The Hamilton West football team celebrates its 26-12 win at Lakewood on Saturday in the South Jersey Group 3 quarterfinal playoff game. It was the Hornets first playoff win since 2010 (Photo by Donna “Roll Tide” Brihn).

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Nov. 12: One day after Veterans Day, U.S. Army vet Marvin Leontus spent a busy Saturday following the @fish4scores twitter feed of the Hamilton West-Lakewood NJSIAA South Jersey Group III quarterfinal playoff game.

Leontus was quarterback the last time Hamilton won a playoff game, throwing for 87 yards and a touchdown in a 35-13 win at West Windsor-Plainsboro North on Nov. 13, 2010. Still a fan, he has anxiously been waiting for another win.

When the Hornets stretched a one-point lead to eight at Lakewood, Leontus tweeted out “I’m jumpin around hype as heck seeing this #Hornets4Life #WestIsBest.”

And this is from a guy who served in Iraq!

Fortunately for Marvin’s nervous system, his guys came through, as 5th-seeded Hamilton twice battled back to take a 26-12 victory at 4th-seeded Lakewood. That earns the Hornets (6-3) a semifinal date at top-seeded Wall (7-2).

“It has been a while,” coach Tom Hoglen said via phone on the bus ride home. “I told this team this morning at breakfast ‘You guys deserve it. You came back from a lot of adversity at the beginning of the year, and you hung together as a football team.’ They came out and did the same thing they’ve done all year.”

What that meant was, they drove their coaches (and former quarterback) nuts to start the game before coming back to win it.

Lakewood (6-3) took a 6-0 lead late in the first quarter, and Hamilton responded late in the second when Hezekiah Patterson found Zach Harding with a 13-yard touchdown pass. Both team’s conversions failed and it was 6-6 at halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, Lakewood struck for a long TD pass but missed another 2-point attempt and it was 12-6. Early in the fourth quarter, lineman James White came up with the game’s key play. With Lakewood trying to pass, White leaped up to block it and came down to rip the ball from the quarterback and give West possession at the Piners’ 11.

“We had just punted,” Hoglen said. “James just stole the ball from the quarterback. That absolutely turned things around. It was a big play.”

Hamilton made the turnover hurt when Reidgee Dimanche scored on a 15-yard run and Barry Ndeh’s PAT gave Hamilton a lead it would not relinquish.

That whole sequence set a tone, as Hamilton would take advantage of two more turnovers to put the game away. After Dimanche’s score, Lakewood fumbled the kickoff and Patterson found Christian Charles with a 25-yard TD toss to make it 20-12.

Lakewood again fumbled the kickoff, and once more the Hornets capitalized when Patterson found Ryan Hogan with a 28-yard touchdown pass to make it 26-12 with 5:32 remaining.

“Our special teams came up with big plays and Hezekiah threw two touchdown passes,” Hoglen said. “He’s played solid all year.

“We were playing a good team. Like Nottingham last week, they shut down our run game and we had to throw the ball a little more. Dionny Azcona made another big catch for us. It was spread out. A lot of guys did a lot of good things.”

Hoglen praised his defensive line for another outstanding effort, saying, “they put a hurting on them.”

They will have to do the same against Wall, which features a talented back in Sean Larkin (977 yards). The Crimson Knights have rushed for nearly 1900 yards as a team.

“We know we’re going to play a great opponent in Wall Friday,” Hoglen said. “They have a great running back and a good offensive line. Our defense has played well against teams that run the ball, and Wall only threw the ball one time (in a 35-0 first-round win over Camden).

“We have to come ready to play hard-nosed football and hard-nosed defense. Just like we did this week.”

Christian Charles had two interceptions for Hamilton, giving him seven for the season. That ties Malik Snead’s school record.

And Marvin Leontus broke the alumni record for most ulcers gained during the course of a game.

John Costantino contributed to this story