Ken Weingartner, Sports Writer
No doubt.
That’s what Monroe Township High football coach Pat Dowling wants to see every game from his Falcons. This week more than ever.
Monroe, which is 6-1 and ranked second in Central Jersey Group III power points with 46, can simplify its postseason aspirations with a victory over South Plainfield at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hugh Walsh Field. A loss could mean waiting and watching what happens with other teams next week.
”There are still a bunch of teams with two games to go,” Dowling said. “Even if we win, we could drop as low as sixth in the standings. If we lose, we could drop out. Win and we’re in. The big thing is just getting in. We don’t want to have to sit around and wonder. We need to take care of our business.”
The Falcons are coming off a 28-14 victory over winless Perth Amboy last week. The game was tied 14-14 at halftime, but Monroe got third-quarter touchdowns from Kyle Gigliello on a 19-yard pass from Brian Taylor and Nile Clement on a 3-yard run.
”We did enough,” Dowling said. “We didn’t play well defensively, especially early on. Offensively, we had eight possessions and never punted. We lost the ball twice on downs, on a fumble and on an interception. That’s 28 points we left out there.
”We told the kids they have to finish. You want to score and score so you leave no doubt who the better team is. The plan was to get them down early and clear the bench. That didn’t fall into play. We made it a dogfight and got a dogfight.”
A week earlier, Monroe gave Dowling a dominant performance in a 36-20 win over Bishop Ahr.
”I thought we’d hit our stride,” Dowling said. “We played as sound a game as we could, and then we followed up with a game like (Perth Amboy). We were sloppy and had a lot of penalties; 11 or 12 penalties. It’s some of the same things we never got cleaned up last year. If we don’t clean it up now, it could come back to bite us in the rear end like it did last year against Hamilton in the playoffs.”
Ryan Meseroll ran for 134 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries against Perth Amboy while Darnell Wilson had 66 yards on nine carries and Taylor, who was 6 of 9 for 75 yards through the air, added 48 yards on 10 totes.
”We’re pretty confident in our ability to run the ball,” Dowling said. “Meseroll had his best game of the year and didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Taylor did a nice job running the football and a good job passing when we put him in those situations.”
South Plainfield is 4-3 and ranked ninth in power points in North Jersey 2 Group III. The Tigers’ playoff hopes took a hit last week with a double-overtime loss, 10-7, against Colonia.
The Falcons won last year’s meeting against South Plainfield, 21-20, on Christian Hanley’s touchdown catch with 1:51 to play.
”South Plainfield is very athletic and very physical,” Dowling said. “They’re coming off a devastating loss. They’ve got the revenge factor and they’re fighting for the playoff lives. We’ve got to weather the storm early. I’m sure they feel they have something to prove.
”We need to get on them early and make them think about that; put doubt in their minds.”
And leave no doubt about the game or Monroe’s future in the process.
