By NICK SABATELLO

Herald Sports Writer

HOPATCONG — Not even Mother Nature can stop Joe Martinek.

Sure, she slowed him down by postponing Saturday's game with rain that made the field unplayable.

But by having the game moved to Sunday at 4 p.m., she was just delaying the inevitable.

Super Martinek came out of his phone booth to save the Chiefs, who were in the process of blowing a 21-point lead, and propel them to a 27-21 victory over rival Lenape Valley.

But this time he did it with a twist.

By now it's hard for Martinek to surprise anybody.

Since starting at tailback as a freshman, he's led Hopatcong to 24 victories. Most of the damage has been done with his state record 7,252 (and counting) career rushing yards. He's also been known to take over a game on defense as one of the Sussex County Interscholastic League's top safeties.

On Sunday, Martinek's weapon of choice was a 41-yard punt to pin Lenape Valley inside its own 3-yard line to squash the Patriots' late fourth-quarter comeback.

The punt with just over two minutes remaining in the game was the exclamation point on a typical Martinek masterpiece. He ran for 230 yards on 47 carries, scored three touchdowns and forced a fumble.

"I was just trying to get the punt off," the always humble Martinek said. "I was lucky the wind wasn't blowing too hard. I don't know how it happened."

Neither could either sideline or both sets of stands, but no one was willing to chalk up anything No. 14 does to luck. With the victory, the Chiefs have won 21 of their last 23 dating back to 2004. And since losing to Pope John, 31-0, in Week 1, they've won seven straight to put themselves in position to be the No. 2 seed in the North I, Group II playoffs.

"Home-field advantage is huge," said Hopatcong quarterback Nick Del Corpo, who's 1-yard touchdown run proved to be the game winner. "When we play here at home under the lights we come out really fired up."

And they did on Sunday. The game began with the sun shining and the lights on but at about 4:15 p.m. and after three Martinek touchdowns it seemed as though the Patriots were ready for bed early.

But Mike Groome took the smiles off of the Chiefs with a 40-yard touchdown run that made the score 21-7 at half.

That was only the begining.

Ryan Mendia's sack of Del Corpo that forced a fumble at Hopatcong's own 5-yard line, which Mendia recovered, swung the momentum toward the Patriots. Quarterback Rob Klinck reduced the Hopatcong lead to seven on the first play of the fourth with a 1-yard run.

"They're one of our rivals, you know they are gonna play us hard," Hopatcong senior cornerback A.J. Pagano said. "They play us hard every year. They go the momentum on their side at one point and they took advantage of it."

After the Lenape Valley score, Pagano gathered his teammates together and began leading with his words. And by the way he was shouting it didn't seem like he was speaking about momentum. After the short speech, Pagano began leading with his actions.

On Hopatcong's next series, the Chiefs faced their first of three third downs. The ball was in the hands of Martinek but he hardly had to make a move following a Pagano block that knocked a Patriot defender off his feet.

"When I see a block like that you know the other team is going to be a little cautious after that," Martinek said.

And Martinek took advantage, leading a 16-play drive that took about eight minutes off the clock.

But Lenape Valley still wouldn't stay down.

Klinck connected with running back Rob Borgstrom, who turned a 15-yard pass into a 66-yard touchdown with 3:02 remaining.

Next, it was another Hopatcong senior's turn to step up but it came from a second stringer.

On the ensuing Patriot onside kick, Hopatcong's Fred Hemmerich made an athletic play to get to the ball and was rewarded with three Lenape Valley defenders plowing him over at the same time. But Hemmerich held on.

"That's a tribute to him," Hopatcong coach Paul Reduzzi said. "Freddy doesn't get a lot of playing time. He's worked real hard every day in practice. He's behind some great kids. But we needed a sub at that point we put him in and he stepped up and made a great play. It's good to see a veteran kid is ready to do that."

The Chiefs don't have a shortage of senior leadership and on Sunday it was evident. It comes from all places but so do the Patriots.

Sean Pruden anchored a Lenape Valley defensive line that held Martinek to 13 yards on his final nine carries of the fourth quarter and forced a three-and-out.

It seemed as a missed extra point by the Chiefs was about to cost them the game. Lenape Valley had all the momentum and surely it would find a way to score to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season.

Until Martinek punted that thought right out of everyone's head.

Hopatcong 27, Lenape Valley 21

Lenape Valley (4-4) 0 7 0 14 — 21

Hopatcong (7-1) 14 7 0 6 — 27

Scoring Summary

First quarter

H: Martinek 43 run (Kyle Imroth kick)

H: Martinek 11 run (Imroth kick)

Second quarter

H: Martinek 9 run (Imroth kick)

L: Mike Groome 40 run (Klinck kick)

Fourth quarter

L: Klinck 1 run (Klinck kick)

H: Del Corpo 1 run (kick failed)

L: Borgstrom 66 pass from Klinck (Klinck kick)

Statistics

Rushing Yards: Lenape Valley14-83: Groome 7-61, Borgstrom 4-18, Jim Hamill 1-2, Klinck 1-1. Hopatcong 59-296: Martinek 47-230, Carl Juskus 6-35, Del Corpo 4-19, A.J. Pagano 2-12.

Passing Yards: Lenape Valley: Klinck 5-14-2-94. Hopatcong: Del Corpo 2-3-0-27.

Receiving: Lenape Valley: Borgstrom 2-75, Pat Doran 3-19. Hopatcong: Pagano 1-14, Juskus 1-13.