It's hardly the way a coach would draw it up. Cedar Grove couldn't get its defense off the field in its football game against Hoboken, only stopping the Redwings once the entire night.

And yet the Panthers pulled out a thrilling 33-32 victory, thanks to a huge rushing effort from Dan DiPrenda and Hoboken's struggles on two-point conversions. The Redwings missed four of five conversion tries, including a decisive attempt in the final minute after scoring a touchdown to cut the lead to a single point.

DiPrenda ran 15 times for 170 yards and scored four touchdowns for Cedar Grove. His 67-yard touchdown burst got the Panthers back in the game after Hoboken took an 18-7 lead in the second quarter.

Sammy Ventola completed 10-of-12 passes for 123 yards for the Panthers. Four of those passes went to Joseph Rufo, who had 67 receiving yards and also threw the only touchdown pass of the game, a five-yarder on an option play to Max DeVito.

Hoboken piled up the rushing yards throughout the night, holding the ball for lengthy stretches of time. Quarterback Wilden Germain ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns, while Tariq-Ali Felton had 120 rushing yards and scored twice.

After Cedar Grove took a 33-26 lead with over nine minutes left, Hoboken held the ball until Germain's one-yard touchdown run with 19 seconds to go. As they had all night, the Redwings went for two, but Germain's pass fell incomplete.

Cedar Grove is now 1-1 heading into a showdown with arch-rival Verona this coming weekend. Hoboken, which beat Verona in Week One, is also 1-1.

For sports video highlights of this New Jersey and North Jersey Super Football Conference high school football game, click play in the box at left.