Delsea downer: Crusaders' imperfect play ends dream of perfect season
PISCATAWAY – The inability to play a perfect game brought an end to a perfect season for the Delsea Regional High School football team.
With a shot at a 13-0 record and a first true state championship, the Crusaders played their most uncharacteristic game of the season as two costly turnovers and a pair of personal fouls spelled doom during a 24-14 loss to Old Tappan in the Group 3 championship at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium.
“We had a phenomenal season,” senior two-way star lineman Ashton Blose said. “We just didn’t get the job done tonight. We can’t make that many mistakes and expect to win a football game.”
Senior Jared Schoppe was one Crusader who could speak from experience about what it takes once you get to the state final. Despite wrestling with a broken hand last winter, Schoppe advanced to the 175-pound final where he suffered a 5-2 loss to Brick Memorial’s Harvey Ludington.
“You have to be perfect,” the Lehigh-bound Schoppe said. “You’re not going to win at this level if you’re not perfect, that’s in wrestling or football. In a championship game, you have to play your best game, you have to play to the best of your ability and we fell short of that.
“It’s not like us. When we were losing to Camden (14-0 at halftime), we amped it up in the second half and got the win (a 20-14 victory in the state semifinal). We showed toughness today, but I guess not enough.”
More:Woodbury High School football team becomes 1st public state champion in New Jersey history
Delsea’s offense, which had churned out close to 340 rushing yards per game in its first 12 games, had trouble getting its footing against Old Tappan (12-1). The Crusaders managed just 11 first downs and a season-low 169 rushing yards in the game.
“We just weren’t clicking,” Blose said. “With a Wing-T offense, you can’t have a first-and-15 situation. It’s hard running the ball. You have to gain, gain, gain. You can’t have a loss on a down. We had too many of those tonight.
“Up front, (Old Tappan) was very sound. They always slanted the right way, they did everything right.”
On the other side, Delsea did not.
The Crusaders had a roughing the kicker penalty that took an Old Tappan field goal off the scoreboard and, three plays later, turned into a touchdown and a 14-7 lead before intermission.
Delsea managed to tie the game up at 14-14 on a short Schoppe TD run in the third quarter, but Old Tappan turned the tables with a long 14-play drive that led to a go-ahead field goal and was aided by a personal foul penalty that moved the chains.
Another Delsea turnover led to a game-clinching touchdown in the fourth quarter.
“You can’t make critical mistakes in a championship game, we made them on offense and on defense, and those are mistakes we usually don’t make,” Delsea coach Sal Marchese said.
In his 30th season, Marchese said this group was one of his favorites of his tenure, which includes a program-record 237 wins.
“We don’t have a bunch of Division I kids all over the place but we have a bunch of good high school players that signify Delsea and what we do,” the coach said “They work hard, they play team football, work extremely hard and find ways to get it done with toughness.”
More:HS football: Scores, schedule for the 2022 season
Many of the Crusaders tried their best to hold back the tears as a dream season turned into a painful ending of a highly successful season.
“It hurts,” said Blose, who wants to play football and study kinesiology in college. “We accomplished so much and we did so facing a lot of adversity too.”
Schoppe will start another quest for a state final run on the wrestling mat in a couple of days, but he wouldn’t soon forget the run he had with the Crusaders’ football team.
“It's tough, this will be the last time I step on the field,” said Schoppe, who rushed for 1,250 yards and 25 touchdowns this season. “I’ll remember everything from this season. The guys on my team, the coaches, the fun, the grind. …. The grind is fun, but it can suck sometimes too.”
What it means
Old Tappan, which went 5-6 in 2021, became New Jersey’s first Group 3 state champion in history. The Golden Knights won their final six games.
Delsea was trying to complete the eighth undefeated season in program history and the first since 2005. The 12 wins tied a program record and the team captured the West Jersey Football League Independence Division title and its 15th sectional crown.
Game balls
Old Tappan’s Aidan Heaney was a workhorse, rushing 30 times for 105 yards.
The Golden Knights’ Nico Ottomanelli booted a 46-yard field goal and connected for a 35-yarder that was taken off the board because of a penalty.
Delsea’s Wayne Adair had a team-high 11 tackles and scored Delsea’s first touchdown. Austin Boos had 2 ½ tackles for loss while Blose recovered a fumble.
They said it
“If anyone would have told me we’d be 12-0 playing in the state championship in the beginning of the year with the brutal schedule that we played, I would have taken that every day of the week and twice on Sunday,” Delsea coach Sal Marchese.
Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Delsea football falls short of completing dream season
