Monthly Archives: September 2015

Sep 26 2015
Football, The Home News Tribune

Barnwell, Ashley power Piscataway over Edison

PISCATAWAY — Elijah Barnwell rushed for 202 yards and a touchdown and Zaire Ashley punished Edison’s interior defense with 77 yards and two scores as the Piscataway High School football team ran away with a 37-6 decision on Friday night.

Barnwell rushed for 145 yards and a 67-yard touchdown jaunt in the opening half and had a pair of scores called back due to holding penalties in the third quarter to lead the Chiefs to their third straight win to open the season.

“It frustrates me for a little bit, but I just reload,” Barnwell said of the touchdowns taken off the board due to penalties. “But I’m just happy that we were winning and we came back the next plays and got it done tonight.”

Barnwell and Ashley combined for a powerful one-two punch, with Ashley doing most of his work between the tackles and Barnwell gashing the Eagles defense outside the numbers. The junior tailback said he tells Ashley during the game that he’s simply too much to deal with at times.

“I motivate him every time he’s about to get the ball; I’ll tell him that the defense can’t stop him and he does the same to me,” Barnwell said.

The Chiefs jumped out to a 10-0 lead after the first quarter, thanks to a 10-yard score from Ashley and the first of three field goals from Mike Stalenyj. After Haaziq Daniels found pay dirt from two yards out for an Edison touchdown, Barnwell’s 67-yard touchdown sandwiched between two more Stalenyj field goals put the hosts up 23-6 at the half.

“I was really excited that Mike did a good job with the kicking tonight,” Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins said. “Those are really important, down the road those are three points that could decide a game. So we were working on the kicking game this week and I’m glad that we were able to do well in all three phases tonight.”

Edison (1-2) stopped Piscataway on downs on the Chiefs’ first possession of the second half, but James Stewart fumbled at the Eagles’ 35-yard line to kill the drive. Edison fumbled three times and Daniels threw a first-quarter interception to thwart four potential scoring drives.

A one-yard plunge by Ashley made the score 30-6 with 3:35 left in the third quarter and quarterback Dan Haus hit Aidan Rosa for a 21-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.

Piscataway out-gained Edison 345-34 on the ground.

Daniels went 9-20 for 160 yards through the air for Edison, hitting four different receivers.

“Edison is a very, very explosive offensive team and you can see that they’re one missed tackle away from big plays and scores, so when we were able to get some turnovers, that really turned the complexity of the game around for us,” Higgins said. “We wanted to run the ball and possess it and keep their offense on the sideline, so every time we got an extra chance at a touch, it was to our advantage.”

EDISON (1-2) 0-6-0-0-6

PISCATAWAY (3-0) 10-13-7-7-37

SCORING SUMMARY

P – Ashley 10 run (Stalenyj kick)

P – Stalenyj 40 field goal

E – Daniels 2 run (kick failed)

P – Stalenyj 35 field goal

P – Barnwell 67 run (Stalenyj kick)

P – Stalenyj 23 field goal

P – Ashley 1 run (Stalenyj kick)

P – Rosa 21 pass from Haus (Stalenyj kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – E: Daniels 9-20-160-1; P: Haus 8-12-98.

Rushing – E: Davila 3-19, Turner 2-8, Daniels 3-5, Stewart 11-4, Strickland 1-minus 2; P: Barnwell 17-202, Ashley 12-77, Williams 4-34, Haus 3-13, Hernandez 2-9, C. James 1-7, Fash 1-3.

Receiving – E: Yanik 3-76, Davila 4-49, Stewart 1-18, Baez 1-17; P: N. James 2-44, Rosa 1-21, Ashley 2-20, Barnwell 2-12, Boyd 1

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Sep 20 2015
Asbury Park Press, Football, The Home News Tribune

Asbury Park holds off Metuchen

METUCHEN — Charles Sanders scored the game-winning touchdown on a three-yard run with just over six minutes to play, and the Asbury Park High School football team’s defense held Metuchen on a fourth down try with 1:31 left to emerge victorious, 20-15, on Saturday afternoon.

Bulldogs quarterback Jake Lebovits appeared to have tight end Devin Miller for a first down to continue the final drive, but Miller couldn’t hold on and the Bishops took over.

“It was like déjà vu all over again from last week,” Asbury Park head coach Tim Fosquel said. “We had some things not go in our favor today, but it was nice for that one to go our way for our kids, because they really do work hard.”

Metuchen was able to get the ball back with 27 seconds remaining, but Lebovits’ first pass of the drive was intercepted by Namir Argilagos to clinch the victory for Asbury Park (1-1).

The Bishops got a big performance from quarterback Davon Thompson, who threw two touchdowns to Jaedon Stephens, including a 32-yard strike on a fourth-and-15 late in the third quarter.

“Coach just tells me where to put the ball and if I scramble out of the pocket, I look for my main guy, Stephens, and I just put it in a spot where I knew he could catch it. He made a great play and was great all day,” Thompson said.

The dual-threat Thompson finished 7-of-11 passing for 148 yards and the two scores and added 68 yards on just eight carries to gash the Bulldogs’ defense.

The game was tied 6-6 at the half after a very sloppy opening 24 minutes, which saw Asbury Park’s first four drives end in turnovers (three fumbles, one interception) and Metuchen having thrown an interception on its opening possession and getting a field goal blocked.

“We were in a good position going into halftime, with all of the mistakes that we made,” Fosquel said. “We thought if we could get some things cleaned up we could get it together and win this game. The kids came out in the second half and responded; we made some adjustments and it was a dogfight back-and-forth.”

Lebovits got the scoring started with a one-yard touchdown run after Joe Hronich recovered his second fumble of the opening stanza, but the Bulldogs didn’t score again until Anthony Maloney hit a 30-yard field goal eight minutes into the second half.

In between Thompson’s second touchdown pass to Stephens and Sanders’ game-winning score, Peter DiMeglio gave Metuchen (1-1) a short-lived lead by rushing home from 11 yards out. Seven plays later, Sanders found pay dirt to put the Bishops ahead for good.

“For us, in terms of coming back from last week’s tough loss, getting on the road and pulling this one out is a great win for us,” Hill said. “It puts us in a great position and if we clean some stuff up, we’ll be a pretty competitive football team.”

For Metuchen, Trevor Firgau led the way with 99 yards on 19 carries, while also catching two passes for 19 yards and coming up with an interception and a fumble recovery on defense. Miller ended up with four catches for 98 yards and added a five-yard rush, but Lebovits was just 8-of-19 for 134 yards and two interceptions in the losing effort.

“We just didn’t play very well. We had the ball offensively and weren’t able to execute what we wanted to do,” Metuchen head coach Bob Ulmer said. “They played well; Asbury Park is a good team and hats off to them, they beat us. We just made too many mistakes to win.”

ASBURY PARK (1-1) 0-6-8-6-20

METUCHEN (1-1) 6-0-3-6-15

SCORING SUMMARY

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – AP: Thompson 7-11-148-1; M: Lebovits 8-19-134-2, Firgau 0-2-0.

Rushing – AP: Thompson 8-68, Sanders 11-49, Davis 10-39, Abrams 3-22, Saunders 2-13; M: Firgau 19-99, DiMeglio 11-56, Lebovits 8-10, Miller 1-5, Serieux 1-0.

Receiving – AP: Stephens 4-91, Saunders 2-51, Abrams 1-6; M: Miller 4-98, Firgau 2-19, Serieux 2-17.

Sep 19 2015
Football, The Home News Tribune

Ffrench leads New Brunswick over South Plainfield

SOUTH PLAINFIELD — Maurice Ffrench rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns and the New Brunswick High School football team held South Plainfield to just 26 yards of offense in a 27-12 victory at Frank Jost Field on Friday night.

The Zebras limited the Tigers to minus-4 yards on offense in the game’s first half, and pitched a shutout after intermission to start the season with back-to-back victories.

“I thought we gutted it out and grinded in the second half; we made some mistakes on special teams, but I thought up front we did a pretty good job,” New Brunswick head coach Don Sofilkanich said.

Ffrench put the game out of reach for good with an 18-yard touchdown run with 8:52 left in the game. He said afterwards that the Tigers’ defense didn’t intimidate him and his teammates.

“I saw they didn’t look like they wanted to tackle us, so I knew I was going to press them and they didn’t do a good job of containing the outside, and that’s what I do. If you let me go to the outside, it’s six,” Ffrench said.

The senior tailback led a Zebras rushing attack that ended the game with 290 yards on the ground on 46 attempts. Samad Davila rushed 24 times for 104 yards and a three-yard touchdown and quarterback Jahbree Jeffery added 11 yards on seven carries and a touchdown, while going 3-for-8 and 51 yards passing.

“We spread it around and gave it to some different guys and whoever had the hot hand, we went with him. That’s how it works. I think the kids did a nice job,” Sofilkanich said.

After Ffrench scampered home with a 44-yard touchdown for New Brunswick to put the Zebras up 14-6 in the second quarter, Ruben Torres returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a score, cutting the lead to just two after the two-point conversion pass fell incomplete.

Torres helped set up the Tigers’ first touchdown of the game, bringing the opening kickoff 66 yards down to the New Brunswick 8-yard line. He finished with 165 return yards on the game.

Jason Lee carried twice on the opening drive for South Plainfield, the second time for six yards and his fifth touchdown in two games this season after going for four in the Tigers’ 27-6 season-opening win over St. Joseph last Friday. But he was limited the rest of the way to just 32 yards on his final 13 carries to finish with 40 yards on the night.

South Plainfield quarterback Patrick Waldorp was pressured all night by the New Brunswick defense, completing just 2-11 passes for only three yards, while taking two sacks for a total of minus-23 yards.

“We were riding the wave from last week and we didn’t come to play. We didn’t play tough like last week. It’s a learning experience. We’re not as good as we think we are. We have to get better,” South Plainfield head coach Gary Cassio said.

NEW BRUNSWICK (2-0) 7-14-0-6-27

SOUTH PLAINFIELD (1-1) 6-6-0-0-12

SCORING SUMMARY

SP – Lee 6 run (kick failed)

NB – Davila 3 run (Garcia kick)

NB – Ffrench 44 run (Garcia kick)

SP – Torres 80 kick return (pass failed)

NB – Jeffery 1 run (Garcia kick)

NB – Ffrench 18 run (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – NB: Jeffery 3-8-51; SP: Waldorp 2-11-3, Lee 0-1, Marston 0-1.

Rushing – NB: Ffrench 14-171, Davila 24-104, Jeffery 7-11, Jackson 1-4; SP: Lee 15-40, Gonzalez 3-13, Lundy 1-0, Torres 1-0, Waldorp 2-minus 23.

Receiving – NB: Hernandez 1-22, Ffrench 1-21, Davila 1-8; SP: Sepini 1-10, Lee, 1-minus 7.

Sep 12 2015
Asbury Park Press, Football, The Home News Tribune

Middletown South grabs convincing win over South Brunswick

SOUTH BRUNSWICK  Before the haze had cleared from an unexpected halftime firework shoot-off, the Middletown South High School football team was on top and in control of its season opener.

James McCarthy raced home from 47 yards out on the third play of the second half and added a 60-yard rushing touchdown four minutes later to send Middletown South, No. 1 in the Asbury Park Press’ Top-10, to a 41-21 victory over South Brunswick, No. 1 in the Home News Tribune Top-10 on Friday night.

McCarthy finished with 152 yards on just 11 carries, picking up some slack from last year’s leading rusher, Cole Rogers, who was held to just 47 yards by a stingy South Brunswick defense.

“We had to work hard all summer and when we came out in the second half, we put that work on the field and we did it,” McCarthy said.

Rogers, who posted 1,867 yards and 26 rushing touchdowns last season for the Eagles, dealt with cramps on a muggy night, and played sparingly in the second half, opening the door for McCarthy’s big night.

“We help each other every way we can, and we push each other in practice,” McCarthy said, speaking of Rogers. “Tonight, he was definitely helping me out when I was running.”

McCarthy’s first touchdown gave Middletown South the lead just 1:06 into the second half, erasing an early 21-3 lead that was built by South Brunswick. The Vikings used a down-field aerial attack to blitz the Eagles, with junior quarterback Josh Liao delivering three touchdown passes in the first quarter and a half.

Liao hit Justin Shorter for a 33-yard score to cap the game’s opening drive and found Jaier Garrett for a 72-yard catch-and-run later in the stanza. After a Matt Mosquera 45-yard field goal, Liao hit Mohamed Jabbie for a 47-yard strike to put the Vikings up 18.

“Did I think we’d be up 21-3 in the first quarter? Never. I expected this to be a dogfight and it was exciting,” South Brunswick head coach Joe Goerge said. “They started to take over in the second quarter and we gave up a couple of big plays that hurt. That’s a damn good team. They wore us down.”

Mosquera added his second field goal of the game midway through the second quarter, a 32-yarder, before starting to put up numbers of his own. The Eagles’ quarterback hit Samson Dube with a 72-yard scoring pass with 3:07 left in the first half and raced home with an 8-yard run with just 33 seconds to play before halftime. The senior finished with 174 all-purpose yards, including 61 on the ground, to spearhead the Middletown South comeback.

“Our guys have motiviaton and we have a lot of skilled players that can do some things and we showed a little bit of that tonight and at the end it came down to the offensive line doing its job,” Middletown South head coach Steve Antonucci said.

The Eagles earned a bit of redemption, after losing to South Brunswick 36-24 a year ago, but Antonucci said that this season is about one simple thing.

“I don’t look at it as revenge or redemption or any of that stuff we just want to win,” he said.

Liao finished 15-26 for 252 yards and the three touchdowns, but was intercepted at the end of a 12-play drive that ended with no points in the third quarter.

Tom Marron iced the game with a 52-yard punt return touchdown in the fourth quarter for Middletown South.

MIDDLETOWN SOUTH (1-0) 3-17-14-7-41

SOUTH BRUNSWICK (0-1) 14-7-0-0-21

SCORING SUMMARY

SB – Shorter 33 pass from Liao (Fehte kick)

SB – Garrett 72 pass from Liao (Fehte kick)

MS – Mosquera 45 kick

SB – Jabbie 47 pass from Liao (Fehte kick)

MS – Mosquera 32 kick

MS – Dube 72 pass from Mosquera (Mosquera kick)

MS – Mosquera 8 run (Mosquera kick)

MS – McCarthy 47 run (Mosquera kick)

MS – McCarthy 60 run (Mosquera kick)

MS – Marron 52 punt return (Mosquera kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing – MS: Mosquera 4-10-113-1; SB: Liao 15-26-252-3-1.

Rushing – MS: McCarthy 11-152, Mosquera 7-61, C. Rogers 17-47, Pinto 3-12, Alessi 2-7, Pignataro 3-3, Team 1-0; SB: Cerminaro 4-10, Campbell 6-8, Summers 4-7, Allen 6-4, Hiil 1-1, Jabbie 1-0, Liao 7-minus 4.

Receiving – MS: Dube 2-76, Joyce 1-6, Team 2-36; SB: Jabbie 6-91, Garrett 1-72, Shorter 4-58, Allen 3-21.