Somerville celebrates its 2024 Central Jersey Group 3 title at Brooks Field on November 15, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
All week long, people said Somerville would need to be ready for the vaunted Delaware Wing-T Delsea reinstalled as part of their offense to help them get in the playoffs and reach the Central Jersey Group 3 title game.
They were.
The top-seeded Pioneers only allowed one Delsea score – on the seventh-seeded Crusaders’ first possession of the game – but shut them out the rest of the way to earn a 24-6 win, claiming their first sectional title since 2017 and ninth overall, improving to 12-0 for the first time in school history.
Terrell Mitchel scored to cap the game’s opening drive, putting Somerville up 6-0 on a four-year touchdown run with 7:32 left in the opening period of the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy and Son Paving. The two point run failed.
Delsea (4-7) took nearly nine minutes and ran into the second quarter on their first possession, and finished off a 14-yard drive with a two-yard run by Dan Russo. Their PAT was a fake, and the two-point try failed as well.
In fact, Somerville, which scored the next three touchdowns, didn’t get any of their two-point attempts on the night, but it wouldn’t matter.
That’s because Brenden Pacheco put the team up 12-6 with 6:45 to go before the half on an eight-yard TD pass to Aidan Bush – who suffered a back injury later in the game, but was able to walk off under his own power. Less than five game minutes later, Pacheco hit tight end Max Nuzzi from 23 yards out to make it 18-6 before the break.
All the while Somerville’s defense was a crushing force on Delsea, which tried to spread the field left to right but could never turn the corner as the Pioneers controlled the line of scrimmage.
They allowed only three double-digit run plays from scrimmage all night, and the Crusaders threw the ball only once. Delsea finished with 166 yards of total offense, all on the ground, with 89 of those coming on their scoring drive.
Speaking of which, Somerville only punted once, scoring on every other possession, the last coming six seconds into the fourth quarter after Bush’s injury and a scoreboard malfunction. Josh Rodriguez took the snap at QB and run it in one yard for the score.
The 12 wins is a program record, and it was the third time the Pioneers won a sectional title with a perfect record. They were 11-0 in their state title seasons in 1983 and 1979. They also finished 9-0 in 1953 and 7-0-1 in 1929.
In 1909, they were also undefeated. But they only played one game that season – beating Bound Brook 16-5.
But the season is not done yet. The win puts Somerville in the Group 3 semifinals against South Jersey winner Mainland (9-3). The second-seeded Mustangs were 42-14 home winners over fourth-seed Seneca (8-4) Friday night. A win could make them the first Big Central team – Phillipsburg also will have a shot, depending when they play – the clinch a spot in a true state championship game.
The NJSIAA expanded to group champs in football two seasons ago, in 2022.
Click below for postgame reaction from Somerville’s win over Delsea in the Central Jersey Group 3 title game:
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Delsea ‘snuck’ into the Playoffs with only 2 wins because of how the Power Points are calculated. They were a 1-5 team with a new coach running a new offense. They panicked and in a desperation move, most likely from tremendous pressure from the town and the parents, brought back the old coach to reinstall thier Wing T. They ended up 2-6 entering the Playoffs. They dominated their first two opponents from down in the southern part of the state. But then they made that long drive up to Somerville on Friday night to face a different brand of football. And what they faced made their ride back home a lot longer. Their team took the field breaking through a banner that read “3 Burlington…2 Cedar Creek…1 Somerville…WHO’S NEXT?” Brought to mind that famous Mike Tyson quote..”Everybody’s a tough guy until they get punched in the mouth.” It was odd to watch as the Delsea coaching staff apparently had no contingency plan in the event they were losing in the second half. Trailing Somerville by 2 scores in the 3rd Qtr they continued to run their Wing T with absolutely no urgency between plays. Huddling up and walking up to the line they essential ran the clock out on themselves. It was peculiar and quite frankly a little embarrassing to watch. Somerville on the other hand is well coached on both sides of the ball with a tough, talented, smart group of kids. They are undersized compared to other schools and this is why they are probably underestimated from week to week. Go ‘Ville!!!!