With the state tournament just around the corner, the pressure is on for the Pioneer football team. On Friday night the 8th of November the Pioneers were away against a strong RosellePark team. Knowing that RosellePark was one of the teams the Pioneers could face in the state playoffs, NP knew the game was very important and it was fair to say that the game could have gone either way. Unfortunately, the cards did not fall in favor of the Pioneers.
The Pioneer fan section was just as vivacious as always. The band played loud and proud. The air was brisk and the lights were bright. The momentum shifted back and forth throughout the night. The Pioneers were the first to score off of a deflected pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Junior corner back Matt McCann. The interception was timely and put an end to an epic drive by RosellePark that took up almost half of the first quarter.
The second quarter was quiet with the only score being a safety caused by a faulty snap in favor of RosellePark. The Pioneers had been pushed back to their one yard line after a huge RosellePark punt. Still, going into the half, the Pioneers led 7-2
The third quarter belonged to RosellePark, who managed to find the end zone twice, putting them up 15-7. In the fourth quarter, NP Junior Ibn Nash broke a 30 yard run resulting in a touchdown. This was Nash’s first game back from a shoulder injury. The Pioneers went for the two point conversion, but failed. After a series of turnovers, the Pioneers had one last shot with three minutes left in the game. The offense was able to get the ball to twenty yard line. Senior kicker David Gelormini was not able to make the field goal and the Pioneers lost a heart-breaker.
After the game, Senior Dan Patel said, “We played a great game and we should hold our heads high. What we wanted to happen didn’t happen. We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to keep moving and focus on the playoffs.”