Perfect Pirates top PHS

Football eyes bigger goals

By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
   Each week the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South football team is focused on the task at hand.
   But at the same time, the Pirates have their sights set on another prize at the end of the season.
   WW-P South completed a perfect regular season with a 45-13 win over Princeton on Saturday. Now, the Pirates begin their quest to get back to the Central Jersey Group IV final.
   ”It’s been on our mind the whole season,” said senior lineman Will O’Brien, who helped the Pirates jump out to a 38-0 lead at halftime on Saturday. “We want to get back to Rutgers and win it this time. The first step is Saturday and it won’t be easy, we know that. It’s going to be a big test. But hopefully we have what it takes this year.”
   The Pirates earned the No. 2 seed in the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs and will open on Saturday against No. 7 Middletown North.
   Against Princeton, WW-P South went over 40 points for the seventh time in nine games this season. The Pirates led 23-0 by the end of the first quarter on three touchdown runs by David Twamley.
   ”We’re looking forward to the states, but we had to take this game serious,” said O’Brien, the lone returning starter on the offensive line. “We know we have to tone it up because the playoffs are a whole other beast. We’re getting excited and ready.
   ”It feels great to know we went out and dominated the first half. At the same time, we have to make sure we’re in shape to play the whole game. Coach Smith has been working us hard in practice. We keep up our conditioning.”
   In the second quarter, Connor Farrell threw two of his three touchdown passes in the game, connecting with Jeff Riemann and Jack Dennehy for scores. He hooked up with Dennehy for another touchdown in the second half. Farrell finished the game completing 14 of 21 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 22 touchdown passes for the season.
   It was yet another impressive offensive performance for the Pirates, whose offensive line has not missed a beat even with four new starters joining O’Brien on the line.
   ”We’ve been together for a while,” O’Brien said. “We’re all friends who hang out a lot. It wasn’t anything new. It felt natural when we came together. We had a nice cohesive group. A lot of them were not used to the pace of it and I let them know early on what it would be like. If they ever had any questions, I’d try to help them through situations.”
   While most coaches would have lamented having to rebuild the offensive line for the second year in a row, South coach Todd Smith wasn’t worried.
   ”They’re a good group,” Smith said. “They’re all smart and active. They’re physical and athletic. Our system is pretty simple. We don’t try to split any atoms out there. The kids just do it. They know it. We drill it into them in the summer time and they just do it. They’re smart kids.
   ”One of my philosophies is I will never put kids out there that don’t know what they’re doing and the kids understand that. They know if they do not know how to run our offensive schemes they will not see the field. So they really work hard to do that.”
   That hard work has resulted in a fourth straight trip to the state playoffs, with hopes of a return trip to the CJ IV final.