Former NFL Player Leads Hillside
As Comets Will Look To Rebound

HILLSIDE - There was a time, and not too long ago, when Isa Abdul-Quddus used to play football on Sundays.

That was when the former Union High School standout competed in the NFL for the New Orleans Saints, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins.

His very first game as a high school head coach also reached a Sunday and in one hour was completed on that Sunday.

The Hillside Comets, under a new regime for the first time in nine years, did some things well and some not so well. It was a learning experience over two days against one of the top public school football programs in the state the last 15 years.

Ultimately, Hillside fell to Bernards 24-14 Sunday, Sept. 7 when its Big Central Conference-crossover season-opener was finally completed at John Zappulla Field. Inclement weather, starting with the initial lightning strike right before the second half was to kick off in a downpour Saturday, Sept. 6, caused the game to be moved to Sunday.

The game continued right from the start of the third quarter, with the contest still a winnable one for the host Comets at that time, down only 10-7 at that point. However, Bernards, who has gone a combined 23-2 the past two seasons and was coming off a season-opening 27-15 home win over Cranford, quickly made sure that Hillside was going to continue playing from behind, but by a larger margin.

The visiting Mountaineers, their offense directed by efficient 6-1, 170-pound junior quarterback Nolan Walsh, who on Sunday wore uniform No. 19 instead of his usual No. 16, but the decal on his helmet was still No. 16, marched 74 yards in eight plays for their second touchdown after holding Hillside to a three-and-out at the start of the third quarter.

Senior running back Logan Stevens capped the drive with a 40-yard touchdown run. Stevens spun low to the ground to break through a hole and then ran through the middle of the field untouched into the end zone.

Stevens scored all three Bernards touchdowns, the first one on a 25-yard pass from Walsh and the last two on the ground.

Bernards scored their first and third touchdowns after capitalizing on Hillside turnovers.

"They're not 10 points better than us," Abdul-Quddus said. "We gave them that."

Hillside scored in the second and fourth quarters, with senior running back Kamari Robinson providing some thunder and lightning with his crafty zig-zag running early on.

On the first play of Hillside's second possession Robinson was actually stopped when he bumped into one of his offensive linemen. However, that didn't deter the 5-8, 180-pound tailback from getting to the outside and running down the right sideline all the way to the Bernards six-yard line.

Several Hillside penalties pushed the Comets back before a 35-yard field goal attempt fell short.

On Hillside's fourth possession Robinson found the end zone from 14 yards out to score Hillside's first points of 2025.

"As good as Kamari is he's a better man," Abdul-Quddus said.

Hillside's final touchdown was scored with just 16 seconds left when lefty-throwing senior quarterback Justin Ashford completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Travis Miles in the left corner of the end zone.
Ashford had success throwing the ball to the left side of the field, including several late completions that way which led to Hillside's final score.

"Justin is proving to be a great leader," Abdul-Quddus said.

Bernards, especially in the second half, was able to break through holes to gain long yardage and, defensively, produced a bend-but-not-break effort.

"We missed a bunch of tackles and were flat at times," Abdul-Quddus said. "It's the little things that we preach in practice that we have to make sure are done, especially wrapping up when making tackles."

This was the third straight season Bernards topped Hillside. The Mountaineers take a 2-0 record into their next home game this Friday night, Sept. 12 against 2-0 Delaware Valley.

Hillside will attempt to not go 0-2 for the first time since 2012.

"We're not that far off," said Abdul-Quddus as his team is presently preparing for its first road game at Summit this Saturday, Sept. 13 at 2 p.m. at Tatlock Field. The Hilltoppers are 2-0 after three-point road wins at Morristown 14-11 and at Montgomery 31-28.

"The good thing is that our problems are fixable!"

BIG CENTRAL CONFERENCE-CROSSOVER AT HILLSIDE
Bernards (2-0)                           07            03            07            07 - 24
Hillside (0-1)                              00            07            00            07 - 14

FIRST QUARTER:
Bernards - Logan Stevens 25 pass from Nolan Walsh, Daniel Nagy-Lewis kick (B 7-0)
2 plays, 29 yards, :53 used
Bernards capitalized on a fumble recovery.

SECOND QUARTER:
Bernards - FG Daniel Nagy-Lewis 36 (B 10-0)
9 plays, from Hillside 45 to Hillside 19, 4:31 used 
Hillside - Kamari Robinson 14 run, Xavier Da Silva kick (B 10-7)
9 plays, 53 yards, 3:48 used

THIRD QUARTER:
Bernards - Logan Stevens 40 run, Daniel Nagy-Lewis kick (B 17-7)
8 plays, 74 yards, 3:46 used

FOURTH QUARTER:
Bernards - Logan Stevens 4 run, Daniel Nagy-Lewis kick (B 24-7)
4 plays, 28 yards, 2:19 used
Bernards capitalized on an interception by Zach Favreau.
Hillside - Travis Miles 20 pass from Justin Ashford, Xaviar Da Silva kick (B 24-14)
This was the game's final score with 16 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.