RIVER VALE—Congratulations to the River Vale Raiders Pee Wee football team, winners of the Bergen County Junior Football League’s annual Super Bowl on Saturday, Nov. 18 at Pascack Hills High School.
This is River Vale Raiders’ sixth BCJFL Super Bowl title in the past five years across the Pee Wee, Junior, and Senior divisions.
The game was played against the scrappy Hillsdale Hawks (Hillsdale, Montvale, Woodcliff Lake).
The league includes the Pascack Valley and Creskill, Closter, Haworth, Northvale, Old Tappan, Glen Ridge, Montclair, Bloomfield, South Orange, Garfield, Norwood, Harrington Park, Waldwick, Midland Park, and Dumont.
According to Raider coach Richard Kabobjian, “River Vale found its stride and peaked at the right time of the season. After a late season upset loss, the Raiders faced a must-win game to get into the playoffs.”
In the regular season finale, Kabobjian said, the 5-2 Raiders played a near-flawless game to beat the 5-2 NVOT Eagles,
19-0, earning the No. 3 seed in the Bergen County Junior Football League’s playoffs.
“The Raiders traveled to Cresskill on a cold November night and once again took care of business. The defensive line—Jason Ward, Jackson Ward, Jackson Sidrow, Lochlan Thompson, and Marco Booth—was the key to the game in the first half, not allowing a single first down,” he said.
The offense also found success, “jumping out to a 13-0 halftime lead following a big catch and scamper by TE Derek Hurst and a last-second TD pass from QB Thomas Kabobjian to TE Dylan Kalish to close the half.”
Kabobjian said the Raiders ground down the clock in the second half behind lead blocker FB Griffin D’Arduini “and the hard nose running of TB Quinn McMorrow” (90 yards) to coast to a 25-13 victory.
It all came down to a rivalry rematch between the Hillsdale Hawks and the River Vale Raiders on Super Bowl Saturday. “Not that any player or coach would need extra motivation to play in a Super Bowl, but adding fuel to the fire was knowing that a lot of these boys would go on to play together as teammates at Pascack Valley High School in just a few years. Bragging rights were on the line.”
The Hawks and Raiders met earlier in the season and the Raiders were bogged down by special teams’ mistakes and miserable weather. They could never get the offense going and were shut out, handily, 12-0.
Hillsdale would cruise to the regular season title with a record of 8-0 and the #1 seed.
Kabobjian said River Vale “worked tirelessly out in the cold every night that week to learn from their mistakes in the prior matchup. Then on a beautiful sunny fall afternoon at Pascack Hills High School, Lochlan Thompson kicked the ball off to start the Super Bowl. He was the first one downfield and proceeded to force and recover a fumble that spotted the Raiders at their own 30-yard line.”
Kabobjian tells Pascack Press, “That fumble recovery sparked us for sure. Special teams’ mistakes pinned us inside our own 5-yard line two times in the prior matchup. That really hurt. So, to flip the tables like that…couldn’t have drawn up a more perfect way to start a Super Bowl with a game-changing play on specials.”
After two quick first downs, QB Kabobjian scampered around the right edge for a 9-yard TD run to give the Raiders an early 6-0 lead.
The Raiders would score again on a 40-yard counter to WB Paulie Costantino to close out the first half, only to be called back for holding.
But 6 points was all the Raiders would need that day. The defense would continue to shine behind multi-tackle games from Jack Gallione, Rocco Pellatieri, Thompson, Kabobjian and Sidrow. The offense ground out long drives in the second half once again behind the legs of TB McMorrow before the Hawks regained possession with less than two minutes to go in the ballgame.
Safety Dylan Kalish was not fooled by the Hawks trick play to start the drive and intercepted the ball at the Raiders 16-yard line to seal the game. The Raiders were Super Bowl champs—and the players, and their families, spent the night celebrating at the Park Ridge Elks Lodge.