If we do indeed learn from our mistakes as Hillside head coach Barris Grant regularly tell his players, then last week’s practices must have been advanced placement classes in redemption.
Just a week after an error-filled stumble against Rahway and with the stake’s significantly higher, the Comets morphed back into the turnover-causing, ball-control outfit that any coach would hope to skipper in a post-season outing.
Hillside recorded three interceptions, all of which set up touchdown drives, and juniors Kyon Simonson, Muwaffaq Parkman and quarterback Caleb Salters spearheaded a well-balanced ground attack that sent fourth-seeded Hillside to a 34-0 victory over fifth-seeded Overbrook in the first round of the Central, Group 2 NJSIAA Rothman Orthopaedics Football Championships Saturday afternoon in Hillside.
A running clock was initiated when Salters scored on a 1-yard run with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter for the Comets’ fifth and final TD. It goes into effect once a 32-point lead is established in the second half.
Simonson carried 14 times for 154 yards and two touchdowns to join Parkman in the 1,000-yard rushing club for this season and pace a hard-charging crew that racked up 314 yards on 39 carries while the defense limited normally explosive Overbrook (8-2) to 141 total yards, and just 67 passing.
The Rams’ talented sophomore QB, DeAngello Conquest, who was 10 of 21 in the air, had turned in a string of nine straight plus-100-yard passing performances leading up to this contest, but was hampered by a steady pass rush led by senior tackle Mathew Ihemesie and senior senior end Dylan West, and those three offense-sparking picks, one each from Parkman, senior Jhamari Hill and junior Sakai Degannes.
“You’ve got to make mistakes and learn from them, and we made a lot of them last week,” Grant said of that 40-21 setback to snap a 22-game home win streak dating back to 2017. That also interrupted a six-game win streak this season for the Comets (7-2), who move on to face top-seeded Raritan next week on the road.
“Mistakes are the best thing that can happen to you so that you can learn, “ he said. “Last week was rough for us. That’s a good Rahway team that could run with us and break some tackles. I was pleased to see the guys were resilient and able to fight back. I was interested to see how the guys would respond, and they did a great job. I’m proud of them.”
It did not take long at all for Grant to notice the first tangible sign of a recovery from last week’s humbling. It was Parkman’s interception and eight-yard return to the Overbrook 44 on the fourth play of the game. On Hillside’s first snap, Simonson took the handoff from Salters, stormed up the middle and then veered left on his way to a 44-yard TD run one minute into the contest.
“The interception set the tone; started the fans up, got our teammates going. When I got the ball, I saw the hole and I scored,” Simonson said.
Bad memories of last week must have come flooding back to Grant when Hillside reached the red zone on its second possession of the game, but frittered it away with a fumble at the Overbrook 14, recovered by senior Andrew Morgan.
The Rams then marched smartly downfield with a series of screen passes from Conquest and one across the middle to sophomore Jaylan Hornsby, who made an excellent catch in traffic for a 32-yard pickup to the Hillside 16. On the next play, however, Degannes came down with a tipped pass at the seven-yard line and ran it to the 15 for the Comets’ second pick.
Again Hillside turned a mistake into gold with an eight-play, 85-yard march buoyed by two long play-action runs Salters and capped by Simonson with a 3-yard run with 40 seconds gone in the second quarter. Hillside, led, 14-0, after the second of four PAT by Giovanni Lavoura.
“We just stopped the receivers from catching the ball,” Simonson said. “They like to run screens and we were able to stop it and get the ball back on offense.”
Where Hillside could successfully whittle away time with the quick but forceful Parkman and the bruising Simonson taking turns, along with Salters.
“We coin them, not Thunder and Lightning, just Thunder and Thunder,” Grant said of Simonson and Parkman. “They’ve been doing a great job of moving and protecting the ball.”
Parkman had entered the game with 1,060 rushing yards and now has 1,145 yards after he picked up 85 on 13 carries. Simonson is now at 1,077 yards, and Salters is at 1,225 passing after he was a tidy 8 for 8 in the air for 109 yards while carrying seven times for 71 yards.
Parkman and Simonson each made it a point to publicly cheer the sturdy work of linemen Ihemesie, Charles Allen, Leo Harris, Osagie Ugiagbe and DJ Nesmith.
“We wouldn’t be at 1,000 yards if it wasn’t for our line. Big shoutout to them,’ Parkman said. “They’re always hard for us and we appreciate it.”
Parkman and Simonson also appreciate one another. They typically alternate series and tend to be the other’s biggest fan on the sideline when they have the ball.
“There’s no rivalry, no jealousy, we do it together. That’s my brother,” Parkman said. i
While we’re acknowledging shoutouts, this would be a fair place to call out to that defense which hemmed down Overbrook’s lively attack for the team’s second shutout this season. Along with Ihemesie and West up front and the ball-snatching skills of Parkman, Degannes and Hill, the Comets got exceptional play from linebackers Kayvion Kennedy and Caleb Ramos, linemen Zamir Hawk and Nadje Ferguson and safety Woodnel Alphanor.
The Comet’s third touchdown was not set up with an interception, though the defense did have a direct hand in the possession switch by halting the Rams on fourth-and-one from the Hillside 49 with 9:22 to go in the opening half. Hawk, Ferguson and Gerald Thompson converged on that stop.
That would touch off a seven-play drive that Parkman finished with a 4-yard run for a 21-0 advantage with 5:57 to go in the half.
Salters opened a 27-0 lead with a 14-yard run to cap Hillside’s opening possession of the second quarter, and closed it out the scoreboard activity with his 1-yard run.
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Mike Kinney can be reached at mkinney@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeKinneyHS.
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