By Scott Stump – Senior Editor
The votes are in, and this week’s fan voting has a few surprises. It also shows the parity between top 10 teams that the squads ranked from No. 4 to No. 10 are separated by hundredths of a point in the voting.
The teams are listed in order with their composite score in parentheses after each team. The score comes from the average position that each team was voted. For instance, No. 1 Toms River North has a score of 2.24, which means the Mariners mostly received first- and second-place votes with some third place and lower votes thrown in.
The conclusions from this week’s rankings are that head-to-head does not mean everything to people, as Long Branch is ahead of Wall despite losing to the Crimson Knights, and Toms River East is ahead of Southern despite losing to the Rams. If you didn’t get your votes in this week, be sure to check the homepage and Football Central early next week after this weekend’s action.
I also added some comments from voters out of the nearly 80 that we received.
The Fans’ Top 10
1. Toms River North (2.24)
Richie from Toms River – TR North still remains #1 in spite of a poor first-half appearance against
Brick Memorial. Offense came up flat until second half. Starting RB
(Marlon) Brinson returned to action after injury but was a little rusty until
4th Quarter. Defense played solid all throughout.
I hope this is wake-up call for North, who will need to play at the top
of their game for showdown against Southern in two weeks. Also saw Long
Branch vs RBC, which was a good game for LB. (Travis) Patterson played great on
both sides of the ball but his running game was top notch. Read blocks
well, hides behind his linemen, and always manages to grind out yards by
keeping his legs moving. A coach’s dream.
2. Long Branch (4.25)
Doug from Long Branch: Long Branch will be Number 1 by the end of the year.
Steve from Shrewsbury: LB beat RBC at RBC so you give them
props for that. Coach George did a great job preparing his team. RBC QB
was hurt but played. LB probably beats Wall if they don’t go for two
with 0:02 in regulation. LB basically fumbled away the game vs Wall in
the 2nd half. TRN win over Midd. South not looking that great after a
Freehold team that lost to RBR beats South in the Swamp (in
regulation). Wall beats South if the Wall RB (Blaze Caponegro) played in the 2nd half.
Even if the Wall RB is in the game for the 2-point conversion, with
Wright playing at wide receiver, Campbell does not make that game-saving tackle from his safety position because he’s helping to defend
vs. Wright instead of making a game-saving tackle. It is going to be a
great Wall vs. RBC game this Friday.
From Anonymous: I am a Raritan parent and the teams are
very weak in their division this year. I would be very
surprised to see any of those teams in the top 10, including Point
Boro. I couldn’t imagine a team beating RBC, but Long Branch did it in
a close game, so they get my vote as #1.
3. Wall (4.95)
Joe from Howell: Wall is a great team. They could have beaten Middletown South and they
beat Long Branch. Howell is also a real good team who will continue to
make noise.
4. Toms River East (6.37)
Ed from Barnegat: TR East is not going away!
5. Howell (6.62)
Jake from Howell: Howell is the best team in the Shore
because they have the veteran leadership to run the table. Out of the
22 starters on offense and defense, 20 are seniors in the Rebel
program. This veteran leadership team with a high-powered offensive
playbook will make Howell the team to beat in the shore.
6. Freehold (6.74)
From “Just a Mom” from Freehold: Freehold has proven they are a tough competitor this year. These boys
are playing for themselves as well as for the entire student body and
community, which has been through so much this past year. Its a force
that’s beyond us.
Rich from Rumson: Freehold Boro lost to Red Bank Regional and beat
Middletown South, who is now a two-loss team. They are the most
overrated team in the Shore
Brian from Freehold: Even though Freehold lost to Red Bank, you have to give them credit for
beating Middletown South after losing to them the past three years in
great defeats. This was a big one for them, so they deserve to be up
there. They worked for this. They are the real deal now.
Frank from Middletown: Beating Middletown South is still an automatic move up in the rankings.
7. Point Boro (6.88)
Ed from Brick: TRN by far the best this week!
Wall will be tested by RBC.
I think Holmdel can beat Boro and will.
East will beat North on Turkey weekend.
Anthony from Manasquan: Maybe Point Boro knows how to get it
done in every game. It’s not the score that counts, it is getting the ‘W’
that matters most. Give them the respect that they deserve.
From Anonymous: The only thing for sure is TRN #1, Wall
#2, and LB #3! Pt. Boro and Holmdel would lose to the three Patriot
Division teams and how could a ranked team lose to Red Bank? Good luck with
this one!
8. Southern (6.96)
Bruce from Manahawkin: The big dogs rule: TRN, Southern, TRE. Long Branch, Wall and Howell are
tough teams.Freehold is having a great year. Pt Boro and Holmdel are
undefeated. Middletown South is barely hanging in. Lacey and Asbury are
knocking on the door. RBC must beat a good team to get back in.
9. Red Bank Catholic (7.20)
From Anonymous: RBC kept Long Branch from gaining over 175 yards. How are they not in
your (DigitalSports) top 10 from losing to your third-ranked Long Branch by six points? RBC played a terrible game versus Long Branch, but they are far
ahead of Holmdel, Point Boro and Freehold.
Andrew from Colts Neck: I don’t think RBC deserved to be droppd out of the Top 10 after a tough loss to a good LB team.
10. Middletown South (7.96)
Mary from Brick: Middletown South should no longer be in the top 10. They lost twice and almost lost to Wall.
The next five: Holmdel (8.49); Lacey (9.45); Asbury Park (9.81); Keansburg (10.55); Jackson (10.57).
Some general comments:
From Anonymous: The senior class at Holmdel went
undefeated as freshmen and brought in Glenn Grainger from Central with a
great coach in Andy Carlstrom. Why are people still not giving Holmdel
respect? I doubt they will get it if they beat Point Boro
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Julia from Lacey: I think Lacey is definitely
a top 5 team. They beat TRN in a game scrimmage and lost two very close
games to two very good teams in Long Branch and Howell. I think they’re
going to finish the season strong and show what they’re made of. |
Jersey from Lakewood: Jackson is the most underrated team in the
Shore. I saw the Holmdel vs Mon Don game this past weekend. Regardless of
Holmdel’s pristine record, they couldn’t hang with the big schools in the
Shore Conference.
Tom from Hazlet: TR North takes the cake no doubt about
it. Howell has so many skilled players you can’t leave them out. Long
Branch, RBC, TR East and Wall are the same in my book and Wall against
RBC coming up this week determines that. Although undefeated, Point
Boro isn’t that good so they take No. 7, and the same deal with Holmdel who
is mediocre ballclub. Rumson is nine and should be undefeated and 10
is Patriot Division counterpart Keansburg. Eleven goes to Asbury, who by
the way would not beat Rumson due to poor ability to stop the pass. And
the rest goes from there.
From Anonymous: Freehold’s win really lowers the
perception of Middletown South as a great football team. Point Boro
deserves more respect in the rankings. Toms River North’s failure to
score till the fourth quarter questions their abilities. Do they have
enough weapons to advance in the playoffs? They can’t always rely on a
comeback. TRE should be in top 3.
From Anonymous: For all those people that jumped off
the Howell bandwagon, they did more than prove they’re a good team. They
not only beat Brick, they pounded them. Howell bullied Brick the entire game and put up 400 yards of offense on supposedly one
of the best defenses in the Shore. Howell is a top 4 team in the shore
along with TRN, Long Branch, and TRE. Like I have said before, Midd. South is NOT good and doesn’t have a strong team this year. GET OFF THE
MIDD. SOUTH BANDWAGON EVERYONE. TRN is number 1 in the Shore and
followed by Long Branch, Howell, and TRE.
From Anonymous: TRN is unbeaten and did so against
solid teams. Wall lost on a 2-pt. conversion to a tough team but has
bounced back since. TRE has since bounced back from their loss. Long
Branch is scary athletic and has lost tight ones and beat RBC. Southern
is dangerous even without Carson, and with him they are very good. Point
Boro played hard against an athletic SJV setting up a contest with
Holmdel for essentially the division. I have them ranked ahead of
Freehold Boro because they beat Freehold in a game scrimmage this year.
RBC’s loss to Long Branch proves they were playing a cake schedule. MTS
has tough losses but is still good. Freehold is good enough to contend.
Holmdel vs. Boro will be a good one.
E-mail: [email protected]
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