DENVILLE - This one goes to the defense ... pure and simple.
      Morris Knolls' 21-0 victory over Mount Olive Friday (Oct. 9) evening at Mount Olive goes squarely on the defensive side of the ledger, according to Knolls head coach Bill Regan.
     The win stopped a two-game losing streak for Morris Knolls (2-3) while the loss kept Mount Olive winless five games into the season.
     "They moved the ball on us until they got into the red zone," Regan explains. "We had our backs to the wall four-five times but the big difference in this game was how we played in the red zone ... we just played very square to the line in the red zone and didn't give them much at all there.
     "Plus our safeties Kevin Weis and Dylan Rimsky saved four touchdowns for us ... two each. And Cody Greehagen had an interception on the goal line on their first drive of the game."
      Mount Olive took the kickoff and moved steadily downfield until Greenhagen stepped in front of a pass receiver on the goal line and made his interception, running it out to the 10-yard line.
     "Unfortunately, we fumbled on our first play from scrimmage," Regan says. "So they had four more shots at us."
      That's where Rimsky came up with his first save, knocking a Mount Olive running back out of bounds on the 2-yard line as he was about to score on a fourth-and-goal play. Rimsky's second save came later in the game when he intercepted a pass in the endzone.
      Weis got his first save by coming over from the other side of the field to make a tackle on a Mount Olive receiver who seemingly had broken free on what ended up as a 53-yard pass-and-run play. Weis' second save came later when he knocked away a pass from another receiver in the endzone.
     'It could very easily have been 28-21 instead of 21-0," Regan says. "Weis and Rimsky played great defense all over the field the entire game.
     "Connor Rush (LB) and Connor Mariani (DE) were also very active on defense all game ... they both were in on a ton of tackles."
     Which means they had to be in on the gang tackle stop with 5:11 to go in the third period when Mount Olive went for it on a fourth-and-one on the Knolls 35-yard line.
     "If they needed a yard they got two feet, 11 inches," Regan explains. "They missed it by the thickness of a credit card.?
      On offense, sophomore running back Greenhagen scored on runs of 2 yards in the first period and 10 yards in the third and junior Martin Henes broke loose for a 37-yard run for a fourth-period TD.
      Greenhagen's first TD came after Rimsky's stop at the 2-yard line. The Eagles went 98 yards in 12 plays with Greenhagen on a 2-yard blast and Rimsky adding the first of his three successful PAT kicks for a 7-0 first-period lead.
      The defense also had a hand in the Eagles' second TD drive when sophomore tackle Jordan Beffert forced a fumble that Mariani recovered on the Mount Olive 27-yard line.
      Five plays later, Greenhagen went in from 10 yards out and Rimsky converted for a 14-0 Knolls lead.
     Rimsky's endzone interception in the fourth period led to Knolls' final scoring drive, an 80-yarder that took eight plays and ended with Henes scoring on a 37-yard run with 54 seconds left in the game.
     The big play of the drive was a 32-yard run by Henes.
     But the biggest plays of the evening went to the defense.
     "Any time you shut down a team that has the offensive potential of a Mount Olive, you have to be happy," Regan says. "Their quarterback throws the ball very well and they did move the ball on us -- they made their first downs and had a few big plays.
      "But all the coaches were very happy with the poise the defense showed once they got to our 20-yard line ...  they made up for any yards they allowed out on the field by the way they played defense once they got to out 20.
     "They gave them nothing down close ... nothing at all."
     Notes: Regan had to give props to the Mount Olive defense, too, especially for the way they came at his quarterback Weis at and the Eagle running backs. ... "They played good defense and went hard at our backs," Regan says. "They also came hard off the edge at Weis .. .but he's a tough customer out there and can take those shots.? ... Rimsky, who couldn?t kick the past two games because of a slight leg injury, is back kicking PATs and short field goals ... kickoffs and long field goals are taken care of by Henes ... "Rimsky is more accurate," Regan explains. "But Henes has a stronger leg." ... next up for the Eagles is another night game on Friday, Oct. 16, against Vernon at home at Caruso Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. ... "The kids get excited about night games and this is our one home game a year where we go out and bring in portable lights," Regan says. "We seem to draw more students out for these games, too ... we had a nice crowd at Mount Olive this past Friday night. I guess it's our version of  'Friday Night Lights.'"

        (Bob Decker, who wrote this article, also wrote
            a column on the game that can be found
                  on the "Decker's Column" page)

 

     DENVILLE - It's a play - or rather a non-play - that is talked about in special team drills and chalk talks but rarely practiced.
     A bad punt bounces around and the receiving team goes into "Get away ... get away!" mode for fear of the ball hitting one of them and becoming fair game for the punting team to recover.
     Case in point:
     Randolph, punting out of its own endzone with a 12-0 lead over Morris Knolls and time running out in the first half, shanks a punt that lands near its own 4-yard line.
     With both sides "getting away" from the still moving football, Morris Knolls junior defensive end C.J. Abrahamsen alertly picked up the ball and took it all of four yards into the Randolph endzone for a touchdown with 34 seconds left in the half.
     The extra point was blocked and Randolph went into the halftime break with a 12-6 lead instead of a 12-0 edge.
     Morris Knolls came back strong to score the only 13 points in the second half to defeat Randolph, 19-12, in a high school football game played at Morris Knolls' Caruso Stadium on Friday, Sept. 18, that was decided because C.J. Abrahamsen didn't "get away."
      "C.J. has good hands and is a very seasoned and dedicated guy," Knolls head coach Bill Regan was saying over the telephone the evening after the game. "He played a lot last year as a sophomore and has good game sense ... he reacts well to something that happens suddenly so it was no surprise that he went for the ball when everybody else was getting away.
     "There was a lot of vacant space out there and C.J. saw it and went for the ball and picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown."
      With Morris Knolls not exactly playing Morris Knolls football in the first half, you would think Abrahamsen's play would have had the Eagles roaring for bear at halftime.
      "Yes, we were flat during the first half ... but Randolph had a lot to do with that so give them credit, too," Regan explains. "We had only one first down (a 30-yard run by senior quarterback Kevin Weis) and the only other thing we threatened to do was to bore everybody to sleep.
      "Still, the players were kind of quiet at halftime and I had to remind them that we were only a TD away from taking the lead in this game ... I reminded them that, as badly as we played, we were still in this game -- thanks to C.J."
       Regan's assistant coaches who watch the games from high in the press box - Keith Heinemann and Pat Weber - came down at the half with "... some very detailed info" which they put into the second-half game plan.
      "It was obvious what we did in the first half wasn't going to work in the second half, either," Regan explains. "So my sideline assistant Erik Leonhardt and the other two coaches and I were able to come up with some things to keep get us moving."
      But Randolph had the first move, taking the second-half kickoff into Morris Knolls territory before senior defensive end Connor Mariani took over.
      Mariani stuffed a first-down Randolph run for a two-yard loss and, on the next play, tackled the Randolph QB for an eight-yard loss. Randolph came up short again on third down and then went into punt formation on fourth down.
     "We had an idea they would run out of that short punt formation so we put pressure on them," Regan explains. "Their punter takes off around end and Mariani knocks him out of bounds on our 37-yard line, well short of the first down."
      The Eagles then went on a nine-play 63-yard scoring drive that featured a fourth-down 9-yard run for a first down by Connor Rush; a 22-yard pass play from senior quarterback Kevin Weis to Abrahamsen; and a third-down 16-yard pass from Weis to Cody Greenhagen that took the Eagles inside the Rams? 10-yard line.
     Two plays later, Greenhagen crashed over from the 2-yard to tie the score at 12-12 and Henes added the extra point to give Knolls the lead for good.
     Later, with the third period drawing to a close, Morris Knolls got the ball back on downs at the Randolph 45 and and it took 12 plays to score the final TD of the game, a 1-yard run by junior backup quarterback Justin Masino with 8:06 remaining.
      Masino was in at quarterback because Weis' leg started to cramp up and he had to leave the game.
     Neither team mounted a threat in the remaining eight minutes of play and the game ended when junior defensive lineman Tyler Wirth stripped the ball from a Randolph back and fell on it on the Randolph 35 with 1:35 to play and Knolls took knees to run out the clock.
    "I have to be very encouraged by the way we came out after the break," Regan says. "We played a much more rugged game in the second half ... we came out tougher.
    "Our our assistant coaches did a nice job of putting them into an attack mode with their halftime adjustments and then the kids went out and executed."
     Including a key heads-up, on-field adjustment that was executed by one C.J. Abramamsen. 
     NOTES: Mariani, the Knolls punter, had a lot to do with Abrahamsen's TD at the end of the first half because it was his punt that rolled out of bounds on the 5-yard line that pinned Randolph deep in its own territory ... before the punt, the Eagles defensive line pinched in on the quarterback and almost got a safety, but the QB was able to stretch the ball just past the goalline onto the field before his knee touched ... Martin Henes had to do the PAT kicking for Knolls because regular kicker Dylan Rimsky was still feeling the effects of a sprained knee he suffered in the opener against Morris Hills ... "We're very thin on kickers this year and, with Rimsky unable to kick, we had tryouts last week looking for anyone who could kick it straight,' Regan explains. 'At first, I was sure we'd be going for two, but Henes showed some promise." ... Henes had his first PAT blocked, made the second one and missed the third one wide right ... Rimsky was cleared to play and started at defensive end where he had one interception and had another nullified by a penalty ... Regan took a timeout when Weis went out and, while Weis was being tended for his leg cramps, Leonhardt had Masino and Wirth, who fills in as a backup center to starter Kyle Donahue, taking snaps on the sideline ... ?It just made sense to put the two in together,? Regan says. ...

(Bob Decker, who wrote this story, can be reached at bobdecker@deckbob.com)

Eagles (and their Veer)
are set for 2009 opener

      DENVILLE - Need a scouting report on Bill Regan's Morris Knolls High School football team?
      Go to Bill Regan.
      "We run the Houston Veer ... we're an option team," he will tell anyone who asks. "We have no wildcat or shotgun formations ... we don't run out of a short punt or single wing.
      "We run the Houston Veer ... we're an option team. We are running the same offense we have been running since I started here."
      And with Regan about to open his 35th season as the head coach at Knolls, the "when we started here" is a lot of veers ago.
      "You don't really have to scout us. I have to laugh when opposing coaches who are new to us are concerned about getting my most recent game film. They can look at any of my films from the past 34 years -- same coach, same plays, same uniforms.
      "The faces are different, that's all."
      It's the faces on this season's team that had Regan a bit concerned a couple weeks ago. He was losing a lot of players from his preseason practice sessions because of nagging injuries -- nothing major, but enough to keep out them out of action for a couple-three days.
      "We had to cancel one of our early scrimmages because of injury problems," Regan says. "We have to have everybody out on the field in order to get in our work and it didn't happen for a few days ... it put us behind schedule.
      "We don't have a lot of guys who play; we have guys who play a lot. And my main concern at the time was how long it was going to take us to get everything together ... we weren't getting as sharp as I would have liked to have been."
      This past week has been better, however, and Regan & Co. have been getting in the work needed to prepare for another season or, as Regan says about his practices: 
      "We have our blue-collar days when we go pretty hard ... we're out there for as long as it takes. I like to tell the kids the only reason we make up practice schedules for them to follow is so I can change them when we're out there in the middle of a practice.
       "The players have bounced back from their injury problems and the kids can't wait to get started. I like this team ... the kids are easy to coach, they have a good attitude and they have a lot of spirit."
        Actually, Regan has liked this team ever since last year's 3-7 team closed out its season with a 46-20 state consolation game loss to Demarest on November 14.
      "We played our last game on a Friday night and the kids coming back were in the weight room that next Monday," Regan says. "They've been working toward this season ever since then.
       "They're all getting antsy ... we all want to get started."
       The leader of the 2009 Eagles is quarterback and co-captain Kevin Weis, a 5-foot-5, 155-pound senior who has run Regan's veer the past two seasons. Weis scored seven TDs and ran for one two-point conversion last year.
        "Kevin understands the offense and runs it with poise," Regan says. "He's a tough kid, too ... he runs well and he's not a stand-around-and-watch type of guy when he hands off, either ... he'll get right into the middle of the hurricane."
        Regan plans to rotate three backs in at his two running back spots - seniors Mark Spano (5-10, 170) and Connor Rush (5-9, 177) and sophomore Cody Greenhagen (6-0, 197). Greenhagen scored three TDs and ran for one two-point conversion last year as a freshman.
      Senior Dylan Rimsky (6-0, 157) - the Eagles other co-captain - starts at wideout; senior Connor Marian (6-0, 170) is the right end; C.J. Abrahamsen (6-0, 170) is the left end and seniors Kevin Corley (5-11, 6-0) and Chris Quadrel (5-6, 140) will also be used as wideouts.
       Sophomore Kyle Smith (5-11, 185) starts at right tackle with seniors George Murden (5-8, 180) and Padric Hartnett (5-10, 155) splitting time at left tackle.
       Senior Matt Trivigno (6-3, 205) is at right guard; senior Brandon Cunningham (6-3, 215) is at left guard; and junior Kyle Donahue (5-7 166) is the center.
       Regan's defense is still a 5-2 based on "... hustle and quickness and getting everybody to the ball ... we'll be doing a lot of gang-tackling."
       Senior Matt Alarcon (6-0, 182) and junior Matt Donahue (5-7, 166) will split time at nose; Cunningham and Murden are the tackles; and Mariani and Abrahamsen will start at the defensive end spots. Sophomore Jordan Beffert (5-10, 212) is a backup tackle and Spano will see his defensive playing time at end.
        Greenhagen and Hartnett are the starting linebackers with Rush also expected to see time at the position. Weis and Rimsky are the safeties and junior Justin Masino (5-7, 157) and Corley will be at the corners.
        Rimsky will kick extra points and field goals and Mariani will handle the punting and the kicking off.
       The Eagles open Saturday, Sept. 12, against sister-school Morris Hills at Morris Hills' Gifford Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
       As for the realignment process that put Knolls in the big-school American Division of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Association, the Eagles will face familiar IHC-Iron opponents Morristown, Randolph, Roxbury and West Morris as well as new foes Vernon, Delbarton and Mount Olive in division play ... Morris Hills and Montville - two National Division teams - round out the schedule.
      NOTES: Regan is 215-131-2 in his 34 seasons at Knolls ... there are 58 players on the 2009 roster with 33 of them sophomores ... Regan's varsity assistants are Erik Leonhardt, Keith Heinemann and Pat Weber; the sophomore coaches are John Hearon and Jeff Cemelli; Jim Pisciotto and Jeff Sankowich are the freshman coaches; and the Jeff Korpar is the trainer for the Eagles..

Morris Knolls 2009 schedule:
       September: 12, at Morris Hills, 1 p.m.; 18, Randolph, 3 p.m.; 26, at Delbarton School, 1 p.m.;
      October: 3 West Morris (Homecoming), 1 p.m.; 9, at Mount Olive, 7 p.m.; 16, Vernon, 7 p.m.; 23, at Roxbury, 7 p.m.; 31, Morristown, 1 p.m.
      November: 6, at Montville, 7 p.m.; 14, State playoffs begin, TBA.