BY: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
The Robbinsville High football team moved the ball against Florence. It also caught that legendary program by surprise with an early 67-yard touchdown pass from Ryan DeAngelis to Jeff Gerdes.
Even so, Florence emerged with a 32-13 win last Friday night.
“What are you going to do?” Robbinsville High Coach Jason Gray asked. “Florence is a great team. We’ll learn from this and we’ll just have to turn the page.”
What was apparent in this game is Robbinsville is a team that has weapons on offense and a defense that can play with anyone as long as field position and time of possession doesn’t swing too far against it.
That early touchdown put about as much of a charge in the crowd as was going into the temporary lights brought in for this special night game. Three runs by Brian Alston to start the contest had Florence’s defense pinching in just enough to spring the surprise.
Robbinsville was also successful with its running game. Alston carried the ball 20 times for 123 yards and a touchdown.
From a statistical standpoint, Florence only had a slight edge.
Both teams had 10 first downs. Robbinsville’s slight advantage in passing yardage (114 to 101 yards) was offset by Florence’s superior running (187 to 128) and fewer penalty yards (77 to 70).
Once place where Florence had a clear advantage was on special teams. That really had nothing to do with the talent or effort on Robbinsville’s side. Florence’s special teams are just great.
Florence blocked a punt for a safety. Meanwhile, the Florence punter averaged 39 yards on six kicks, including two of at least 47 yards that pinned Robbinsville back against its own goal line. Those two punts basically set the stage for Florence’s first 10 points.
“We’re going to look at the films and make the changes we need to make,” Gray said. “We’re not that far away from being a good club.”
Robbinsville, now 1-1, will try and take another step closer to that ultimate goal when it plays at Hopewell Friday night at 7 p.m.

