ROSELLE PARK, NJ — Since the last time they finished better than .500 six years ago, the Roselle Park High School Panthers endured their lumps on a weekly basis and also suffered at the hands of their neighborhood gridiron rival, Abraham Park High School, Roselle.
The last three times the Panthers and Rams clashed on Thanksgiving, Roselle not only came out the winner, but was victorious by an average of 25 points.
Roselle Park followed a 3-5 showing for its first eight games with consecutive consolation triumphs to get to .500 at 5-5 and have an opportunity to produce the program’s first winning season since 2017.
“We focused one game at a time with the consolations and were able to execute,” Roselle Park football head coach Greg Dunkerton said.
The 2017 season was also the last year Roselle Park defeated Roselle on Thanksgiving, which was the 100th game played in one of the state’s oldest rivalries.
With a winning season and a first win against Abraham Park in more than half a decade on the line, a long, fourth-quarter sprint produced by a freshman named Nick Salas lifted Roselle Park to two team goals set every season.
Those are to have a winning season and, at season’s end, beat Abraham Park on Thanksgiving.
It was a Salas 65-yard touchdown run in the game’s final 12 minutes that broke a tie Roselle forged in the third quarter and sent the Panthers to a 20-14 triumph in the 104th game of the series, played at Roselle Park’s Herm Shaw Field on Thursday morning, Nov. 23.
“It was a trap,” Dunkerton said. “He’s such a tough kid and an instinctive runner. He’s a good athlete and was tough enough to make it the whole game.”
As a result, Roselle Park finished better than .500 and beat Abraham Park on Thanksgiving, both for the first time since the Panthers edged the Rams 7-6 at home on the holiday in 2017, to finish 7-4 in a playoff season.
Roselle Park closed with a three-game winning streak to come in at 6-5.
“Our success is a tribute to the kids,” said Dunkerton, who just completed his fourth season at the helm of the Panthers and his first one better than .500. “They were challenged and I’m very proud of the way they responded.”
With players such as Salas, who scored all three Roselle Park touchdowns, returning, the Panthers have an excellent chance next season of making the playoffs for the first time since that 2017 campaign.
Abraham Park entered the season finale for both at 4-5 and was seeking a fourth straight win against Roselle Park to avoid a losing season and come in at .500. The Rams, who earlier this year won four straight, finished 4-6.
Roselle Park bounced back last year to finish 5-6, following a tough 1-9 season in 2021. The Panthers were also 5-5 going into last year’s season-finale vs. Abraham Park and seeking a winning season. Abraham Park turned the Panthers away, winning 44-2 the night before Thanksgiving at Abraham Park’s Arminio Field.
“We had some hard times, but our kids never quit,” Dunkerton said. “They never gave up for one second. They continued to grind it out in practice and even if they were outmanned they gave maximum effort.”
Roselle Park now leads the series against Abraham Park, 53-43-8.
Salas scored the game’s first two touchdowns on a nine-yard run in the second quarter and 16-yard jaunt in the third. Extra-point kicks by senior Adrian Palacios followed.
“Physically, we were outmatched,” Dunkerton said. “We had to get the team ready to play together. Our kids did it.”
Abraham Park pulled to within a touchdown in the third quarter on an 18-yard touchdown run by Brandon Puryear. Later in the period, Ajani Phillips scored on a six-yard run and then Vilarie Hervinho kicked his second extra point to tie the game at 14-14.
“Our energy dropped there, for whatever reason, in the third quarter,” Dunkerton said. “Roselle came up with an interception that led to the tying score.
“I called the team over once the final quarter began and said, ‘let’s win the fourth quarter.’”
Salas carried the ball 18 times for a game-high 183 yards and his three scores.
“It helped Nick that Adrian Palacios was also in the backfield,” Dunkerton said. “They were focusing on Adrian.”
Phillips paced Abraham Park with 132 yards on 22 attempts and his one score.
Palacios and Michael Moonsammy of Abraham Park were credited with fumble recoveries. Tim Porter paced Abraham Park with six solo tackles and 10 total.
“You have to stay healthy and that has helped us turn things around,” Dunkerton said. “We’re building a program here and have expectations.”
Dunkerton praised his senior class, one that followed a senior class last year that began the process to where Roselle Park is right now.
“I’m so happy for them,” Dunkerton said. “I’m so proud of the leadership they displayed. This is my fourth year, so they were my freshmen.”
“It was special what they did. They continued from last year’s seniors.”
Salas is the kind of player who can play a key role in helping get Roselle Park back to the playoffs if things work out in 2024.
“He played multiple positions for us,” Dunkerton said. “He was our freshman quarterback, our junior varsity quarterback and then we had him at tailback and then moved him to fullback once we had some injuries and moved some players around.”
Salas played cornerback on defense vs. Abraham Park and has also played safety. His varsity debut was against Jonathan Dayton High School.
“He’s such a versatile player and he hits hard,” Dunkerton said.
30-year anniversary of repeat undefeated state champs
Roselle Park had a lot of versatile players when they ruled Group 1 football in North Jersey, Section 2 exactly 30 years ago.
This is the 30th anniversary of when Roselle Park won its last sectional state championship in 1993, when the Panthers repeated as North 2, Group 1 winners.
Senior quarterback-placekicker John Schinestuhl kicked the winning field goal in overtime to send Roselle Park past New Providence High School, 10-7, at Roselle Park in the 1993 North 2, Group 1 final. That was the second straight season that Roselle Park finished 11-0.
In 1992, the Panthers went on the road to beat Cedar Grove High School and then Butler in the playoffs to win North 2, Group 1 for the second time in the playoff era and for the first time on the field. Roselle Park won the section for the first time in 1979. Roselle Park went 11-0 for the first time in 1992.
The 1992 and 1993 teams were coached by the program’s winningest mentor, John Wagner, Roselle Park Class of 1969.
Those state championship teams were sparked by 1994 graduates Schinestuhl, Nick Fowler, Mark Carlson and Kevin Kirby.
Westfield High School also finished with a winning season this year at 6-5 by winning at Plainfield High School, 28-9, in the other Thanksgiving Day rivalry game played in Union County on Thursday morning, Nov. 23. Westfield defeated Plainfield for the 11th straight time, with the 118th game in the series contested at Plainfield’s Hub Stine Field.
Plainfield also finished 6-5, its first winning season since 2005.
Westfield now leads the series 66-45-7.