Braves, Rebels play Friday
with the playoffs at stake
By tim morris
Staff Writer
Two football teams with state playoff aspirations will be meeting at Manalapan High School on Friday night.
Braves head coach Tom Tarver said that his squad is "ready for a dogfight" against a Howell Rebels team that is fighting for its playoff life.
Manalapan bounced back from its first loss of the year (to Toms River North, 14-3, on Oct. 18) to beat Freehold Township, 21-0, Friday night and maintain its firm grip on a Central Jersey Group IV playoff spot. The Braves are 5-1 and currently are fourth in the section (eight teams qualify).
Meanwhile, Howell improved to 4-3 with a 27-12 win at home against Ocean. Corey Davies’ Rebels can make the state sectional playoffs with a win over Manalapan and a few breaks. Howell was tied for eighth place in power points in CJ IV going into the weekend but was the odd man out. J.P. Stevens was 3-2 and had played one less game and would have the chance to add to its power points total. Howell got a break this weekend with J.P. Stevens falling to Old Bridge, but a win over a Manalapan team with five wins will mean plenty of power points. A loss, though, and the playoffs will go by the boards.
Howell’s win over Ocean was fueled by Terrence Tatum’s two touchdown runs in the second, 32, and nine yards.
Quarterback Dan Irvine hopped up with Dan Loughlin for a 55-yard scoring strike to put Howell up 6-0 in the first quarter.
The Rebels were tied at 6-6 but regained the lead, 13-6, on Shannon Hill’s three-yard run in the second quarter.
Irvine left the game in the second half after getting a hard hit from the Spartan defense. His replacement, Rob Morello, shared the quarterbacking duties early in the season with Irvine and was more than up to the task of taking over.
With Tatum powering the way, it made things easy for Morello. Tatum picked up 78 yards on just eight carries and had two touchdowns, which put Howell up 27-6.
Howell’s defense, which has had problems stopping the runs this year, will look to keep Brave QB Mike Gaeta under control and limit Chris Hegel’s effectiveness through the line.
Manalapan’s balance makes it difficult to defend; however, Howell has a good secondary and will look to put Manalapan into passing situations.
Manalapan’s defense has been efficient all year. It will have to defend both the run and pass against Howell. Key here will be getting the Rebels into third-and-long situations.
Kickoff in Manalapan is 7 p.m.