Cole Goumas
Sport: Football
School: Rutherford
Class: Senior. Age: 17
Accomplishment: Goumas had 25 carries for 171 yards and three touchdowns to lift Rutherford to a 26-7 win over Park Ridge in the NJIC championship.
Story by Sean Farrell / NorthJersey.com
It’s hard to miss Cole Goumas with his 4.6 speed and bright pink cleats.
Tackling him is a whole other story.
The Rutherford senior ran wild on Friday in the NJIC football championship game, scoring three touchdowns to help his team complete a three-peat. Goumas added 12 tackles from the cornerback position to silence Park Ridge on its home turf at Doc Lewis Field.
It was the perfect way to take pressure off a freshman quarterback who was thrown into the fire for Rutherford.
“Cole is the kid that does anything we ask of him,” Rutherford coach Steve Dunn said. “He’s the ultimate team player. To see him put up those numbers wasn’t a surprise to me at all.”
Goumas is the type of runner who can turn something out of nothing and break games open in an instant. He’s averaging a little over nine yards a pop this season after finishing the championship with 171 on 25 carries.
As impressive as he was, Goumas was still eager to share the spotlight after the best game of his high school career. He is, after all, the younger brother of two former Rutherford linemen – 20-year-old twins Christian and Erik Goumas.
“It was a good feeling but it wouldn’t have been possible without the rest of my team and my coaches,” Goumas said. “This year in the NJIC championship, we had nine returning starters. So there’s a lot of experience and a lot of chemistry.”
While Goumas has plenty of experience as a three-year contributor, football isn’t his No. 1 sport. He committed to play baseball at Rutgers-Newark and expects to play in the outfield or at shortstop for the Essex County college. A strong business program and short commute were some of the selling points in his decision-making process.
For now, football has his undivided attention in Rutherford. The Bulldogs, a high-scoring team with a perfect record, have a sense of unfinished business after losing in the sectional final last November. And Goumas rolls into their opening-round battle with Lenape Valley on the verge of a major milestone, with 1,963 career yards.
“I’ve always had speed throughout my whole life,” Goumas said. “But this year, we tried something new in the summer. We had (private trainer Brandon Wood) come to Tryon and we did a bunch of speed training, weight training and explosive drills.”
Early in the season, Rutherford didn’t need to rely on his explosiveness to win.
The Bulldogs spread the ball around in September due to the frequency of blowout games and the dual-threat ability of quarterback Chris Gioia. But the game plan changed when Gioia got hurt three weeks ago and 14-year Myles Balchan took over the offense.
Dunn called on his senior leaders to step up and put more work on Goumas’ plate.
Park Ridge planned accordingly.
“They were playing man-to-man and bringing their safety, Cole Hughes, down in the box,” Dunn said. “Their plan was to take away Goumas in the run game. I thought up front we controlled the line of scrimmage.”
Before long, the 5-foot-10, 180-pound back was all over the stat book.
Goumas not only set a career high in carries against the Owls, but broke up three passes and returned a punt. It was a title well-earned.
“I definitely feel tired at some points in the game but Coach Dunn always mentions that we’re probably the toughest team in Group 2,” Goumas said. “I think anyone in Rutherford would agree with that.”
