Northern Highlands football ends season with loss in first state championship game

PISCATAWAY — Northern Highlands reached the first NJSIAA Group 4 football final, but its season ended with a bitter loss at Rutgers for the second year in a row.

Millville came away with an 18-14 win Saturday night at SHI Stadium, despite giving the Highlanders repeated chances to come back. The Thunderbolts (12-2) committed four second-half turnovers, including two in the red zone, but Northern Highlands did not score off any of them.

Backup quarterback JR Walley played most of the game after Nate Johnson left with an injury to his throwing hand. Despite throwing two touchdown passes, Walley finished 14-of-31 for 128 yards after starting off 8-for-8.

Millville scored the go-ahead TD on Jacob Zamot’s two-yard pass to Freddie Lavan III with 4:41 remaining in the third quarter.

Northern Highlands’ final drive ended with a fourth-down sack by the Thunderbolts’ Jayden Jones on the 14-yard line with 16 seconds to go.

“They’re a very good football team, a very good defense,” Highlanders coach Dave Cord said of Millville. “It was a series of errors everywhere.”

What it means

The Highlanders upperclassmen had to be experiencing déjà vu. They lost the 2021 North Group 4 regional final at Rutgers in similar fashion.

Last year: They led Irvington at halftime, 14-13, but were unable to score in the second half and lost, 19-14. This year: They led Millville at halftime, 14-12, and fell by nearly the identical score.

Paramus Catholic’s Greg Russo, who coached Northern Highlands on last year’s journey to Piscatway, was there to offer his former players a pat on the back afterward.

“He was congratulating all of us [seniors] on a great career,” said lineback Zach Chostaka, who had a game-high 11 tackles. “It [stinks] to end this way, but it happens. That’s life.”

The Thunderbolts capped their second consecutive season with a win at Rutgers after capturing the 2021 South Group 4 regional crown.

Key plays

Northern Highlands rallied from an early 6-0 deficit with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. Walley threw an eight-yarder to Danny Smiechowski early in the period and found Luke Saturn for a seven-yard score with 3:09 left in the half.

The Thunderbolts’ first drive of the third quarter ended with a Matt Boydell interception deep in the Highlanders’ end. Then, late in the third quarter, Chase Fishman recovered a Millville fumble that set up a first-and-goal, but that drive ended with a blocked field goal.

The final two turnovers came on fumbles, including one on botched handoff with 1:38 left in the game, which John Lavinio recovered at the 25. Northern Highlands gained one first down but could not convert a fourth-and-4 at the Thunderbolt 8.

Game balls

► Millville sophomore Lotzeir Brooks caught 11 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, made three tackles on defense and got the blocked field goal.

► Junior Na’eem Sharp carried 18 times for 92 yards and a touchdown, while understudy Bricere Hunter rushed 12 times for 40 yards and had seven tackles and a sack on defense.

► Smiechowski caught six passes for 64 yards and a score and added three tackles and a pass breakup.

They said it

“They’re really athletic, they’re a tough team… they’re fast, and it gave us problems, especially up front. They’re bigger than us up front, and that gave us a lot of problems.” — Chostaka on Millville

“We’re going to keep fighting to the end. That’s all I know about us and our boys, and they certainly did that tonight. And we just came up a little short.” — Cord

“You see guys upset, and my message is super simple: Don’t do anything in life that you don’t care this much about. They’re upset because they care, and I love them for it.” — Cord