River Dell Golden Hawks varsity football team rolls past Nutley 42-7 in the 2024 regular season opener

The River Dell Golden Hawks varsity football team(1-0)  kicked off the 2024 regular season facing the Nutley Maroon Raiders at Nutley High School in Nutley, New Jersey.

River Dell was coming off a 3-8 record but ended the season by winning two out of its last three games, including a 34-27 win against Teaneck in the season finale.

The Golden Hawks, with 19 seniors on this season's roster, are returning an experienced group. Recently, the team squared off against Hackensack in a spirited and competitive scrimmage at River Dell High School.

In the buildup to the regular season opener, Junior starting quarterback Zion Yoon said, "It was good to see how well we played together against other teams, and just building off that was a good experience for us, as well as competing against another team." "We have a lot of confidence, and last season there was some anger, and we had a chip on our shoulder."

On a cloudy and cool evening at Nutley High School, the River Dell varsity football team and coaching staff came out onto the field with a new entrance theme music, "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, and burst through the banner held up by the varsity cheerleaders.

After the River Dell defense forced the Nutley offense into a quick three and out on their first offensive possession, the Golden Hawks offense clicked on all cylinders. Zion Yoon aired out a 35-yard pass to wide receiver Dean Marucci that moved the ball to the Maroon Raider's 20-yard line.

On first down, Yoon took the snap and handed the ball off to Tyler Datz on a jet sweep. Datz found an open hole through a maze of players and darted to the end zone for the score with 7:46 remaining. "We don't have our premier success without our offensive line," Zion Yoon noted.

Nutley's offense began to jell after a rough opening series by marching down the field into River Dell territory. The Maroon Raiders chewed up the remaining 7:44 of the first quarter but the first minute of the second quarter.

Nutley ran 13 plays after starting from their own 36-yard line down to the Golden Hawks 19-yard line, but on fourth down, a pass play intended for the end zone was broken up perfectly by Kevin Hart, forcing a turnover on downs.

River Dell utilized a three-man running attack between Zion Yoon, Chris Kelm, and Cain Lanza to push the ball into the Maroon Raider's territory. A pass interference call assessed against Nutley's defense moved the ball inside the red zone.

On first and goal at the four-yard line, Yoon took the snap then plowed straight ahead into the end zone for the touchdown as the Golden Hawks extended their advantage to 14-0 with less than nine minutes left.

On the defensive side of the ball, River Dell clamped down by registering back-to-back sacks by Dean Marucci and Youssef Ibrahim as the first half ended.

The Golden Hawks received the second-half kickoff, and the offense pounded the rock on the ground, running the ball on 13 out of 14 plays that consumed almost five minutes of the clock. This culminated in a one-yard touchdown by Zion Yoon that expanded the lead to 21-0.

"All of our drives are because of the offensive line, and they do such a great job," Zion Yoon stated. "We weren't too happy going into the second half knowing that there should have been more points up on the board." "We made some adjustments and didn't lose any confidence and came out and executed and that's how we're supposed to play."

However, the good vibes didn't last long, as the Maroon Raiders scored a kickoff return touchdown in a flash.

River Dell answered back emphatically on their offensive possession. Zion Yoon connected on a 38-yard pass to Dean that moved the ball past midfield and into Nutley territory.

On third down at the 45-yard line, Yoon took the snap in shotgun formation, then dropped back in the pocket and launched a deep pass right down the middle of the seam to wide receiver RJ Weiss, hauling in the catch and racing into the end zone for the electrifying score with less than five minutes to go in the quarter.

"It's great to have a wide receiver like him and he always finds a way to get open," Zio Yoon explained. "I have no doubt he's open and it took us a lot of practice to get on the same page but now we are it's going to be very hard to stop us."

The Maroon Raiders attempted to bounce back as their offense moved the ball to near midfield, but on second down, a running play turned disastrous. Deacon McGovern knocked the ball out, and Cain Lanza made a recovery with two and a half minutes remaining.

The Golden Hawks continued to lay the wood on the ground by running the ball consecutive times and aided by a roughing the passer penalty assessed against the Nutley defense that resulted in Zion Yoon surging into the end zone for his third touchdown of the game that stretched the margin to 35-7 as the third quarter ended. Yoon finished the game with 80 rushing yards on 14 carries and completed five out of seven passes for 174 yards.

Cain Laza put an exclamation mark on the dominating 42-7 win by River Dell as Lanza took the handoff from Zion Yoon and steamrolled, standing up into the end zone for the one-yard score.

Zion Yoon, on the post-game message from Head Coach DJ Nimphius, said, "It's great to start 1-0 rather than 0-1, but this is just the first step, and we still have an entire season to look into and just talk about the next game."

Yoon, thanks to the support from the student section and fans. It was great to see that student section come out with that energy, and the townspeople came out and supported us."

Next up for the Golden Hawks is the home opener vs. Northern Valley Old Tappan(1-0) on Friday, September 6th, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. at River Dell High School. "It's going to be a big game for us; we have to come out with the same confidence and energy," Zion Yoon described. "

"I'm representing my school and town and with all the people that believe in me and I owe it to them to give them their success and a lot of it comes with responsibility and I have to do my job well and hopefully the team can benefit from it."