LUCKY NO. 7
Irish earn share of Capitol Division title with seventh straight win
LAWRENCE >> Tears welled in the eyes of seniors Tristan Tritt and Robert Buecker as the Notre Dame High football teammates hugged after a victory that epitomized everything this program has been through in order to rise again.
By beating Trenton at Msgr. Walter E. Nolan Field on Friday night, 21-7, the Irish (7-1) won their seventh straight game and claimed a share of the WJFL’s Capitol Division title with the Tornadoes (4-4). Both finished the regular season 4-1 in the division.
“We knew what was at stake this game, and so we came out and we just elevated to that,” said Tritt, a star two-way lineman and tight end. “I’m proud of our guys. We played so hard. I can’t be more proud.”
With the state playoffs looming, Notre Dame has fortified itself as arguably the best team in Mercer County. The Irish enter the NonPublic Group IV Tournament having won its final four games by at least 14 points each.
Trenton came into the game with an undefeated mark against local teams. Its only three losses were to Group V public schools.
Coming off two losing seasons under fourth-year head coach Marc Lordi, few outsiders forecasted a season like this from Notre Dame.
“As a team, we’ve grinded so hard,” Tritt said. “Especially this offseason, we came together as a brotherhood. We knew this was something we could do. Not everybody did, but we knew we had the guys in the room. So today was just a culmination of all that.”
One of the most competitive games of the year ended with this reality: Notre Dame was just a bit too strong and too disciplined up front for Trenton.
The Irish broke a 7-7 tie with touchdown drives of 65 and 78 yards to secure a 21-7 lead with 2:29 remaining. Trenton called two timeouts down 14-7 and had a realistic chance at one more drive to tie the game, but on thirdand-12, Buecker tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Spruil, who wrestled a jump ball away from a Trenton defensive back in the end zone.
On the Tornadoes’ last drive, Notre Dame’s Ryan McCabe recovered a fumble to seal it.
“We came in ready and fought hard. I feel like we fought hard the whole game,” Trenton head coach Greg Hyslop said. “The ball down there I thought was ours. Fifty-fifty ball they said, but our guy clearly to me caught it. But I mean, Coach Lordi has got a great team there and they pulled it out.”
Running back Cortaz Williams eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season by rushing for close to 200 yards. Twin brother Coleon Williams also topped the century mark.
Tritt led a dominant effort on both sides of the ball. The 6-foot-4, 213-pounder had multiple tacklesfor-loss and even batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage, flexing his arms throughout the night as Notre Dame’s packed crowd became energized.
“I’ve got to give all credit to (strength) coach (John) McKenna,” Tritt said. “He works out butts off in the weight room. We were really conditioned, so we were able to stick it to them in the second half and really not run out of gas.”
A scoreless stalemate ended with 8:39 left in the third quarter when on fourth-and-2, Buecker tucked the snap and ran with the ball to the outside for a 21-yard touchdown.
Trenton answered 19 seconds later with a 22-yard Messiah Cook touchdown run on the Tornadoes’ first play from scrimmage following a long kick return by James Hubbard.
Still, it was a constant struggle offensively for Trenton, which totaled fewer than 150 yards of offense.
The Tornadoes also twice turned it over on fourth-andgoal in the first half. A play from the 12-yard line resulted in a bad snap, and then a run at the 1-yard line was stuffed short of the end zone.
“I don’t think they were getting much movement on us, but they were just finding the creases,” Hyslop said. “There’s always creases, so they were able to exploit them. They did a good job. I think our kids did a good job.”
Notre Dame still has not lost since the season opener Sept. 7 at Allentown, where the Irish scored 14 points in the final two quarters and have grown and grown every
week since.
“After that second half of Allentown, we took that momentum and just carried it all the way through,” Tritt said. “We’re a completely different team than the one that went out against Allentown in the first half. I’m so proud of
the guys of how well we’ve practiced hard and just worked hard and grown as a team.”
Trenton (4-4) 0 0 7 0 — 7
Nottingham (7-1) 0 0 7 14 — 21
ND — Buecker 21 run (Chrissafis kick)
T — Cook 22 run (Ramos kick)
ND — Cortaz Williams 2 run (Chrissafis kick)
ND — Spruil 25 catch from Buecker (Chrissafis kick)