Brick Memorial’s Vin Sabba (21) is brought down by Howell’s Tom Crimeni (left) and Steve Martorana during the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV semifinal football game in Howell on Nov. 21. Brick defeated Howell 31-28. JEFF GRANIT staff But the Mustangs rebounded strongly to win the NJSIAA Group IV, Central Jersey title over Sayreville War Memorial High School last December.
This year, Brick Memorial (7-4) has been healthy and comes off a 34-21 Thanksgiving victory over its cross-town rival, Brick Township, as the team returns to the state championship game on Dec. 5 against East Brunswick High School. The game kicks off at 3 p.m. at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. Saturday’s site was moved from the customarily scheduled location at Rutgers University, which has a home game against the University of West Virginia.
Brick Memorial beat East Brunswick, 37-34, in its eighth game of the season to clinch a playoff berth.
Coach Walt Currie said he and his staff are “very happy” with the way the Mustangs are playing.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” Currie said. “You always want to play best football at the end.”
Brick Memorial comes in with a four-game win streak, including the Thanksgiving game against Brick Township.
Currie said his team “got control early and maintained control throughout the game” behind the game’s Most Valuable Player, Vin Sabba, who went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season with a career-high 205 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns. He has 14 touchdowns and nearly 1,200 yards rushing this season.
Quarterback John Applegate got the MVP for Brick Township, which ended its season 4-6 and leads the Thanksgiving series, 19-8-1.
Brick Memorial took a 14-0 lead when Glen McGinnis was on the receiving end of a 16-yard scoring pass from Mike DiGuilmi, his fifth this season, and Sabba ran 16 yards. Dylan McDermott pulled Brick Township to 14-7 with a four-yard touchdown run in the second quarter — his first of two touchdowns in the game — as the score held to 14-7 at halftime.
With Applegate unable to complete an option pass play on a punt, a play that Brick Township practices, DiGuilmi ran 38 yards on the next play for his ninth touchdown of the season to make it 21-7. McDermott answered with his second touchdown before Sabba padded Brick Memorial’s lead with touchdown runs of 35 yards and two yards. Jordan Loiodice kicked four extra points, giving him 34 this season.
Ben Casado caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Applegate in the fourth quarter for Brick Township.
“We knew coming into the game we’d have to tackle them and stop them on defense, and that their fullback is the main guy who they keep going to,” said Brick Township coach Patrick Dowling, who completed his first season as head coach.
“We were hoping to do a better job of tackling,” he said. “But I’m happy with the way the kids did not quit. I wish we tackled better and we had some passes overthrown early. I’m happy with the way the kids responded offensively, but I did not want to get into a shootout with them.”
Currie credited his team’s mental focus for not looking past Brick Township to the state championship game. The Mustangs report no serious injuries going into the title game.
Stopping the triple option is a tall order for East Brunswick, whose option offense parallels the Mustangs’ offense.
“It feels great,” Sabba said. “This year, we did not have as much firepower as last year, but we still have a great offense, and I still had to take on my shoulders this year as much as I could,” said Sabba, who has under 2,200 career rushing yards, well shy of the 4,041 yards amassed by Vin Falkiewicz through the 2007 season. Falkiewicz also has the single-season rushing record of 1,700 yards.
“The whole season has been like an emotional roller coaster,” said Sabba, since the team was 3-4 at one point. “We lost a couple of games we felt we should not have lost, and did not know if we would get into the playoffs.”
Brick Memorial holds a 288-280 scoring edge this season over its opponents. Its improved defense has allowed 66 points in the last three games. Prior to that, it had lost four straight games, allowing 33 points or more in each game.
The wins include dramatic state playoff victories over Howell, 31-28, on Nov. 20 and Hunterdon Central, 21-17, both on touchdowns with less than 20 seconds left. Brick Memorial in the playoffs avenged a 37-27 loss to Howell suffered during the losing streak. The team came back from a 21-point deficit entering the fourth quarter as McGinnis caught a game-winning 14-yard touchdown pass from DiGuilmi with :08.6 left.
“Beating a real good team twice in a season is a daunting task,” Currie said. “Howell knows that. And Sayreville beat East Brunswick the first time they played during the season and then Sayreville lost the second time around. We have our work cut out. East Brunswick is peaking at the right time and playing their best football, too.”
“This week, we have to play our game on offense and on defense, just shut them down,” Sabba said. “Their quarterback is a shifty kid, a good player. If we shut them down, I don’t think that we’ll have much of a problem.”