The Rutherford Mighty Mites (7 year olds) completed their ninth season in a row undefeated, earning Coach Tom Barnes the RJF&C “Coach of the Year” award. The lil Bulldogs participated in Mighty Mite Day in New Milford and all enjoyed the day with a post game celebration. The Rutherford Pee Wees (8-9 year olds) opened the MFL playoffs with a 28-0 win over the ER/Carlstadt Wildcats. The Bulldogs (9-0) scored on their first play from scrimmage when Dmitri Paskas took a handoff from QB Myles Balchan 30 yards to the end zone. Matt Bonagura followed up with the extra point from three yards out. Rutherford would see running backs Paskas score two more times and Bonagura once, followed by extra point conversions from FB Emmett Carney and Balchan. The PW Bulldogs will meet North Arlington in the next round. The Rutherford Junior Bulldogs (10-11 year olds) advanced in the playoffs beating the Harrison Blue Tide 24-0. David Rojas, Nick Ford, Louis Morella, Devin Burgos, Chris Gioia, Antonio DeCarlo, George Brewton, Marchello Fernandez, Laudan Henry, and Chris Kasperan, once again, were tremendous on defense with holding a team to only one first down and scoreless. The Bulldogs offense continued their ground control game running Decarlo the length of the field in three runs for the first touchdown of the game. The offense also showed it can produce with a beautiful pass from quarterback Chris Gioia to Marchello Fernandez for the second touchdown. Devin Burgos and Laudan Henry rounded out the ground game with a touchdown each. Nick Lora finished the night with an extra point kick for the Bulldogs. The Rutherford Bulldog Seniors (12 - 13 yr olds) advanced to the next round of the playoffs after a hard fought 12-0 win over the Carlstadt/East Rutherford Wildcats. The Bulldogs defense was stout all game as they forced a Wildcat turnover the first series. Steve Pisciotta, Alejandro Garcia, Chris Lora, Yahya Elfeshaw and Sal Fernandez swarmed to the ball with Ryan Ward coming out of the pile with the ball. With some penalty miscues on the offensive side, the Bulldogs turned the ball back over to the Wildcats. The defense held strong again as Van Weber, Anthony Bonagura and Zach Herninko blanketed receivers and forced another three and out. This time the Bulldogs spread the Wildcats out on offense as Anthony Bonagura took an outside run fifteen yards loosening up the defense. The next play Cole Goumas took the ball 35 yards down to the 2 yard line before getting forced out of bounds. A few plays later Van Weber kept it himself for the QB run up the middle for the TD making it 6-0 Bulldogs. With multiple backfield tackles and sacks by Luke Cerulli, Sal Fernandez, Ward and Lora the Defense held strong. The first half ended with the score remaining the same with both teams playing inside the 30 yard lines. The second half started with the Bulldogs putting a drive together. Goumas, Bonagura, Arthur Costan kept the ball moving. Ernie Bonagura, Owen Fernandez, Garcia, Pisciotta, Cerulli, Fernandez and Dan Carr kept pushing to open holes but eventually stalled out again. Angel Bido and Jack Daly contributed on defense and Zach Herninko sparked a fire as his hit on the Wildcat ball carrier causing a fumble giving the Bulldogs control.. The Fourth quarter started and the Bulldogs meticulously marched down field as three to five yards at a clip were all they needed to keep moving the chains. Arthur Costan punched it through the middle for the score making the final score 12-0 Bulldogs. Rutherford will be hosting the MFL semi-finals, in which all three squads will participate in Sat starting at 5:00 pm.