BLOOMFIELD, NJ (updated Sunday Oct. 29, 1:01 p.m.) – Senior running back Jeremy Whitherspoon ran for three touchdowns to lead the Bloomfield High School varsity football team to a 43-21 comeback win at Bayonne on Friday night, Oct. 27.
The Bengals won their second straight game to improve to 4-3. The win also bolstered their hopes for the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group 5 playoffs.
The Bengals trailed 13-0 in the second quarter before Whitherspoon scored on a 3-yard run to cut it to 13-6 at the half.
Bayonne scored a TD in the third quarter to increase its lead to 21-6. But the Bengals rallied with two touchdowns later in the third quarter. Junior quarterback Kyle Tice threw a 17-yard TD pass to senior John Ridley, followed by the two-point conversion, to cut it to 21-14.
Whitherspoon scored on a 48-yard run, followed by the two-point conversion, to put the Bengals up 22-21.
The Bengals iced the game with three TDs in the fourth quarter. Junior running back Lenny Munford scored on a 5-yard run to make it 29-21. Whitherspoon had a 1-yard TD run for a 36-21 lead. Senior linebacker Jeremiah Askins returned an interception 92 yards for a TD to close out the emphatic come-from-behind victory. Marcus Wolf, a senior, kicked the three extra points in the fourth quarter.
The Bengals are in eighth place in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group 5 power-point standings with 86 points. The top eight teams by the eighth game in the power-point standings earn playoff berths. Paterson Kennedy, also with a 4-3 record, is ninth with 83 points
The Bengals will host Morristown on Friday night, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. at Foley Field. Morristown is 2-6. A Bengals win will clinch a playoff berth. Paterson Kennedy will visit Passaic County Tech in Wayne on Friday, Nov. 3. Passaic County Tech has won seven games in a row and is 7-1.