So far, so good for the Shore Conference, making sure I will be running around like a madman in two weeks at state final time with four teams in from Friday night’s action.
I took in Rumson-Fair Haven’s 14-7 win over Holmdel, and outside of stuff in the game story and the videos on our homepage, I have to give some credit to the Holmdel fans and school as it was a great crowd on both sides last night. The Hornets came out to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and the place went nuts. Great atmosphere and a good game between two solid teams. Bill Baronowsky also does a great job of announcing for the Hornets, and he is a mainstay at a lot of their athletic events. Holmdel also swallowed the loss with class when sometimes players can lash out when an undefeated season goes down in flames.
In a bigger upset, I actually wrote a preview story that had real bearing on the game, as Rumson’s defense came to play with a championship effort (we’ll see if the Keansburg defense mentioned in the article can deliver today). The Bulldogs executed their game plan pretty much to perfection, and also dodged a potentially huge momentum shift when they lost a fumble on the opening possession of the game and the home crowd was going bananas. The defense forced someone else besides quarterback Ryan Haslett to beat them running the ball, and the Hornets could not break through. The instant Holmdel had to start dropping back and passing frequently, it was in trouble, and a big reason was the stout play of Rumson’s defensive line, led by junior Taylor Brown.
Rumson’s offense did exactly what it had to d, and a bunch of credit must go to the Bulldogs’ offensive line, which gave Matt Wassel enough time to throw and three- and five-step drops and helped pave the way for Ryan Korn to run for 90 yards and a touchdown against one of the Shore’s top defenses and top defensive lines. Wassel was nearly perfect at 14-for-18 with zero interceptions, and he nickel and dimed Holmdel’s defense with 7- and 8-yard passes to Ryan Kirchner and John Lembeck. It was reminiscent of Rumson’s upset of Raritan that got the Bulldogs into the state playoffs last year. Just keep hitting underneath routes and move the chains, and let the defense do the rest.
It will be interesting to see if RFH rests anyone against Red Bank Catholic in their Thanksgiving game on Friday. At this point, the Bulldogs could care less about rankings and care totally about bringing home their first state sectional championship in school history.
In other action, my “there’s no way Moorestown could close a 38-point gap on Middletown South in a year” theory was right up there with, “The earth is flat.” The Quakers, who lost 38-0 to South in the Central Jersey Group III fina last year, ended the Eagles’ run of four straight sectional titles with a resounding 38-7 victory, and several in attendance said that it is going to take a monumental effort by Long Branch or Monroe to beat them in the final. Still, great run for Middletown South, which I’m sure will return with a vengeance next year considering they have played in a state sectional final every year since 2001 before this season. That’s also one of South’s more lop-sided losses since a 24-0 setback to Wall in the 2002 CJ III final
Howell has gone from “the little team that could” two years ago to a playoff juggernaut, as the Rebels stormed to their second straight Central Jersey Group IV final with a 49-20 rout of Montgomery. It’s looking like the Rebels are going to make school history for the third straight year by bringing home their first state title.
Point Boro has quietly become a juggernaut of its own, advancing to the South Jersey Group II final for the third time in four years with a 20-14 win over Bridgeton. The big news was the return of 6-foot-5 wideout Bob Stowe, who was initially thought to have torn his ACL against Raritan during the season but it turned out to be a bone bruise. Good to see Stowe back, and that is a major weapon for the Panthers, who will host the state final at Al Saner Field in two weeks.
Finally, so much for the theory that having to beat the same team twice is extremely difficult. Toms River North rolled over Southern, 33-0, to advance to its first South Jersey Group IV final since 1997. The championship has to come through Gernerd Field, and my pick from the other side of the bracket, Mainland, will be coming to Toms River.
Also, in a quick regular-season note, Monsignor Donovan won a wild 49-32 game over Manchester in their season finale. Congrats to the Griffins and head coach Dan Duddy for an excellent turnaround season, from 0-10 last year to 4-6 this year. Super job by Mon Don, particularly its turnaround offensively in running the newly installed flexbone scheme under QB Jon Curtin.
Now I’m headed off to Keansburg for the Titans’ showdown with Highland Park, and hopefully I’ll see some of the game between double-fisting pork roll sandwiches from the Titan Cafe.
E-mail: [email protected]
Processing your request, Please wait....
