By Andy Loigu

Despite starting the season with inexperience at nearly every offensive and defensive position, the Warren Hills Blue Streaks are finding ways to win football games. On Friday night, their key to beating a talented Voorhees team on the road was ball control.

The Streaks ran 41 running plays from scrimmage and outgained Voorhees 275 yards to 51 on the ground, enabling Warren Hills to win 21-6. The season may have started with modest expectations but now Warren Hills finds itself with a 3-2 record and visions of the state playoffs dancing in their minds.

“We wanted to keep the ball,” explained Blue Streaks’ coach George DiGrande. “Voorhees has a high powered offense, led by an exciting quarterback, so our plan was, if we keep the ball, they can’t score.”

Warren Hills scored a touchdown in each of the first three periods and Voorhees did not reach the end zone until the final period.

Behind a fired up offensive line, Geir Nemeth carried the ball 30 times, gained 158 yards, and scored two touchdowns. Junior quarterback Tucker Gabrich ran nine keepers for 71 yards and a score. Just to keep things diverse, Gabrich completed three of seven passes for 36 yards, playing it safe and avoiding any momentum turning interceptions.

“The kids are understanding the concepts and putting that into play on the field,” DiGrande said. “They are even calling some of their own plays. They’re saying, coach, we can do this. That’s what you want to see.”

Voorhees had 162 passing yards, but was limited to 51 rushing yards by the swarming, gang tackling Blue Streaks’ defenders.

Turnovers doom Tigers

Parsippany Hills, a group three school, capitalized on the Hackettstown Tigers’ early miscues and took a 21-0 lead in the first quarter at Morrison Field on Friday night. Hackettstown moved the ball from the triple option, but fumbled and had a punt blocked on its first two drives. Another turnover led to yet another score. The disruptive Par Hills defensive line made it hard for Hackettstown to run plays and the Tigers lost 42-14, falling to 1-4 on the season.

Zeb Burke gained 35 yards to keep the Tigers’ first successful scoring drive going. Jason Kuehner ran it in from inside the 30 to make the score 28-7 and give the homecoming crowd some hope. Alejandro Castro also did a marvelous job of running and blocking. However, the key to making a comeback is to play great defense and stop the other team. Par Hills continued scoring, running a spread offense with the quarterback working from the shotgun formation and surgically dissecting the defensive sets. As the second half went on, the Tigers had too high a mountain to climb.

Fans will need wristbands to get into next week’s Tigers’ game at Hanover Park. A special NFL themed charity event featuring celebrity guests is being planned at Hanover Park. Contact the athletic office at Hackettstown High if you wish to obtain a wristband, since tickets will not be sold at the gate.

Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex field hockey

Warren Hills is the number one seed in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex field hockey tournament this season. The Blue Streaks host the Newton versus Belvidere winner on Tuesday, October 7, in the quarterfinal round. If they win that one, they host either fourth seed Vernon or fifth seed Hunterdon Central on Saturday, October 12 in a semifinal. 

The championship game, on a neutral field, will be hosted by Hackettstown at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 19.

The Tigers, last year’s champion, were eliminated from this year’s tourney by tenth seed South Hunterdon, 2-0.

….Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.