By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
TABERNACLE — In high school football, the state playoffs are a whole different animal. Things that worked during the regular season might not work in the playoffs, coaches have to make quick adjustments on the fly, and sometimes as a coach you just have to put the ball in the hands of your best players and let them go make a play.
Seneca High coach Anthony Diorio did just that on Friday night, digging way down into his bag of tricks for a fourth-down call that helped the Golden Eagles snatch victory from the hands of defeat.
With less than six minutes to play and the Golden Eagles trailing, 10-6, and facing fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line, Diorio called a halfback option pass play. Jamar Warthen came in motion, took the handoff from quarterback Anthony Tirico and sprinted right before stopping on a dime and throwing a pass back to Tirico. Timber Creek safety Quadir Baldwin looked to have Tirico stopped short of the goal line, but somehow Tirico spun out of the tackle and lunged across the line.
Tyler Hood added the extra point, and fourth-seeded Seneca held on over the final five minutes to win, 13-10, setting up a date in next week’s South Jersey Group 3 semifinals with top-seeded Hopewell Valley.
“It feels great. I love all these boys and it was a pleasure to get this ‘W,’” said senior offensive lineman Trevor Dolezar. “We didn’t think it was over, we never give up. That’s what I love about this team.”
“It’s something that we practice and we’ve actually run it before,” Diorio said. “Our guys just played their butts off.”
Tirico said he was thrilled to hear the play call in that situation. He trusted that the Golden Eagles could pull it off after weeks of practicing that play for a crucial moment in a playoff game.
“The guys up front did a great job, it’s not easy to block that play,” Tirico, a sophomore, said. “For the past two weeks we’ve been running that in practice, so there was nothing but trust on that play. I knew Jamar was going to make the throw. He has trust in me. It was nothing but grit. I wasn’t even thinking during the play, I was just doing what comes naturally. When I heard that play call, I knew I just had to do what I could do.”
Seneca got punched in the mouth right off the bat as No. 5 Timber Creek came out on fire. Amir Reason-Dallas ripped off a 60-plus-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Tyrone Baker, and less that two minutes into the game the Chargers had a 7-0 lead. After a punt by Seneca on the Golden Eagles’ first possession, Timber Creek padded it’s lead with a 30-yard field goal from Matt Kelly. Less than six minutes into the game and the Chargers already had a 10-0 lead.
“It’s been like that for a lot of our season. The first half — not that we want to — but sometimes we start out slowly,” Diorio explained. “There have been a lot of games like that, they’ve been through it and we’re battle tested. They did an awesome job and just kept fighting.”
That’s all Timber Creek (4-6, 1-3 West Jersey Football League Classic) got, however, as Seneca’s defense put the clamps on for the final three quarters. Reason-Dallas finished with 147 yards, but more than two-thirds of that came in the opening quarter.
“We’re relentless, all season long. People say we’re a second-half team but I don’t think we’re that at all. We do pick it up in the second half, though. The moment we went into the locker room (at halftime) it was nothing but psyching each other up. Everyone was on their feet, no phones were out. We just wanted to get the momentum,” Tirico said. “Week in and week out, I trust our defense, 100 percent. I know if we score one touchdown, two touchdowns, the game is ours. I love that trust and I love our defense. A lot of them play both sides of the ball, and going out there over and over, it’s not easy. I love that they love the game.”
Seneca (7-3, 4-1 WJFL Continental) got back in the game late in the first quarter when Tirico found a wide-open Warthen for a 36-yard touchdown, shaving the deficit to 10-6. Tirico threw for 111 yards and a that touchdown, and also rushed for another 102 yards on 18 carries. He accounted for 213 of Seneca’s 212 total yards (there were several negative rushing plays that subtracted from the team’s total yardage.”
“He’s a beast. For being a sophomore, he does a lot for us,” Dolezar said.
“He can fly and he has a great arm,” Diorio said. “Our offensive coordinator does a great job with our personnel, but yeah, Anthony is a stud.”
Diorio said the ability to withstand Timber Creek’s early offensive output was the key to victory.
“They have a great team, great coaches, our guys just followed the scheme and followed what we’ve been coaching all week. They did a great job,” he said. “After that first drive we were like, ‘alright, we’ve got to strap up.’”
Dolezar concurred.
“We just never give up,” he added. “We kept going and we eventually got the lead. Now we’re at Hopewell Valley. It’s going to be a fun time.”
WHAT’S NEXT: No. 4 Seneca travels to No. 1 Hopewell Valley on Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. for the South Jersey Group 3 semifinals. Timber Creek’s season is complete.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
