June 26, 2012

Hoboken's Spencer Perez threw a third quarter touchdown for the North Team. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

North-South Football Photo Gallery

UNION – As one of three Hudson County players in the starting secondary, safety Steve Le knew he wasn't just representing his school of Union City or the North squad. He was also representing a county, which doesn't always get high praise for its football.

The play of Le and cornerbacks J.R. Robinson and Malcolm Robinson served a not so subtle reminder of the talent and bravado in Hudson County as all three had key roles in a stifling defensive performance in the North's 14-7 victory in the North-South High School All-Star Classic at Kean University.

"We definitely had the Hudson County swag," Bayonne's Malcolm Robinson said. "We were out here representing for Hudson County.

"We knew when we went out there, we had to do what we do in Hudson County and that's lock receivers down. No Fly Zone."

There was a definite Hudson County attitude on the defensive side with Union City head coach Wilber Valdez running the defense along with assistants Jamaal Lord (Bayonne) John Peluso (Hoboken).

"We knew what type of intensity we could bring," said J.R. Robinson of St. Peter's Prep. "During the whole week of practice we knew that if we weren't performing like we could, we would push each other.

"From playing with them during the season I know the type of players they are and I know they can make plays. I know I can focus on doing my job more and that helped me out."

With less than two minutes left and the South receiving the ball on the North 30, J.R. Robinson had a huge pass breakup on first down to help thwart the South's final scoring chance of the night.

On the previous drive, Le deflected away a potential game-tying touchdown pass from Pennsauken's Manny Cortez near the front right pylon of the end zone on third down. The North would stuff the South on a fourth-and-two to force a turnover on the next play.

In the opening half, Le intercepted an Adam Riese pass at the North 48-yard line with less than a minute left. Malcolm Robinson had a key pass defense on a long throw down the right sideline midway through the second quarter.

"They're two lockdown corners," said Le, who is going to Monroe College. "They can lock down anybody. They're good cornerbacks and I'm proud to be back there with them. We're all Hudson County players and it's exciting to be selected to this game."

"We brought that grittiness to the game," said Hoboken quarterback Spencer Perez. "When we were meeting all of the other players, we didn't want to act phony. We didn't want to stay quiet, we wanted to be ourselves. All of us that were selected are very outgoing."

With the North trailing 7-0 at the half, Perez hit Lakeland's 6-foot-5 receiver Jason Fuehring in stride down the left sideline for a 28-yard touchdown.

"(Fuehring's) 6-foot-5 so I'm going to throw it up," said Perez who was 4-of-6 for 58 yards passing. "The cornerback's very small compared to him. When you get that fade, I'm going to throw it in his vicinity."

St. Anthony tight end Nate Ortiz, a Delaware State commit, was blocking on the scoring play and on most of the 14 plays on the drive, which chewed 10:06 off of the clock.

Caldwell's Tyler Condit returned an interception 40 yards down to the South 17 with 9:21 left in the game.  Elizabeth's Elijah Hughes broke the tie on the next play when he raced to his left for the game-winning touchdown.

St. Anthony tight end Nate Ortiz (right) delivers a block in the first half. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

North-South Football Photo Gallery