ALLENDALE – The Old Tappan Golden Knights (6-0) slayed the Northern Highlands Highlanders (5-1) 14-7 Friday in a battle of two great public schools. It was the Golden Knights’ fourth straight victory over their Bergen County rivals.
Last week, the biggest game in all of New Jersey resided in Ramsey, where Don Bosco Prep took down rival powerhouse Bergen Catholic. A few miles south in Allendale this week, Bergen County was home to arguably the biggest contest among public schools.
There’s no doubting how dominant both programs have been the past few seasons. Old Tappan has won two state championships in the past three seasons while Northern Highlands has been constantly among the best in the state for football. With both teams entering the game undefeated and battle tested, Friday’s game was truly a treat… for the visiting squad.
But early in the contest, the Highlanders attacked the endzone first. After forcing a turnover on downs, junior running back, Tucker Kanning, erupted for a 50-yard score to put Northern Highlands up 7-0.
But after scoring with 3:41 remaining in the first quarter, the Highlanders would concede the lead nearly three minutes later. With the Golden Knights at the Highlanders’ 13 yard line, Tappan would answer on a big third down.
Golden Knights’ quarterback, Zachary Miceli, would find his reliable target, Shane Small, for the touchdown. The score would be knotted up at seven and momentum started to slightly shift in favor of Old Tappan.
The second quarter wouldn’t justify that shift, however, as both teams struggled to find traction against each other. Entering halftime in a low-scoring chess match of sorts, one team had to make a statement right out the break. That team would arguably be the best public school in Northern New Jersey at the moment.
Facing a third down and long from the Northern Highlands’ 17 yard line, Miceli made magic occur. With tons of pressure and a defender grabbing his leg, Miceli heaved one towards the endzone and Old Tappan miraculously scored. Junior Leo Etter made the play and gave his squad the 14-7 lead with 5:46 left in the third quarter.
Miceli would talk about the play following the game.
“Early on I missed my read in that play, should have hit him earlier,” Miceli said. “I messed up, but I had to get back for it and I saw Leo [in the] back of the endzone and he’s an athlete, I trust him so I had to give him a chance.”
As the second half progressed, The Golden Knights were able to utilize the clock to their advantage. Even while facing a bigger front in the trenches, Old Tappan found ways to gain yard after yard and wear out their competition.
Not all hope was lost, however, for Northern Highlands. After marching from their four yard line to the 12-yard line of Old Tappan in the fourth quarter, the Highlanders faced a crucial fourth down. On their last chance of the game, Northern Highlands QB, Jack O’Callaghan rolled to his right, but had his pass batted down by Marco D’Amore. That breakup from the Old Tappan defender sealed the victory for his program, and elevated them to an impressive 6-0 start.
“It’s a great team to play, especially on the road. Lot of noise here, very intense and they’re just a great team and we know we like big games like this and fortunately we came up on top.”
Both teams will be on a bye next week.
