The Hopewell Valley Central High School football team holds up the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III title trophy Dec. 7, 2013(Photo by Albert Rende.)
Quarterback Austin Fellows drops back to pass in HoVal’s 31-14 state championship game against Lawrence High Dec. 7, 2013 at The College of New Jersey. (Photo by Albert Rende.)
The Hopewell Valley Central High School football team celebrates its 31-14 victory over Lawrence High Dec. 7, 2013 at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. HoVal won the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III title. (Photo by Albert Rende.)
Just a decade after Hopewell Valley Central High School’s football program is resurrected, team wins Group III title
On the night of Dec. 7, 2013, 46 football players from Hopewell Valley Central High School, along with 10 coaches, one trainer and two team managers, became connected to each other for the rest of their lives.
They will reunite for big occasions, such as their sure-fire induction into the HVCHS Hall of Fame, or at the 10, 20 and 30 year reunion celebrations of their accomplishment. They will talk about each other and to each other far into the future, no matter where they end up living or what job they perform or whether they have 12 kids or none.
They will always have the bond of a champion. It was secured on that cold Saturday night in December at The College of New Jersey, when the Bulldogs took a 31-14 win over Lawrence in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III championship game.
“It’s a memory that we’ll cherish forever,” said coach Dave Caldwell, who has been with the program since its inception 10 years ago. “I told these guys we will be united in this memory forever.
“You always look back and reflect on some great moments in life. This is one of those we’ll reflect back on. I’ll remember each one of these kids and I hope that they’ll remember all these positive things that happen, especially this win. It unifies us. It really unites us forever.”
It’s one heck of a unifier, that’s for sure.
And it is the greatest culmination of the school’s first decade of football that anyone could have imagined.
The unsung heroes of it all were the pioneers — both adults and players — who fought for football at around the turn of the century and made it all possible. Hopewell started with freshman and JV teams that played on a Pop Warner field, a far cry from the majestic facility it now calls home.
And the current state of the program is an even further cry from those early years.
“Twelve years ago, we had 52 freshmen and sophomores playing freshmen football, and it was under much controversy,” Caldwell said. “Through the support of the administration and through the eagerness and enthusiasm of the student-athletes, and their commitment, it just slowly grew. It’s obvious now it was the right thing that was done.”
A whole mess of jubilant players jumping on top of each other on the Lions Stadium turf was proof of that statement.
The title game was typical of the Bulldogs season, as they had to bounce back from adversity. Caldwell noted that during the season they were constantly rebounding from mistakes.
“Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot with a bad snap, an interception and things like that,” the coach said. “All year, if you look at us, we committed a lot of turnovers but our defense is strong as heck and they’re always able to be stingy. That’s what they were tonight (allowing 163 yards of total offense).”
After losing its only game of the year against Nottingham in the regular season finale, HoVal bounced back for a shutout win over Ewing in its first-ever playoff game. In that contest, the Bulldogs rebounded from three first-half interceptions.
Against Ocean, it had to get off the mat after a late kickoff return for a touchdown gave the Spartans all the momentum going into the second half.
Finally, against Lawrence, it found itself in a 14-0 hole and could have easily said ‘Oh well, it was still a great season.’ But the Bulldogs didn’t just bounce back, they roared back with 31 points.
“We knew we were a second half team,” two-way lineman Mike Markulec said. “It’s been our tradition all year. We played well every second half, even if the first half was close. We knew we would come out and play hard in the second half.”
The Bulldogs gained some momentum for the second half when Fellows closed the first by finding Horihan with a three-yard TD pass as time ran out to make it 14-12.
“We were shaky the first half, we just needed to settle in,” Fellows said. “Getting that touchdown, everyone got our confidence going. We said ‘We can do this thing.’ And our great coaching staff sticking with us and still believing in us helped a lot.”
The defensive line, led by three sacks apiece from Miles Davis and Lane Meyer, stifled the passing game after the line and linebackers shut down Cameren Kitchen and hobbled Semei Mitchell.
“We just shut down the run game and forced Nick (Falkenberg) to throw,” Markulec said. “He’s a great quarterback, he’s a great scrambler, we contained him well.”
Andrew Yuska ran like a man possessed with 223 yards and three touchdowns, while Fellows tossed two touchdown passes, including a beauty to Mike Gies that made it 25-14 in the third quarter.
“My line did amazing as usual,” Yuska said, referring to Davis, Markulec, Matt Graziano, Will Cusma and Pat Rojvall. “They all stepped up today. And Austin Fellows came up big with a couple huge passes for us.”
Yuska deflected the praise from himself, but offensive coordinator Todd Smith knew what he had after coming over from West Windsor-Plainsboro South. It was just a matter of getting the running back in the right situation.
“I never coached against him, but I watched a ton of his junior film,” said Smith, whose presence made a huge difference this year. “He made a couple great plays as a junior. He showed explosiveness, but it was a Wing T scheme.
“He did a great job this year turning himself into a legitimate “I” back. He became a downhill runner, looking for the cutback and patient enough to follow his blockers. He got better with each game and took it to an entire different level during the playoffs. Everything he did was fast, stronger, better. He’s a real gamer.”
The Bulldogs had an entire team of gamers, whose most impressive trait was desire. To a man, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the players just took the attitude of “We’re happy to be here” after making the playoffs for the first time. They could have played one game, lost it and everyone still would have been satisfied. But that wasn’t about to happen.
“We knew we were a better team than that,” Markulec said. “We had that attitude of ‘We made it, why not win it?’”
“We weren’t satisfied beating Ocean and beating Ewing,” Meyer said. “We had to finish this game with the (championship) ring.”
“I knew we had it in us for this year,” Yuska said. “I couldn’t ask for anything else from our senior year than to end like this.”
The seeds were planted at the end of last school year.
“From day one in spring practice, coach said ‘I’m here to coach a championship team and it’s up to you guys to decide if you want to do that or not. But I’m here to win a championship,’” Fellows said. “We all bought into the system.”
Indeed, every player interviewed had praise for the coaching staff, which also included defensive coordinator Jeff Reilly, varsity assistants Amir Siddiqu, Tim Loveland, Nick Steffner and Clarence Bailey, freshman head coach Dave Machin and freshman assistants Mo Siddiqu and Mark Stout. Kudos also went out to the man who has kept them healthy from the start, trainer Tim “TC” Coyne.
“These kids just believed,” Caldwell said. “They believe in the offense and defense and special teams and what we were trying to do. When you believe and you’re athletic and you’re confident, anything is possible.”
The only impossibility of the whole achievement is that anyone involved will ever forget it.
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