December 1, 2001 Hopatcong Chiefs - State Champs!! The Comback...
As the time began to wind down in the first half, Mahwah had jumped to a 28-7 lead. Their offense seemed bulletproof. Hopatcong seemed to be taken out of the game. But the one thing they had going for them was that they were a pass-driven offense. They could score at the drop of a hat. But being down by 21 points in a state championship final is never good. The Chiefs showed some life towards the end of the half, bringing the score to 28-14. They even almost made it 28-21, but we were just happy they were only down by two touchdowns.
	The second half was a totally different game. The Chief's defense turned it up a notch and became stifling. The offense looked to be firing on all cylinders. But the game kept going back and forth. Both teams kept failing to capitalize on the other's errors. I remember thinking that if the Chiefs lost, I wasn't going to feel bad for them because they blew so many golden chances to swing the momentum. With about four minutes left, Mahwah had a nine point lead and people in the stands started to head out. Little did they know what they were going to miss.
The last few minutes of the game were probably the greatest four minutes of any football game I had ever seen. I kept thinking how amazing it would be if they pulled it off. I won't waste my time going over the actual play-by-play, because the newspaper articles do a much better job at that. But I can tell you about the emotion. It was intense. At one point fans were leaving the game and I thought there was no way the Chiefs could come back. Within a span of a few minutes, we all witnessed the play of a team that never gave up.
	When Dan, the kicker, was lining up for the field goal, a part of me still felt like something was going to go wrong- because nothing ever goes totally right for Hopatcong. And he we were- on the verge of winning the improbable. When the ball was snapped, it was like time stood still. We knew he nailed it, and when the referree raised his arms, the entire crowd erupted. It was an unbelievable feeling. I was jumping and screaming. Doug was going crazy. I was high-fiving everybody. This is such a great picture because you can see and feel the shock from the Mahwah players as they watched the Hopatcong fans storm the field.

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