Cougars Roar Past Raiders

Posted on by Big Central Gridiron

The Cranford Cougars improved to 2-0 with a dominant 40-14 victory over Scotch Plains-Fanwood in a BCC United Gold Division clash at Memorial Field in Cranford on Thursday evening.

Worrell, Capizzi, and Defense Spark Cranford to 40-14 Win

View the Photo Gallery from the action in Cranford’s win over Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

CRANFORD, NJ – Following its huge road win at Bernards in Week 1, the Cranford Cougars set their eyes on United Gold Division play as it hosted Scotch Plains-Fanwood at Memorial Field on Thursday evening.  The Raiders were looking to get on track following losses to Westfield and Linden to start the season.  Cranford’s experience proved to be the difference as the Cougars roared past the Raiders for a 40-14 victory.

Led by the play of running back and linebacker Gabe Worrell, quarterback Aidan Capizzi, and a defense anchored by Patrick Bendert, Cranford built up a 28-0 second quarter lead.  Scotch Plains-Fanwood rallied to cut the deficit in half by the intermission on two touchdown passes by Marcus Schomberg to Yasir Oates and JJ Robinson Jr., but were unable to get any closer.

Watch Big Central Gridiron’s Video Recap of Cranford’s 28-0 victory over Scotch Plains-Fanwood on Thursday evening.

Worrell earned Big Central Gridiron’s Player of the Game honors with 10 carries for 71 yards and three first half touchdowns on offense, while also collecting 11 total tackles, including five solos, two sacks, and a forced fumble on defense.  Capizzi completed 9 of 11 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns.  Bendert was a monster with 11 total tackles, including four solos, four sacks, and three for loss, and a forced fumble.

Logan Murray complemented Worrell to bolster Cranford’s ground attack with 16 carries for 115 yards, or 7.2 yards per carry.  Sophomore Joey Riccio played with a motor for the Cougars.  Riccio collected five total tackles, including two sacks, and recovered a fumble on defense, while scoring Cranford’s final touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 9 yard run with 11:53 remaining.

Watch this highlight reel of Cranford’s Gabe Worrell in action during the Cougars’ 40-14 win over Scotch Plains-Fanwood on Thursday evening.

Luke Owens contributed on both sides of the ball for Cranford.  Owens also picked up five total tackles on defense, including three solos and two for loss.  He also hauled in two receptions for a team leading 42 yards, including a 28 yard touchdown pass with 4:29 left in the third for a 34-14 lead.  Capizzi completed passes to four different receivers, including two to John Fiore and four to Nick Kiriakatis.  One of Fiore’s two receptions was a 12-yard touchdown for a 14-0 Cranford lead with 6:32 left in the first quarter.

Cranford’s defense collected 9 sacks in the contest.  Myles Moretti also got his hand on the quarterback in addition to Bendert, Worrell, and Riccio.  The Cougars limited Scotch Plains-Fanwood to 157 total yards, including only 17 on the ground on 18 carries.  Cranford forced two fumbles and recovered one of them.  Avery Snow was a bright spot in defeat for the Raiders.

Watch highlights from the action in Cranford’s 40-14 win over Scotch Plains-Fanwood on Thursday evening.

Although he just rushed for 15 yards on four carries, Snow still managed to make an impact on the game through his efforts on defense and special teams.  Snow collected 11 total tackles on defense, while accumulating 56 yards on three kickoff returns.  Matthew Hayeck set up Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s second score of the game with an interception late in the second quarter.

Schomberg completed 7 of 10 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns, while not throwing an interception for the Raiders.  Sophomore wideout Joey Reeves led SPF’s receiving corps with 4 receptions for 44 yards.  Oates hauled in the most receiving yards for the Raiders with two catches for 67 yards, including a 53-yard scoring play that trimmed the Cranford lead to 28-7 with 1:12 to play in the first half.  

Robinson cashed in on Hayeck’s interception with his only reception of the game on a 29-yard scoring play with 11.9 seconds remaining before the intermission.  Scotch Plains-Fanwood put itself in a precarious position right from the opening kickoff.  The Raiders mishandled the kick from Andrew Bentrewicz, and was pinned against their goal line to open their first offensive series from scrimmage.

Moments later, Schomberg was swarmed by the likes of Worrell and Bendert, and was stripped of the football.  Riccio recovered, and on the next play, Worrell scored from five yards out to put the Cougars up 7-0 with exactly a minute gone by in the game.  Scotch Plains-Fanwood was pinned deep in its own territory again on the ensuing kickoff, and that ultimately helped Cranford get good field position to set up its second score on Capizzi’s touchdown pass to Fiore midway through the first.

The Cougars were a juggernaut over the first 22 minutes of the first half.  Murray and Worrell churned up yardage on the ground, while Capizzi made pinpoint pass completions to Bentrewicz, Fiore, Kariakatis, and Owens to put together two more scoring drives.  Worrell capped each drive with touchdown runs.  The senior running back put Cranford up 21-0 on a 7-yard scoring run with 9:02 left in the second.  Worrell later added a one-yard touchdown with 2:27 remaining in the half for a 28-0 advantage.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood showed some fortitude with two scoring drives in the final two and a half minutes of the second quarter.  First, Schomberg hooked up with Oates for a pass play over the middle for 53 yards and a score with a little over a minute to play in the half.  After Hayeck’s interception gave the Raiders the ball back, Schomberg connected with Robinson along the SPF sideline for a 29-yard score with just under 12 seconds to play before the intermission to pull within two scores at 28-14.

The Raiders weren’t able to get any closer though and Cranford added scores in the third and fourth quarter to pull away for the 26-point victory.  With the win, the Cougars improved to 2-0 on the young season, including a 1-0 mark in the BCC’s United Gold division.  Scotch Plains-Fanwood dropped to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in divisional play.  Both teams return to action for Week 3.

Cranford will host arch-rival Summit in another BCC United Gold match-up on Friday night, September 18th, at 7:00 PM.  Scotch Plains-Fanwood will host Carteret in another divisional clash at Tyson Perry Field on Friday night as well at 7:00 PM.