Andrew Constant – Sports Writer

COLONIA – On a night where the New Brunswick High School football team could have clinched the outright Greater Middlesex Conference White Division title, Colonia’s Bashir Lauderdale simply wouldn’t allow it.

The senior tailback punished the Zebras defense on his way to 226 yards on 32 carries, scoring three touchdowns and leading Colonia to a 45-27 victory Friday evening at Memorial Field.

Lauderdale scored twice in the second half as he was handed the ball 25 times, helping the Patriots kept their own division hopes alive with their third straight victory. If Colonia defeats South Plainfield next Friday, the Patriots will defend their White Division crown from a season ago.

“I have to give the praise to my linemen, they pulled it out for us and kept me going like always,” Lauderdale said. “We just couldn’t let them win and we have to be back-to-back division champs.”

Lauderdale scored on a 5-yard run to push Colonia’s lead to 33-14 with 5:32 left in the third quarter, seemingly putting the contest out of reach. But on the ensuing kickoff, New Brunswick’s dynamic star Maurice Ffrench returned it 70 yards for a score, giving the Zebras another hope at 33-21.

But Colonia (6-2) rode Lauderdale from there, as 14 of his carries came in the fourth quarter, including a 13-yard touchdown romp that was the final scoring play of the night.

He and quarterback Chase Barneys, who rushed 20 times for 156 yards and two first-half touchdowns, were essentially the entire Colonia offense in the second half.

“That’s the idea in every game. They were giving us some things in the middle of the field and Chase does a great job of reading the option and Bashir did a great job when he got it, getting positive yards and keeping the chains moving,” Colonia head coach Tom Roarty said.

Chase Barneys didn’t have to use his arm too often on Friday night, instead relying on his legs to move the chains, but he did throw a touchdown pass to Solomon Manning late in the third quarter. He was just 2-5 passing for 39 yards and that score. Chase’s brother Bryce ran 29 yards for a touchdown midway through the second quarter.

But the star of the night was Lauderdale, who admitted to being a bit tired after the game, but knew that he was not going to let New Brunswick (7-1) celebrate on his home field.

“They couldn’t stop our running game so we just kept running it down their throats in the second half,” Lauderdale said. “Next week we just have to play hard and keep doing what we’re doing and we’ll win that division again.”

Ffrench was contained all night by Colonia’s defense, as he totaled zero net yards in the first half on seven rushes, and although he ran back the kickoff for a touchdown, Roarty was happy with holding Ffrench down on Friday.

“Every time we identified where he was on the field and he’s the real deal. He can take it and go at any time,” Roarty said. “Davila is a tough runner too, we were lucky to keep them under wraps tonight.”

Samad Davila carried the load for New Brunswick, rushing 19 times for 125 yards and a pair of scores. Ffrench finished with 23 rushing yards on nine attempts and did not catch a pass.

NEW BRUNSWICK (7-1) 7-7-7-6-27

COLONIA (6-2) 12-14-13-6-45

SCORING SUMMARY

C – Lauderdale 13 run (kick blocked)

NB – Davila 5 run (Garcia kick)

C – C. Barneys 4 run (pass fails)

C – B. Barneys 29 run (Ribiero kick)

C – C. Barneys 4 run (Ribiero kick)

NB – Revan 8 pass from Jeffery (Garcia kick)

C – Lauderdale 5 run (Ribiero kick)

NB – Ffrench 70 kick return (Garcia kick)

C – Manning 9 pass from C. Barneys (run fails)

NB – Davila 11 run (run fails)

C – Lauderdale 13 run (kick blocked)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – NB: Jeffery 1-5-8; C: C. Barneys 2-5-39.

Rushing – NB: Davila 19-125, Ffrench 9-22, Jeffery 5-6; C: Lauderdale 32-226, C. Barneys 20-156, B. Barneys 1-29, Piro 2-11, Benedicks 2-5.

Receiving – NB: Revan 1-8; C: Benedicks 1-30, Manning 1-9.

EDISON — Phil Campbell rushed for 105 yards and scored three first-half touchdowns as the South Brunswick High School football team rolled past Edison 43-14 on Friday night for its sixth straight victory.

With the win, the Vikings (6-1) did their part to set up a winner-take-all showdown with Piscataway next Friday for the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division title. The two teams will play in Monmouth Junction, with South Brunswick having won three of the last five head-to-head matchups, including the last two by a combined score of 56-21.

“We know last year’s game was low-scoring and it’s a dogfight with (Piscataway) and I think these guys know that and we’ll get to work tomorrow and it’s always going to be a battle,” South Brunswick head coach Joe Goerge said. “It’s going for the division, so we have some extra to go for.”

Mohamed Jabbie got the Vikings off to a fast start, returning the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and the visitors were off and running from there, scoring the game’s first 28 points in the first 10 minutes of the opening stanza.

“It’s always a challenge to stay focused on this game and not look ahead, but we started well with the opening kickoff and that helps,” Goerge said. “We scored on defense too and obviously offense, and these guys have been able to stay focused on what’s at hand.”

Campbell scored twice in the first quarter, from nine and then 30 yards, as South Brunswick built a 20-0 advantage. Two plays after Campbell’s second touchdown, Wendell Allen picked off Edison quarterback Haaziq Daniels and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown, putting the Vikings up 28-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, Elijah Davila gave Edison a boost, returning the boot 85 yards for a score, eluding South Brunswick defenders up the far sideline to put the Eagles on the board.

But South Brunswick quickly answered, as quarterback Josh Liao hit Jaier Garrett for a 46-yard, catch-and-run touchdown six plays later and the Vikings capped the scoring in the opening 24 minutes with Campbell’s third score of the half, rushing in from four yards out to cap an 11-play, 66-yard drive that took nearly eight minutes off of the game clock.

The Vikings did not score in the second half, with reserves taking some snaps and the game clock running until Edison’s James Stewart rushed 82 yards for a touchdown with 7:05 left. But Goerge was happy with how his squad remained focused and took care of business before the big showdown next week.

“We didn’t let any of that thinking get in our heads and we have some really good seniors that help with that. It’s a senior-laden team and their leadership is great,” he said.

Since Sayreville scored the game’s first touchdown against South Brunswick on Oct. 2, the Vikings have responded by outscoring the Bombers, East Brunswick, Monroe and Edison 158-27.

Stewart finished with 133 yards on 13 carries for Edison (2-4), including his long touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Eagles couldn’t get Daniels going, as he finished 3-9 for 36 yards and was intercepted once.

SOUTH BRUNSWICK (6-1) 28-15-0-0-43

EDISON (2-4) 7-0-0-7-14

SCORING SUMMARY

SB – Jabbie 80 kickoff return (kick failed)

SB – Campbell 9 run (pass failed)

SB – Campbell 30 run (Liao pass to Shorter)

SB – Allen 46 interception return (Campbell run)

E – Davila 85 kickoff return (Kurtyan kick)

SB – Garrett 46 pass from Liao (Campbell run)

SB – Campbell 4 run (Fethe kick)

E – Stewart 82 run (Kurtyan kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – SB: Liao 3-5-63; E: Daniels 3-9-36-1.

Rushing – SB: Campbell 13-105, Allen 6-73, Olivacce 1-23, Cerminaro 3-14, Lawson 6-11, Weiss 2-8, Quinones 2-8, Garrett 1-4, Labos 1-1, Donaldson 1-1, Jabbie 1-0, Liao 1-minus 3; E: Stewart 13-133, Daniels 3-10, Davila 1-7, Kurtyan 1-minus 1.

Receiving – SB: Garrett 1-46, Allen 1-13, Shorter 1-4; E: Davila 2-21, Turner 1-15.

SOUTH RIVER — Joe Hayford ran for 180 yards on 34 carries, leading the Spotswood High School football team to a 44-7 victory over South River on Saturday afternoon at Denny Stadium.

Hayford scored four touchdowns, two in each half and punished the South River defense with his between-the-tackles running. When asked after the game about his physical state, Hayford said he was a little spent from such a heavy workload.

“I’m very tired, but I wanted to keep running and working hard today,” Hayford said. “We just remembered what we did in practice. I haven’t had a game like this before and I’m pretty proud of my game today, but I want to thank my blockers for opening up holes all afternoon.”

Spotswood (4-2) led just 16-0 at the half, thanks to two touchdowns from Hayford, from 22 and 14 yards out, and a safety, but opened it up in the second half, scoring 21 straight points to open the half and effectively put the game away.

“We kept it simple and finally did some things right that we haven’t done all year,” Spotswood head coach Andy Cammarano said. “We communicated and played consistent. South River came out ready to play and it was a close game early, so we just tried to run the ball and play solid defense and we did.”

The Spotswood defense technically pitched a shutout, as the South River (0-6) touchdown came on an 86-yard kickoff return by Khaliyl Everett following Hayford’s fourth score of the contest.

Cammarano praised quarterback Shawn O’Connor for being the “complimentary guy for the whole offense.”

“We want to come out and run the ball, but we have to be able to throw the ball to do that,” Cammarano said. “Early in the season, we got swamped by people that were packing it in on us, so we took advantage and Shawn has gotten better every week and we kept it simple with the throwing here today. He executed for sure.”

O’Connor finished 7-11 for 90 yards, finding Andy Madsen and Derek Schneider three times each. Madsen caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Marlon Hart on a trick-play late in the fourth quarter and Hart also returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring.

South River’s dual-threat quarterback Mario Nigro was running for his life all afternoon, as evidenced by his struggles to find lanes to run through. He finished with 25 yards on 17 carries and went 5-10 passing for 62 yards. He and the Rams’ offense were held in check by the Spotswood defense, which came up with just one turnover, but it was a big one, as Ryan Frost recovered a Nigro fumble and Hayford would pound it into the end zone two plays later to open the scoring for Spotswood.

SPOTSWOOD (4-2) 7-9-14-14-44

SOUTH RIVER (0-6) 0-0-0-7-7

SCORING SUMMARY

S – Hayford 22 run (Szatkowski kick)

S – Nigro tackled in end zone

S – Hayford 14 run (Szatkowski kick)

S – Hayford 1 run (Szatkowski kick)

S – Madsen 33 pass from Hart (Szatakowski kick)

S – Hayford 3 run (Szatkowski kick)

SR – Everett 86 kickoff return (Kowalski kick)

S – Hart 70 punt return (Szatkowski kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – S: O’Connor 7-11-90, Hart 1-1-33; SR: Nigro 5-10-62.

Rushing – S: Hayford 34-180, Hart 2-8, Bacchetti 1-6, O’Connor 1-4, Baureko 2-4; SR: Nigro 17-25, Everett 6-7, Stewart 1-3, Desantis 2-1, Hart 1-0, Drum 1-minus 1.

Receiving – S: Madsen 4-62, Schneider 3-46, Hart 1-15; SR: Desantis 2-39, Everett 2-22, Hart 1-1.

SAYREVILLE Artur Sitkowski hit Anthony Imbimbo with the game-winning, 40-yard touchdown pass with 3:19 remaining and the Old Bridge High School football team forced a fumble three plays later to clinch a 28-21 victory over Sayreville on Friday night.

Sitkowski threw for 179 yards and three touchdowns, two coming in the fourth quarter, to lead Old Bridge (4-2) to a win when it looked like it might have been slipping away.

The Knights held a 7-0 halftime lead, thanks to a 25-yard touchdown pass from Sitkowski to a wide-open Jake Kodros with 3:35 left in the second quarter. But after intermission, Sayreville came back with an upper-cut to the Knights’ jugular, scoring twice in the third quarter and once on the first play of the fourth quarter to build a 21-7 lead.

Sitkowski led the Knights back, getting his team in position to cut into the lead immediately after Michael Bertrand scooped up a fumble by Jake Esposito and ran 28 yards for a touchdown, putting Sayreville ahead by two scores on the first play of the final stanza.

Seven plays after the fumble, Nick Sodano plunged in from two yards out and Jon Sammarco’s extra point split the uprights to make it 21-14 Bombers with 9:09 left.

The Old Bridge defense allowed one first down before forcing Sayreville to punt and the Knights got the ball back with 7:18 left and all the momentum. Just three plays and a minute and a half later, Sitkowski hit Esposito for a 49-yard catch-and-run down the far sideline to put Old Bridge in position to tie the game. But Sammarco’s extra point sailed wide left and the Knights trailed 21-20.

After a three-and-out by the Sayreville (3-3) offense, Old Bridge got the ball back and let Sitkowski get it done with his arm again, as he hit Imbimbo for nine and then the final 40 yards to put the Knights in front. Sitkowski’s two-point pass to Esposito put Old Bridge up 28-21 and 57 seconds later, Martin Akerele recovered a fumble along the Sayreville sideline to clinch the victory.

“We just needed one defensive stop. They got it in good field position and started to move, but we made a big play over there,” Old Bridge head coach Anthony Lanzafama said. “We jumped on it and were able to milk the clock.”

Sitkowski threw 14 times in the second half and finished 12-21 and no turnovers, but Lanzafama said that it wasn’t the strategy to air it out in the second half.

“It was exactly the opposite of what we said at the half,” he said. “We were up 7-0 at the half and we wanted to get the running game going, because we only ran 16 plays in the first half. So we had to turn to the air and we had some guys make some plays.”

Esposito had four grabs for 109 yards and Imbimbo finished with four catches for 70 yards for Old Bridge.

“Coach did a great job calling the plays in the second half and our offensive line played absolutely outstanding,” Sitkowski said. “Our receivers made plays when they had to and it was an all around great effort. We just never gave up.”

Sayreville quarterback Jayson Demild finished with 205 yards passing and 52 yards rushing on nine attempts, including a pair of one-yard touchdown runs in the third quarter as he single-handedly tried to will the Bombers to a victory. Demild found Andrew Willie for a game-high eight catches for 72 yards in the losing effort.

Old Bridge has now taken the last two meeting between the two squads, dating back to the 2013 season opener. The Knights edged Sayreville 35-19 two years ago after having lost the previous seven matchups by an average deficit of nearly 26 points.

OLD BRIDGE (4-2) 0-7-0-21-28

SAYREVILLE (3-3) 0-0-14-7-21

SCORING SUMMARY

OB – Kodros 24 pass from Sitkowski (Sammarco kick)

S – Demild 1 run (Pinho kick)

S – Demild 1 run (Pinho kick)

S – Bertrand 28 fumble recovery (Pinho kick)

OB – Sodano 2 run (Sammarco kick)

OB – Esposito 49 pass from Sitkowski (kick failed)

OB – Imbimbo 40 pass from Sitkowski (Sitkowski pass)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – OB: Sitkowski 12-21-179; S: Demild 14-25-205-1.

Rushing – OB: Sodano 12-32, Esposito 9-25, Sitkowski 3-7; S: Demild 9-52, Liberti 16-51, Williams 2-1, Roberts 1-1.

Receiving – OB: Esposito 4-109, Imbimbo 4-70, Kodros 3-48, Angstadt 1-1; S: Williams 3-96, Willie 8-72, Clark 1-21, Behr 1-5, Williams 1-1.

MONROE — A week after being grounded in a driving rainstorm against South Brunswick, the Sayreville High School football team rebounded in a big way. Led by quarterback Jayson Demild, the Bombers ended a two-game losing skid, defeating Monroe 41-13 on Friday night at Hugh P. Walsh Stadium.

The victory gave Sayreville head coach Chris Beagan a win in his return to the school he had been at the helm of for the previous 11 seasons. Beagan, who went 39-33 as Monroe’s lead man, left to take over the Sayreville program before the season and received the game ball from his players following the win.

“I’m just really happy for our kids. We’ve worked really hard and we ran into two very tough teams the last two weeks, and we didn’t do enough good things to win,” Beagan said. “I’m just proud of my kids for sticking with it through two pretty tough weeks; they executed out here tonight against a pretty good team and coaching staff I know well and respect.”

Beagan was 0-5 as Monroe’s head coach against Sayreville (3-2), including an epic 35-34 contest in the Central Group V opening round in 2013, just one week after the Bombers blew out Monroe 56-26.

Demild finished 5 of 7 passing for 119 yards and a touchdown while adding a pair of rushing touchdowns to pace the Sayreville offense in a game which it was up by 35 until a late Monroe (2-3) touchdown.

Michael Liberti hammered out 129 yards on just nine carries for the Bombers and Coray Williams caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Demild and had 25 yards through the air, while running for 54 yards on four carries.

“We want to be balanced and we want to take what the other team gives us,” Beagan said. “We just really got off to a faster start this week and we did a better job on our special teams. It was a good night.”

The Bombers led 20-6 at the half, after holding Monroe to just a pair of field goals in the opening half.

Just 56 seconds after Josh Wood drilled a 26-yard field goal in the first quarter to open the scoring for Monroe, Liberti capped a three-play drive with a 28-yard touchdown romp, one play after Williams rushed for 43 yards to put the Bombers in scoring position.

On the ensuing possession, the Falcons got one first down before punting and Demild capped a five-play scoring drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge, two plays after he hit Tristan Behr for a 53-yard catch-and-run to put Sayreville into the red zone.

Wood made his second field goal of the opening half, a 19-yarder after Monroe’s offense stalled inside of the Sayreville five-yard line. Carlton Coleman rushed five times on the drive for 43 yards, but the Falcons couldn’t punch it in for a touchdown.

“I thought that some of Monroe’s points were due to poor field position that our special teams put us in, but I thought our defense did a great job,” Beagan said. “Monroe has a really good kicker and I thought our guys did a really nice job on their offense tonight.”

Coleman finished with 120 yards on 17 carries and added a 10-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Matt Van de Sande late in the fourth quarter.

Van de Sande struggled all night against the Sayreville defense, going just 4-17 passing for 23 yards and a touchdown, but he tossed a pair of interceptions and finished with eight yards rushing on nine carries.

SAYREVILLE (3-2) 14-6-15-6-41

MONROE (2-3) 3-3-0-7-13

SCORING SUMMARY

M – Wood 26 field goal

S – Liberti 28 run (Pinho kick)

S – Demild 1 run (Pinho kick)

M – Wood 19 field goal

S – Williams 19 pass from Demild (pass failed)

S – Roberts 11 run (Pinho kick)

S – Van de Sande sacked in end zone

S – Demild 4 run (kick blocked)

S – Thomas 10 run (kick failed)

M – Coleman 10 pass from Van de Sande (Wood kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – S: Demild 5-7-119, Willie 1-1-17; M: Van de Sande 4-17-23-2.

Rushing – S: Liberti 9-129, Williams 4-54, Roberts 5-41, Carter 1-34, Thomas 3-17, Demild 4-5, Cruz 1-2, Ortiz 1-minus 2; M: Coleman 17-120, Miller 2-15, Van de Sande 9-8, Santiago 1-5, Lavan 1-2, Trainer 1-1.

Receiving – S: Behr 2-69, Williams 2-25, Germann 1-17; M: Shipp 1-18, Coleman 1-10, Santiago 2-minus 5.

MONMOUTH JCT. Clinging to a 14-point lead late in the fourth quarter, Jaier Garrett stepped up and made his biggest play of the season, picking off Sayreville quarterback Jayson Demild and returning it 27 yards for a touchdown, icing a 32-12 victory for the South Brunswick High School football team on Friday night.

Garrett finished with two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery as the Vikings turned Sayreville over four times in downright miserable conditions.

“That felt great; we finally beat Sayreville after four years of not beating them, so it was great to put the icing on the cake. We played so well and we did this one together,” Garrett said.

Garrett, a senior, forced and recovered a fumble with the game tied 6-6 in the second quarter and picked off Demild on Sayreville’s opening possession of the second half, when the game was still a one-possession affair.

But after Garrett’s interception with 8:12 to go in the third quarter, it was all South Brunswick (3-1), as the Vikings turned to bruising tailback Phil Campbell to put the Bombers away.

Campbell finished with 20 carries for 114 yards and two touchdowns, the second of which came with 1:09 left in the third quarter to put South Brunswick up 26-12. Campbell intercepted a Demild pass three plays later to further dampen the spirits of Sayreville (2-2).

“We have a lot of chemistry on the defensive side of the ball and we all step up in the big games,” Campbell said.

Campbell led the South Brunswick rushing attack as the Vikings outgained Sayreville 243-109 on the ground.

“Coach said that the weather was going to be bad and maybe play a factor in the game and we just had to grind out on the ground,” Campbell said. “I knew I had to step up today.”

Sayreville got on the board first when Demild hit Jahsim Floyd for a 9-yard touchdown four plays into the second quarter, but the Bombers were limited to just six points the rest of the way, only scoring again when Demild hit Bertrand for a 15-yard score on a fourth-and-6 from the South Brunswick 15 with 1:54 left in the third stanza.

Demild finished 5-of-12 for 64 yards and those two scores, but was picked off three times. Michael Liberti paced the Sayreville offensive attack with 68 rushing yards on 19 carries.

But in the second half, when South Brunswick outscored Sayreville 20-6, it was all about the defense of the Vikings, led by Garrett.

“Our line starting playing really great in the second half and they got some good pressure on their running backs and they didn’t get a ton of yards. We had so much aggression, wanting to win this game, so we left it on the field,” he said. “The weather didn’t play a factor in our game and we felt great. I love this team; they’re my brothers and no matter what, rain or shine, we’ll always do our best.”

SAYREVILLE (2-2) 0-6-6-0-12

SOUTH BRUNSWICK (3-1) 0-12-14-6-32

SCORING SUMMARY

S – Floyd 9 pass from Demild (kick failed)

SB – Campbell 25 run (pass failed)

SB – Shorter 22 pass from Liao (run failed)

SB – Allen 5 run (run failed)

S – Bertrand 15 pass from Demild (pass failed)

SB – Campbell 2 run (Campbell run)

SB – Garrett 27 interception return (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing – S: Demild 5-12-64-3; SB: Liao 3-8-36.

Rushing – S: Liberti 19-68, Roberts 2-19, Bertrand 3-14, Thomas 2-6, Carter 2-4, Demild 1-minus 2; SB: Campbell 20-114, Jabbie 4-41, Allen 10-36, Garrett 1-32, Liao 2-9.

Receiving – S: Floyd 2-35, Bertrand 1-15, O’Brien 1-9, Liberti 1-5; SB: Shorter 2-26, Jabbie 1-11.