By Ken Weingartner, Sports Writer
Division champions meet on the football field Friday night when Monroe Township High treks up Route 522 to play South Brunswick on the Vikings Senior Night.
The Vikings (6-1) grabbed a share of the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division title this season while Monroe (6-2) won the GMC White crown. The championships were the first for each program.
South Brunswick, with a win over the Falcons, can guarantee itself home field throughout the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs. Monroe, which is the No. 1-ranked team in CJ Group III, has already played its eight games that count to postseason power points.
”We’re going to show up and play hard football and see where things go,” Monroe coach Chris Beagan said. “We’re challenging ourselves to see that we stay focused and continue on this path. There’s another great story with what (coach) Rick Mantz has done over (at South Brunswick) with his players; getting a share of the Red Division, beating Sayreville – that’s good stuff.”
Monroe defeated South Brunswick 29-28 in overtime last year and 28-20 in 2006.
”We’ve been fortunate enough to play them the last two years, so we know a little bit about what they’re about,” said Beagan, whose team has won three in a row since a 16-6 setback against Group IV Montgomery. “But they’re getting better every week as well. They’ve got a lot of role players playing real well. They’re a lot like us.”
Defense has been the key to the Falcons’ success. Monroe has allowed just 45 points all year and posted four shutouts. The 16 points allowed to Montgomery is their season high.
Chris Gregor, Dale Degraw, Rich Lorfing and Alex Olexson have spearheaded the defense. Each has more than 45 tackles.
Degraw, D’Meetri Wilson and Blake Bascom have all rushed for more than 390 yards in a balanced offensive attack. Quarterback Max Stanice, who missed the first two games of the season with an injury, has helped guide the offense to 90 points over the last three contests.
”They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Mantz said. “They came out and took it to Old Bridge (28-7) last week. I thought they did a terrific job. They’ve got a lot of guys you’ve got to stop. They have a lot of weapons.”
South Brunswick is coming off a bye following its 27-7 loss at Piscataway. The Vikings have been led by rushing of Justin McClendon, the receiving of Dan Acevedo and the play of quarterback tandem Mike Muha and Tim Doehler.
”We’re excited,” Mantz said. “We were a little banged up after Piscataway, so having a week off helped. We’re only focused on getting better. Piscataway played really well and we didn’t play well.
”We’ve got to get some things corrected or the playoffs don’t really matter. I think we cleaned some things up. We think it’s a chance for us to bounce back.”

