Holmdel Makes History: Hornets Capture First-Ever Sectional Title
photo & coverage by: Antonio Morales
Holmdel football has been building toward a night like this for decades. Under the Friday night lights, in front of a packed home crowd, the Hornets delivered a performance that will be remembered forever — a 41–20 victory over Seneca to secure the first sectional championship in program history.
The opening drive was electric. On just the second play from scrimmage, Jack Cannon dropped back and hit James Murphy in stride for a 70-yard bomb that sent the home crowd into chaos. Twenty-one seconds into the game, Holmdel had a 7–0 lead and every ounce of momentum. It was exactly the kind of early jolt a team dreams of in a championship game.
But Seneca didn’t fold. After Holmdel’s quick strike, the Golden Eagles responded with a long, methodical, 11-play, 60-yard drive. Quarterback Anthony Tirico found Colin Smith for an 8-yard touchdown, capping a six-minute push that answered the early fireworks. The extra point, though, never had a chance — Holmdel burst through and blocked it, keeping the lead at 7–6 with 5:19 left in the first quarter. It became one of the night’s early defining plays, a defensive spark that kept Holmdel on top when the game could have swung the other way.
Those opening sequences set the tone for how the rest of the night would play out: heavyweight football, each side making plays, each possession carrying real weight. Holmdel’s defense tightened after the long Seneca drive, and the offense kept attacking, leaning on Cannon’s composure and the run game to build rhythm as the night moved on.
As the game unfolded, both teams traded flashes — Seneca trying to chip their way back in, Holmdel answering with physical defense and timely execution. The blocked PAT loomed large. The early touchdown loomed even larger.
Late in the game, Seneca threatened again, trimming the lead and grabbing a brief surge of momentum, but Holmdel never cracked. The Hornets regrouped, started winning the line of scrimmage again, and eventually pieced together the drive that put the game away for good. Cannon delivered another calm sequence, and Matt Scheinman punched in a crucial touchdown to restore control and send Holmdel on its final march toward history.
After the celebration, running back Matt Scheinman reflected on what the night meant to him and to Holmdel. “It feels incredible to make history at home, especially knowing that it was our first ever sectional title in our program's history,” he said. “We knew coming into this season that there were going to be ups and downs. But later in the season, we just clicked, and soon we knew that this team was destined to win the first ever sectional title in our school’s history.”
He credited the preparation and the mindset that carried the team through the week. “It was the game plan that was created by the coaches leading up to this week. We made sure this had to be our best week of practice of our lives to make sure we bring home some hardware. And when we hit the field, both offense and defense were just locked in. It was one of those days where everything just came together the way we drew it up.”
From the opening drive to the final kneel-down, Holmdel played like a team ready to rewrite its own history. And on a chilly November night, under the lights on their home turf, they finally did.