Simoneau calls Rutherford first-round playoff win “wake-up call” as Bernards gets set to host Pequannock Friday night

All year long, Bernards has played some pretty good football. Maybe better than most should have expected, considering the seniors that graduated last year from their first state sectional title team of the playoff era.

Connor Laverty, Jake Caldwell, David Brothers, and more are all gone.

But despite other key players being back, like Logan Stevens, Terrence Hanratty and more, head coach Jon Simoneau figured his team might be in for some growing pains.

Nope.

They had another undefeated regular season, actually, their first time going back-to-back undefeated in a regular season since 1995 and 1996, though both years they lost in the first round of the playoffs to finish 9-1 each time. In fact, Bernards has only done it two other times, going 8-0 in 1935 and 1936 – following a 1934 campaign that went 6-0-2 – then going 5-0 in 1918 following a 7-0-1 season in 1917.

But last week, Simoneau admits his second-seeded Mountaineers played far from its best game of the season, narrowly escaping the first round in North 1, Group 2 with a 35-33 win over Rutherford, in which they had to rally from a 27-14 halftime deficit.

Sometimes, a team has to get jolted back to reality with a regular season loss, then once out of their system, they play more free, and go on to great heights.

Bernards might have been lucky to escape with a win, but Simoneau expects a different Mountaineer team out of the gates this weekend when they host third-seed Pequannock (8-2) at 7 pm Friday night in the sectional semifinals, in what will be the first-ever meeting between the schools.

Click below to hear Bernards head coach Jon Simoneau talk about the Mountaineers and Friday’s game against Pequannock: