Little rest, but not weary: Hillsborough hangs on for 15-7 win at Union on four days’ rest

Jackson Jankowicz has set the tone often in games for Hillsborough.

The junior – a starter last year as a sophomore – is a veteran now, and he knows what his team, when it needs it.

What it needed – and got – Friday night at Cooke Field in Union was a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the game, staking 4th-ranked Hillsborough to an 8-0 lead over the No. 8 Farmers after a converted two-point pass play..

The Raiders (5-1) then got a defensive stop, and marched all the way downfield for a scoring drive, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Lobelo.

That’s how the game went into the half: 15-0 Hillsborough.

Union (4-2) got a score in the third on a 13-yard TD pass from O’Malley King to Cedric Raymond.

But in a game of intensely physical play on both sides – “It was as physical a game as you’ll see,” said head coach Kevin Carty, Jr. – the Farmers couldn’t break through again.

After an upset of No. 1 Phillipsburg Sunday in the Rumble on the Raritan, 14-13, which played out in a similar fashion – Hillsborough up early and hanging on defensively – the Raiders’ have now held two ranked teams to a total of 20 points on consecutive weeks to pick up some big back-to-back wins after their first loss of the season to another ranked club, Ridge.

Click below for postgame reaction from Kevin Carty, Jr., with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: