• 55:35
  I'm right there with you. I think you know, the Zach
• 55:37
  Micelli and Shane Small and it's going to be somebody else that
• 55:41
  we haven't mentioned. Maybe it's a Leo Etter.
• 55:43
  Somebody else is going to help us maybe make that stop at the
• 55:46
  goal line like they did against Ramapo and won the game.
• 55:49
  So somebody else is going to have to step up because we know
• 55:52
  the stars will shine. So it's just a matter of who can
• 55:55
  step up and watch the turnovers. You can't have turnovers.
• 55:57
  That's another key to actually, too, you know, All right, hold
• 56:02
  the ball first up over here. You know what?
• 56:07
  Yeah, I'd love to, you know, to go with Bergen County, but I
• 56:10
  just think Phillipsburg has just maybe that edge in the running
• 56:14
  game and may be able to control the possession.
• 56:17
  So I'm going to go with Phillipsburg and go against our
• 56:20
  local team. Me.
• 56:22
  Too. I'm going to go with Ramapo.
• 56:26
  You mentioned core, you mentioned Grusher, their
• 56:29
  outstanding quarterback, not only throwing it, but using his
• 56:32
  legs. I think he's the big, big player
• 56:35
  in this game. I think they do enough
• 56:37
  defensively and I think they in a like a a 3328 game for Ramapo.
• 56:46
  I mean, how great did Casey Grosser play last year in that
• 56:49
  game that we were all at at Morris Knowles?
• 56:52
  Wow, you know, he was almost perfect.
• 56:55
  Brilliant performance. So he's done it in a big game
• 56:58
  before. I'm taking Phillipsburg just
• 57:01
  because you know, it's the the chalk pick or whatever.
• 57:03
  But I just thinking about it, I would love for Phillipsburg one
• 57:07
  year to not be the home team in this round and to have to go to
• 57:11
  a round or Northern Highlands and you know, bring their
• 57:13
  travelling roadshow this way. I mean you got to that's got to
• 57:17
  be all decided on the field. So you know, P Berg is just
• 57:20
  handling its business. But it would be fun to see their
• 57:22
  return like one of these years. Maybe we'll get to see that
• 57:26
  happen. But As for now, we got 2
• 57:27
  Phillipsburg picks and a Ramapo for Jimmy.
• 57:30
  Jimmy, with that, we'll let you go first in Group 5.
• 57:35
  You know, I think the fake tech is the hot team right now.
• 57:39
  I think they find a way to get it done.
• 57:41
  Again, no disrespect to Brian's alma mater, but I just you know,
• 57:45
  the fake tech is just seems to be the hot team right now.
• 57:50
  Right. Let me guess.
• 57:51
  Yeah, you can guess where I'm going, Corey.
• 57:54
  I have to go with my, you know, my alma mater down there.
• 57:58
  You know, they're you know, they they found a way to win last
• 58:02
  week. I think they're Rd. tested and,
• 58:05
  you know, playing used to playing close games and you
• 58:08
  know, they'll have to stop, you know, they have to stop PCTI
• 58:11
  because PCTI can score. And if it's a high scoring game,
• 58:15
  it's probably PCTI. But if Bridgeworth can keep it a
• 58:18
  low scoring game, they can win a.
• 58:20
  So I gotta go with PR and the Panthers my.
• 58:25
  Right Is it does it I mean I'm taking Bridgewater air just
• 58:28
  because you're my friend. I mean you know my long term
• 58:31
  long time Co host. Does it bother you a little bit
• 58:33
  that Jimmy goes and just like brazenly takes?
• 58:37
  I mean, Can you imagine if if this is Powell Park in here and
• 58:39
  Jimmy takes, I don't know who's playing Powell Park in the north
• 58:43
  one or the N 4? If if Powell Park wins its way
• 58:47
  and plays Phillipsburg in Group 5, state Texas 70 in the state
• 58:52
  semi finals and Jimmy takes Phillipsburg, I'd be pissed a
• 58:54
  little Bry. I mean, does it bother you at
• 58:56
  all? No, no, no.
• 58:58
  You know what? If Bridgewater wasn't in the
• 59:00
  game Corey, I would probably pick PCTI just because you know
• 59:06
  you pick A. Loser.
• 59:08
  No, no, no, I'm just, I want to go with my alma mater to kind of
• 59:12
  support them and their success and winning their first
• 59:16
  sectional title. And PCTI has been a perennial
• 59:20
  and they've won a few. And so I, I wish them well, hope
• 59:24
  for a good game. And it's a toss up, I think.
• 59:27
  But like I said, I think PCTI, if they score a lot of points,
• 59:30
  can win the game. That's that's my choice all.
• 59:33
  Right. I'll go first in public A well
• 59:37
  actually should we save those until next week or should we
• 59:40
  pick the semi finals in the final?
• 59:41
  I think that I think the semi final is the one.
• 59:44
  I think everybody's, you know, that Bergen, Bergen Bosco game,
• 59:48
  believe it or not, was September 25th.
• 59:52
  Crazy. Two months ago already and and I
• 59:55
  know that's been a that that's stuck in Bergen Catholics cross,
• 59:59
  so to speak, wanting another opportunity and they're getting
• 1:00:03
  it. You know, I think that's and
• 1:00:04
  again, no disrespect to Don Bosco, They've been the most
• 1:00:08
  consistent out of out of the non public schools.
• 1:00:10
  They're undefeated. But, you know, just watching
• 1:00:14
  that game, I just think Bergen left a lot of points on the
• 1:00:17
  field that day, a lot of penalties, 13 penalties, you
• 1:00:22
  know, which led to their demise that that night, I think.
• 1:00:26
  I think Bergen finds a way to get it done the second time.
• 1:00:30
  Alright, Bergen. And then who you got in the
• 1:00:31
  bottom of the bracket. I think Saint Joe's, you know,
• 1:00:37
  in a close game over Saint Peters, anytime you have to go
• 1:00:40
  to cave in point, you know, Saint Peters is a different
• 1:00:43
  animal down there. But I, I, I like Saint Joe's,
• 1:00:47
  especially with, with Nate Bailey, who did not play in the
• 1:00:50
  first game and missed the best. The quarterback who's back.
• 1:00:55
  I just want to mention one thing.
• 1:00:56
  We were at the game the other day and their senior quarterback
• 1:01:01
  Dice is, is out for the season with a broken, broken foot.
• 1:01:06
  And and you got a feel for that kid who waited his turn when he
• 1:01:11
  was called, all he did was go in there and lead him to a victory
• 1:01:14
  over Bergen Catholic. You know what a class act he is.
• 1:01:18
  But I just think Nate Bailey not being there, it was a one point
• 1:01:22
  game the first time. I think he makes the difference
• 1:01:25
  this time. I'm going Bosco Saint Joe's,
• 1:01:29
  right? How about you?
• 1:01:31
  Yeah, I'm going to, you know, everybody was looking forward to
• 1:01:34
  this. And you know, Bergens beaten
• 1:01:35
  Bosco. You know, the only time that
• 1:01:38
  they that Bosco beat him was a regular season game a few years
• 1:01:42
  ago. And we're looking at a similar
• 1:01:44
  situation this year. But I'm going to lean, you know,
• 1:01:47
  Bosco has been very consistent undefeated this year.
• 1:01:50
  So I'm going to go with the boys from Ramsey, even though you
• 1:01:53
  know you can't. You know you're not the champ
• 1:01:55
  until you beat the champ. So you got to beat.
• 1:01:59
  There's nobody from Ramsey on that team.
• 1:02:01
  But anyway, go. Ahead, right, Well, there is
• 1:02:04
  there is a player I will mention there is a player.
• 1:02:07
  The school is in Ramsey. So I'm going to go with the team
• 1:02:10
  from Ramsey, Don Bosco and Franklin Turnpike and go with
• 1:02:14
  the iron men in a in a close man.
• 1:02:17
  I think a close game. And you never know Bergen, if
• 1:02:19
  they can finish, you know they could win it, you know, and
• 1:02:23
  they're the Champs and he could beat the Champs.
• 1:02:25
  You know, they're still the Champs.
• 1:02:26
  So I'm just going to go against it, that's all.
• 1:02:30
  But you could have what you had a couple years ago where Bergen
• 1:02:33
  lost the Bosco in regular season, came back and really
• 1:02:36
  took care of business in the final that time that was in the
• 1:02:38
  final. This time we're in the semis.
• 1:02:40
  So I'm just going to go with that, let Jimmy go with Bergen,
• 1:02:44
  and then I'm going to go with the boys from Montvale Saint
• 1:02:47
  Joe's. We were there for the regular
• 1:02:49
  season matchup at Peters, a good game.
• 1:02:52
  And as Jimmy mentioned before, Best and Bailey didn't play for
• 1:02:55
  Joe's. So I think this time they're
• 1:02:58
  going to turn things around with those two guys back on the
• 1:03:01
  field. And so I'm going with Joe's as
• 1:03:04
  well on that. All right.
• 1:03:06
  And quickly, let's just go quickly.
• 1:03:08
  Give me the teams in non public. B.
• 1:03:09
  Who are your two finalists? Right?
• 1:03:11
  I think I. Was going to go to Paul and then
• 1:03:16
  Perez Catholic, you know, just because the Paul's played a more
• 1:03:20
  difficult schedule and plus they're playing at home.
• 1:03:23
  Holy Spirit's going to drive up the park by after two hours.
• 1:03:26
  They're a much better team. They're definitely much.
• 1:03:30
  Better. So the amount of competition
• 1:03:31
  they played is just a little bit better at the Paul.
• 1:03:35
  And then I'm going to go with promised Catholic in a rematch,
• 1:03:38
  you know, and expect them to be able to take care of business
• 1:03:41
  just like they did away against the undefeated Red Bank Catholic
• 1:03:44
  when they did play them down in Red Bank earlier this year.
• 1:03:47
  I expect the Paladins come out on top and then we'll end up
• 1:03:51
  with DePaul Paramus Catholic final.
• 1:03:54
  I agree with that and Jimmy. Yeah.
• 1:03:58
  You know, real quick, I just want to mention the difference
• 1:04:01
  maker, I think in this going back to Bergen Bosco is their
• 1:04:05
  sophomore quarterback, Trey Talia.
• 1:04:07
  Ferry, How about this Corey? He's upwards of 30 touchdown
• 1:04:12
  passes this year with only one interception.
• 1:04:15
  It's wild against that competition, against those
• 1:04:19
  defensive lines and secondaries that he's facing to put one, I
• 1:04:25
  think. Yeah, I think he is the
• 1:04:27
  difference in that game and non public they I agree.
• 1:04:31
  I think Paramus Catholic finds a way to get it done and I think
• 1:04:34
  the Paul who you know what the Paul is struggled a little bit.
• 1:04:39
  They you know to be any game. They wound up winning 3514, but
• 1:04:44
  that was a 2114 game in the fourth quarter.
• 1:04:48
  They they were beat up by Del Barton a couple of weeks earlier
• 1:04:52
  and a loss to Joe's. So I don't know if the poll is
• 1:04:55
  playing their best right now, but when you have Mr. Zammond at
• 1:04:59
  quarterback, who's the difference maker?
• 1:05:01
  You, you got to go with the poll.
• 1:05:04
  The poll it is. We got two weeks left of
• 1:05:06
  football on the Football Show. Follow the leader.