By Andy Loigu

Hackettstown football fans have been calling for their Tigers to “restore the roar.” This year, with an impressive 4-0 start, they have not only restored it, they have amplified it.

On Friday night at Whippany Park, they shut down the Wildcats and their triple option offense to the tune of 32-0. No strangers to the triple option system, since the Tigers’ upperclassmen grew up running it, they knew how to read all the keys. The players appreciated the fact that if you don’t read the keys, you could get burned for six points very quickly.

Offensively, the spread offense Hackettstown now runs, opens up a lot of room on the field, creating lanes for either the run or pass, whichever the defense gives you.

The Tigers lead grew to 26-0 on the run of the year (so far) by quarterback Jackson Burke, who looked like he wanted to pass on fourth down and five to go, but had to start scrambling. Nimble on his quick feet, he got to the sideline and turned upfield for a 49-yard touchdown.

A week earlier, the Tigers hosted nearby Lenape Valley, a mere nine miles away, and improved to 3-0 with an impressive 32-7 win over a team which had a bigger line. They led 20-7 at the half and continued to build on it. Running the spread,,they broke the game open with a 47-yard touchdown pass from Burke to Bernie Annor in the third period, Annor’s second score of the game. A 25-yard rushing touchdown by Andrew Carida put it in the books. On defense, two-way lineman Liam Burke made many big plays.

What about the Blue Streaks?

It has been a challenging 1-3 season for the Warren Hills Blue Streaks, who lost 24-8 to Roxbury on Friday evening. The lone win (hopefully there will be a second and third and fourth) was a 21-20 grinder over Mendham.

The Blue Streaks lost a tough one at Chatham a couple of weeks ago when they had a 20-7 halftime lead but it slipped away and became a 21-20 defeat. It was Chatham’s third consecutive win and second straight loss for Warren Hills. A pair of fumbles did not help the Warren Hills cause. The second one halted what could have been a game-winning final drive which went deep into Chatham territory. Officials deliberated on whether quarterback Luke Dugan’s knee hit the ground before the ball came loose. After a nerve-wracking delay, they eventually ruled the play a fumble. The Blue Streaks’ stout defense did get the ball back for a field goal try in the last minute which was unsuccessful.

Blue Streak coach Marcus Gurdineer simply said “refs are going to be refs” and said “we came up short in some areas. It is what it is. That’s football. You just keep battling.”

There’s a life lesson there. In the face of adversity and disappointment, we must persist.

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Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.