Garfield is going to the NJIC conference final, and it rode there on one of the great individual nights of the season. Garfield beat Hasbrouck Heights 36-14 in the conference semifinal on Friday, and the night belonged to running back Jorheny Rodriguez, who scored five touchdowns and went over 1,000 rushing yards for the season in a performance Hasbrouck Heights simply could not stop.
Rodriguez scored four of his five touchdowns on the ground. He ran six yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead, then showed his versatility by catching a 27-yard screen pass from quarterback Talib McCullough late in the quarter to make it 28-7. A safety — when the Hasbrouck Heights punter's knee touched down in the end zone while fielding a snap — stretched the lead further, and Rodriguez closed the scoring himself with a five-yard touchdown run, his fifth trip to the end zone of the night.
Five touchdowns in a conference semifinal is the kind of game players remember forever, and the 1,000-yard milestone makes it even sweeter: Rodriguez did not just have a big night, he stamped a full season of excellence in the biggest game Garfield has played so far. With a quarterback in McCullough who can find him out of the backfield as well as hand him the ball, Garfield's offense has a centerpiece defenses must stop — and on Friday, nobody could.
Now Garfield gets to play for a conference championship. Teams that peak in October with a star playing his best football are dangerous in finals, and Garfield's underdog run to the NJIC title game has become a story the whole program can be proud of. One more win, and this group's magical run ends with a trophy.
Stars of the Game: Jorheny Rodriguez, the Five-Touchdown Star, with four rushing touchdowns, a 27-yard touchdown catch and a 1,000-yard rushing season. And Talib McCullough, the Delivery Man, whose screen pass to Rodriguez produced one of the night's biggest scores.
Game details compiled from published box scores.