A successful regular season for the Bridgewater-Raritan High School football team came to an end at Phillipsburg High School.
In its final tuneup before the state sectional playoffs, Bridgewater-Raritan (6-3, 1-3) delivered a gutsy performance at Phillipsburg (7-1, 4-0): New Jersey’s No. 17 ranked team. While the Panthers remained within two possessions of the Stateliners until the final minute of regulation, three of Phillipsburg’s four touchdown runs were good from at least 43 yards out to distance themselves from Bridgewater-Raritan.
Sophomore quarterback Dominic Bracco’s 17-yard touchdown run for Phillipsburg with 1:01 to go punctuated a 36-13 victory for the Stateliners and a sweep of the Big Central Conference American Silver Division on Friday, October 24, at Maloney Stadium in Phillipsburg.
Bridgeewater-Raritan ended the regular season with a 6-3 record and will now prepare for the state sectional playoffs. Phillipsburg improved to 7-1.
Bridgewater-Raritan's first round opponent in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional playoffs will be officially determined after the cutoff date Saturday, October 25,.
But Bridgewater-Raritan will therefore launch its bid to win a state sectional title at John Basilone Memorial Field, where the Panthers went a perfect 6-0 in the regular season.
Kickoff for Bridgewater-Raritan in the opening round of the state sectional playoffs will be at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 31, in Bridgewater.
While Bridgewater-Raritan came up empty on the game’s first drive, its defense answered by forcing a missed 26-yard field goal attempt with 4:35 left in the first quarter. An interception by Phillipsburg stalled the Panthers’ ensuing drive, but Bridgewater-Raritan’s defense went into the second quarter trying to preserve a scoreless tie.
Phillipsburg senior running back Sam Deck then appeared to be stuffed at the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-1 at the Panthers 28-yard line, but an official measurement proved otherwise and extended the Stateliners’ drive in the first minute of the second quarter.
A 14-yard touchdown reception by Senior Mike Bracco with 8:19 left in the second quarter then opened up the game’s scoring for Phillipsburg. Declan Kurdyla then quickly led the Panthers down the field on a 65-yard drive capped off by his 17-yard touchdown pass to Konner Ramsey, which tied the game at 7-7 with 6:11 left in the second quarter.
On fourth down of its next drive, senior running back Sam Dech exploded for a 49-yard go-ahead touchdown run on a fake punt, which gave Phillipsburg a 13-7 lead after the Stateliners’ extra point attempt failed with 4:13 left in the first half.
After Phillipsburg then collected a sack of Kurdyla for a big loss, senior kicker Alexie Moreira booted a 41-yard field goal with 0:59 left in the first half to send the Stateliners into the locker room up 16-7.
Just 51 seconds into the third quarter, senior Ziyahn McGurn bursted through Bridgewater-Raritan’s defense and scored on a 69-yard touchdown run, which extended Phillipsburg’s lead to 23-7. A stalemate ensued over the remainder of the period and into the fourth quarter, which saw Bridgewater-Raritan take over at its own 20 down by two possessions wi with 11:12 to go.
Sandwiched around a big run to midfield by Kurdyla were two big throws by him to seniors Jack Cifuentes and junior Jahmier Black, which kept the Panthers within striking distance. Facing fourth and goal on this same drive, Kurdyla managed to escape what looked to be a sack before scrambling in the opposite direction. On this same play with 7:19 remaining, his running five-yard touchdown throw in the opposite direction to a wide-open Cifuentes capped the Panthers’ 80-yard scoring drive.
While the resulting two-point try failed, Bridgewater-Raritan trailed just 23-13.
With 3:20 to go, Dech appeared to put the game away via a 43-yard touchdown run, but Phillipsburg’s second missed extra point kept the game within two possessions.
Bridgewater-Raritan trailed 29-13 late instead, but despite a good ball launched by Declan Kurdyla to senior Mikey Bratus on fourth down, a hit on the ensuing catch resulted in an incomplete pass and denied the Panthers what potentially could have been a big touchdown pass.
Instead, Phillipsburg took over deep in Bridgewater-Raritan territory on downs, and Bracco’s aforementioned 17-yard touchdown run put the game out of reach with 1:01 to go. While 36-13 was the final score, it was therefore not reflective of the valiant fight the Panthers put up on the road against the highest ranked squad it has played amongst its brutal schedule to date this season.
To end off this successful regular season, Bridgewater-Raritan made its first trip to Maloney Stadium: located just across the Delaware River and Pennsylvania border, since the Panthers made three straight trips here from 2020-22. Bridgewater-Raritan took one of these three meetings, 17-7, with Declan’s older brother: Brady, under center for the Panthers.
Like this season’s squad official did after the game’s final horn, that Bridgewater-Raritan squad also finished the regular season with a 6-3 record in 2021, when the Panthers then fell to Paterson Eastside High School at home in the first round of the state sectional playoffs.
Unlike that season, despite its defeat against Phillipsburg,, Bridgewater-Raritan is still in line for the No. 1 seed in next weekend’s state sectional playoffs due to its success within one of its toughest schedules in program history.