Defense, as Patch McCarthy and lots of other people will assert, is the part of the game that wins championships.
Even when you happen to be playing on offense at the time.
On a third-and-eight play from the Cedar Grove 35, the bruising McCarthy caught a smoke screen pass from Alfonso Lombardi and then pushed his way upfield against numerous defenders - looking more like the linebacker that he is than a running back - to set the ball at the Park Ridge 30 with 2:27 to play.
Seven seconds later, Nick Iannacone hauled in a perfect dart from Lombardi in the end zone under heavy coverage, and Christopher Babcock followed with the critical PAT to rally the Panthers to a 13-12 victory over Park Ridge in the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics North, Group 1 regional championship at MetLife Stadium on Friday afternoon.
It was a superb reception by Iannacone, a talented sophomore. But even he admitted that it was McCarthy’s bull-like 35-yard play and the incredible backs-to-the-wall defense executed all afternoon by Cedar Grove that made his winning play possible.
With that sequence, Cedar Grove (12-1) won its seventh straight game since a 30-22 loss to Caldwell Oct. 8. Park Ridge finishes at 10-2.
“One person isn’t tackling Patch. You need a whole group of players,” Iannacone said. “Open field? No one is tackling him. That play put the defense kind of on their heels, and we knew then we just had to have one more play to get it in.”
Iannacone’s heroics capped off a four-play, 67 yard drive that just took over a minute. Cedar Grove had just scored on its opening drive and didn’t find the end zone over the next seven possessions before the game winner.
And just to completely stamp his impact on this game, McCarthy’s QB pressure on fourth down on the ensuing drive sealed the victory for Cedar Grove.
That play, in fact, bore a striking resemblance to his catch-and-run that brought several unlucky defenders with him.
“That was do or die. I knew the moment I caught that rock, there was no way I was going down without a fight. I didn’t go down without a fight,” McCarthy said.
“I play angry,” he said. “I play ticked off. I play the Cedar Grove way. There was great blocking by the line on the smoke right. It was a great play call.”
It was a call and exactly the kind of fire Cedar Grove required after struggling just to have the ball, let alone do a whole lot with it. Park Ridge wound up running 76 plays to 49 for Cedar Grove and possessed the football for 32:33 unofficially.
That alone says plenty about the clutch timeliness of Cedar Grove’s defense. McCarthy, Iannacone, Denham Ingalls, Michael Marinelli, Chris Nicolette and the rest of the Panther defense halted Park Ridge at their eight-yard line with 2:19 to go in the first half and the score knotted, 6-6, and they stuffed the Owls at the one on a fourth-and-goal from that marker with 3:15 remaining in the third quarter. James Cantarelli came up with that big stop.
On both of those lengthy Park Ridge series, the Owls were given a second life with runs on fake punts from Kyle Bratcher.
“Yeah, they caught us. But I just kept telling my guys that defense wins championships,” McCarthy said. “We sacked up and we made the stops.”
Remarkable as it may seem, this looked as if it would be an offensive back-and-forth after both teams scored on their first drives of the game and had rolled up big numbers all season. Cedar Grove marched 66 yards in six plays and under two minutes to open the contest, spearheaded by a Nick Coletta 48-yard catch.
Park Ridge responded immediately on the ensuing drive with a 12-play, 79-yard drive that was finished with Matt Manning spinning away from a tackle and breaking free for a 19-yard touchdown.
Following those scores, both defenses settled in and gave way to a good, old-fashioned defensive struggle.
“I always say defense wins championships,” McCarthy said. “That is the greatest Cedar Grove defense ever right there. The 2021 season, we are the best, baby.”
Outside of a Park Ridge drive that went 79 yards but ultimately resulted in a turnover on downs inside the 10 yard line, the 2 offenses combined for just 39 yards of total offense on 6 drives.
A week after making multiple defensive stops in the red zone, Cedar Grove was up to its old tricks again. It made one red zone stand in the first half, stopping Park Ridge at its own 9 then doing so again in the second half.
Park Ridge converted a 4th-down attempt to get down to the Cedar Grove 3 but the defense stood tall, making 4 consecutive stops on the run to take over with its heels on its own goal line.
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