By: John Powers
After holding off Dunellen Nov. 5, the South Hunterdon Regional High School football team stood 3-5 with a chance to finish with a .500 record.
But the Eagles never got there. They were blanked by Point Pleasant Beach 12-0 in the pouring rain at Jefferis Field Nov. 12, then lost their annual Thanksgiving Day game with Delaware Valley 27-0.
Delaware Valley, which leads the overall series 28-26-2, has won the last five meetings.
"What hurt us was what hurt us throughout the entire season," Eagles coach Sam Jefferis said. "We just didn’t tackle."
Junior quarterback Matt Carr rushed for 198 yards and two touchdowns in the Terriers’ first Skyland Conference win of the year. Sophomore Mark Alenciewicz finished with 57 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. Delaware Valley rushed for 203 yards in all.
South Hunterdon fumbled four times, losing three.
"You always hope for the best, but we knew they were tough," Jefferis said. "It was really typical of our year. We just couldn’t stop anybody. It was really, really, really, extremely muddy."
Neither side completed a pass, and South’s defense seemed to be in good position, but Carr was able to slip away, keep his traction and make plays.
"We had a couple of first downs, but we didn’t have any sustained drives, and we couldn’t stop them," Jefferis said. "They didn’t do anything fancy. We just couldn’t stop them, and we didn’t block. That’s been the common thread of our season."
The game marked the final one for seniors Glenn Tabasko (QB/DE), Mark Czyzewski (RB/DB), Kyle Donnelly (FB/LB), Jesse Fennimore (RB/DB), Chad Ege (FB/LB), Tom Ennis (OT/DT), Steven Williamson (OG/DE), Joe Fenneman (OG/LB), Mike Weinstein (OG/DT), Julian Somogyi (OT/DT), Rob Brown (OT/DT), Pat Durborow (TE/DB) and Tom Molnar (TE/LB).

