BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY staff Lakewood’s Darnell Norman makes a leaping catch during the Piners’ loss to Freehold Borough in Freehold on Saturday. JACKSON – When the Jackson High School football team squares off against Toms River East tonight, Jaguars coach Mike Smith realizes his defense is going to be under a lot of pressure to contain a well-coached and speedy Raiders offense.
“We’ve got to find a way to shut down their offense,” Smith said. “They are a very good team. If we can contain them on defense and take them out of their comfort zone, then we’ll have a good chance of winning.”
In the past when these two schools squared off, power points were always the focus of the contest. This season, however, TRE was switched into the Jaguars’ Division, so the game takes on extra meaning.
“This game is doubly important,” Smith said. “Now it is a divisional contest as well. Whoever walks away with this game gains control of the division. This is going to be an exciting game.”
Jackson’s defense has been stellar the fist two weeks of the season. The Jaguars, who knocked off Marlboro High School 35-6 last week, has allowed just a total of 13 points in eight quarters of play. Smith needs a similar output in order to slow down the Raiders’ offense, which is led by senior running back Brian Doyle, who gained more than 150 all-purpose yards in a 21-7 triumph over Ocean Township last week.
“They have a couple of players we need to key on,” Smith said. “Overall, they have excellent team speed. We’re going to have do a good job against the run.”
The Jags held Marlboro to less than 50 yards rushing.
“We ran to the ball very well,” Smith said.
After committing four turnovers in a week-one win over Southern, Jackson did a much better job of taking care of the football against Marlboro. The Jags had just one turnover against the Mustangs.
“We concentrated on cutting down on turnovers the entire week,” Smith said. “It was an area that we were concerned about. The kids did a good job in this game of making sure to execute and take care of the ball.”
Running back Mark Schiavonne sparked a 21-point first period by picking off a pass and returning 32 yards for Jackson’s first touchdown. Schiavonne, who rushed for 75 yards on 11 attempts, scored on a 55-yard burst later in the period to give the Jags an insurmountable 21-0 first-quarter cushion.
Running back Donald Murphy gathered 60 yards on six carries and scored on a five-yard run.
Quarterback John Cirri completed 5-of-9 passes for 55 yards, including a 16-yard TD pass.
LHS falls to Freehold
Piners’ quarterback Dean Seda tossed two touchdown passes, but it wasn’t enough as Freehold rallied from an early deficit to post a 20-14 win last Saturday over Lakewood in a Federal Division game.
Seda completed a 30-yard TD pass to Darnell Norman to give the Piners an early 7-0 lead. Later in the game, Seda connected with Ernest Campbell for a 20-yard scoring pass.
Seda finished 5-of-8 for 50 yards and two TDs as Lakewood fell to 0-2.
New Egypt blanked
by Northern Burlington
For the second week in a row, sophomore running back Langston Lacroix continued to impress the Warriors’ coaching staff.
Despite an 18-0 setback against Northern Burlington in a Burlington County League game, Lacroix rushed for 75 yards on 17 carries to lead the Warriors’ offense.
Quarterback Steve Panasuk completed 9-of-17 passes for 124 yards as New Egypt falls to 1-1 overall.