GLEN RIDGE, NJ — The Glen Ridge High School football team defeated Hawthorne, 36-13, to capture the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Group 1 regional invitational tournament championship on Thursday, Nov. 10, at Hurrell Field.
The Ridgers, under first-year head coach Manj Singh, won their final three games of the season to finish with a respectable 5-5 record.
Hawthorne led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, but the Ridgers took control with two touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 14-7 halftime lead. Glen Ridge quarterback Dylan O’Neil fired a 20-yard touchdown pass to Frankie Renois to put the Ridgers on the scoreboard with 11:19 left in the half. O’Neil connected with Matteo Pavan on a 44-yard touchdown pass with 6:25 remaining. Max Carbonell kicked the extra points.
In the third quarter, Brennan Lyons recovered a fumble for a touchdown with 10:01 remaining. Carbonell kicked the extra point to make it 21-7. Hawthorne scored on a touchdown pass with 5:00 left in the third quarter to cut it to 21-13. The point-after kick failed.
But the Ridgers dominated the rest of the way. David Kelly ran for a 45-yard touchdown, followed by Carbonell’s extra-point kick, with 1:55 left in the third quarter to make it 28-13.
Renois ran for a 57-yard touchdown, and Kelly caught the 2-point conversion pass from William Horan with 4:13 left in the game to close out the scoring.
The Ridgers had 324 yards of offense and allowed just 211 yards.
Glen Ridge defeated Middlesex, 34-14, on the road in the final regular-season game on Thursday, Oct. 27, and defeated Roselle Park, 35-20, in the semifinals of the regional invitational tournament on Saturday, Nov. 5, at Hurrell Field.
This was the first year for the regional invitational tournaments for teams that just missed qualifying for the state playoffs.
GRHS notable game stats vs. Hawthorne
Passing
- O’Neil: 7 of 14 attempts, 183 yards, 2 TDs.
Rushing
- Kelly: 13 carries for 78 yards.
- Renois: 3 carries for 58 yards.
- Pavan: 2 carries for 20 yards.
- Carbonell: 3 carries for 7 yards.
Receiving
- Pavan: 2 catches for 63 yards, 1 TD.
- Morgan Horan: 1 catch for 62 yards.
- Renois: 1 catch for 20 yards, 1 TD.
- Kelly: 1 catch for 18 yards.
- Brad Foster: 1 catch for 13 yards.
- William Horan: 1 catch for 7 yards.
Defense
- Morgan Horan, 11 tackles.
- Pavan: 9 tackles.
- Joshua Schumann: 9 tackles.
- Lyons: 8 tackles, 1 sack.
- William Horan: 7.5 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack.
- Max Corradi: 6.5 tackles.
- Foster: 4 tackles.
- Kelly: 4 tackles.
- Jake Russell: 3.5 tackles.
- Renois: 1.5 tackles, 2 interceptions.
Photos Courtesy of Brianne Aumack
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