By: John Powers
Imhotep Charter School’s football team held one advantage in its game with South Hunterdon Friday night.
The Eagles knew very, very little about them.
That advantage, however, wasn’t nearly enough to make a difference.
The Eagles, who have suffered three tight losses this season to Belvidere, North Warren and Hackettstown, finally got to enjoy a rout. They hammered Imhotep 47-0 at Jefferis Field.
The Eagles now are 1-5 with very winnable games against winless Manville and 3-4 Dunellen coming up. The Eagles play host to Manville at 7 p.m. Friday.
Senior tri-captain Jesse Fennimore ran for 167 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries. Senior quarterback and tri-captain Glenn Tabasko, who opened the scoring with a six-yard run, ran for 33 yards and two touchdowns on six carries.
Senior tri-captain and fullback Chad Ege ran for 43 yards and a conversion run on six carries, and sophomore Carl Snell had 65 yards on five carries and a score.
"They were pretty athletic, and they hit and were disciplined, but they didn’t do much to surprise me," South Hunterdon coach Sam Jefferis said. "We didn’t punt all night. The game kind of got away from us in the second half."
Jefferis was referring to a 26-point third quarter. Senior defensive end Steven Williamson stepped out in the flat and picked off an Imhotep Charter pass and ran it in from 37 yards out. Snell, who came in for Tabasko at quarterback, broke free for a 47-yard score.
For a team that had presented so much mystery, Imhotep Charter rarely caught the Eagles off guard.
"We were starting to pull back some those two scores weren’t supposed to happen," Jefferis said. "But they were one step away from breaking one, and we were still doing some stupid stuff like penalties, but I thought we did pretty well. We were pretty much in the dark about them."
All 29 players dressed to play, Jefferis said.
South Hunterdon originally was scheduled to play Bound Brook this past weekend, but because of miscommunication on the Crusaders’ side, the school’s new athletic administration and coach knew nothing about the game. So South Hunterdon Athletic Director Michael Godown began looking for a game and found Imhotep, a charter school in Philadelphia.
Not as much mystery surrounds the Eagles’ next two opponents. Jefferis scouted Manville’s game at New Providence last Saturday. The Mustangs are in the midst of a 16-game losing streak and have scored just four touchdowns in that stretch.
Last week, the Mustangs were walloped by Mountain Valley Conference Valley Division champion New Providence 47-0. Manville has been outscored 221-12 this year.
