As the marching band played the Raiders’ fight song, the dance and cheerleading teams shook their pom poms and chanted, and Boro fans tossed baby powder into the air, Raiders Varsity Football in red, gold, and black uniforms took the field last Friday night. The Sept. 20 blackout game left fans leaving the stands covered with baby powder. “The offensive explosion and the team scoring 35 points led to a lot of baby powder being thrown which was a fun experience in the stands,” said Senior Alexander Reiling.
As the clock started to tick down from one hour, the Hillsborough Raiders and the Sayreville War Memorial Bombers began their walk to David A. Noonan field in Hillsborough, New Jersey. With a 1-2 record, the Raiders prepared to take on the War Memorial Bombers, a rival with a matching record. Hillsborough had just come off a devastating loss to the Ridge Red Devils, while Sayreville was coming off a major win against the Edison Eagles. In response to their loss to Ridge, Hillsborough’s Head Coach Kevin Carty Jr. said, “Our guys had a pretty good mindset, even though we didn’t execute our plays very well in the Ridge game. When we were leaving the game, I felt pretty good about the guys’ attitude about how we were going to get the next one right away and not take a long time to mentally recover.”
Reflecting on the team’s challenges, Senior Quarterback Ryan Seamon said, “We had state championship expectations at the start of the season, and now we have two losses. We were expecting to go undefeated and those really humbled us.”
Hillsborough’s stand-out offensive players Junior Andrew Schwarz and Seniors Jackson Janckowicz and Chiemelie Ozokpor combined for a total of 166 receiving yards with Senior Quarterback Ryan Seamon passing for over 166 yards as well. By the end of the first quarter, the Raiders led 7-0. After a strong performance from both the offense and defense led by Seniors Mateo Del Toro, Xander Borowski, and Garrett Meyer, Hillsborough ended the first half with a 21-point lead over Sayreville. Even after a series of strong plays, Sayreville was unable to put any points on the board during the third or fourth quarter, leading to a 35-0 Hillsborough victory. Reflecting on Hillsborough’s momentum shift, Meyer said, “After the first touchdown by the offense, we got into a strong rhythm of knocking heads on defense and continuing to move the ball on offense.”
The fans included students, staff and members of the community who came out to support their school and team. Hillsborough hopes to continue their momentum when the Raiders take on the 2 and 2 Westfield Blue Devils in Hillsborough during their homecoming celebrations on Friday, Oct. 4.
