West Morris football picks up right where it left off in win over Mendham
MENDHAM − Senior running back Stefano Montella rushed for 193 yards and two touchdowns as West Morris went on the road and defeated crosstown rival Mendham, 28-7, on Friday night.
The Wolfpack, No. 22 in the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey preseason Top 25 rankings, played efficient offense and scored on each of their first four drives.
Montella began the night with a 12-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the game that took more than nine minutes off the clock. Senior quarterback John Rolli, making his first varsity start under center, scored on a keeper from a yard out in the second quarter for a 14-0 advantage.
Mendham tried to trick the tough Wolfpack offense all night long, including running a fake field goal formation down in the red zone on fourth-and-short. A keeper on the final play of the first half by quarterback Lucky Canton put the Minutemen in the end zone at halftime, down 14-7.
Mendham held the ball for more than half of the third quarter on its opening drive, but had to punt it back to West Morris. On the Wolfpack's first offensive play in the second half, Montella dashed through the Mendham defense for a 68-yard touchdown.
West Morris got the ball back after another Mendham drive stalled, scoring on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Rolli to Bryce Cammarata to grow the lead to 28-7.
What it means
West Morris have teams across Morris County seeking to knock down the defending North, Group 3 regional champion. Mendham, a crosstown rival on the rise, was among the teams to call out the mighty Wolfpack and renew a decades-long rivalry. Mendham and West Morris previously played an annual rivalry game until 2019, with Friday's matchup being the first time the two teams have met since.
"It felt good coming here and beating them in their place," said Montella, who had never played at Mendham in high school before Friday night. "They called us out after we won a state title and they wanted to play us."
Mendham hung tough for most of the game before the Wolfpack's experience made the difference in the second half. Friday's contest served its purpose for both teams, giving Mendham a measuring stick to test its progress while allowing West Morris to sweat things out for a half and work through imperfections seen in Week 0.
"I didn't expect it to not be a hard fought game," West Morris head coach Kevin Hennelly said. "They have a new coaching staff that's doing well, so I didn't expect to come in here and have it easy."
Key play
Mendham was riding a high after scoring before the end of the first half and possessing the ball for the start of the third quarter. More than half the quarter was spent with the Minutemen on offense before stalling near midfield and forcing a quick kick that gave West Morris the ball.
Montella had spent the entire first half handling carries a few yards at a time, but was able to break through to the secondary on his first run of the second half, a 68-yard touchdown run to put West Morris back up two scores for good.
"It was pretty back and forth in the first half, but that was what we needed to fire up in the second half," Montella said.
Montella refused to be dragged out of bounds after gaining around 20 yards, cutting back into the field and dashing into Mendham territory. Montella had begun the play rushing to the right but ended up in the left corner of the end zone, taking a diagonal path to the score on his long touchdown run.
“I think it was belly right, and I saw an opening in the middle," Montella said of the play. "For some reason, I took it to the right and then I saw one guy and, I don’t know, I stiff-armed him and saw an opening, so I just kept running. Stiff arm, hurdle, stiff arm, hurdle, and then Vinnie [Desiderio] kind of led me back to the middle, split between two guys. Then I saw the open field, and it was a touchdown.”
Game balls
The blocking of West Morris was impressive on Friday night, allowing the Wolfpack to rush for 262 yards as a team. In addition to a talented offensive line, West Morris supplied some important downfield blocks from its receivers, as junior Bryce Cammarata got wide open down in the end zone and make his first varsity catch, a 13-yard touchdown grab in the fourth quarter.
"Isn't that awesome?" Hennelly said with a smile. "We work the receivers and 90 percent of it is just stalk blocking and both of them are blocking 25 yards down the field. We preach blocking down field and if you block down field, we might throw you the ball."
Cammarata got to enjoy his own success after spending most of the game blocking for others. It's a little unusual for a wide receiver to throw a key block for a running back, but Cammarata did so on multiple occasions, including the touchdown run by Montella on West Morris' opening drive.
"We have really tough running backs," Cammarata said. "Blocking for Stefano means getting four yards guaranteed. It's really great knowing that when I am blocking, I know they are behind me and ready to get yards."
They said it
"Here's what I learned about my team: I learned they were able to accept encouragement at halftime. They accepted coaching at halftime and then came out and I thought they played well." - West Morris coach Kevin Hennelly.
"This is the best [offensive] line I've ever had. They've really supported me a lot and just create openings for me and I just cut off of it." - West Morris running back Stefano Montella.
What's next
Mendham (0-1) travels to Robbinsville (0-1) on Sept. 2.
West Morris (1-0) travels to Montville (1-0) on Sept. 2.
Email: aitken@northjersey.com
Twitter: @robertaitkenjr
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: West Morris NJ football hammers Mendham in season opener
