Pats Blast Boonton But High Point Game Is a Low Point
The North Warren Patriots played a tight game in a 21-13 victory over Boonton Sept. 29 but were brought down to Earth a week later in a disjoined 19-0 loss to High Point Oct. 6.
First, the good news. Landon White continued to chew up the turf at North Warren scoring three touchdowns against Boonton. Rushing for 176 yards and putting 34 of quarterback Luke Stefankiewicz’s 46 passing yards to good use, White scored twice from the air and once on the ground.
“He’s unstoppable,” Head Coach Eugene Fluri said. “They all played a good game out there tonight. We stuck to the game plan.”
One of those touchdowns came after Shane Skow recovered a Boonton fumble.
Jordan Klecka helped keep things in order with a second-quarter interception.
Stefankiewicz had seven completions on 15 attempts, two resulting in touchdowns.
“We executed when we had to and took advantage of the opportunities,” Fluri said.
A week later, not so much.
High Point did what no team had been able to do all season: shut out North Warren and shut down Brandon White.
White was held to 42 rushing yards. Stefankiewicz matched his previous week’s 43 yards passing, 34 of them to Lucas Csezmadia.
“They came out and played four quarters,” Fluri said of High Point. “We didn’t.”
What would have been several key plays were turned back on penalties, stopping more than a few drives.
“Those penalties will get you,” Fluri said. “We didn’t play the game we wanted to. High Point’s a tough team and they played the whole game.”
The Pats play an away game at Belvidere Oct. 14, at 1:30 close out the regular season in Pequannock Oct. 20.
Joe Phalon, Contributing Writer
Joe was lured out of retirement by the opportunity to be a part of the Ridge View Echo. During a decades-long career in publishing and journalism, he has covered government on many levels from local school boards to the United States Supreme Court.
Along the way, Joe has worked at American Lawyer Magazine, The National Law Journal and The Record among other publications, and as the Press Officer of Columbia Law School. His work has been recognized with several first place awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the New Jersey Press Association.
Being part of the Ridge View Echo brings Joe back to his roots and the kind of news coverage he loves: Telling the stories of people and local communities as well as keeping an eye on how their money is spent by their government officials.
Joe lives in Blairstown with his wife Rose, the founder of Quilting for a Cause, and their two wiener dogs. He is an artist in his spare time.
