Rich Fisher

By: centraljersey.com
It was a milestone for Pete Brescia, but he wanted nothing to do with the credit.
"It’s the kids. . it’s definitely the kids," said Brescia, after the Rams took a 15-6 victory over Steinert last Friday for Pete’s first win as a varsity head coach. "The kids have been working their tails off and we got some breaks tonight.
"The kids learned how to win tonight. That’s a big, big, big, big, big step."
And then, just to make sure everyone understood, he added for good measure "A big step."
Brescia insisted that the Rams were better than their 0-3 start indicated and they proved him correct on Homecoming night.
Hightstown scored on its first possession with a 74-yard drive that was capped by Abdul Namoya’s 20-yard touchdown run. Namoya finished with 104 yards on 25 carries.
Later in the quarter, with Steinert facing a second-and-8 from its 15, the snap went into the endzone and the Rams notched a safety to make it 9-0.
The sure sign that things were going right came midway through the second quarter. On a fourth-and-6 play from the Steinert 35, the Spartans were called for a pass interference to sustain a drive. At that point, Brescia told anyone within earshot ‘The football gods are with us tonight boys."
Hightstown capitalized on the penalty when Kevin Monahan hit Blair Alford with an 11-yard TD pass on fourth-and-6. Both the Rams scores came on fourth down.
"The offense came out and we finally got to a point mentally and physically at practice that we didn’t have to waste three or four series setting our pads," Brescia said. "That was the difference in the game."
As was Hightstown’s bend-but-don’t break defense.
Late in the half Steinert finally began to move the ball and got to the Rams 20 before Shevon Smith came up with a drive-killing interception with 29 seconds left.
Steinert opened the second half by moving to the Hightstown 35 before the Rams forced three straight incompletions.
"Our red zone defense was big again," Brescia said. "We give up yards and give up yards all year long, but I think we have had three goal line stands already this year and we did it again today."
Steinert finally scored on an outstanding catch in the corner of the endzone, but that would be it. The Spartans (1-3) moved to the Rams 12 on their next series before Eric Anderson broke up a fourth-down pass. After recovering a fumble at the Hightstown 35, Steinert was thwarted again by Nick Astone’s interception.
The Rams finished by allowing just 207 yards of offense, including 79 on the ground. A big key to that effort was the play of captain Wallace Cooper, who earned the Colonial Valley Conference 12th Man TD Club’s Defensive Lineman of the Week after making nine tackles and recovering a fumble.
For the season, Cooper has 57 tackles, two for losses and a forced fumble.
"I would have to say that as Wallace goes, our defense goes," Brescia said. "Wallace is a leader by example through his play as well as his leadership in the locker room. He is the heart that pumps the blood.
"I don’t even know where to begin with his play. His stats speak for themselves."
Which is good, because Cooper doesn’t like talking about them much.
"In the halls of the school he is slightly more humble and he becomes more of a quiet leader," Brescia said. "He is a pleasure to coach and work with, and he takes a business-like approach that makes his teammates better."