Northern Highlands-Ramapo featured everything we could want from a HS football game

ALLENDALE – Ramapo walked off the field as winners. Northern Highlands walked off it as champions.

Both had every reason to be proud.

The North Jersey Football Game of the Year lived up to expectations and then some, coming down to a frantic, captivating and exciting fourth quarter before Northern Highlands prevailed, 35-30, on a last-minute touchdown pass by Enzo Arjona to Kyle Major. The Highlanders won the North 1, Group 4 sectional title and will face Irvington for the North Group 4 championship next week.

Ramapo (10-2) was playing for the first time since the shocking death of longtime coach Drew Gibbs. That added an unbelievable storyline to a game that was already going to be emotional.

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Drew’s son Brian called the Ramapo plays on the sidelines. He wore his Dad’s green "R" hat, saying he hadn’t taken it off since last Tuesday.

“They may make me take it off in school hours when I’m working, but maybe they’ll make an exception,” Brian said with a small smile. “I think I want to carry a piece of him with me.”

There were signs of Drew Gibbs’ handiwork on the Northern Highlands sideline too. Arguably one of the biggest plays in the game – and there were many – was the Highlanders' 45-yard kickoff return by Charlie Sparago after Ramapo had taken a 30-28 lead with 1:14 left. Sparago’s run put the Highlanders at the Ramapo 40.

Northern Highlands’ special teams coach is Blake Costanzo, who played for Drew Gibbs at Ramapo and played in the NFL. Costanzo coached with Drew Gibbs before coming over to Northern Highlands. He might have been the only person in the stadium Friday night with a "Drew Gibbs RIP" shirt on under a Northern Highlands hoodie.

“I was trying to do what I thought Coach would want me to do, which is try to give my best and try to beat them,” Costanzo said. “That’s when you’re great, when you go up against great guys. It was tough after the game, but during it … it was a football game and I think that’s how he [Drew Gibbs] would have wanted it.”

Tickets were capped at 5,500 for the game, and the crowd was three and four deep around the fence.

When Brian came on the field for warm-ups, it was snowing lightly, and Brian immediately remembered his father and how – no matter the condition – Brian would tell his dad before games how beautiful it all was.

“He was there,” Brian said. “We are just lucky. He was a special man.”

Northern Highlands, under coach Greg Russo, has become a special football team. The Highlanders are 12-0 with one of the best resumes in New Jersey and a shot at finishing No. 1 in the state. They have shown an uncanny resolve to rise to any challenge.

When Ramapo quarterback Jack Grusser hit Ben Robinson on a touchdown pass with 1:14 to play, it would have been completely understandable for the Highlanders to say Ramapo was a team of destiny and bowed. Instead, they came back.

“Most teams in this game could not have bounced back that many times in the last four minutes,” Russo said. “Even though we had no timeouts, we work on that all the time and we weren’t scared of the situation. Even when I was at [Paramus Catholic], we always felt good in them. I don’t know why. Plus, I had a quarterback who has done it.”

Arjona burnished his reputation as one of North Jersey’s finest quarterbacks of the last decade. He ran for a key first down on the Highlanders final drive, then calmly zipped a 15-yard touchdown pass to Major for the game-winner.

“Ramapo played their hearts out,” Arjona said. “We just had to keep pushing. It’s not the first time we were in a game like that.”

Ramapo had one last chance, getting the ball back with fewer than 30 seconds, but the Green Raiders ran out of magic. A sack by Jack Inserra on the last play sealed the Highlanders win.

In front of his sidelines, with his wife nearby and one shoe untied, Brian Gibbs consoled Ramapo football players but stressed how proud he was.

“We fought and we fought and we fought,” Brian said. “The win and the loss doesn’t matter, the fact that we played an incredible football game … they’re winners in my book. They don’t know how much they have helped me.”

On the opposite side of the field, there was a different type of celebration. The Highlanders hugged, chanted and shared inside jokes huddled close together. They took pictures with the trophy and bounced from one small group to another, enjoying the moment.

The game delivered special moments from start to finish. No one who saw it, coached in it or played in it could say they were disappointed.

Darren Cooper is a high school sports columnist for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.

Email: cooperd@northjersey.com

Twitter: @varsityaces

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Highlands-Ramapo had everything we could want from a HS football game