Washington Township High School football team honored after New Jersey Group 5 championship
Washington Township High School is the New Jersey Group 5 state football champions with four senior captains who have been dreaming about that accomplishment since they were kids. Today, those four captains, along with head coach Mike Schatzman and athletic director Kevin Murphy, were honored by the state legislature in Trenton.
"I get chills thinking about it because we worked so hard for so long," Stephen Davidson, a senior guard and captain, said. "We talked about it since eighth grade."
"The hard work we put in throughout youth, our whole life, finally came full circle in a dream moment," star quarterback Cole Aquino said.
After falling short in their junior year in the state semifinals, they entered summer training, ahead of their senior year, with one goal: winning.
"We were practicing in mid-season form," Schatzman said. "We went back in the coach's office like, 'I think we're gonna be pretty good."
Good is an understatement. Washington Township dominated on both sides of the ball throughout the season, averaging 38 points and putting up five shutouts.
"I just wanted to have fun with my boys," Jaylen Robinson, a linebacker, running back and captain, said. "All season we've just been going out and having fun."
The team went 13-0 and punched its ticket to the New Jersey Group 5 state championship game against Passaic County Tech at MetLife Stadium.
"That was a great feeling," running back and linebacker Andrew Osborn said. "I was walking out of the locker room in the [tunnel], and I looked up like, wow."
Washington Township found itself in an unfamiliar territory, trailing 6-3 at the half.
"We're only held to a field goal in the first half," Aquino said. "So, what are we doing wrong? It wasn't so much of them stopping us."
"I see someone down on the sideline, I'm like, 'Come on, we're not losing this game. We're in the first half of the game,'" Osborn said.
Washington Township broke out in the second half, scoring an unbelievable 28 points out of the locker room for the 31-12 win, securing the state championship.
"It was awesome," Aquino said. "Not just doing it for us, the players, but the community."
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