Somerville gave their fans exactly what they wanted out of a home opener on Thursday. They pulled ahead with a 21-20 photo finish over the Hillsborough Raiders. This was payback for the Pioneers, who suffered a 14-7 defeat the last time these two teams met.
Terrell Mitchell had an outrageously good game as he rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown, and also picked up 57 receiving yards and a touchdown. Another player making a difference was Brenden Pacheco, who threw for 110 yards and two touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes.
Somerville's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Joshua Rodriguez and Spencer Carran. The dominant performance gave him a new career- in rushing yards. Somerville got some further help from Maximus Nuzzi: he picked up a sack and made ten total tackles (1.0 for loss).
Although Hillsborough took the loss, they still got scores from Jackson Jankowicz, Zion Grant, and Anthony Guerrero.
Somerville will hit the road for the first time this season to challenge Cranford at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Somerville is no doubt hoping to put an end to a four-game streak of away losses dating back to last season. As for Hillsborough, they will square off against Union at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
