By: Ken Weingartner
After beating Perth Amboy 33-14 last week, it would seem likely that the Monroe Township High football team will head to the postseason for the first time in history.
Likely, though, isn’t definitive enough.
The Falcons still have fresh memories of last season’s disappointment when, despite a 6-2 record, they lost the final spot in the state sectional playoffs on a tiebreaker. Monroe, which improved to 6-1 with its win over the Panthers, wants to leave nothing to chance this year. A victory tonight at South Plainfield would end all potential worries.
"We’ve stayed on course with the kids; the lesson we learned last year is that we want to control our own destiny and not put our fate in other people’s hands," Falcons coach Pat Dowling said. "We need to treat this like a playoff game. There’s going to be a playoff atmosphere. These are the types of teams you need to beat if you’re going to make a run in the postseason."
South Plainfield is 5-2 and probably assured a playoff spot in North Jersey. The Tigers, though, can get a home game in the opening round with a win over Monroe.
The Falcons, too, would be in position to get a home game with a victory tonight. Monroe is currently fourth in power points in Central Jersey Group III, where the top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.
Neptune, which is eighth, has a tough game against Red Bank Catholic on its schedule while Nottingham, which is ninth, would need to win its final two games before the cutoff date and get help from some other teams to move ahead of the Falcons if Monroe was to lose to South Plainfield.
"Let’s make it so we’re looking at others to give us help the final weeks to give us a home game, and not help to get into the playoffs," Dowling said.
Not only would a win against South Plainfield put the Falcons into the postseason, it would equal the school record for wins in a year; a mark that was set just last season.
"There are still a lot of things out there to keep the kids grounded and focused," Dowling said. "It’s exciting."
Last week, the Falcons fell behind 6-0 to Perth Amboy when the Panthers returned the opening kick for a touchdown. Normally, Monroe elects to receive the kickoff when it wins the toss; last week it decided to defer because of the windy conditions.
"I was kicking myself; we probably over-coached a bit," Dowling said. "We thought maybe they would give us the ball twice. It backfired on us a bit, but that was my call."
As they have all season, the Falcons responded quickly to their foe’s touchdown. Monroe marched quickly down the field to take a 7-6 lead on Ryan Meseroll’s 1-yard touchdown run, and then added the next 20 points to build a 27-6 advantage entering the fourth quarter.
Meseroll finished with 110 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. Mark Gulick added 69 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries as the Falcons gained 249 yards rushing.
Ryan Cushman completed 9 of 16 passes for 140 yards, including a 26-yard scoring toss to T.J. Denehy after Perth Amboy closed within 27-14 with around eight minutes to play.
"We played pretty soundly," Dowling said. "It was a battle in the first half, but we kicked it into high gear in the second half. That was good because the last few games we’ve kind of coasted in the second half.
"Meseroll and Gulick give us a nice 1-2 punch, and they’re different types of runners, which helps us, too. That’s what it takes to win a championship or playoff game; you need to have depth at key positions."
With a win tonight, Monroe will get the chance to put that depth to use in the postseason, too.

