Phillipsburg football forces 5 turnovers, shuts down West Orange in huge road win

It was all hands on deck for the Phillipsburg High School football team's defense during its cross-conference matchup at West Orange Friday night.

That's because the Stateliners , as they tried to slow down senior quarterback Charlie LaMorte, a Bucknell commit, and senior receiver Terrell Wilfong, a Syracuse commit, had several players go down with cramps and other injuries.

When Phillipsburg senior Matt Scerbo Jr., who matched up one-on-one with Wilfong in the first half, couldn't play in the second half, junior Jah'quil Dooley stepped in. When Dooley needed time to recover from several cramps he suffered throughout the game, senior Felix Matos switched from safety to line up at corner against Wilfong.

Add in clutch plays in the secondary by junior Jaysen Blacknall and consistent pressure from their defensive line and the Stateliners did just enough to earn their biggest win of the 2024 season so far.

Phillipsburg created five turnovers, including a blocked punt returned for the first touchdown of the game, a pick-six and a fumble recovery on a muffed punt return that sealed its 21-14 win at Suriano Stadium.

"The guys up front, Aedan Hywel, Luke Hywel, Khalil Lewis, Benny Coury, their constant pressure on the quarterback, their constant penetration on the run game. Our linebackers, what an outstanding job" Phillipsburg coach Frank Duffy said of his defense. "My back end, in man coverage a lot, we had guys go down with cramps. We put guys in situations that they weren't really used to and they just did an outstanding job. I'm proud of all those guys."

"It was man-heavy," Duffy added on the Stateliners' game plan defending the pass. "We wanted to get pressure on the quarterback, not give him windows to throw the ball. We felt like we could play man as long as we got pressure on the quarterback and we were able to do that."

Phillipsburg (4-1) held LaMorte to 16 completions on 35 attempts for 181 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Wilfong had 11 catches for 121 yards but, apart from a 35-yard catch in the second quarter, the duo did not connect on a play for 15 or more yards the whole game.

"This team's toughness is just unmatched," Scerbo Jr. said of different players stepping up on defense. "... We came here fearless, we didn't care who they are, who they have on the team. We just wanted to win, it's a lot of emotions; I'm excited."

"They have their guys, but we have our guys too. I trust Matt, I trust Jaysen, I trust all our guys, I just Jah'quil, I trust Jett (Genovese). We're studs too," Matos said. "They got their guys but we got our guys too and I trust in all of them."

With the Mountaineers (4-2) driving early in the fourth quarter, Matos intercepted LaMorte's pass over the middle and returned it to the Stateliners' 42.

P'burg moved the ball 58 yards in six plays, the last of which was a three-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Jett Genovese on a play action bootleg keeper to the left, for its first, and only, offensive score of the game with 7:31 left to play.

"I never doubted that we were gonna win this game," Genovese said. "I always felt that we were gonna come in here and get the job done. I didn't think we were gonna score one offensive touchdown and win the game, but we found a way. That's what matters most."

The Mountaineers responded with their best drive of the game, moving 68 yards on 15 plays. LaMorte found junior running back Farad Green Jr. for a seven-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 21-14 with 2:49 remaining.

A pair of special teams plays sealed the win for the Stateliners. Blacknall recovered West Orange's onside kick attempt after the touchdown and, after Phillipsburg went three-and-out but forced the Mountaineers' to use the last of their timeouts, senior Andrew Blackwell recovered a fumble when Wilfong couldn't make a clean catch on the punt return with less than a minute left.

"When you have two evenly-matched teams, a lot of times it's going to come down to the kicking game and that's what happened," Duffy said.

P'burg's first touchdown came on the first punt attempt of the game just 3:18 into the contest.

Matos, who usually lines up next to Scerbo Jr. to return punts for the Stateliners, came in off the edge unblocked, got a hand to Wilfong's punt, scooped up the ball at the Mountaineers' 17 and took it in for a touchdown.

"It was a special design," Matos said of the block. "We talked about it in practice. They gave us the look and we tried to block one and that's what we did."

West Orange's first drive of the second quarter ended in another touchdown for P'burg. A mix-up between LaMorte, who threw over the middle, and Wilfong, who stayed near the home sideline, allowed Scerbo Jr. to intercept the pass at the Mountaineers' 35 and, after he cut to his right, take it the rest of the way.

"I saw the ball, I was like, 'Man, that's coming right to me.' The return, I just felt like I had to score so I went across the field and got it done," said Scerbo Jr., who had a pick-six in P'burg's win over Hillsborough last week .

Those scores proved vital on a night where the Stateliners gained just 170 yards on offense.

"They're a 3-3 stack, they're very active," Duffy said of the Mountaineers' defense. "They make it difficult to throw the football, they pressure you all the time... Fortunately the other two phases of the game stepped up for us."

"We just found a way," said Genovese, who threw for 41 yards, rushed for 58 and had a team-high seven tackles on defense. "I may not have had my best performance, a lot of things that I have to clean up, but all that matters is we got a win against a very good opponent."

"It feels great to finally get a win here against these guys. This is for the guys in 2022, those seniors, that team was so special," the senior QB added, referencing P'burg's 28-7 loss to West Orange in the North 2 Group 5 sectional championship two years ago.

The Stateliners will move from a tough cross-conference matchup to a tough cross-divisional game as they host St. Joseph (Met.), ranked No. 17 in the state by NJ.com , next week.

"It was a huge win," Matos said. "Losing to Ridge ( 28-21 on Sept. 20), came into this game, nobody thought we were gonna win. We proved everybody wrong and now people will look out for us."

"This is so great that we played this opponent and now we got a great opponent next week," Genovese said. "We got Ridge 2.0. (St. Joseph Metuchen coach) Bill Tracy's a good coach, they run the Wing-T. That's gonna be a great test on senior night and I'm excited for it."