NEWARK, NJ — The Glen Ridge High School football team defeated Newark Collegiate Academy, 27-14, Friday, Oct. 6, at Schools Stadium for its third straight win to improve to 4-3 overall.
Yes, second-year head coach Manj Singh has done wonders with Ridgers program.
Changing the culture involved some creative influence on his players to come from all over the school and different backgrounds in the school sports community.
Last season, Singh challenged his players to just leave everything on the field and make sure they are prepared for whatever is thrown their way. “Hey, we played Shabazz down to the wire last season,” said Singh in a preseason interview. “We both needed that game to get into the playoffs last season and they beat us 20-14 on a last-second score. But it only lit a fire into our team, as we went on to win the Regional Invitational Tournament right here in front of our home crowd on Hurrell Field.” In fact, it was the first time a football trophy had been added to their already extensive trophy collection at Glen Ridge High School in quite some time.
Fast forward to this past weekend’s showdown with Newark Collegiate Academy Panthers. Both schools were in must-win situations to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Ridger took the short drive to Newark Schools Stadium to help their cause as they were riding a two-game winning streak against Tenafly in a rain-soaked 36-0 shutout and a 22-16 hard fought game against Morris Catholic. Newark Collegiate had not won a game since Week 1 where it defeated Hoboken 18-6. They’ve since lost to Newark Central, Shabazz, and Cedar Grove by a combined score of 103-12 before Friday evening’s contest.
Glen Ridge wasn’t waiting for the coin toss. The Ridgers were already chomping at the bit to get after the Panthers. It didn’t take long for them to get their way. NCA started the game in good field position after getting the opening kickoff, then ultimately would turn the ball over on downs.
With just 9:52 left in the first quarter, the Ridgers set up their opening possession on their own 38 yard line. Led by senior QB Dylan O’Neil, along with his supporting cast in running back David Kelly, and receivers Zach Konetzni, Brad Foster and Max Carbonell, the Ridgers marched 62 yards in 13 plays, all while fumbling and converting two big first downs to open the scoring with O’Neil connecting a 2-yard dot with Brad Foster for the late first quarter, 7-0 lead.
NCA had to find a way to respond with their playmakers. led by QB Ali Hillman, along with running backs Kymel Gibson, Mosaaron Muhammad and Benogo Diaby, as well as wide receivers Zion Linton, Darien Jackson, and TE Gabriel Cruz. The Panthers would keep the ball for the remainder of the first quarter working from their own 20-yard line, giving the Ridgers defense a tough go, before Hillman’s completed pass to Jackson was fumbled in an attempted escape from a pile of Ridgers defenders which they came up with the prized recovery putting all the Ridgers in prime real estate at the NCA 41-yard line.
From there, O’Neil and company went right back to work with one tangible goal in mind, and that was to extend their lead a little further at the start of the second quarter.
The Ridgers attempted to do just that, as they flexed their will, but was met with a tenacious Panthers defense, led by linebackers Jasir Brinson and Xavier Terry, as the Ridgers were forced to turn the ball over after an unsuccessful fake punt. The Panthers would then find themselves back in the driver’s seat, marching to their own beat from their own 38-yard line. The Panthers drove the field to the tune of 62 yards in five plays. Hillman hit it a streaking Gibson for two big passing connections of 39 and 28 yards to bookend the drive with a score, making Glen Ridge’s lead smaller after a blocked PAT kick to keep it at 7-6 with 8:38 remaining in the half.
The third quarter picked up where Glen Ridge left off, driving for a score. The Ridgers, starting from their own 41-yard line after the second-half kickoff, ran the ball 10 out of 14 times to cap the 59-yard drive with an 8-yard middle screen from O’Neil to Kelly, who found the promised land, putting the Ridgers slightly ahead 14-6 with 5:00 remaining in the third quarter.
But Glen Ridge wasn’t even done with the immediate scoring bug. DB Brad Foster would snag the second interception of the day, making a 43-yard pick-6 house call along the way to give his Ridgers a 20-6 lead with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter. Repeating the same stanza from the first half, NCA started its drive at their own 35-yard line with just under three minutes left in the quarter, taking the first six plays to set up the next four to start the fourth and final frame of the game. Hill would cap the 10-play, 65-yard march with a 28-yard air-mailed jump ball to sophomore WR Davion Young Felder to pull within a touchdown 20-14 after the successful two-point conversion.
Both teams seemed to struggle offensively, as both opposing defenses would put up a stout fight. Glen Ridge, however, would come away with yet another sticky-fingered interception with 6:16 remaining in the game and kept the Panthers from ever tying the game up. In fact, Glen Ridge would begin its version of clock management when the Ridgers went run-heavy on their next drive. O’Neil and Kelly both combined for the heavy yardage six out of seven times. O’Neil would toss a quick 6-yard strike to the waiting breadbasket of Foster, putting the game out of reach 27-14 with 2:02 left in the game.
NCA attempted to rally back with the clock not in their favor, but the Panthers continued to be plagued by turnovers this time around. It was another completed pass, but ultimately it was stripped, giving Glen Ridge the ball back and the win.
“You guys did a heck of a job! This is what the results would look like when we stick together as a team” said Singh to his players after the game was officially in the books. He also made it clear that it was the first time they had a winning 4-3 record that was not related to the SFC–Ivy Division. With the win this past weekend, Glen Ridge will have to maintain their winning streak when they face vaunted rivals Verona and Shabazz in the next two weeks. The Verona Hillbillies will come down Bloomfield Avenue to Hurrell Field in hopes they can at least play spoiler to Glen Ridge’s playoff chances for a noon kickoff on Saturday afternoon, Oct.14.
Then Glen Ridge will have to head to the South Side of the Brick City to visit rival Shabazz Bulldogs at Shabazz Stadium the following weekend.
NCA’s head coach Donte Dennis said, “The key takeaways from the game was, we didn’t win the turnover battle. Every turnover opportunity that presented itself was something we had to get better on. They were really good at jumping on the ball when we had scoring opportunities.” NCA will need to win against both Tenafly and Roselle to make it into the postseason play. They will make the 45-minute trek to visit the Tigers of Tenafly Friday evening, Oct. 13, for a 7 p.m. kickoff. They will have the Rams of Roselle High School come up to Newark School Stadium for the final home game of the season.
O’Neil has 3,358 career passing yards. He is only four passing yards away from breaking the school record held by 2018 graduate Tyler Liddy.
Photos Courtesy of Brianne Aumack
Glen Ridge vs. Newark Collegiate Academy (Friday, Oct. 6)
Glen Ridge HS football team continues its surge, defeats Newark Collegiate for its third straight victory added by Kerry E. Porter on
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