RUTHERFORD − Fourth-quarter, fourth-down defense kept alive Rutherford’s drive for No. 5.

The Bulldogs survived a scare from Wood-Ridge in the NJIC football semifinals on Oct. 17, winning 14-13 to reach their fourth conference final in five years.

Rutherford (7-0) won four of the first nine NJIC tournaments – including three in a row from 2021-23 – and will host Butler in the Oct. 24 championship game at Tryon Field. Defending champion Butler beat Becton, 42-7, in the other semifinal.

“The last four champions will be here, and we’re the two undefeated teams left [in the conference],” Rutherford coach Steve Dunn said. “I know Butler’s a great program, and they’ve got a really good coach, and they’ve got really good kids. So, we’ve got our work cut out.”

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The same seemed true after Wood-Ridge (6-2) took a 13-7 lead on Chris Rios’ 1-yard touchdown pass to Michael Prato to open the fourth quarter. But the PAT doinked off the left upright.

The ensuing Bulldog drive ended with a bad punt snap that set up the Blue Devils with first-and-goal. That possession ended with Dmitri Paskas sacking the QB on fourth down.

The next Wood-Ridge drive ended with a pass breakup on a fake punt, which the receiver initially possessed before Lorenzo Airey wrestled it away.

Rutherford’s Myles Balchan then threw the tying 15-yard TD pass to AJ Nunziato with 2:57 remaining, Graham Jordan added the winning PAT, and junior Russ Snyder halted the Blue Devils’ final drive ended with a fourth-down sack.

“Those big stops on fourth down, especially when they’re close to scoring, are big turning points,” Snyder said. “It was definitely essential for us to come back and win this game.

What it means

Since Rutherford did not qualify for last year’s NJIC Tournament, it maintains a seven-game win streak in the event dating back to 2018.

The last team to top the Bulldogs was Hasbrouck Heights in the title game that season.

Wood-Ridge fell to 0-2 against Rutherford in the tournament, including a 24-10 setback in the 2022 final.

Next-level defense

Discounting sacks, bad snaps and kneel-downs, Wood-Ridge held Rutherford to 16 rushes for 7 yards. Six different Blue Devils combined to make four sacks, with two coming from Prato (6 tackles).

The Bulldogs also committed the only two turnovers of the game. Wood-Ridge freshman Charles Cannizzaro recovered an errant option pitch, and Myles Simmonds made an interception on they only deep pass that Rutherford did not complete.

“Kudos to Wood-Ridge, coming off a tough loss [to Bogota],” Dunn said. “They played so hard, and they put us in a really bad spot.”

Game balls

► Balchan completed 13 of 17 passes for 183 yards with one TD and one INT, and he rushed for a 1-yard touchdown to even the score at 7-7 in the second quarter.

► Nunziato caught four passes for 47 yards, while Quinn Weber caught three for 68 and played well on defense (5 tackles, 2 pass breakups).

► Rios finished 15-for-24 for 115 yards and a TD, and he had 15 carries for 100 yards entering the fourth quarter, when Rutherford held him to minus-2 on the ground, plus three sacks.

They said it

“Our package, ‘NASCAR’, where we take out our linemen and put in more speedy guys, definitely worked well. We put it in a couple of weeks ago, and we never really got it to work out as well as we did tonight, so I was really glad that I got that final sack to end the game.” —Snyder on the Rutherford pass rush (for which the coaches borrowed the “NASCAR” moniker from Justin Tuck’s Giants)