MHS loses big in Robbinsville
by Shawn Tyrrell, Sports Writer
This past Saturday in the NJSIAA football consolation game against Robbinsville, the Manville High Mustangs needed to limit their mistakes to give themselves a realistic chance to get a win.
In the team’s previous victory the week before over North Warren, the Mustangs did a solid job of protecting the football. This time around was different. Four turnovers inside the opponent’s 30-yard line didn’t help matters, but Robbinsville scored early and often rolling to an easy 41-6 win.
”We went up against a very tough team,” MHS head coach Brett Stibitz said. “They beat us pretty good on both sides of the ball. We didn’t help ourselves with the four turnovers. We came out physically ready to play, but not mentally.”
This one was under the control of Robbinsville early as the offense put up 21 points in the first quarter. Robbinsville quarterback Ryan DeGanelis started the scoring off with a 25-yard pass to Ryan Casey.
Robbinsville (5-5) added two mores touchdowns in the opening period as Brian Alston broke off a 55-yard run and DeGanelis added a 13-yard scoring strike to Zach Barby.
DeGanelis finished the game 6-for-9 for 114 yards, but it was Alston who really gave the Mustangs fits. The senior back ran 27 times for 262 yards and two touchdowns, the other being a 15-yard run in the third quarter that pretty much iced the context. The 262 yards pushed the back’s total for the season to 1,931 yards, making Alston one of the toughest runners MHS has faced.
”We knew going in he would be tough to stop,” Stibitz said. “He is one of those backs that has been highly recruited. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t have an answer to stop him. When we finally did it, it was usually seven or eight yards downfield. It just wasn’t our day.”
Manville’s lone touchdown came on a two-yard run by junior running back Mark Walyga in the second quarter, but by then Manville was down 27-6.
”The kids didn’t give up,” Stibitz said. “We managed to move the ball at times, but when things could have gone wrong they did. It was basic football 101 and we didn’t do what we needed to today.”
MHS fell to 3-6 with the loss. Stibitz was not happy with the pairing against Robbinsville. Manville has not gotten many breaks when it comes to its consolation game opponents in recent years.
”The whole Central game pairings were not fair,” said Stibitz, whose team was forced to play at Metuchen last year. “The state did bad job on the matchups and they have a criteria and they didn’t follow it.”
With one game remaining on the schedule, it will be interesting to see how the Mustangs respond. Bound Brook, undefeated at 9-0, will play host to Manville on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. It will be another tough game for the Mustangs and they will have to play error-free football to have a chance. That’s something they didn’t do Saturday in Robbinsville.