BY VIN RAPOLLA
Staff Writer
Coming off of a dominating 46-13 first-round playoff win over second-seeded Hamilton, the seventh-seeded Ocean Township Spartans look to spring another upset tomorrow against a tough Wall Township squad.
“It’s going to be a big challenge,” said Ocean head coach Sal Spamoanato. “Wall is a very solid team all around.”
In order to be competitive in tomorrow night’s Central Jersey Group III semifinal, Spamoanato feels his offensive line must step up against the tough front four of Wall. The line, made up of Zach Grandenetti, Erik Adams, Kevin Down, Chris Desposito, Lou Eliadis and Joe Sicliano, must help the Spartan offense control the tempo of the game in order for the underdog Spartans to keep pace with Wall.
“Their [defensive] front may be the best we’ve seen all season,” said the coach. “Our offensive line has to rise to the occasion.”
The Spartans will also look to quarterback Keith McPherson to help propel the offense. Last week against Hamilton, McPherson rushed for 104 yards and three TDs on 16 carries, while completing 75 percent of his passes, including a 5-yard TD pass to Anthony Palaia early in the second quarter.
“Keith had a real big game last week,” said the coach, whose team jumped out to a 40-0 lead before allowing a Hamilton touchdown on Saturday.
McPherson also had some help from his backfield. Running back Chris Chittum and fullback Dean Athans combined for over 200 yards and three TDs, with Athans accounting for two of the scores as well as 107 yards on 22 carries.
Spamoanato is hoping for a similar offensive effort tomorrow.
“This week we’ve got to hold onto the ball and move the chains,” said the coach.
Spamoanato will also look to triple-threat Corey Giddings to get things started on special teams, at the wide receiver position and defensively.
Defensively, the Spartans will also look to Alex Cabasso and Shane Bigelow to slow the high-powered Wall offense.
“Alex is solid, always consistent. Our defense revolves around him,” said the coach. “And Shane has been a real pleasant surprise. He’s really come on strong as of late.”
With this being the first time the Ocean Township team has seen postseason action since 2000, coach Spamoanato knows the importance of the upcoming game. The two teams have not faced off in a long time, and this week the Spartans have done everything in their power to prepare for the game.
“We’ve been working hard every night, and we’ve been breaking down film all week,” said Spamoanato.
After watching the Crimson Knights’ game films, the Spartan coaching staff knows that the most important thing the Ocean defense will have to do tomorrow night is to try to slow down Wall’s offensive attack, in particular quarterback Chad Tirpak, and Wall’s two talented running backs, Mike Avallone and Chris Martino. Avallone, who has been filling in for the injured Martino for the past three games, ran for 137 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries in Wall’s opening-round 28-0 win over Willingboro last weekend.
“Wall has a lot of speed, and they’ve got a pair of shifty backs and tall receivers,” said Spamoanato. “We’re going to have to get to them before they get going.”
Slowing down the Crimson Knight attack is a tall order, to say the least. Only Middletown South, the top-ranked team in the state, has enjoyed any type of success in containing the Wall attack this year, and you can bet Spamoanato and his staff have been watching plenty of game film from that contest — a thrilling 28-27 Eagle win.
The Spartans played good teams throughout the regular season — including three playoff teams in Long Branch, Toms River East and Brick Memorial. But this Wall team may provide the stiffest test yet for Spamoanato’s squad.
Game time is 7 p.m. in Wall Township.
Long Branch gets another shot at state’s top team
The Long Branch Green Wave face an even stiffer test tomorrow night in their Central Jersey Group III semifinal.
The Wave, who used a pair of Maurice Turpin touchdown passes and a dominant defensive effort to blank Hightstown on Saturday in their playoff opener, will travel to Middletown South tomorrow night to take on the state’s top-ranked team.
This will mark the second meeting for these two teams this season, with South winning the opening-day contest, 33-6. Like everyone else this season, Long Branch’s inability to slow down tailback Knowshon Moreno proved to be the difference that day, as the junior rushed for 183 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries in that game.
However, the Green Wave is a much better defensive team at this point in the season, as evidenced by Saturday’s effort against Hightstown. Long Branch held the Rams to just 117 yards of total offense. The Green Wave defense, which also forced three turnovers, held the Rams’ talented running back, Zaire Kitchen, to just 41 yards rushing, well below his 130-plus average this year.
Head coach Dan George said his team’s performance on defense was exactly what this squad needed now that the playoffs have arrived.
“We were very pleased,” he said. “These guys have been playing good defense for a while now, and they have really brought their intensity level up. And coach John Rickard, our defensive coordinator, did a real nice job preparing them for this game.”
Turpin put the Wave on the board in the second quarter when he found Monte
James in the end zone from four yards out to cap a 13-play, 58-yard drive that included two key fourth-down conversions.
The score remained 6-0 until late in the third when Turpin hit running back Paul Lewis with a screen pass, and Lewis raced 14 yards for the touchdown, capping a 61-yard drive.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game, George expects his team to be more competitive this time around.
“I think we’re a different team, just as they’re a different team,” he said.
Needless to say, the Green Wave will need to play its best game of the year tomorrow when they face the Eagles. Middletown South has steam-rolled every opponent they’ve faced this year, with the exception of Wall Township, who they found a way to beat despite turning the ball over six times.
And South looked pretty invincible in its playoff-opening win over Red Bank Regional last Friday, blanking the Bucs (5-4), 49-0. Once again Moreno set the pace, rushing for 155 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, while QB Dan Stivala found the end zone three times himself.
But coach George said his players can’t concern themselves with all that the Eagles have accomplished this year.
“We need to be concerned with what we do,” he said. “Middletown is going to do what Middletown always does. We just need to execute our game plan in all three phases — offense, defense and special teams. The last three years we’ve played them, we didn’t do that.
“If you can execute in all three phases and you still lose, then the better team won,” he added. “You just want to eliminate the mistakes. Whether it’s a misalignment or a missed assignment, those are the things you regret. We want to walk away from this game with no regrets.”
And George realizes that his team may indeed need to play a flawless game to pull of the upset.
“They’re the No. 1 team in the state and are deserving of that,” he said. “They’re a great football team. But we’ve played great football teams in the past, and we’re looking forward to our second chance.”
Game time is 7 p.m.

