Tag: Jake Caldwell

by Mike Pavlichko

Laverty-Caldwell connection takes home fan vote for Highlight Reel Play of the Year

There were some great touchdown runs and some trickeration on a kickoff.

But the clip that won the Highlight Reel Play of the Year in our annual fan vote was the one that helped lead Bernards to its first ever state sectional title.

Without it, the Mountaineers might very well have seen its hopes dashed by Lakeland. Instead, the Lancers’ field goal at the horn sent the game to overtime, where the ‘Nards Ball defense held, and senior quarterback Connor Laverty scored on his own to win the game.

On 4th and goal from the 11, Laverty hit fellow senior and favorite wide receiver target Jake Caldwell for a touchdown that, with the extra point, put his team up by 3.

Click below to see the winning play!

For the full video of all five nominated highlight reel plays, click here.

by Mike Pavlichko

Best season in Bernards history comes to an end in Group 2 finals loss at Westwood

It may be tomorrow, it may be next week, or in 2024, but when all is said and done, and Bernards looks back on its 2023 season, everyone associated with the program will look back at it for what it was: the best ever in almost 120 years of high school football.

Some even were thinking about it as the clock reached zero up in Bergen County Friday night, where the Mountaineers lost to Westwood 17-0 in the Group 2 semifinals, shut out for the first time this season.

Bernards – which finishes the season 12-1 with a program record for wins and their first ever playoff sectional championship – couldn’t get anything going on offense the whole night.

Westwood plugged up the run game, and the passing game didn’t start clicking until the final minutes of the game, with the clock their biggest enemy.

Westwood – which is now 12-0 and headed to the Group 2 title game the week after Thanksgiving against Rumson-Fair Haven (8-4) – came out fired up, hitting hard, and just a step quicker than the Mountaineers.

But some early penalties on them stymied their opening drive, and the game sunk into a defensive battle between two teams that combined to allow single digits in points all year, on average, with seven total shutouts.

The teams were scoreless after one quarter, with neither team managing much on the ground or in the air. But late in the second quarter, the Cardinals were able to break through.

Getting the ball early in the period, Westwood went 60 yards in just seven plays and 3:40 to set up a chip-shot 22-yard field goal, a win for Bernards’ defense, which bent, but didn’t entirely break.

But after a Bernards three-and-out – and they had the time of possession edge to that point – Westwood went 67 yards in eleven plays in the next 3:25, capping the drive off with a three-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Robbie Carcich to receiver Joe Klein, and it was 10-0 Cards going into the half.

After halftime, the struggles continued for the Bernards offense. The line protected Laverty, who rarely had to scramble, but Westwood sacrificed that pressure to stuff the run game, which then limited the effectiveness of the passing game, stymieing the Mountaineer offense even after the break.

At that point, Westwood’s goal was to eat the clock, and they did just that ona drive that took 15 plays and 7:14 to go 70 yards, culminating with a two-yard touchdown run by Aidan Dugan to make it 17-0, the backbreaker that put the game out of reach.

It was the first time Bernards had been shutout since October 20, 2017. 2017, when they lost 35-0 at Voorhees in a 3-7 season, a year after going to a state final.

For Bernards, it was a tough loss, one game short of their season goal: to play 14. They go in 13, won a school record 12, and brought home the first state sectional title in school history.

There were few tears on the field. Players ran to the spot for their post-game huddle with head coach Jon Simoneau. There was a lot to be proud of. He let them know it.

And he’ll remind them of it for the rest of his life and theirs.

Click below for postgame reaction with Mike Pavlichko presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Bernards senior wide receiver Jake Caldwell
Bernards head coach Jon Simoneau
by Mike Pavlichko

First time, long time! Bernards takes first-ever state title with 23-17 OT win over Lakeland

Jake Caldwell got Bernards back into the game. Then he almost gave it away. Then he was the hero… again.

So was Connor Laverty.

Caldwell, the senior wide receiver – a favorite target of fellow senior Connor Laverty, the quarterback – had a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown with just over two minutes to go before halftime to tie the score at seven, but muffed a punt with just over nine minutes left in the game that gave Lakeland the ball back up 14-10, costing Bernards great field position and a chance to take the lead.

Bernards WR Jack Morra (left) and OL Logan Ritchie (with trophy) celebrate with their North 2, Group 2 title hardware after beating Lakeland 23-17 in OT for the school’s first-ever state sectional title on November 10, 2023 in Bernardsville. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

But Bernards held, and on their next possession, Caldwell gave the Mountaineers their first lead in the game at 17-14 with exactly one-minute to go on an 11-yard touchdown catch on fourth and goal. It was a touchdown that would prove important, since Lakeland came right back down an sent the game to overtime on a 43-yard field goal as time expired.

In overtime, however, Bernards would not be denied, and that’s when it was Laverty’s turn.

Lakeland went first in overtime, could only gain four yards, and missed a 38-yard field goal on its possession. That left the Mountaineers to play it conservative and keep the ball on the ground.

Laverty – who’d thrown 18 times on the night – handed off to freshman Patrick Carlisle a couple of times, gained a first down at the 14, got his team down to the seven, and on third-and-four punched it in the end zone to set off a raucous celebration at Olcott Field, winning the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2 title with a 23-7 victory.

It was Bernards’ first title in three tries, with previous sectional finals berths in 1997 and 2016.

Now, the 12-0 Mountaineers – the last remaining Big Central team alive in the playoffs after St. Thomas Aquinas and Phillipsburg both lost Friday night – will travel to Westwood next Friday evening to play the Cardinals in the Group 2 semifinals. Top-seed Westwood (11-0) beat second-seed Rutherford Friday night in the North 1, Group 2 final, 20-7, for their seventh sectional championship.

The winner will go on to the Group 2 championship game the week after Thanksgiving against either South 2 champion Rumson-Fair Haven or Central 2 champion Willingboro.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Bernards senior WR/CB Jake Caldwell
Bernards senior QB/S Connor Laverty
by Mike Pavlichko

Bernards crushes Sussex Tech to win 11th straight, reach North 2 Group 2 final, and will host after Caldwell upset

The stars aligned for the Bernards football team Friday night.

Not only did the second-seeded Mountaineers top 6th-seed Sussex Tech 48-0 at in the North 2, Group 2 semifinals at Olcott Field Friday night, but soon after they learned that top-seed Caldwell – with a state-best active winning streak of 37 games – got upset by 5th-seed Lakeland, 33-28, meaning Bernards will host the Lancers next Friday night for the title.

Sussex Tech had several key players go down to injury early, and the floodgates quickly opened.

Logan Stevens’ three-yard run just 1:15 in gave Bernards a 7-0 lead. QB Connor Laverty hit Jake Caldwell for a 21-yard touchdown pass just under four game minutes later to make it 14-0. Then Caldwell picked off a pass from the Sussex Tech quarterback to make it 21-0 late in the first quarter.

And so on. And so on.

Laverty hit max Austin for a 29-yard touchdown 2:15 before the half to make it 28-0 at the break.

In the second half, the beat went on. Logan Stevens ran in another score – this one from six yards out with 5:22 left in the third to kickstart the running clock.

And the backups added two more scores.

The win adds to Bernard’s historic season, with the undefeated Mountaineers picking up a program record eleventh win.

Next Friday night, they’ll host 5th-seed Lakeland (8-3) in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2 title game. It’s just the third finals berth for Bernards, and second under head coach Jon Simoneau, whose team last made the finals in 2016, falling to Manasquan, 42-6, at Kean University in Union.

Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden at Olcott Field, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Bernards finally takes down a South Jersey team, stifles Overbrook 21-6

It’s not often Bernards plays a team from South Jersey, but it’s been a trend in recent years with the new playoff format since 2018.

In 2019, they lost in the opening round 50-10 at Cedar Creek. Last year, the Mountaineers dropped their opener in the Battle of the Beach in Ocean City to Penns Grove 40-20, then got knocked out at home in the second round of the the playoffs, 24-14, by Haddonfield.

So head coach Jon Simoneau challenged his team by bringing in Overbrook, a team that went 8-2 last year and brought back a junior quarterback in DeAngello Conquest who threw for over 1,400 yards last season as a tenth-grader.

Challenge accepted. Mission accomplished.

Bernards topped Overbrook 21-6 with stifling defense – including a couple of interceptions by Daniel Ferguson, and another each from Nicholas Kouflie and Max Austin – and got enough offense for the win. Three different players scored, including a two-yard keeper by Connor Laverty and a three-yard score by Terrance Hanratty – both in the first quarter to stake the Mountaineers to a 14-0 lead – and a five-yard run by Jake Caldwell to give Bernards breathing room at 21-6 after the Rams got it to within eight points.

Click below for postgame reaction from Bernards’ 21-6 season-opening defeat of Overbrook:

Juniors Connor Laverty and Jake Caldwell
Bernards head coach Jon Simoneau