THE ELITE EIGHT

The way the Shore Conference has played the last few seasons, I need to
just get a cot set up in Rutgers Stadium for the first weekend in
December every year.

Eight teams are in the sectional finals, which I believe ties the
Shore Conference record for most teams in the finals in one year. The
Shore is also guaranteed to have at least one state title, as Asbury
Park and Keansburg will square off at 5 p.m. on Nov. 30 at Rutgers in
the Central Jersey Group I final, follwed by Howell’s meeting with West Windsor South in the Central Jersey Group IV final. The Titans are trying to win their
first title since the Billy Shea-led squad of 1996, while the Blue
Bishops have not won a title since 1984.

It’s the first time two Shore teams have met in a CJ I final
since Keyport beat Shore, 6-3, in 1998 to win the championship. What a
story Asbury Park has become, just steamrollering over everyone in
sight, and its only loss was to Rumson-Fair Haven, which is in the
Central Jersey Group II final, in the season opener. For a Group I
school to have the army of athletes, particularly in the backfield,
that Asbury Park has, is rare. I know a lot of people refuse to accept
that these teams should be ranked over Group III and Group IV teams
that are out of the playoffs or lost earlier in the playoffs, but to
the victor go the spoils. It’s pretty hard to tell a team in the
preseason that if they win every game on their schedule or win a state
title that they have no shot at ever being ranked over a Group III or
IV team that might finish, say, 7-3. That argument has been raging since
the beginning of time and it will probably never end.

I went to the game on the other side of the bracket, Keansburg’s
53-30 demolition of Highland Park, and the Titans’ offense is just
unstoppable right now. There should be plenty of fireworks in that game
at Rutgers, that’s for sure. QB Anthony Valle had plenty of time to throw
on most plays and made big play after big play, which is a credit to a Titans’ offensive line that was a
question mark when the season began because of graduation. Joe Laguna
has also brought it up a notch in the absence of his injured twin
brother. He has become the horse they can rely on to run the ball after
doing most of his damage at linebacker all season. Justin is ready to
return from a fibula injury and should get a handful of carries on
Thanksgiving against winless Mater Dei, whom the Titans have to beat to
claim their share of the Patriot Division title with two other state
finalists – Asbury Park and Rumson. Justin was definitely getting antsy, pacing the sidelines in full pads as his teammates went up and down the field against Highland Park.

Junior wideout/defensive back Scott Pillar has also emerged as a
force on both sides of the ball as a ball-hawking defensive back and a
dangerous complement to wideout Josh Bakala. Pillar and Rumson’s John
Lembeck are two excellent second options for those two teams.
Saturday also marked my first visit this season to the Titan Cafe, one of the
best snackbars in the business. I hammered down four pork roll
sandwiches at halftime like I was going to the electric chair and they
were just as good as I remember from last year. If you don’t have a
heart condition (which I may have developed on Saturday), you need to give them a shot when you’re in the ‘Burg.
Also, the Titans came out to a Dropkick Murphys song out of halftime,
which is also near and dear to my heart.

My pick to win South Jersey Group III, Lacey, is looking awfully
good right now. This week it was Mike Mancini with a big game at
running back in a rout of Winslow Township. The Lions’ two losses are
to a pair of state finalists, Long Branch and Howell, which just shows
how insane the Shore Conference has been this year that a team that is
blowing through a state bracket has a pair of losses. Lacey is building its own mini-dynasty in the shadow of Middletown South as the Lions have now reached three straight sectional finals and are gunning for a repeat championship.

     Speaking of blowing through the bracket, how about Howell’s 49-20
win over Montgomery? Not only did the Rebels set a school record with
their ninth win of the season, senior QB Tim Lamirande broke his own
school record by throwing for 355 yards after throwing for 350 against
Lacey during the regular season. Plus, senior David Hayes ran for over
100 yards for the second straight playoff game. They beat their
opponent in the Central Jersey Group IV final, West Windsor South, in
the playoffs last year.
     Lamirande is right there in the battle for the DigitalSports first
team quarterback, but Valle, Rumson’s Matt Wassel, Toms River North’s
Anthony Penna, Long Branch’s Isaiah Hall and others are right there as
well and they all have championship games to separate themselves from
the pack.
     Long Branch walloped Monroe, 39-7, and it’s kind of weird how we
just take Long Branch’s dominance for granted at this point. In the
preseason, the Green Wave weren’t even ranked (I’ll take the blame on
that one), but it’s not like people were raving about this team. The
clear difference has been the play of the offensive and defensive
lines, led by Tajh Miller and Michael Luke. They have a lot of the same
skill players (Isaiah Hall, Shawn Brown, Travis Patterson, Donte
Gilliard, Larry Morris) that they had last year, but they are way more
productive because the offensive line is simply way better. It always
comes down to big boys up front, unless you have Knowshon Moreno (he of
the “top 5 on the Heisman watch” on ESPN.com).

The Green Wave will have to play their best game of the season to beat
Moorestown, which people have been raving about who saw them rout
Middletown South and Wall. However, the Green Wave have faced every
other obstacle in their way and gotten through it, so why should this
be any different? They’ll just make Rutgers their home the same way
that they make everyone else’s home field their own.
I’ll have some Thanksgiving features coming this week as well as some more blog posts, so stay tuned.

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