When the 2024 high school football schedule came out last spring, there was a buzz among Hanover Park’s football players.

Hornets usually do buzz anyway, right?

Coach Dan Fulton got the word out. Soon, there was a … yup, buzz building around the football players.

And Oct. 5 couldn’t arrive fast enough.

That’s when they’d get another crack at Pequannock.

Pequannock had almost become a dirty word in the Hanover locker room. 

So when Hanover Park 41, Pequannock 9 ended Saturday afternoon, you’d have thought the Hornets had won a playoff game.

In a way, they did. Payback was sweet.

These Hornets not only buzz but have the memory of an elephant.

Hanover was as keyed up for the game as if actually it were November and not October. They had ample reason to circle Pequannock on their kitchen calendars. 

Almost a year ago, the Golden Panthers came into Hanover’s nest and spent 48 minutes roughing up the Hornets. Pequannock dealt Hanover a 31-24 loss, but that score doesn’t do that game justice.

How bad was it? It was as though Pequannock bullied the Hornets all over the beach and kicked sand in Hanover’s face – as the Hornets girlfriends watched in horror.

Then Pequannock headed back to their cars – holding hands with Hanover’s girlfriends and driving off into the night.

Yeah, it was that bad.

“Pequannock embarrassed us,” Hanover coach Dan Fulton said. “It was at home, on Senior Night, all of that. They beat the crap out of us. They pounded us.”

Saturday, Hanover did the pounding – right from the get-go.

And Pequannock had no answers.

“We came out firing,” Hanover’s two-way standout Joey Filippone said. “We wanted to get back from last year and we were ready. We were all locked in during practice. We knew what was coming and what we had to bring: Toughness and grit.”

Stunningly and suddenly, Hanover went up 14-0 in the game’s first two minutes. The Hornets recovered a fumbled Pequannock snap from center on the Golden Panthers’ very first play from scrimmage. 

Seven plays later, QB Joey Borrello (12 for 20, 162 yards, 3 TDs) connected with Filippone for a 10-yard touchdown pass. 

Hanover’s ‘D’, scrappy and in Pequannock’s face all day, forced a three-and-out. On the ensuing punt, Hanover’s Hector Lopez recovered his own blocked punt and returned it into the end zone. Hanover, 14-0.

It was more of the same in the second quarter. Borrello hit Jack Kovacs for a 30-yard completion and then Joey Tantawi for a 16-yard touchdown. 

Borrello and the Hornets were still not done. He then hit Darien Iannacone for a 26-yard score. 

Hanover, 28-0.

This was really happening. 

It was almost like Hanover worked all offseason, returned the favor on Pequannock, and won back their girlfriends. 

Hanover (5-0) won the SFC-American White over Pequannock with the victory.

Said lineman Frankie Falco, “This was our get-back. The loss last year hurt, no question. We thought we’d win easily and played bad.”

Hanover’s preparation and week of practice built up to a crescendo. Nothing could stop the Hornets and they knew it.

“I have a great group of kids and staff who put a good gameplan together and the kids executed,” Fulton said. “We were jacked up.”

Hanover’s defense kept Pequannock’s Wing-T offense from moving the ball. The Hornets finished with five sacks as a team and four tackles for loss. Pequannock’s vaunted running game mustered just 47 yards rushing.

Hanover’s Azaad Parks and the rest of the D-Line – Dan Macdougal, Ronny Madera, and George Abdy – made their presence felt against one of Morris County’s best O-Lines.

“Parks had a breakout game,” said Filippone, himself another standout on ‘D’ along with Nick Malgieri, P.J. DiMaiolo, and Kovacs.

The Hanover O-Line, a source of concern all offseason, has picked it up and has become a team strength.

“Falco and Macdougal have been good leaders,” Fulton said. “(Line) Coach (Dan) Gregory is great at getting those kids right. They are answering the bell. We are not the biggest or tallest but we have some tough kids. We just need to keep getting better.”

“Coming into Week 1 against Madison, there was talk about how the O-Line could be the reason we win or lose, so we worked at it,” Falco said, referring to fellow linemen such as Abdy, Angelo Chirchiello, and Gianmarco Canziani. “We are all stepping in at practice and getting the work done.”

“Our O-Line was a big question mark and they have been great and keep getting better every week,” Filippone added. “It is hard to cover a lot of us, we are fast and we can go. Once we get the ball on the outside, it’s pretty hard to stop us.”

Once you embarrass Hanover, it’s hard to beat them again.

Ask Pequannock, the Golden Panthers know all too well.