South shuts out PHS to earn No. 1 seed
By: Bob Nuse
Even though the high school football state playoffs don’t begin until this week, Saturday’s West Windsor-Plainsboro South at Princeton game had plenty of playoff implications.
For WW-P South, the top seed in the Central Jersey Group III playoffs was on the line. With a win, the Pirates would improve to 8-0 and lock up their first No. 1 seed. For Princeton, a berth in the playoffs for the first time since 1993 was on the line.
When all was said and done, WW-P South came away with a 27-0 win, securing the top seed in CJ III. Princeton, meanwhile, had its five-game winning streak snapped and fell to 5-3, just missing out on a playoff berth.
"We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now," WW-P South senior Brian Morris said. "As far as we’re concerned, losing is not an option. We prepare well for every game we play. The coaches do a great job of getting us ready for every game. Today, we knew what to expect and we were ready to stop them. We knew what was coming."
The Pirates posted their fourth shutout in eight games, holding the Colonial Valley Conference’s leading rusher, Alexz Henriques, to just 60 yards on 16 carries. Meanwhile, the offense continued to turn out yardage the way it has all season running behind a talented offensive line.
Ryan Lupo (117 yards) and Morris (101 yards) each broke the 100-yard barrier rushing. E.J. Burgess added 59 yards for the Pirates, who rushed for just over 300 yards as a team. But the story once again was the defense, which has allowed seven or less points in seven of their eight games this season.
"We just wanted to play an attacking defense and I thought everybody on the defense stepped up and did their job," said South coach Todd Smith, who has the Pirates at 8-0 for the first time since 1987. "We knew with the weather being warm that we wanted to rotate in a lot of guys and we did that. I think we kept guys strong. Coach (Chris) Franco and the other coaches have done a nice job with the defense. This was our fourth shutout and I know they are real proud of that."
WW-P scored just over two minutes into the game when Brandon Manley returned the opening kickoff 72 yards to set up great field position. Four plays later, Burgess scored to give the Pirates the lead. Just before the end of the first quarter, Lupo scored the first of his two touchdowns and the Pirates led, 13-0. South scored again with just 17 seconds left in the first half on a Colin Dampier to Stuart Adams pass and led 20-0 at halftime.
While the defense has been solid every week, the offense has averaged close to 30 points a game this year, with most of the damage being done on the ground. In all, it’s been as good a season as Smith could have hoped for in his first year as a head coach.
"I knew what kind of kids we had," said Smith, whose team will likely face Colts Neck in the opening round of the CJ III playoffs on Saturday. "I followed the team last year, but I didn’t know everything about what we had and I didn’t know who had what as far as the other teams. I thought that with the type of kids we had, we had the potential to be a good team.
"I don’t know that we came into the season thinking we’d be 8-0 at this point. I think we started well and then, after we beat Trenton, the kids really started to believe. Our offense has played really well and our defense has played well since the beginning of the season."
The players, they always seemed to believe they had a chance to be a good team. Maybe not 8-0, but a good team.
"We knew we had a pretty good chance to be a good team," said junior lineman Joe Everingham. "The new coaches have come in and helped us a lot this year."
Added Morris: "We have a real solid senior class and we have good junior athletes like Ryan (Lupo) and Colin (Dampier). Our line is dominated by seniors, plus we have Joe (Everingham) and Bill Enkhbayer. So most of us have been in the program for four years, even though we’ve had different coaches. I think we knew this was the year for us.
"Our offense has done a real solid job," Morris continued. "But the defense has been amazing. This is our fourth shutout. Coach Franco, our defensive coordinator, has done a great job of getting us ready for every situation that we might face. We have a lot of confidence as a defense."
That defense shut down what has been a pretty prolific Princeton offense. The Little Tigers had scored at least 18 points in every game this season, and were averaging just under 28 points a game.
"Today wasn’t anything fancy," Princeton coach Steve Everette said. "It was just your old fashion go out to the woodshed game. They beat us up. I came into the game thinking we had a chance. I didn’t think we would get beat up the way we did. Their kids up front really controlled us.
"Part of it was us. But the biggest part was West Windsor South. They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason. We didn’t play well, but part of that was because of the things they did. I didn’t prepare our team well enough for this game and that comes back on me."
Princeton finished just out of the CJ III playoffs, despite a 5-3 record at the cutoff.
"That’s just the way it goes with power points," Everett said. "We’re at 5-3 after eight games, but this year our 5-3 wasn’t quite good enough. When the season is all done we’ll look back at this year and say we did half-decent. We still have two games left and now we have to change our goals a little bit and make getting to 7-3 our major goal."
EXTRA POINTS Montgomery fell to 3-5 on the season with a 13-10 loss to Watchung Hills on Friday night. Quarterback Chris Fischer returned to the lineup after being sidelined most of the season with an injury, completing six of his 12 passes for 86 yards. Fischer hooked up with Dupree Wade on a 31-yard touchdown pass for the Cougars’ only touchdown. . . Hun fell to 4-4 with a 49-7 loss to Hill on Friday. Shane Davis connected with quarterback Turner Wimberley on an option pass for a touchdown for the only score for the Raiders. Jas Lee Rouson rushed for 75 yards to pace the rushing attack. . . WW-P North fell to 1-7 with a 42-7 loss to Steinert. Darren Paret’s touchdown run and the extra point gave the Knights a 7-6 lead in the first quarter, but Steinert scored the game’s final 36 points. Mike DeGoria ran for 51 yards in the loss.

