Wall uses 6-minute explosion to end Hamilton’s football playoff run

Hamilton’s Andy Hernandez hangs on to Wall Twp Running Back, Sean Larkin.  Photo by Donna Brihn

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Nov. 19: Most people who weren’t there probably looked at the score of Wall’s 49-21 win over Hamilton West Friday night and said “Yeah, I knew that wouldn’t be much of a game.”

They would be wrong. Oh so wrong.

Christopher Charles goes up to make a leaping catch.  Photo by Donna Brihn

Christopher Charles goes up to make a leaping catch. Photo by Donna Brihn

For three quarters, 5th-seeded Hamilton did everything necessary to stay with the No. 1 seed in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III football playoff semifinal down the shore. With under 15 minutes to play it was a tie game.

Just over six minutes of game clock later, it was all over.

It all happened so suddenly, so shockingly. The home team went from being on its heels to scoring 28 points in a span of 6 minutes and 16 seconds.

“I’ve never seen that before,” linebacker Reidgee Dimanche said. “I saw that happening, I was just thinking  ‘I gotta do something to get my team going.’”

He tried. After Wall (8-2) had taken a 35-21 lead and recovered a kickoff that Hamilton failed to fall on, Dimanche sacked quarterback Eddie Scott for a 9-yard loss. But on the next play, Sean Larkin scored on a 33-yard run and the Hornets were effectively put down with 9:25 remaining.

It was Larkin’s fifth touchdown of the game, giving him 20 on the year.  He rushed for 210 yards, with 138 of them coming in the second half.

“I take my hat off to him,” Dimanche said. “He’s a great player, a great running back. He runs hard, keeps his hands on the ball. He’s amazing.”

Hamilton's Barry Ndeh finds some running room. Photo by Donna Brihn.

Hamilton’s Barry Ndeh finds some running room. Photo by Donna Brihn.

The Hornets (6-4) were pretty amazing for much of the night, as they had several opportunities to crumble but hung in there.

Quarterback Hezekiah Patterson had a nightmare first half with three interceptions as the Crimson Knights went up, 14-0. But if we’ve learned anything about Patterson this year, it’s that he is resilient.

With 4:01 remaining and Hamilton taking over at its 39, Patterson ran for 15, 6 and 2 yards before throwing a 38-yard touchdown pass to Dimanche down the middle to pull Hamilton within 14-6. The kick failed, but West had regained some footing heading into the locker room.

It seemed to all go away, however, at the outset of the second half. Wall took the opening kickoff and drove 81 yards on six plays, capped by Chevesse Covin’s 36-yard TD run.

The wheels appeared to be coming off when Hamilton immediately fumbled it away at its own 35. But for the second straight week, James White sparked the Hornets with an interception that he returned 50 yards to the Wall 20 before running out of steam.

Patterson’s 24-yard completion to Christian Charles (7 catches for 58 yards) set up Charles 2-yard TD catch make it 21-13. Dimanche then recovered an onsides kick that resulted in a 24-yard scoring pass from Patterson to Dionny Azcona (5 catches, 58 yards). Zach Harding celebrated his mom Jen Marie’s birthday (“We sang to her,” Dimanche said) by catching the 2-point conversion and suddenly, a game that was all Wall, was tied with three minutes left in the quarter.

Just as quickly, however, it was all Wall again.

The Knights showed why they are a No. 1 seed, as they responded to adversity by converting a short kickoff into a four-play, 53-yard scoring drive. Wall had a Larkin touchdown run called back on a holding penalty, and then ran the same play that resulted in a 15-yard TD run by Larkin.

“Everyone just started to hang their heads after that,” Dimanche said. “We shouldn’t have, but it happened.”

Hamilton QB Hezekiah Patterson is swarmed by the Wall Twp defense. Photo by Donna Brihn.

Hamilton QB Hezekiah Patterson is swarmed by the Wall Twp defense. Photo by Donna Brihn.

That started the Knights on their explosion, which was capped by Gene Scott’s 22-yard interception return for a touchdown with 7:45 remaining.

“We were pretty even, we came back,” Dimanche said. “But, they just put it out on us.”

With a lot of Hamilton’s skill players going both ways, fatigue became a factor.

“A lot of us were getting tired at the end,” Dimanche said. “It’s kind of chilly tonight, the air’s kind of dry by the shore. We haven’t played by the shore since last year. I don’t think we were acclimated to this weather.”

Coach Tom Hoglen felt there were several factors involved, not the least of which Hamilton was playing a quality team.

“With their size, they just kind of took it to us a bit in the fourth quarter,” Hoglen said. “We had all the momentum, we got the onsides kick, the two-point conversion. After they scored we fumbled a snap that put us in a bad situation and we had to punt and they scored again. We knew coming in on film they would be a good team, and they were.”

On the bright side for Hamilton is that the Hornets have one game remaining, which is as big as it gets outside of the playoffs.

“We’re excited to go against Steinert,” Dimanche said of the Thanksgiving tradition. “We just have to get healthy and get ready to go.”

Spartan coach Dan Caruso celebrated his own birthday by scouting the game.

“Oh,” Dimanche said. “Well, happy birthday to him.”

Somehow, one gets the feeling he won’t be quite as cordial on Thursday.

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.