Football: Roselle dominates Roselle Park in 103rd edition of Thanksgiving Day rivalry

Nafee Finney and his fellow Roselle seniors were not upset about having to have wait a few weeks to play a Thanksgiving Eve game against ancient rival Roselle Park.

“Actually, they were starting to miss it after I gave them some time off,” said Rams head coach Ibrahim Halsey.

Based on the way they played, Roselle – which had won seven in a row going in – sure did look the part of a team dying to get back on the field on Wednesday night.

Running the football at will and scoring on its first six offensive possessions, Roselle rolled to a 44-2 victory over Roselle Park in New Jersey’s ninth-longest running Thanksgiving Rivalry at Arminio Field.

After the 103rd meeting between the two went Roselle’s way decisively, Roselle Park still leads the all-time series 53-42-8 despite Roselle having now won the last three contests. The red-hot Rams ended their season at 8-4 after an 0-4 start, while Roselle Park wrapped up the campaign at 5-6.

“To play in this game means a lot for us seniors, and just to play one more time meant everything to me. I love this sport,” said Finney, who busted touchdown runs of 42 and 70 yards in the opening quarter to promptly put the winners in command.

Now ahead 14-0 in the second quarter, Roselle would get the ball back and march a bit more methodically to get on the board again.

A nine play, 58-yard drive was capped off by a Samir Rivel run around left end for 11 yards fora score and extend the edge to 21-0. Roselle’s lefty kicker Hervinho Vilarie, only a freshman, was a perfect 6-for-6 on his extra points in this one.

Roselle would pin Roselle Park on their own 7 on the ensuing kickoff, and the Rams would capitalize. A three-yard loss was followed up by a tackle for loss in the endzone by Owen Delice for a safety.

“We executed well in all phases tonight, which is a testament to how prepared and ready the guys were,” said Halsey, an Elizabeth native who starred at running back for Illinois in the early 2000′s.

The punt following the safety gifted Roselle the ball on the Panthers 41, and two plays later, quarterback William Peay bolted 29 yards for a touchdown to make it 30-0 at the half.

The third quarter was a familiar story for Roselle, as the relentless ground game led to two more scores.

A 36-yard run by Rivel set up a touchdown by lineman Jayden Fils-Aime on a plunge up the middle two plays later. A 50-yard burst by Emmanuel Lyles later in the quarter finished off Roselle’s explosive scoring day.

Roselle Park would finally get on the board with four minutes to go.

An errant Roselle snap out of the shotgun set the ball on the Rams 1, and a play later, Darren Chen would level a Roselle back in the endzone for a safety to snap the shutout.

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