It was tough for Kyle Bethel to watch his Howell Rebels from the sidelines. “It was difficult,” he recalled. “I felt I could have done something.”
But, K.B., as Bethel is called by his teammates, healed, the Rebels became less of a team relying upon him to make the plays for them and more of a cohesive unit with everyone contributing.
“We played well [without him],” said Bethel. “The team didn’t have to depend on me.”
However, K.B. was there in Marlboro Wednesday when the Rebels needed him the most. With the Shore Conference A North Division title on the line, Bethel scored both of Howell’s goals in a 2-0 victory that clinched the school’s second straight division title.
“This was a lot harder,” said Bethel, comparing last year to ’07. “It came down to the last game.
“Marlboro needed this game for the [state] playoffs,” he added. “Both teams came out and played hard.”
It was Howell that had K.B. and that proved to be the difference. He got Howell on the scoreboard in the 38th minute, capitalizing on a Bill Kappock feed. The score remained 1-0 until the final minute when Bethel polished off a through-ball from Cody Calafiore that finally ended the drama.
Rebel goalie Brian McDonough was tested by the Mustangs (6-9) but answered the challenge. He made 11 saves in picking up his eighth shutout of the year.
It turned out that Howell had to wait 48 hours to find out if it was the outright division champion or shared it with rival Manalapan.
After Howell and Manalapan had played to a 2-2 tie the week before, both teams went into last week with identical 9-2-1 division records. Each had two games to play.
On Oct. 7, Howell beat Middletown South, 7-1, with Calafiore and Bethel each scoring two goals. Manalapan, though, was tied with Middletown North at 0-0 after regulation. The match was halted because of darkness. They would resume play in Middletown on Friday.
Wednesday, Howell secured its piece of the title when it beat Marlboro, Manalapan, and Freehold Township, 6-1, to keep its title chances alive.
But, on Friday when Manalapan returned to Middletown for the overtime periods, the Braves could not score a goal. Their match with the Lions ended in a 0-0 tie, and Howell had ownership of A North again.
Howell went 11-2-1 in the division and Manalapan, 10- 2-2.
As Howell moves forward to the Shore Conference Tournament (SCT), the Rebels are in the same position as last year as the likely No. 1 seed. They learned the hard way in ’06 that that hardly matters.
They were in the same position last year and didn’t reach the final falling to Manalapan.
“We know we have to play everyone 100 percent and not take anything for granted,” said Bethel. “We have to make sure that we play well as a team.”
Howell, 13-2-1, overall was expected to get the top seed and a first-round bye when the SCT seeding committee met on Oct. 15.
Manalapan, the defending SCT champions, was 10-2-2 overall and expected to get the No. 2 seed. Manalapan is right where it was at this time last year, the A North runner up. The Braves, of course, went on to win the SCT as well as the Central Jersey Group IV crown. They advanced to the State Group IV final for the first time in school history. The Braves are certainly capable of doing that again.
Meanwhile, with Howell fueled by last year’s postseason failures, no one should be surprised if it’s Howell vs. Manalapan in the SCT final.

