WEEK TWO THOUGHTS

Brick at TR North, Manasquan at Barnegat, St. John Vianney at Holmdel lead the way in intriguing match-ups.

I apologize for the delay since my last post, I’ve just been trying to get a handle on the schedule now that we are producing three shows (DigitalSports Report, Schwartz Pick ‘Em Show and The Fifth Down Highlight Show) a week. I will be blogging more regularly, as last weekend and this week were a little crazy with having to run to my brother’s engagement party in Pennsylvania after the games on Saturday and then digesting 21 game films for the Fifth Down show on Sunday/Monday before working on other projects/shows throughout the week.
      Anyone who missed The Fifth Down highlight show should head to Football Central
to check it out. It will soon have a permanent home on the homepage for
you to check it out every week. The footage came from either games we
shot or game videos supplied to us by specific teams.
     I also would like to thank the following head coaches/assistants
for helping us put together the inaugural Fifth Down and for helping to
promote the sport: Mark Costantino (Shore); Rob Davis (Barnegat);
Joe Trezza (Middletown North); Lou Vircillo and Craig Cicardo (Lacey);
Dan George (Long Branch); Steve Antonucci and Andy Nicholes (Middletown
South); Nick Giglio (Point Beach); Chuck Donohue (Southern); Bob
Generelli/Rob Nucci/Anthony Petruzzi (Raritan); Andy Carlstrom
(Holmdel); Cory Davies (Howell); Sal Spampanato (Monmouth); Shane
Fallon (Rumson-FH); Chip LaBarca (Toms River North).
    Now that I have a better handle on the schedule, I’ll get more stuff on here. Also, check back tomorrow, I will have the updates on the Shore college alumni and a quick look at the games the alumni are playing this weekend. Every week from now on, I also will have a notebook and players of the week, so I will add Week One’s players of the week and honorable mention to next week’s so that all the players who stood out will be recognized. The problem with this week is that the days were unfortunately still only 24 hours long.
      As for this weekend’s Shore Conference action, the game that fascinates me the most is Manasquan at Barnegat. It’s crazy to think that a second-year varsity program is seen as the favorite against a Shore standard-bearer like Manasquan, but the Bengals actually have way more players with varsity experience. Almost the entire lineup graduated for Manasquan, and more than just talent, I think the Warriors are really looking to see who will emerge as the clear leaders of the team. Last year, Boston College freshman Brad Newman was not only a star, but a clear vocal team leader along with several other seniors, and I think the Warriors might be searching for that right now on the heels of their 10-7 upset loss to Holmdel in the opener.
      What makes Barnegat so dangerous is that the Bengals can spread the field on offense. That didn’t work last year because Manasquan’s front four just demolished everything in their path and were on top of the quarterback in 2 seconds. I don’t think that’s the case this year, and if Barnegat QB Brandon Clarke has time to throw, he can do some damage. The best way to beat Manasquan is to spread the Warriors out and run around them, rather than line up and go right at them.
      Manasquan’s best bet to win this game is to control the clock with the running game, and really get RB Chazz Coursey a few holes because he has breakaway speed. The Warriors’ offense is not really built to come from behind, so if Barnegat scores on a few lightning strikes in the passing game and goes up by two TDs or so, the Bengals will be in a good spot. We’ll see. We’ll have coverage from this game, so be sure to check back on Friday night/Saturday morning.
      Our game of the week is Brick at Toms River North, where the Mariners will look to keep it rolling after a 49-3 win over Toms River South in the opener. If TR North QB Anthony Penna is able to effectively throw the ball in this game, Brick is in trouble because that will really open up the running game. A big key for Brick will be getting the early lead to try and sit on the ball and take the Mariners’ crowd out of it. Penna’s running ability could also be a major factor because if he is able to get outside the pocket and do damage, that’s another big advantage to North. I will also have a feature on a key player for the Mariners up on the site on Friday, so look for that.
      This could be a big statement game for Brick QB Jordan Roshala. If he outplays Penna, who looks like one of the top QBs in the Shore, Roshala will put his name right up there with some of the top signal-callers in the Shore. That doesn’t mean throwing for five touchdowns, it could just mean playing turnover-free, smart football and picking his spots.
      As for St. John Vianney-Holmdel, this is a really interesting game because you have St. John Vianney’s playmakers (Charles Davis, Chris Mayo, Richard Esdaile) against a Holmdel defense that was impressive in the opener. If Holmdel QB Ryan Haslett can pull the offense up a notch, the Hornets could be trouble. Also, while Davis clearly has the makings of a star for the next four years at quarterback, he is a freshman, so you know Holmdel will send some blitzes at him to try and get him to make a mistake after a lights-out performance in the opener against Raritan.
      Also, how is this – after hundreds of entries into our pick ’em contest, the voting is split exactly 50-50 on who will win the SJV-Holmdel game as of Thursday afternoon. The next closest game is Jackson Liberty-Wildwood, where the contestants have given Liberty a 51.8%-48.2% edge in favor of Liberty winning.
      Speaking of Raritan, the Rockets could be down to their third-string quarterback against Monsignor Donovan if Brian Kalarjian’s ankle injury keeps him sidelined. Even if he does play, it wouldn’t be anywhere near 100 percent. The Rockets will be retiring jersey No. 22 at halftime in honor of current Monmouth University quarterback Andrew Mandeville, the greatest QB in Raritan history. Unfortunately, he is out of eligibility and can’t suit up and play.
      Also this weekend, Point Boro, Marlboro and Freehold all play their openers after starting the season with byes. I wonder if they have pep rallies before bye weeks. “Let’s go, beat boredom!”
      We have analysis from all the games this weekend on the Football Pick ‘Em show. Don’t forget to get your picks in for this week’s contest, where you can be like Keansburg resident Justin Bellew, who won a $100 gift certificate to Monmouth Mall for beating me in the picks last week.

      As for some quick thoughts from Week One action, I think that Asbury Park looks like the third-best team in the Patriot Division behind front-runners Keansburg and Rumson-FH. The Blue Bishops rolled up over 300 yards on the ground in a 35-14 loss. A win over Shore this weekend would cement Asbury’s status in that spot and could potentially be a big victory when it comes time to qualifying for the state playoffs. Also, Rumson better shore up its run defense before it butts heads with Keansburg and its offensive arsenal in Week Three.
      I think Holmdel’s 10-7 win over Manasquan could be indicative of how it will win big games this year – with hard-nosed defense and enough offense to get the job done. Several people that I talked to who were there said they thought Holmdel QB Ryan Haslett has the chance to be one of the Shore’s best. If he can bring the offense into the 20-25 points per game range, this team could turn some heads after not generating much buzz in the preseason.
     For St. John Vianney, it certainly helps that freshman QB Charles Davis was able to step right in for Steve Zrowka, who transferred to St. Peter’s Prep, and be effective. Davis had two 70-plus yard TD runs against Raritan and has all the makings of a major player for years to come.
     After watching the highlights of Red Bank Catholic’s 55-12 win over Matawan, I don’t know if there’s a better or more exciting offense in the Shore except for maybe Howell. I think I may have lowballed the Caseys by ranking them at No. 6. Hey, just keep winning and it all takes care of itself.
     Everyone who I’ve talked to about Southern’s 6-0 win over Jackson said that Rams junior linebacker Glenn Carson is every bit as good as the hype. It will be interesting to see when it comes time for him to decide on what he wants to do in college, because he is also a Division I-A wrestling recruit.
     Two teams breaking in young offensive lines got off to slow starts, but really settled in during the second half of their openers. Middletown South and Keansburg only scored a combined three points in the first half of their season openers, but came back to outscore Neptune and Keyport by a combined 46-0 in the second half. Look for both of those teams to be rolling from the outset this week.

E-mail: [email protected]