A lot was riding on last Friday's game for North Bergen vs. the 19th-ranked (Newark Star Ledger) Hudson Catholic HS Hawks at Bruins Stadium. The tailgating was hopping, the weather was clear and crisp, and the 6-1 Bruins somehow seemed liked underdogs to the 6-2 Hawks.By halftime the Bruins had completely dominated the Hawks in every aspect and led 21-0. A 25 yard TD pass from ERod to Bobby Rivera had given the Bruins a 7-0 lead, and then two more short Erod TD runs (1 yard and 6 yards) left the game seemingly out of reach for the Hawks.
But starting halfback Chris "Blackie" Macias suffered what is probably a season-ending knee injury just before halftime and all the good cheer started to dissipate. The Hawks rallied for a score (21-7) and the North Bergen offense went thud. ERod had his right ankle rolled-on and led to him removing himself late in the game, luckily with not enough time left for the Hawks to mount a serious challenge. Hudson Catholic's last-minute TD (21-14), they were not successful with an attemped onside-kick and the Bruins were 7-1. Heavily-recruited Hawks' runningback Darius Kinney was held in check all night long and only tallied 69 yards on 15 carries.
ERod was 6-for-8 for 117 yards and now is a blistering 26-for-35 for 595 yards and 7 TDs in his last 4 games. He also added 106 yards on the ground on 13 carries, his 4th 100-yard rushing game of the season.
The Bruins secured the #1 seed in the North I Group IV bracket and will host the Clifton Mustangs (5-3) on Friday night at 7:30PM at Bruins Stadium.
