When Casey Grusser stepped off the bus he was immediately hit with the bitter memories of the last time he and his Ramapo teammates walked into Phillipsburg’s Maloney Stadium. It was a 35-6 loss, a result that has remained in the back of his mind for the 52 weeks since then. “Coming off the bus. I was like, man, we lost here last year,” Grusser said. “I don’t want this to happen again. “It’s really nostalgic coming back here. I know we lost last year, so I had that feeling in my mouth right as I’m getting off the bus today. All the other guys did as well. We really needed this one today and we did just that.” With memories from that lost lingering, Grusser and Ramapo not only flipped the script but rewrote the narrative about their physicality, with a 41-20 victory over Phillipsburg in the NJSIAA Group 4 semifinals. Ramapo (11-1) scored touchdowns on six of its first seven possessions as it totaled 344 yards of total offense, including 158 on the ground. Ramapo will now play for the Group 4 championship 3 p. m. Nov. 30 at Rutgers University against the winner of Saturday’s Winslow-Brick Memorial matchup. “I’d be lying to you if I said that we haven’t talked about coming back here and getting a chance to play them again,” Ramapo head coach Nick Guttuso said. “And look, Phillipsburg, I got the utmost respect for their program, for their tradition. But we have a great tradition too, and I’m really thrilled that our kids came out and prepared all year because like I said, our offseason was focused on how can we get a little bit better if we get back in this position to win the game.” Ramapo (11-1) held a 14-10 lead late in the second quarter, when it made a pair of game changing plays in the final minute. With Phillipsburg (10-2) driving and threatening to enter the intermission with a lead, linebacker Jack Schneider intercepted a pass at the 40 and returned it to the Phillipsburg 38 with 38 seconds left. Following Schneider’s sixth interception of the season, Grusser completed an 11-yard pass to Salvatore Livoti, scrambled for nine yards, then completed consecutive passes to Joseph Yessis to bring the ball to the 8 with nine seconds remaining. On the final play of the half, Grusser stepped back to pass, then took off, lunging towards the end zone and with an outstretched right arm, crossed the goal line to make it 21-10. “I just had to make a play myself,” said Grusser, who completed 16 of 17 passes for 186 yards. “Nobody was really open on the right side, so I just made a play and got it for the touchdown. ” Building off the momentum of the score, Ramapo added to its lead with Gino Gorga’s second rushing TD of the night. Phillipsburg trimmed the deficit to 11 with Sam Dech’s second 1-yard rushing score of the game late in the third quarter. The host Stateliners never got closer as Liam Hayward’s power rushing combined with a pair of fourth quarter TD pass by Grusser to Yessis and Mike Viksjo put the game away. “You can’t turn the ball over against a really good team,” Phillipsburg head coach Frank Duffy said. “You can’t have self-inflicted wounds, you can’t have turnovers against good teams. You got to be able to stop the run. We didn’t do that. So all the things that go into winning football that we’ve done consistently all year, we just didn’t do tonight.” Hayward, who opened the scoring with a 3-yard rushing TD just 61 seconds into the game, ran for 84 of his 107 yards in the second half behind the blocking of Peter Amerio, Finn Kirwan, Luke Gurba, Matthew Shifar and Harrison Kearney. As a team, Ramapo ran for 110 second half yards on just 17 carries in the second half. Despite holding the ball for just 15: 27, it was the seventh time this season Ramapo scored 40 or more points. Phillipsburg was able to control the clock with its own power rushing attack, as Dech (21 carries for 145 yards) carried the ball eight consecutive plays, and nine times overall in a seven-plus minute first quarter drive that culminated in Dech’s 1-yard touchdown. Phillipsburg now sets its sights on its annual Thanksgiving showdown with Easton, unsatisfied with a season that produced a second consecutive sectional title. “They don’t give you parades for getting this far. They give you parades for finishing the job,” said Duffy. “This is what the deal is here. So, we expect to be here every single year. “The reality is you really can’t (dwell on this loss), you got to get back to work. We’ve got the biggest game on our schedule and our most important game coming up on Thursday.”.
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/highschoolsports/2025/11/ramapo-football-flips-the-script-defeats-phillipsburg-in-group-4-semifinals.html