SPRINGFIELD, NJ — In Springfield, the last time the Bulldogs won a divisional football championship, most of these current players weren't even puppies yet.
The Dayton football team jumped on previously undefeated Highland Park early, then held off a second-half comeback bid by the Owls to clinch first place in the Freedom-Gold Division of the Big Central Conference before a capacity crowd on Mountain Avenue Friday night.
The last divisional title for the Dayton football program came in 2009 in the Mid-State Conference. Most of these current players weren't even born yet, and the few who were hadn't spoken their first words yet.
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But, now, they can all speak the word "Champion."
“A majority of our team were not born,” Dayton head coach Nick Iannacone said. “I was a freshman in high school. It's very special for these guys.”
Senior Tyler Fuscaldo got Dayton off to a roaring start with a huge play on special teams and another on offense in the first three minutes of the game. Fuscaldo blocked a Highland Park punt to give Dayton possession on the Owls' 28-yard line with 9:34 left in the first quarter. Moments later, after a five-yard penalty on Dayton, Fuscaldo took a handoff from quarterback Adrian Bernknopf and smashed through a hole on the left side for a 33-yard touchdown run with 9:25 left in the first quarter.
“It was on a read-option play," Bernknopf said. “It's inside run, so it's either Tyler gets it and makes a play or I pull it and I also make a play, so either way (we get a gain). We knew we had to come out strong. We know Highland Park is a very, very good team. We knew it was gonna be a test. We're an explosive offense. We preach going fast, going 50 yards down the field and just scoring. So we wanted to come out fast, stop them, slow their defense up, and we executed.”
It was the second touchdown allowed by the Highland Park defense this season. But it was the first of four touchdowns Highland Park (7-1) would allow to Dayton (6-2) on Friday night.
Dayton drove 68 yards in nine plays to score its second touchdown and take a 14-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter. After Fuscaldo picked up 17 yards on a run to the Highland Park 10-yard line, Bernknopf ran off right end on a keeper for a 10-yard TD run and Jackson Babiarz kicked his second extra point to put the Bulldogs ahead 14-0 with 11:08 left in the second quarter.
“They're probably preparing for Tyler there, and we've got to keep them honest,” Bernknopf said. “We've got a bunch of guys on this team who can score.”
Highland Park controlled the ball for 13 snaps on a possession extended by a highly questionable roughing the punter call against Dayton, but the Bulldogs' defense tightened inside their own territory and forced an Owls punt to set up Dayton's next touchdown.
Bernknopf completed 4 of 5 passes for 72 yards on the ensuing 77-yard drive that was capped by his 39-yard TD pass to Babiarz deep down the left sideline with 25 seconds left in the half, with Babiarz' PAT giving Dayton a 21-0 lead.
“Pre-snap, we had a little signal,” Babiarz said of himself and Bernknopf. “If he was looking at him or playing inside leverage, we knew we were gonna do a little double move, slant and go, and sure enough, he was playing that (coverage), we got the look we wanted and we capitalized on it. In my mind it's ‘see ball, get ball.’ I like to compete and I saw the ball in the air and I went and got it.”
But those 25 seconds, coupled with an unsportsmanlike penalty against Dayton, were enough to give Highland Park great field position and the opportunity to score before the half. The Owls went 50 yards in just two plays to score as the clock hit :00 in the first half on a 13-yard pass from Marcus Smith to Ziquan Grier and an extra point by Adnan Sumaila to cut Dayton's lead to 21-7 at the half and to leave the door cracked just open enough to give the unbeaten visitors hope heading into the second half.
After a scoreless third quarter, Highland Park capped a seven-play, 55-yard drive on a 4-yard keeper by Smith for a touchdown that cut Dayton's lead to 21-13 with 9:35 left in the fourth quarter.
“We love adversity. We thrive on adversity,” Babiarz said of Highland Park's comeback bid. “I am of the belief that adversity is a privilege and we've been here before. Against a 7-0 team that hasn't been tested, we liked our odds and we gritted through it and eventually got it done.”
Dominic Pintado then came up with another big special teams play for the Bulldogs, crashing in to block the extra point attempt and preserve Dayton's eight-point lead.
“Dominic is a hell of a player, man,” Bernknopf said. “I hope to see him do great things in his future. He plays with heart, that's the most important thing.”
Pintado's stature in this game grew even larger moments later after Fuscaldo was helped off the field with an injury to his right foot on Dayton's next possession. Pintado came in to replace Fuscaldo in the backfield and carried four times for 33 yards on the drive, including a 22-yard run for a touchdown on a draw play with 4:07 left in the game. That, plus Babiarz' fourth PAT of the night, gave Dayton a 28-13 lead and the chance to think about exhaling.
“This is a great defense. They're phenomenal, a tremendous defense," Iannacone said of Highland Park. ”But you know what, we came into this game knowing that we're gonna put points up, and how are their kids gonna react? And we were able to do that really quick in the first half. In the second half, it took us a little bit of time, but we were still able to get points on the board."
Smith ran 8 yards for a touchdown with 2:29 left as Highland Park got back to within eight points, 28-20, but Pintado cemented his role as the closer in this game when he picked up 21 yards on a carry to the Dayton 48-yard line for a first down on Dayton's next possession to officially put the contest out of Highland Park's reach.
“We kind of wavered a little bit, and that's expected,” Iannacone said. “They're still kids, they're still learning how to play, but it's been bend but don't break. We scheduled harder teams in scrimmages and the regular season because we knew we were going to try to get this opportunity and that showed us we could play with some of the big boys.”
Bernknopf finished with 11 completions in 16 attempts for 163 yards, one TD and no interceptions. He has 20 TD passes and only three interceptions this season.
“Adrian's phenomenal. You can give him anything and he will make something out of it,” Iannacone said. “The one bomb to Jackson, that was (against) one of their best corners, but Jackson wears #0 for a reason and he's here to make plays. It could be we're covered up, double-teamed, no matter what, he's gonna be open somewhere downfield. He's a special one, a great baseball player, just a great athlete, his family's great, and he's all in on what we're doing.”
Dayton has one more regular-season game at home against Manville next Friday night, and then will await its playoff status in North Jersey, Group 1. The playoffs begin two weekends from now.