Randolph coach Will Nahan and his coaching staff harped on one thing above most this week in practice.
The Rams had to be prepared to take on an undefeated Chatham team hungry to keep its unblemished record going.
It was even more important for Randolph to be dedicated to its preparation and clean up mistakes that lingered the previous week in a hard-fought road win over East Orange.
Randolph, also undefeated, looked the part of a ready to put on a top performance against Chatham on Friday night.
Behind an aggressive offense that had no fear going for it on 4th down and a stout defense, Randolph rolled to a 42-14 win over Chatham in a matchup of two of the top teams in Morris County during the first month of the season.
“Every single game is a battle. The fact that there was a 4-0 team coming in here is a credit to the players over there and the staff over there,” Nahan said. “They have a tremendously skilled team. They have a ton of weapons, but to see how our kids practiced all week and came out tonight, I’m extremely proud of them.”
Senior quarterback Sean Clark paced Randolph (4-0), leading the high-octane offense by throwing three touchdown passes. It was the aggressiveness of the offense and the willingness of offensive coordinator Ryan Gresik to go for it on 4th down that set the tone.
The Rams went for it on 4th down four times in the first half, converting all four, including one on the opening drive that led to a Stephen Petruziello 6-yard touchdown run to open the scoring.
“Coach Nahan is the defensive coordinator, and he has all the trust in the world in coach Gresik and our offense,” Clark said. “(Nahan) thinks that if we’re within five yards then he thinks we can get it,” Clark said. “He has full trust (in us), and that’s awesome. It’s great to have a head coach that trusts you so much to be able to for it on 4th down and be able to convert.”
Nahan echoed Clark’s statement, saying he has no doubt in his mind that if Gresik makes the call that Randolph will convert. Nahan, the Rams’ defensive coordinator, added he sees how the offense prepares during the week of practice.
It makes it an easy decision for Nahan to give the green light to Gresik to make the call.
“Some teams, they might play it safe,” Nahan said. “I have all the trust in the offense to get it, and if they don’t get it, the defense we have to go line up and play. It’s that simple.”
Defensively, Randolph stymied a Chatham (4-1) offense that scored on its opening possession after running a fake punt.
Randolph forced three fumbles, recovering all three, including one when Chatham was about to score to make it a 14-13 game. However, Randolph recovered the ball on the Chatham 1-yard line, and the offense went 99 yards to extend the lead to 21-7 in the second quarter, which ended up being a huge momentum swing.
Chatham’s offense had its moments moving the ball into plus territory, but the turnovers ended up proving costly, leading to 21 points for Randolph.
“There were a couple of bend don’t break moments, but when they had to bend a little, they forced some key turnovers,” Nahan said. “And then the pressure started getting on some of the calls, and I just loved how they finished.”
Chatham coach Evan Picariello said he felt the Cougars didn’t play up to their potential on the defensive end to try and stop Randolph’s defense. There were too many arm tackles, which allowed Randolph players to break through them to pick up chunk plays.
And not getting off the field on 4th down when Chatham had the opportunity to try and build momentum in its favor.
“We weren’t able to get off the field as a defense,” Picariello said. “I told our guys after the game, we have two non-negotiables to play defense here: It’s run to the football and be physical at the point of attack, and we didn’t do those two things.”
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You can reach Luis Torres at ltorres@njadvancemedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter @ByLuisTorres.
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