Steinert cornerback Joe Swindaz makes the open field tackle on Hopewell Valley. Photo by Dan Danko III

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Oct. 14: There have been football defenses that came together quickly before, but this is ridiculous.

For Steinert, the jelling period took all of 24 minutes.

After the season’s first two quarters, the Spartans had allowed 24 points and it was shaping up as a long year for the James Gang. But in the 22 quarters since then, Steinert has yielded just 23 as defensive coordinator Bill James has molded a re-tooling unit into a defensive terror.

That was evident again today, as only a special teams miscue prevented the season’s third shutout in Steinert’s 20-2 win over visiting Hopewell Valley on Homecoming Day.

In winning their fifth straight, the Spartans (5-1) held HoVal to 156 yards of total offense and limited standout back Elijah-Blu Wilmott to just four yards 12 carries. Wilmott had nearly 400 yards entering the game.

“No one’s been able to shut that kid down all year,” coach Dan Caruso said. “I don’t know how you could possibly play better defense than we’re playing right now. Coach James, Coach (Brad) Harris, coach (Kyle) Flanagan are doing a great job. For me as a head coach it’s just re-assuring when you know my defense is going to get a stop. These guys all just work so hard, it’s great to see.”

The Spartans entered the season with question marks after graduating six starters, and things looked bleak when Middle Township led 24-17 at halftime of the season opener. Middle got eight more in the second half, and five opponents since then have combined for 15 points.

Asked if the Spartans’ D has surprised some people, defensive back Joe Swindasz said, “I mean, yeah. A lot of people doubt us, but Mr. James is giving us the work and we’re doing what we have to do. We have good chemistry and we all do what we have to do and we get it done.”

“They’re not stars, they’re not all-state players,” Caruso said. “They play team defense. They hustle to the ball, everybody does their job, no one’s trying to do too much. They’re just playing good football.”

Contributors are everywhere, including linemen Matt Olsen, Angelo Falvo, Tim Toomer, Keon Cooper and Nick Pasqua, linebackers Xavier Roman, Jake Swindasz, Brendan James and Sadequl Ali and the secondary of “Lou” Gehrig Rios, Joe Swindasz, Jordan Morrison and Miles Smith. Morrison is Steinert’s offensive star but he’s headed to Connecticut as a defensive back.

In fact, many of the same names are on offense, which has also looked good this year.

Steinert’s first TD came in the first quarter when Morrison found Smith with a 15-yard TD strike. The Hopewell defender had good coverage but Morrison threw a perfect ball and Smith made a great leaping grab. One play earlier, Smith dropped a would-be touchdown pass.

Photos by Dan Danko III

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“You just gotta wipe that off your shoulders because if you keep that on your back, you’re just gonna mess up,” said Smith, who is celebrating a birthday today. “I was really happy but it’s not just about me. It’s about getting the ball in the endzone. We always want to start off getting the ball in the endzone to show the other team we’re not playing around.”

Caruso said he had no issues going back to Smith after his drop.

“It’s a situation where he and Jordan have a pretty good connection,” the coach said. “The first one was a little behind him but I know he was mad at himself, he needs to catch it. But the second one he made a pretty good catch on. He’s a special player. The ball was where only Miles could catch it, and he kept his feet in.”

The play was an indication of how much Morrison has progressed as a passer after serving mostly as a running quarterback the previous two seasons.

“He has improved a lot,” Caruso said. “It’s hard keeping him off the field as a passer but he’s just so valuable other places too. But we knew coming into this game he was going to play a lot of quarterback, that was the game plan and he did the job well.”

Morrison finished 8-for-12 for 95 yards and also rushed for 60 yards. But the big running numbers were put up by Xavier Thompson, who rushed for 134 yards and scored Steinert’s second TD on a 79-yard burst in the second quarter. Wilmott appeared close to tracking him down in the last 10 yards before Thompson cut to the right and sprinted into the endzone.

“The fact of the matter is we knew he was capable of breaking one,” Caruso said. “He’s usually not a guy to break off 80-yard runs. For a little guy he’s a very tough runner but it opened up, he saw it and he was able to finish the run.”

The run came just after Steinert’s defense squashed a drive and forced Hopewell into an unsuccessful field goal attempt.

In the third quarter, a 25-yard completion to Smith set up a 3-yard TD run by quarterback Kyle Smith to put Steinert up 20-0. Hopewell had a chance to make it a game on its next series but the Spartans put up an impenetrable wall against quarterback Jack Demareski on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

“On defense, we just stuck to our assignments,” Miles Smith said. “We studied their offense and did what coach told us to do. They were a tough team. We had to come into the game with the mentality of showing them how we are and how we play.”

The win sets up what Steinert hopes is the first of several ‘Games of the Year” when the Spartans head to Allentown for a Friday night showdown. The winner claims the West Jersey Football League Patriot Division title as Steinert is 3-0 and Allentown is 2-0. No other team in the division can win three games.

“They’re a really hard team,” Smith said. “We’ve just gotta keep sticking to our assignments, playing how we play Spartan football.”

These days, that means playing lights-out defense.

Nicholson goes for 194 and ‘Stars hold off Notre Dame to win fifth straight

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Photos by Mary Malone

Like Steinert, Nottingham also won its fifth straight after an opening-day loss, but it didn’t come easy as the Northstars held on for a 21-16 win over pesky Notre Dame.

The Northstars took a 12-0 lead on Diontae Nicholson’s 60-yard TD run and a 9-yard scoring jaunt by Eric D’Herron. It was the start of a 191-yard rushing day for Nicholson.

The Irish bounced back to make it 12-9 in the third quarter, and Nottingham got some breathing room in the fourth on Alix Oge’s 27-yard field goal and Nicholson’s 1-yard TD run. The Irish cut the margin to five on quarterback Robbie Buecker’s TD run but Nottingham stopped the 2-point conversion.

The Northstars recovered the onsides kick and were able to go into victory formation after an end-around to Cliff Harris picked up 14 yards on third-and-11 with 2:26 remaining and ND out of timeouts.

Hamilton resident Cortaz Williams rushed for 133 yards for the Irish.

Rick “The Voice” Taylor contributed to this report

Northern Burlington hands short-handed Hamilton second straight loss

With quarterback Hezekiah Patterson on the bench with a concussion, Hamilton spent the entire day trying to play catch-up before finally falling at Northern Burlington, 28-21.

It was the second straight loss for the Hornets (3-3), who hope to get both Patterson and Ryan Hogan back for next week’s game at Ewing. Patterson was hurt last week at Hightstown, while Hogan has missed the last three games due to illness.

After falling behind 13-0, Hamilton responded with a 15-yard touchdown run by Kevin Boswell. Rosman Reyes added the first of his three PATs. Northern had a late scoring threat thwarted on a strip sack by Rahmel Turner.

In the third quarter, NBC scored and got the 2-point option for a 21-7 lead. West answered when Boswell found Chris Charles with a 45-yard option pass. Once again, Northern responded with a touchdown, and it was too little too late when Charles caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Eddie Fennell.

Ken “The Twitter King” Nehila contributed to this report