Neither team was in the NJIC football tournament a year ago. Now two of the highest-scoring offenses in the area will play for their first conference title.
Those will be the stakes when Garfield hosts Waldwick/Midland Park in the NJIC final on Friday, Oct. 23, at 6:30 p.m. Both teams enter 7-1, and both got here by winning as road underdogs. No. 14 Garfield beat No. 8 Hasbrouck Heights, while No. 17 Waldwick/Midland Park knocked off No. 12 Wood-Ridge, which had been unbeaten.
The matchup features two star running backs who carry their offenses. Garfield junior Jorheny Rodriguez has been one of the most productive backs in Bergen County. Waldwick/Midland Park junior Luciano Mayer is every bit his equal. Something will have to give.
The Boilermakers have scored 30 or more points in seven straight games and are averaging 34.6 per game. The Warriors came into the semifinals ranked first in Bergen County in scoring at roughly 40 points per contest.
Both programs are writing new chapters. Garfield is playing in its first NJIC tournament and hit seven wins for the first time since 2019. Under second-year coach Farsheed Taschayyodi, the Boilermakers earned their first division title in 27 years by beating Becton last week.
Waldwick/Midland Park has been here before, though not often. The Warriors' only other NJIC final came in 2020, a loss to Becton. Coach Dan DiStasi's team is doing it in a milestone season, the 20th anniversary of the two small towns forming a co-op.
Here's a look at how each team advanced through the semifinal.
Waldwick/Midland Park 21, Wood-Ridge 7
The Warriors won this one with defense and Mayer's powerful running, holding Wood-Ridge off the board until a late special-teams touchdown.
Waldwick/Midland Park set the tone on the first drive. Senior Aidan Maher returned the opening kickoff to the Wood-Ridge 38, and Mayer turned the short field into a 9-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead.
The defense then took over. The Warriors recovered two first-half fumbles in their own end and ended the half with a fourth-down stop with 48 seconds left.
Mayer put them further ahead after halftime. His 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter made it 14-0, and he later converted a 4th-and-3 with under seven minutes left to keep another drive alive. He finished that drive with another 2-yard score, his third touchdown of the night and 20th of the season.
Wood-Ridge answered right away when Nick Prato took the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown, but that was as close as the Blue Devils would get.
Garfield 36, Hasbrouck Heights 14
Garfield's night belonged to Rodriguez, who scored five touchdowns at Depken Field, four of them on the ground, and went over 1,000 rushing yards for the season.
The Boilermakers pulled away in the third quarter. Rodriguez ran six yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead, then caught a 27-yard screen pass from Talib McCullough late in the quarter to make it 28-7. A safety followed when the Hasbrouck Heights punter's knee touched down in the end zone while fielding a snap.
Rodriguez closed the scoring with a 5-yard run, his fifth touchdown of the night.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: How two underdogs advanced to the NJIC football final