Terrance Hanratty scored from seven yards out in the closing minutes to give No. 4 Bernards a thrilling 29-22 win over Summit Thursday night at Olcott Field in Bernardsville.

In a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, both teams played a tight first half, not always able to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them.

Summit came out running tempo with QB draws that kept Bernards off balance, but they only managed a single touchdown before the half. And Bernards had a good drive going late, but turned it over. And when they got it back off a Hilltopper turnover, missed a field goal that would have given them the lead.

Summit opened the scoring on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Cole Sabol to Oscar Marx, and they made it 8-0 by converting a two-point try. With 91 second left in the first half, Bernards answered back with a four-yard run by Logan Stevens, but after a penalty set them back, they elected to go for the PAT.

Summit got on the board again midway through the third quarter on a three-yard touchdown run by Ethan Lawton to make it 15-7. And it was then the Bernards offense came alive, but not without the help of their defense.

After a Summit turnover, Walsh hit Jack Mora for the first of two touchdown passes, a 59-yarder with 3:43 to go in the third to get Bernards within a point, then they connected again just a few minutes later after another Summit fumble, and got the ball in the red zone, punching it in on two plays, the last a nine-yard pass to Mora.

Summit wasn’t done, though. The Hilltoppers got a seven yard run from Gavin Schnall with 4:06 to play, giving them a 22-21 lead.

And then it was Bernards’ turn. A long drive got down to the seven yard line, then Terrance Hanratty muscled his way into the end zone, pushing the pile forward, to make it 27-22. Head coach Jon Simoneau called for a two-point try to make it a seven-point lead, and they got it, as Patrick Carlisle ran it into the end zone, the same one where Connor Laverty scored in overtime to give Bernards its first-ever state sectional title less than a year ago against Lakeland.

Bernards improves to 7-0 on the season, extending its Big Central win streak to 21 games. They also evened the all-time series with Summit – which dates back to 1914 – at four games apiece. Summit lost its second straight, falling to 4-2, with Woodbridge looming next Saturday at Tatlock Field.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen with Bernards QB Nolan Walsh, DE Thomas Diemar and head coach Jon Simoneau: