BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer
EDISON — Any time a Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division team is forced to play up a division and take on a White Division squad, it can be a daunting task.
Likewise, playing up two divisions to take on a Red Division foe poses further challenges. But when a Blue Division team pulls off the win, it’s that much sweeter. That’s how it felt to the Bishop Ahr High School football Friday night when they upended mighty J.P. Stevens 15-0.
“Our defense was key,” Bishop Ahr head coach Ron Hilliard said. “They [Stevens] have a lot of speed and a lot of weapons, but our defense did the job to keep them contained.”
While the game was played prior to the deluge on Saturday, the conditions were not exactly optimum for a passing attack. With the game being decided on the ground, the Trojan defense held Stevens to only 57 rushing yards. The Hawks most dangerous running back, Tamar Robinson, finished with just 55 yards on close to 20 carries.
“We were able to keep their running game from getting into a rhythm while our running game did its job,” Hilliard said. “We held Robinson to around 50 yards, and many of his yards came on one of his last runs.”
Trojan quarterback Mike Negron attempted one pass on the evening — it fell incomplete — but rushed for 49 yards. His mate in the backfield, Joe Cruz, finished with over 100 yards for his third straight game after tallying 161 yards on 23 carries.
“Mike and Joe were the only two guys to touch the ball,” Hilliard said. “We didn’t want to pitch the ball too often because we felt we had the advantage with our line. Stevens has a lot of speed on the outside so we wanted to run straight at them, and our line made that possible.”
Cruz set the tone early scoring on a 57-yard run on the Trojans opening play and his five-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach.
“He earned every one of his 160 yards,” Hilliard said. “All of them were tough yards. He runs up the middle and he doesn’t get many cheap yards.”
Running the option proved to be problematic in the season opener for the Trojans, but it appears the glitches in the system have been eliminated.
“We’ve gotten much better in the last three weeks,” Hilliard said. “We’ve been making fewer mistakes running the option, and on Friday night everything came together and jelled. When teams start taking away Cruz, Negron has been there to keep the offense moving. He did an outstanding job Friday night.”
The Trojans will look to build off the win over Stevens when it hosts Blue Division rival Metuchen at 7 p.m. this Friday. Metuchen comes into town 3-2 with a 6-0 win over Cardinal McCarrick last week.
“It should be a tough game,” Hilliard said. “We upset them last year when they were 5-0, and I’m sure they’re looking to do the same to us this year. They mix it up pretty well between passing and throwing.”
Hilliard thinks his team is up for the challenge and the chance to remain unbeaten in the Blue Division alongside Middlesex, who were 36-13 winners over Manville last week. Bishop Ahr and Middlesex will meet Oct. 21 in Edison.
“We just have to stay focused and avoid a letdown,” Hilliard said. “We won’t change what we do offensively, but we will have to stop what Metuchen does in order to come out on top.”
Barrons top Edison in battle of winless teams
A struggling Woodbridge High School football team got just what the doctor ordered on Friday — a matchup with an equally downtrodden Edison team.
With the 0-4 teams squaring off in Woodbridge, it was the Barrons who came out on top, 23-8, for the team’s first win of the season.
It may have taken four games, but everything came together in their fifth game for the Barrons. Tailback Garret Mozolic carried the ball 24 times for 55 yards and one touchdown, while quarterback Anthony Viola ran with the ball 10 times for 32 yards. Although that only equals 87 yards on the ground, the 34 rushes were enough to make Edison anticipate the run on every down and opened up the field with passing lanes for Viola to operate. The result was Viola completing six of nine passes for a 101 yards.
Woodbridge’s top receiver and arguably the team’s best athlete, Shamar Graves, made nine receptions for 92 yards and caught two touchdown passes on the day.
With the win, the Barrons got into the W column just in time for a matchup against one of the GMC’s elite teams, Old Bridge. The Knights are undefeated this year at 4-0, and have one of the conference’s most dynamic offense.
Woodbridge will need to take its game to the next level to compete with Old Bridge, who is coming off an impressive 38-28 win over another solid team, North Brunswick.
The Colonia Patriots ran into a buzz-saw from New Brunswick, falling to the unbeaten Zebras, 35-7. New Brunswick jumped built up a 21-0 lead by half, and never looked back, getting 14 more points in the third to put the game away. Colonia got a late touchdown on a 33-yard run from Nameka Ibeh, but it was far too little, too late, as the Pats fell to 1-4 on the year.
Ben LaSala’s squad will look to get back on the winning track on Friday when they travel to Perth Amboy to take on the 1-3 Panthers. Game time is 7 p.m.