By John E. Powers, Sports Writer
The South Hunterdon High School football team was in an unlikely role last Friday night.
The Eagles were the favored team at Sam Jefferis Athletic Stadium, expected to convincingly knock off Sussex Tech.
And the Eagles played the role wonderfully.
South Hunterdon (1-3) won 34-0, getting contributions from many players, both seasoned and new.
The team, which has just four seniors on its roster, carried the momentum it felt it had built in a 21-0 loss at Belvidere a week earlier, and it appeared obvious as they dominated Sussex Tech.
Friday night, the Eagles will hope to win their second straight game when they play host to unbeaten Middlesex (4-0). Game-time is 7 p.m.
South Hunterdon hasn’t won two consecutive games since 2004 when it beat Imhotep Charter, Manville and Dunellen.
Middlesex beat South Hunterdon 6-0 in the season opener last year and 26-20 in overtime two years ago.
”I feel we’ll give them a game,” said South Hunterdon coach Jim Meert. ““We have some holes, but we have fewer of them. The sophomores are playing well.”
The Eagles certainly savored their performance Friday night.
”We needed one like that,” Meert said.
Meert had reminded his players that though Sussex Tech came into the game at 0-5, though it was playing its first varsity season since 2003, that it was a big, physical team.
Sophomore Brandon Scesney gained 123 yards in the first half, scoring on a 4-yard run with 5:23 left in the first quarter. Sophomore Sam Franzini caught a 25-yard pass from senior quarterback Brian Snell in the second quarter, and Scesney made it 14-0 with a successful 2-point conversion run.
”He ran smarter and strong,” Meert said.
Sophomore defensive back Parker Jensen got the Eagles going in the second half with an interception at the Sussex Tech 31. That was followed by Scesney’s 3-yard run and his placement kick that made it 21-0.
Then Scesney scored his third touchdown of the game later in the period and made another point after to make it 28-0. Franzini scored the team’s last touchdown with 8:32 remaining in the game on a 11-yard run.
Meert said he was pleased by the way the team’s offensive and defensive lines played.
Senior end Andrew Weinstein and junior nose guard T.J. Sprague made a big play to stop a rare Sussex Tech drive at the South 26.
Meert praised junior left tackle and linebacker Chris Beekman.
”We ran behind him much of the game,” Meert said.
Scesney ran 23 times for 196 yards, and Snell completed four of six passes for 101 yards.
Snell played well despite not practicing all week because of a strained hip flexor muscle. He threw 28 yards to senior tight end Russell Miller to set up the team’s fourth touchdown.
Parker caught a 37-yarder from Snell in the second quarter that put the team in great shape at the Sussex Tech 1-yard line. But the team fumbled the ball away in the end zone.
”We came in feeling good after having a great week of practice,” said Scesney, who ran for 107 yards on 23 carries against Belvidere. “We wanted to drive it right through them to the end zone.”
Snell, who’s been a varsity player for four years, said he felt the team can only get better.
”This is a big confidence builder. There’s nowhere to go but up from here,” he said.

