South posts most one-sided victory in Thanksgiving rivalry
By: Ken Weingartner
For the first time in several years, Thanksgiving dinner probably tasted very good to the players on the South Brunswick High football team.
Not that the enjoyment of recent meals by the Vikings had anything to do with the quality of the cooking; it had to do with the sour taste of defeat at the hands of rival North Brunswick.
Last week, however, South Brunswick emerged from its annual Thanksgiving morning clash against the Raiders with a 41-0 win, the most lopsided victory in the history of the series. With the triumph, the Vikings ended the season 7-3, reaching the seven-win level for the first time since 1995.
"It was nice," said Vikings coach Mark Prelewicz, who got his first win over North Brunswick in three tries. "It was good to end things on a good note. All these games this year have been big to show everybody the improvement in the program. Finishing up the year strong, winning games in November, shows outsiders that the program is moving in the right direction."
Vince Davidson ended his stellar career at South Brunswick with 284 yards on 30 carries against the Raiders and eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark with a 63-yard touchdown run with nine minutes to play. Davidson, the school’s all-time rushing leader, finished the season with 2,001 yards and 3,667 in his career. He scored four touchdowns against North Brunswick, three rushing and one receiving, while Joe Clancy had 47 yards and two scores on eight carries.
Prelewicz called timeout prior to Davidson’s touchdown, knowing the senior needed 62 yards to reach 2,000, and asked the running back what play he wanted. He called for a draw.
"We ran it, and he got all the yards in one play," Prelewicz said. "I don’t want it to seem like we were running the score up, but when someone has a chance for 2,000 yards I think he deserves the chance to finish it off when he’s that close. Something like that comes around once in a lifetime. With all he’s done this year, we owed it to him to give him a chance to get it.
"I think (North Brunswick) understood. After that, we took everyone out. We put the first-team offense on the field and then let them walk off for the last time together. They got a standing ovation. It was nice."
Early in the game, Davidson reaching 2,000 yards was the furthest thing in everyone’s mind. The Vikings struggled with turnovers and penalties in the first half, taking only a 6-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. After the break, South Brunswick scored on five consecutive possessions to put the game away.
"There was a lot of emotion in the first half," Prelewicz said. "We had some personal fouls and did things we don’t normally do going offsides, Vince fumbled. We told them at halftime that we were letting them stay in the game and to just settle down and play like we know how to play. We just told them to go out in the second half and take it to them. It was just the guys realizing we were a better team and we had to stop hurting ourselves. We just had to go out there and prove it."
South Brunswick’s defense held the Raiders to 142 yards in the contest. Tommy Hill had his 10th interception of the season while Andrew Fellouris and Nick Zastocki each blocked a punt that led to a Vikings’ touchdown. Fellouris ended the game with 15 tackles while Derek Shelcusky had eight stops and James Jackson registered 2.5 sacks.
The Raiders’ top offensive player, running back Aaron Jackson, was slowed by an Achilles injury suffered in a previous game and had just 12 yards on seven carries.
"They (North Brunswick) were a little down with Jackson being hurt," Prelewicz said. "We went into the game preparing that he was going to play. But it didn’t matter to us who was going to play, we were going to shut them down."
The Vikings’ defense provided the stuffing, which no doubt was followed by enjoyable meal.