Phillipsburg High School football team rallies for 31-28 victory over Bridgewater High School

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Down to his final chance, Phillipsburg High School quarterback Mike Diamond knew exactly who to look for on Friday night.

Diamond tossed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Alex Martin with 45 seconds remaining to lift the Stateliners to a dramatic 31-28 victory over Bridgewater in a Mid-State 39 Conference Delaware Division game at Basilone Memorial Field.

"I can't take too many more of these," first-year P'burg coach Ryan Ditze said. "The kids showed a lot of heart."

P'burg (6-2 overall, 5-2 conference) trailed 28-24 and faced a fourth-and-2 at Bridgewater's 29 with under a minute remaining. Diamond used a play-fake before dropping back to pass. He lobbed the ball toward Martin down the left side of the field.

Martin leaped high in the air against tight coverage and came down with the ball around the 10-yard line. He eluded a tackler and sprinted into the end zone for the game-winning points.

"(Martin) is definitely a playmaker," Diamond said. "When I put it up there for him, I know he's going to at least make an attempt at it, and most of the time he's going to come down with it."

"I messed up that same route earlier in the game," Martin said. "Luckily, I had a chance to correct it. I went inside and the corner bit. Mike put it up there and I went up as high as I could and got it."

Martin, who's missed much of the season with assorted injuries, has six touchdowns in P'burg's last two games. He caught three TD passes in last week's 28-14 win over Hillsborough and also ran for two scores against Bridgewater (1-8, 1-6).

"He's an explosive player," Ditze said. "It's good to get him back healthy. That's the key."

Joe Moyer paced P'burg's 283-yard ground game with 96 yards rushing. Martin finished with 65 yards followed by Robin Custodio with 58 and Diamond with 35. James Smith ran 29 yards for a first down on a fake punt.

A complicated playoff scenario, which included Piscataway's 28-0 win over Sayreville, put a damper on P'burg's hopes for the NJSIAA North 2 Group 4 playoffs. The Stateliners may still qualify if Pope John defeats East Orange today. Official pairings will be announced tonight.

Nonetheless, Ditze remained positive.

"You have to be able to enjoy a win like this," he said. "The kids really deserve it. Hey, if we don't make the playoffs, we're still 6-2."

P'burg trailed 14-10 at halftime despite a 24-yard field goal by Jacob Fuentes and Diamond's 15-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Rob Howell.

"Mike's not exactly a pro-style quarterback but when he needs to make a pass he gets it there," Ditze said.

Martin's third-quarter scoring runs of 11 and 28 yards were offset by a pair of touchdown runs by Bridgewater quarterback Ray Mastroianni. The latter gave the Panthers a 28-24 lead with 4:38 left in the game.

"I give all due respect to Bridgewater," Martin said. "They played their hearts out. It gave us a wakeup call. In the second half we played P'burg football."

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