It’s been a magical season for the Holmdel HighSchoolfootballteam. Com- ing into the season on the heels of a fourgame winning streak, the Hornets have done nothing to quell that momentum, winning all eight games they’ve played last year, clinching the Shore Conference’s National Division championship, and now, following Friday’s dominating 28-0 win over Red Bank Regional, they enter the state playoffs as the top seed in their section.
For head coach Andy Carlstrom and his coaching staff, it’s been a season of satisfaction, as the Hornets have responded in every way to the challenges the coaching staff set before them in the summer. Carlstrom told his players back in August that they had the talent to compete for a division title, and more, if they would believe in themselves, and work hard together towards that common goal.
“These kids have been working nonstop since the end of last year,” Carlstrom said. “We had 40-50 kids in the weight room every day once last season ended.”
And it’s translated into a perfect regular season.
It started with a win in Manasquan against the perennial division favorite, and with his Hornets proving to be the better team that day, Carlstrom got his first indication that his players were buying into the fact that Holmdel football was ready to be a championship-level program once again.
Since then, Holmdel has been a team on a mission. They have won big and they have won the close games, all the while looking like a team with the talent and discipline needed to compete against the best in the state.
Friday night’s game against Red Bank wasn’t going to make or break Holmdel’s season. The win simply clinched the top seed in the Central Jersey Group II playoffs. However, it also meant that Holmdel would not see Rahway, who most people are calling the section’s best team, until the finals, should both teams advance that far.
Quite often, with high school teams, it can be difficult to motivate the players when they know that a loss won’t ultimately ruin their chances of achieving their goal.
But this Holmdel team has been gunning for perfection all season, and they were not going to let an undermanned, yet dangerous RBR team squash that notion.
Quarterback Ryan Haslett led the way for Holmdel, rushing for 177 yards and one touchdown (from 52 yards) on 13 carries, while also hitting Chris Gallogly on a slant for a 62-yard touchdown. Holmdel’s first touchdown was set up by the first of two Patrick Clarke interceptions, as he picked off a RBR pass early in the game and returned it to the Bucs 12. Four plays later, Ken Laplante was in the end zone after a four-yard plunge.
While the Hornet offense added a sevenyard Glenn Grainger touchdown in the second quarter to make it 28-0, the Holmdel defense was downright dominant, holding RBR to just 47 total yards of offense for the day.
Holmdel will host eighth-seeded Governor Livingston (5-3) on Friday night in the opener, with a possible match-up with Rumson Fair Haven (7-1) awaiting them in the second round. RFH opens against North Plainfield (6-2) Friday night in its playoff opener. Holmdel and RFH scrimmaged in the preseason, with Carlstrom walking away from the game a bit disappointed in his team’s effort. Needless to say, should Holmdel and RFH meet again, the Bulldogs will be seeing a different team than they did the first time around.
As for the match-up with Governor Livingston, the Hornets look like the better team on paper, as the Highlanders enter the game coming off a 16-15 loss to North Plainfield, the fourth seed in the bracket. However, this is the state playoffs, and that means that any team is capable of knocking off another on any given night.
Carlstrom and his coaches will likely be pounding that fact into their players’ heads all week, however, based on their play all season long, it doesn’t appear the coaches have much to worry about.
Holmdel has come ready to play every game this season. And now that they’ve reached the postseason, where every game can mark the end of the season, it’s unlikely this group of Hornets is going to lose focus.
Middletown South enters the postseason in an unusual position. For the first time in a long time, the Eagles are not the favorite in their section.
Head coach Steve Antonucci’s squad entered the year as the top-ranked team in the Shore. However, back-to-back losses to Toms River North and Freehold Borough have left many around the state thinking this is the year the Eagles’ postseason string of success comes to an end.
Middletown South is seeking its Shore Conference record-tying fifth consecutive sectional crown, but after moving back down to the Central Jersey Group III bracket, the Eagles will have a very tough challenge ahead of them.
While Moorestown (8-0) is the top seed in the bracket, Long Branch is seeded second, and the Green Wave has proven to be as good as anyone in the Shore this year, with their only loss coming in a tough, one-point game against Wall Township – a team the Eagles beat by one point.
While Long Branch opens with seventhseeded Princeton (5-3) at Matawan on Saturday, the Eagles will travel to Lawrence to take on the No. 4 seed. Lawrence is 7-2 on the year. Wall Township, who suffered a tough, lopsided loss to Lacey over the weekend, got the eighth seed in the bracket, giving them the tough task of traveling to Moorestown this weekend.
For most of the day on Saturday, it appeared that Matawan was going to be in the mix in the Central Jersey Group II tournament. Needing a win to get in, the Huskies dominated Freehold Borough for most of the game, and scored three touchdowns in a row in the third quarter to carry a 28-6 lead into the fourth quarter. Then, the wheels fell off.
Freehold scored four consecutive touchdowns in just 21 plays in the fourth quarter to shock Matawan, 35-28, and end their state playoff bid. With the loss, Matawan fell to 3- 5 on the year, while Freehold improved to 7- 1. A Matawan win also would have given Middletown South a shot at redemption, as it would have set up a first-round matchup against the Colonials in CJ Group III. However, it wasn’t meant to be, meaning that the Eagles will need to beat Lawrence before they can entertain thoughts of avenging their loss to Freehold.
In other action this week, Middletown North continued to progress under secondyear head coach Joe Trezza, knocking off Brick Memorial, 14-10, on Friday. It took a lengthy 23-play, nine-minute, 22-second fourth quarter drive to get the Lions in position to win, and once they were there, reaching the Mustang four-yard line with just nine seconds left on the clock, the Lions sealed the deal. Quarterback Joe Dickey hit Connor Delepine with the game-winner, ending what had been a very hard-fought game between two teams who defenses played well.