By Greg Tartaglia – North Jersey.com
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS — The legend of “Shags” was born Friday night at Depken Field.
That is where the Park Ridge football team captured its first sectional title since 1995, knocking off three-time champ Hasbrouck Heights, 21-14, in the North 2, Group 1 final.
Owls quarterback Vincent Pinto gets much of the credit, and deservedly so. The senior accounted for all three of his team’s touchdowns, including the go-ahead scoring pass with 10 minutes left.
Yet it was his classmate, right tackle Ryan Misciagna, who provided some inspiration to help No. 2 seed Park Ridge (10-1) overcome a 14-7 halftime deficit.
“He had a 103 fever yesterday,” Owls coach Tom Curry Jr. said. “He did not play in the first half, and he told me at halftime, ‘Coach, can I suit up?’ And I said, ‘Of course, ‘Shags’, you’re getting in right away.”
Misciagna (pronounced: mih-SHAG-nah) spent the first two quarters in his varsity jacket on the sideline. “I was just really upset I couldn’t be out there playing with all my teammates,” he said. “But then, I took some Tylenol, and the fever started to go away, and I felt better.”
The Owls ran 25 times for 115 yards in the second half while attempting just three passes.
What it means
By gaining its second sectional championship – the first came in North 1, Group 1 – Park Ridge advanced to the North regional final. It will face North 1 winner Boonton (9-3), quite possibly at MetLife Stadium.
Hasbrouck Heights (9-2) was the defending North Group 1 Bowl champ and had won three sectional titles in a row, whereas the Owls fell short in a sectional final last fall.
“When we lost the state game to Butler last year in the [North 1, Group 1] final, we said we want to get back here,” Curry said. “It wasn’t just winning each and every game, which is always our goal, but our ultimate goal was to get back to this game and win it. And we did it.”
Key plays
The winning touchdown and the play that set it up were caused by the pass rush.
Park Ridge’s 6-foot-3, 280-pound lineman Kevin Hunt sacked the Aviators quarterback and forced a fumble late in the third quarter, which Brendan Hughes recovered for the visitors.
Nine plays later, on third down from the Hasbrouck Heights 10 early in the fourth, linemen Chris Lohrmann and Indiana Stone got through to pressure Pinto as he rolled to the right. Pinto dodged the rush, moved back to his left and found receiver James Brazofsky open in the end zone.
“All my progressions were to the right, and nothing was really there, so I was thinking run all the way,” Pinto said. “I saw two guys on the edge, and I was just like, ‘This is not going to happen.’ Then I just saw… Brazofsky put his hand up in the back of the end zone.”
By the numbers
► 2: Fourth-down stops the Owls’ defense made in the final 6:08. They thwarted a halfback jump-pass by Zai’heer Jenkins on fourth-and-1 from their own 7. Then, with 1:27 left, Dan Gutin forced a turnover on downs with a sack at the Park Ridge 35.
► 25: Yards that Park Ridge senior Justin Wagner gained on a third-quarter punt return after a muff. It moved the ball into Aviator territory and set up the tying TD, a two-yard Pinto run.
Game balls
► Pinto threw for just 29 yards but rushed 34 times for 137 (before kneel-downs) and two touchdowns.
► Gutin finished with eight tackles, while linebacker Daniel Kim led the Owls with 10.
► Jenkins scored touchdowns on two of his first three touches, a one-yard run and an eight-yard catch, and he finished with 67 total yards.
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Greg Tartaglia is a high school sports reporter for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.
Email: tartaglia@northjersey.com Twitter: @njtags13
