TWO IN THE BAG, FOUR STILL OUT THERE

     The Shore Conference is 2-1 in state sectional finals so far, which is
also my record in the picks as West Deptford took down Point Boro,
31-17, to thwart my pick in the South Jersey Group II final.
      As anyone who has followed it this season, the story of Asbury
Park and its rise to Central Jersey Group I champion has been nothing
short of phenomenal. There’s not a whole lot more to say that hasn’t
been said, other than the fact that this has got to be the Patriot
Division and CJ I favorite next year with Will Johnson, George Stephens, Derrell
Bell and others returning.
     Bell has mirrored the rise of the Blue Bishops, seemingly showing
up as the Man With No Name in Week Two, and now putting himself
squarely on college recruiters’ radar with a sensational,
three-touchdown performance in a 32-18 win over Keansburg in the final
on Friday night. He is the scariest type of wideout for opposing
defensive coordinators because you can have your secondary in position
to make a play and he will simply leap over them or wrestle the ball
loose and make a play.
    It’s also a credit to offensive coordinator Matt Ardizzone that he always seems to put his talented skill position players in the best position to use their talents and keep the other team guessing who it’s going to be next. After seeing the work they’ve done this year, I am going to ask head coach Don Sofilkanich and his staff to please take over my New York Knicks, who maybe they could do a resurrection job on after Isiah Thomas is strapped to a rocket and launched into outer space by disgruntled Knickerbocker fans like myself.
      You could also tell that the eagerness of Keansburg coach Brian
Kmak to get another crack at the Blue Bishops after losing 42-26 to
them during the regular season didn’t go unnoticed by the Asbury Park
players. When asked why the Bishops punched in a final touchdown by
Rashawn Roberts on Friday night with 10 seconds left in the game when
they could’ve taken a knee, Roberts talked about being “greedy”
because it was a state final and said, “I didn’t like their coach’s
mouth, so we ran it in.” I think Kmak was more just being competitive
when he said he felt that the Titans didn’t give Asbury Park their best
shot the first time around, so they wanted another shot. It’s just
interesting how players interpret certain things and use it as fuel.
      Kmak was gracious in defeat, and so were the other Titans. I give
a lot of credit to seniors Scott Pillar and Joe Laguna for doing video
interviews and standing and answering questions after a tough loss to
end the season. Those are guys that immediately command respect because
Laguna made 13 tackles with one arm while fighting through an elbow
injury that would have sidelined him in a game with lesser stakes,
while Pillar grabbed two TD passes and made an interception, refusing
to go down without a fight. Senior quarterback Anthony Valle also battled right to the end with everything he had.
      In the second game of the night at Rutgers Stadium, it was the perfect storm that could be reduced to simple math: A determined Howell and its spread offense + a Mercer County team from the Colonial Valley Conference = Howell, 46-13. West Windsor’s best defense against prolific quarterback Tim Lamirande (4 TD passes, 1 rushing TD) is pictured above – knocking his contact lenses out. Unfortunately for them, that only resulted in Lamirande taking two plays off in the first half.
      Rarely do you see such a coaching re-invention so late into a career like what has been done by Howell’s Cory Davies. Now in his 17th season, he has re-invented this program the past three years with the spread offense. Obviously, it helps that the Rebels have had the strong all-around athletes to run it, but it has changed everything. I know everybody in the Shore is in love with the flexbone offense right now, but that spread offense has got to start um, spreading, although clearly not many teams have the depth of athletic talent that Howell had this season.
      It was to the point that the Rebels were trying things just because they could. They scored a touchdown on a hook and lateral, and then on the ensuing PAT attempt, picked the ball up, pitched it out and threw a halfback option pass for a two-point conversion. It got erased because of a penalty, but it just showed that Howell could basically do whatever it wanted. Later in the game, Lamirande was in trouble in the backfield and he turned around and saw senior running back David Hayes about six yards behind him and just threw the ball backwards to him like something out of backyard football. Hayes, of course, then ran 20 yards for the game-capping touchdown. Just a fun game to watch if you were a Rebels fan, plus it removed all suspense from the program’s first state sectional championship.
      One funny twist is that Howell’s run defense was once again shredded in a state sectional final. The Rebels gave up 253 yards rushing to West Windsor’s David Twamley one year after surrendering 298 and four TDs to Hunterdon Central’s Mike Weisel. Just an oddball stat considering the difference in the two games. Once again, congrats to the Rebels, who finished the job for former players like last year’s running back Eric Feehan, who I ran into at halftime at the snackbar. He is now a student at East Carolina, but was there with a big smile on his face just like all of the other Rebels’ faithful.
     One other odd tidbit from the two games at Rutgers Stadium. In the two games, a combined 17 touchdowns were scored, yet only a combined three extra points were made, including none in the Asbury Park-Keansburg game. Also, only one two-point conversion out of out eight was converted.
      As for Point Boro, looking at the stats you can tell it was a weird game where turnovers and special teams were king. Point Boro had a 317-168 advantage in total yards, but four interceptions and a kick return for a touchdown by West Deptford were the difference. Still, as Bob Badders wrote, the Panthers will be back. This program shows no signs of slowing down and could certainly be right back in the SJ II final again next year for the fourth time in five years. It also looks like the Panthers’ faithful better get used to head coach Calvin Thompson going for it on fourth down deep in the Panthers’ own territory, as he did several times again on Friday night.
      Now it’s off to Toms River North, where we’ll see if the Mariners can finish the year undefeated when they take on Mainland in the South Jersey Group IV final, as there are still four championships out there for Shore teams to claim. We also will have plenty of stories and video highlights from Lacey’s showdown at home against Shawnee in the South Jersey Group III final as well. Good luck to both teams.