Records Broken, Sussex wins #5

SPARTA, N.J. - The Sussex County Community College football team hosted their first annual, First Responders Appreciation Game this past Sunday at Cassels field on the Sparta High School campus.  The Skylanders continued to break school records on this historic day, as they climbed to 5-1 on the season in a 44-7 victory over Hudson Valley Community College. The Skylanders are off to their best start ever, setting a school record for wins with five. Sussex was 4-6 in 2022 and 2021.

The Skylanders continue to battle through adversity as they normally have been throughout the season.  With injuries to key starters and the penalty bug still nagging, they still managed 463 yards of offense and 28 first downs, while holding Hudson Valley to 14 total yards and just three first downs. Sussex held a 28-0 lead at the half with a Jaiden Mead-Cooper (Gaithersburg, Md.) rushing touchdown for 12 yards and a 24-yard passing touchdown to Christian Piesch (Scotch Plains, N.J.). James Laubstein (Bethany, CONN.) entered the game in the second quarter with a 1-yard rushing touchdown and a 15-yard touchdown pass to Craig Shipps (Columbia, N.J.). The Skylanders exploded to a 42-7 lead after three-quarters thanks to another Laubstein 25-yard pass to Derrick Ramos (Middletown, N.Y.) and an 18-yard run by Jaiden Murphy (Cherry Hill, N.J.). The Skylanders capped the scoring with a safety by Elijah Hyson (Germantown, Md.) in the fourth quarter.

They were led in the first quarter by freshman quarterback Mead-Cooper who got the start and was 15-for-20 for 128 yards passing. Sophomore quarterback Laubstein was 6-for-12 passing for 98 yards. "We have two quarterbacks that can go in at any moment," said first-year head coach James Robertson. "It's just a flip-flop of who Coach Sallee wants to put in to start and we'll roll with that."

Craig Shipps (Blairstown, N.J.), led the team in receiving with five catches for 71 yards. Piesch had a big game with three receptions for 46 yards and Ramos added four receptions for 44 yards. All three players had a touchdown. Pacing the running attack once again was Murphy with 10 carries for 107 yards. Mead-Cooper also had seven carries for 50 yards.

The Skylander defense also had a record setting day.  Sklanders recorded ten tackles for loss, five sacks and safety on the day, holding Hudson Valley to it's lowest output of the season.  Benjie Guar (Edison, N.J.) led the Sussex defense with four tackles, two for a loss, and two sacks. Hyson also contributed three tackles, two for a loss, a sack, and a safety.

The win comes off a 38-26 victory over Hocking College (1-3) at Don Smolyn Field at Lenape Valley High School on Saturday, Oct. 7.  "It's not over for us," said Robertson. "5-1 was the goal we set for today and we met that goal, but we have four more games left so we've got to go 4-0 in these last four weeks." The Skylanders will enter a bye week as they prepare to travel and play against Georgia Military College (4-3) on Oct. 28 at 1:00 p.m. "We've got to get healthy," said Robertson. "We got guys that couldn't play today due to health issues and they're due to come back for Georgia Military, so we've got to get healthy and we've got to clean some things up... Proud of our guys, we're 5-1 so a little bit of celebration, but we've got to get back to work next week."

By KELLY BARTA, SCCC Sports Broadcasting Student