The scramble is officially on for high school football teams jockeying for a spot in the upcoming state tournament.
With just two weeks to play before the cutoff, the next two games will help shape the sectional tournament brackets, with only teams with a .500 record or better and enough power points to qualify earning a shot at a title.
Locally, four teams are headed for the postseason, while one other —Monmouth Regional — faces a must-win game this weekend while also needing some help along the way. The Golden Falcons hosted their first night game in program history on Friday and got an important win over Red Bank Regional, 16-6, keeping their playoff hopes alive in the process.
Monmouth’s defense was the difference in this one, and head coach Sal Spampanato’s squad clamped down late in the game and held off a Bucs team that was fighting until the end. Monmouth got on the board first when Daevon Legrand broke free for a 23-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
Monmouth preserved that lead when junior Scott Satcher blocked a 28-yard field goal attempt.
The Golden Falcons’ defense then stepped up on RBR’s final possession of the first half, making three straight tacklesfor a-loss, and forcing the Bucs to punt from their own end zone. Monmouth got the ball back with a short field, and ran the ball three times before Brandon Ford booted a 23-yard field goal for a 10-0 halftime lead.
While RBR would get within 10-6 in the second half, Devonte Thomas pushed the lead back to 10 with a four-yard TD run late in the game. From there, the Monmouth defense sealed the deal, with senior Fernando Salazar and Walter Olsen sacking Red Bank quarterback Michael Reardon on consecutive plays, effectively ending the Bucs’ final drive.
With the win, Monmouth improved to 3-4 on the year, with just one game to go before the state playoff deadline. The Golden Falcons entered the RBR game with 41 power points, which left them tied for ninth place in the standings with Ewing, and just two points behind Johnson High School.
Ewing, however, lost to Lawrence, 14- 7, over the weekend, while Johnson played against Hillside on Friday, and still has two remaining games before the deadline (this Friday at Bernards and on Nov. 6 against New Providence).
For Monmouth to qualify, they need to win this weekend and hope for at least two Johnson losses over their last three games.
Next up for the Golden Falcons is a Manchester team that got three fourthquarter field goals from Tom Sokol and rallied from a 20-point deficit to shock Red Bank Catholic, 23-20, on Friday night in Red Bank.
After RBC scored on three of its first four possessions,withAndrewCasten finding the end zone from 49, 10 and two yards, Manchester took advantage of some fortuitous plays. The Hawks got within 20- 6 with a James Smith TD catch just 15 seconds before halftime. Then, after Monwell Brown recovered an RBC fumble in the third quarter, Manchester drove down to the RBC two-yard line before punching it in with a QB keeper to get within 20-14.
That set up Sokol’s three field goals, the first of which came from 20 yards out. The Hawks then got a break, when Sokol’s kickoff went off the side of his foot, hit an RBC player and was quickly pounced on by Roderick Carter at the RBC 45. That led to a 22-yard field goal from Sokol to tie the game at 20-20.
Manchester’s Jimmy Lawson then made the big play to set up the win, sacking RBC QB Taylor Erdman and causing a fumble, with Sokol, of all people, recovering the ball at the RBC 32. That led to the game-winning 23-yard field goal with three minutes to play.
The loss was a tough one to swallow for RBC, which fell to 4-3 on the year.
The Caseys will qualify for the Non- Public South A tournament but will face the top seed, which will likely be Don Bosco Prep (6-0 and currently ranked second in the nation). But before they can worry about that, they will take on an Ocean Township team that suffered a 24-7 loss to Matawan over the weekend. This game began on Saturday but was postponed until Sunday due to the threat of lightning. Ocean fell to 5-1 on the year and needs a win over RBC to cement its status as one of the top three teams in the Central Jersey Group III power point rankings. Middletown South leads that race at 7-0.
While the Long Branch Green Wave had the week off to prepare for their highly anticipated match-up with Matawan this Saturday, Ocean’s loss to the Huskies created a three-way tie within the division and made this Saturday’s game all the more important. The outcome will also greatly affect the CJ Group II playoff picture, as will Long Branch’s Nov. 6 showdown with unbeatenManasquan.
Needless to say, the next two weeks will certainly tell us quite a bit about Long Branch’s championship potential.
Rumson-Fair Haven will travel to Point Pleasant Beach on Friday for its final game before the start of the postseason. The Bulldogs beat an overmatched Mater Dei team over the weekend to improve to 7-0 for the first time in the program’s history.
The game with the Seraphs came at the perfect time for an RFH team that was a little banged up after posting wins over Shore Regional, Asbury Park and Keyport in the last few weeks. Now, with their third Patriot Division title in the last four years locked up, the Bulldogs can begin to prepare for a run at the CJ Group II title.
A win over Point Beach on Friday would wrap up the top seed, since RFH would be the only undefeated team in a bracket that will include a host of familiar foes, including Long Branch, Raritan, Matawan, Manasquan and Keyport.