Football Game of the Week: Elizabeth plays Bridgewater-Raritan with playoff implications
A play here. Another there.
“We could easily right now be 7-0,” Elizabeth coach John Fiore said. “If I can turn around one play per game, we’re 7-0. One play. One play per game makes us 7-0.”
Alas, one can’t go back in life, so the Minutemen sit at 1-6 with every defeat by a touchdown or less against opponents who are at least .500 at this point.
The good?
Elizabeth has kept fighting with many positives to the season. The Minutemen finally broke through last week to snap an 11-game losing streak with a huge 28-26 win over Union County rival Union.
More: Football rankings: Big Central Conference Top 15, through Week 6
Now, they travel Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Bridgewater-Raritan in the MyCentralJersey Game of the Week. Fiore notes that the Panthers are a mirror image in terms of close defeats.
Bridgewater-Raritan (1-6) has five losses each by 10 points or less, an overtime game included. Each team is very much alive for the postseason. B-R is No. 17 and Elizabeth is No. 19 in the North Group 5 United Power Ranking. (The top 16 get in.)
Fiore said that if Elizabeth could beat the Panthers and then Watchung Hills in the season finale, it would not only make the postseason but can bump up to a No. 4 or No. 5 seed. If the Minutemen lose to WH and beat Bridgewater-Raritan, then they need help.
He made it clear, however, the team is focused on this week's game. Fiore noted he tried to hire Panthers first-year head coach DJ Catalano to his staff two years ago. Catalano instead went to B-R under Rick Mantz, and got the head job last winter when Mantz stepped down.
“He’s one of the good up and comers,” Fiore said. “Both of us are going to have our hands full this Friday night. I think DJ does a great job. Their defense is stout. Their offense grinds at you. They got a couple little packages … He self-scouts. He doesn’t have a lot of rhyme or reason to what he does sometimes, but I know he does. It’s just hard to find. So, they’re a well-coached and well-disciplined team.”
Senior quarterback Jack Bray has thrown for 1,252 yards (16 TD/7 INT) with Dane Sorensen leading with 35 catches for 580 yards. Linebacker Joe Spirra has 71 tackles.
“They are fired up every week to compete, which is why we are still in games,” Catalano said. “It’s human nature for anybody, let alone kids, to give up when adversity strikes, but credit to our seniors and leaders for keeping everyone together and continuing to compete everyday in practice.”
Elizabeth, meanwhile, has senior leaders like Ibn McDaniels, who preserved last week’s win with a key knock down late in the fourth quarter. Elizabeth also plays several underclassmen and juniors in the lineup.
Fiore said that some Elizabeth fans have compared freshman quarterback Arique Flemming (1,120 passing yards) to former star P.J. Walker, who now plays for the Cleveland Browns. Walker also started as a freshman as the Minutemen went 1-9.
Fiore’s former Montclair teams scrimmaged against Walker and Elizabeth and said that Flemming has some of the intangibles and “he's getting better by the week, which is scary.”
Another positive – the team has over 90 players on the roster. No mass quitting.
“Our kids show up every day,” Fiore said. “Our coaches are doing some great things to keep them motivated. They know they’re right there. The senior class is hungry to get a playoff win and do some things and they knew their back was to the wall (against Union).
“… Right now we haven’t shown great improvement in the overall win-loss record, but in the culture of our team, the GPA of our team, how our team is conducting themselves on and off the field and the fact that they showed up 0-6 every day hungry for that first win and buying in.”
Which makes for what should be a fun game Friday.
“This is definitely going to be a great game,” Catalano said. “I’ve watched all of Elizabeth’s games and it’s very obvious to see their improvement week by week. They are a young, dangerous team that is coached really well. I think their passing concepts are really good and they have the dudes to make plays. There is no doubt that we are going to see the best version of Elizabeth, so we need to make sure that we do the same, if we want to have a successful outcome.”
The picks
I love that our Game of the Week is between a pair of one-win teams that have shown no quit, just grit. Throw in the playoff implications, and it really is one of the more compelling match ups on the slate. I’m torn on the pick, but I sense that Elizabeth just needed that one breakthrough. That one, now-we-know-what-winning is moment. Maybe that’s the difference, even though the Minutemen are on the road.
MENDLOWITZ’S PICK: Elizabeth 22-21
These teams have had similar seasons, the one difference is Bridgewater-Raritan has endured a tougher schedule. That could be the difference here.
PINCUS’ PICK: Bridgewater-Raritan 20-18
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Football Game of the Week: Elizabeth visits Bridgewater-Raritan
