Passaic Tech, No. 10 in the NJ.com Top 20, entered Sunday’s NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics Group 5 championship against No. 3 Toms River North given no chance to win.
It wasn’t the first time the Bulldogs were doubted this season. It also wasn’t the second, third, fourth or fifth time.
Toms River North won Sunday’s final at SHI Stadium at Rutgers University 28-7, but Passaic Tech’s year ended how it began – with what junior linebacker Travon Dye called ‘Division-I heart’ after the team’s Week 1 win over Union City.
Ultimately, the Bulldogs ran into just a little too much in the Mariners, who ended the campaign 14-0 and as perhaps the state’s biggest buzzsaw.
“They have a Division-I athlete [Micah Ford] – we knew we had to stop the run today,” Passaic Tech head coach Matt Demarest said. “We didn’t make a play on the first drive and we were chasing points from then on. They’re a really good football team and that’s the reality.”
Passaic Tech scored its lone touchdown on a 47-yard run from junior running back linebacker Trashon Dye, the twin brother of the aforementioned Travon Dye. That cut the score to 21-7 early in the fourth quarter, but after forcing a three and out, the Bulldogs would get stopped on a fourth and goal from the Toms River North 8-yard-line with less than five minutes remaining.
Junior Josh Moore scored on an 80-yard dagger run with 2:25 to go, which served as the final knockout punch. Demarest and company are proud to have gone down fighting until the last whistle.
“We should’ve sold out on that run,” Demarest said. “What’s the difference between losing 28-7 and 21-7? We represented ourselves well though. We didn’t play a team like them all year, but they haven’t played a team like us either. My kids deserve a lot of credit.”
The Bulldogs will see 22 seniors on the roster graduate in the spring. They accomplished a lot in their final year on the gridiron – including the program’s fourth sectional title and winningest season since 2001.
It’s a group that established a standard for the ones next in line.
“These guys did everything,” Trashon Dye said of the seniors. “Their sophomore year was the COVID season and they fought through that. Without them, this year would not have been possible. They set the tone for us for next year and I’m super proud of them.
“I love these kids,” Demarest added. “We played Group 5 teams every week and every game they’re hitting. I can’t say enough about what they mean to me forever.”
When asked about next year, Trashon Dye couldn’t keep a huge grin off his face.
Many of the team’s key cogs will be back on the field and ready to make a run to the same stage in 2023.
“Our junior class is stacked,” Dye said. “We went undefeated our freshman year. With all of us coming back and the sophomores working hard in the weight room in the offseason, next season could be big for us.”
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Ryan Patti covers the Super Football Conference and NJIC. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ryanwpatti.