Brick Township football coach Warren Wolf spends Sunday evenings during the season with players visiting his home.
“We have some cookies and brownies, milk and soda, and we look at game films,” said Wolf. “It’s mostly the players on offense who come.”
But what has been a light get-together after three of the victories this season is a little more meaningful these days with the team’s NJSIAA playoff hopes at risk.
Coming off a 36-14 loss at Howell – a team coming off its only loss of the season – on Saturday evening, a game postponed from Friday because of a heavy rainstorm, Brick Township, at 3-3, must win one of its next two games before the cutoff to qualify or it will fall short for the third year in a row.
Brick Memorial, also coming off a loss in which unbeaten Toms River North needed to score 21 points in the final quarter for a 24-3 victory, is in a “must win” situation in both games over the next two weeks with a 2-4 record to qualify for the states for the fifth year in a row and to keep alive its hopes for a winning season.
“We were completely outplayed after our first touchdown,” said Wolf, whose Dragons struck first on Ken Brancaccio’s interception runback from midfield before Howell bounced back for a 22-7 lead at halftime. Halfback Matt Cuccinello, who earned Wolf ‘s praise for his hard running throughout the game, ran five yards for a touchdown in the final quarter. Jeff Decker continued his strong blocking on the offensive line.
“We couldn’t get our passing game going,” said Wolf, coaching in his 50th season at Brick Township with an alltime state-record 353 victories. “I’d like to think we could play better. We couldn’t stop their runner, who had about 300 yards rushing.”
Coming off a 21-20 victory over Southern, Brick Township has allowed 53 points in its last two games after giving up only 28 over the first four.
Next is a Friday night home game against another struggling team looking to make the playoffs, Toms River South, “our biggest rival,” said Wolf, referring to his Shore Conference schedule. “There have been some tough games. We have to regroup. We need to improve our kicking game, our offense and our defense to win the game.”
Toms River South won last year’s game, 10-8.
Brick Memorial, meanwhile, tied its game in the third quarter on a 20-yard field goal by Dan Burke.
“We played against one of the best defenses in the Shore,” said coach Walter Currie. “I give our kids credit. They played their hearts out.”
But Currie would not paint a dire picture of his team, which will play at Jackson Memorial on Friday night.
“This game becomes extremely important because of the positives that came out of our game this week,” said Currie, whose team gave the No. 13 ranked team in the state fits. Toms River North coach Chip LaBarca gave Brick Memorial credit for their performance in the game. “They played an outstanding game,” said the coach.
“If we play the same quality football against Jackson, we have a real good chance of winning the game,” said Currie, who could not single out any player but credited a strong team effort. “We have to keep focused.”
Currie said Jackson’s best athlete is at tailback, although its wide receivers are utilized often and effectively, and its defense continues to be formidable.