It was a long time coming for the New Egypt High School football team. On the evening of Nov. 12 the Warriors (7-2) won the first state playoff game in school history and they did it against a local rival they had never beaten in 11 prior meetings, Florence High School.
In fact, it was a only a week earlier when Florence (5-4) defeated New Egypt, 21-0.
But this time the Warriors rallied around some big plays by Jamel Smith and prevailed, 21-14, to advance to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I semifinals on Nov. 19 at home against Dunellen High School of Middlesex County.
Dunellen (8-1) defeated South River (5- 5), 40-0, on Nov. 13 in its playoff opener.
“It was a great win. It’s about time we beat them,” New Egypt offensive lineman and linebacker Rigo Morfin said after his team had come back from a 14-7 halftime deficit and won its playoff opener in Plumsted.
In fact, it was the improved blocking of the offensive line that coach Luke Sinkhorn and his players attributed to the Warriors’ turnaround against Florence in a week’s time.
“I told the offensive line at halftime, ‘It’s all going to be on you’ and they really stepped it up,” Sinkhorn said. “We had some mistakes the first time we played (Florence) and didn’t come back from them. We had a couple of big ones (mistakes) this week and they almost got us, but they didn’t.”
On an option play, Smith threw a 37- yard touchdown pass to Pascal Dieujuste, and he ran 80 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter before quarterback Dylan Wills plunged one yard for the winning touchdown on fourth down with 7:45 to play. Dylan Horner kicked all three conversions.
“It was just believing in ourselves, staying committed and leaving it all on the field,” Wills said.
New Egypt lost its first game in its previous two state playoff appearances.
Sinkhorn said he saw the potential for a successful season before the 2010 campaign began.
“Once we got a week or so into [preseason] camp, I realized we had a special group of kids,” he said.
In the first half of the Nov. 12 playoff contest, Florence ran twice as many plays as New Egypt and scored its two touchdowns on short runs following short drives. On both occasions, a Florence punt ticked off a New Egypt player and was recovered by the Flashes.
“Being home again feels great; the fans are really behind us,” said Smith, who rushed for 145 of New Egypt’s 241 yards.
“We felt we had something to prove,” said Dieujuste, who recorded a big tackle when Florence had fourth and goal on the New Egypt 3-yard line in the fourth quarter. “Thanks to my line, they opened a ton of holes.”
That was evident in a 12-play, 57-yard drive leading to Wills’ touchdown that was helped by Tyler “Yak” Miller’s two-yard run on fourth and one at the Florence 16- yard line.
“He stepped it up on his own,” said Sinkhorn. “You find out a lot about people in times of challenges.”
Miller also had big runs of 11 and 22 yards to get New Egypt out from its 4-yard line after a goal-line stand, as the Warriors reeled off the final nine plays of the game.
Miller said he felt the game turn around in Florence’s opening series of the second half when the Flashes were stopped short on fourth and inches on New Egypt’s 42-yard line.
“When we stopped them there, that was the whole momentum change,” said Miller. “From here, the whole key is to stay focused.”
As for upcoming opponent Dunellen, the Destroyers run what Sinkhorn calls a modified wing-T on offense and a 4-4 defensive scheme pitted against the Warriors’ triple option offense.
“They run really small splits with a lot of deception [on offense],” he said. “A lot of different people get the ball.”
Sinkhorn said that against Dunellen on Nov. 19, his team has to perform on a level similar to the way it played on Nov. 12 against Florence.
“The offense has to have scoring like this [Florence] game, and it has to stay on the field and complete drives,” the coach said.
If the Warriors cannot do that, Dunellen’s high-powered offense can wear down New Egypt’s defense.
A pair of Shore Conference teams — Keyport High School and Shore Regional High School of West Long Branch — will meet in the other Central Jersey Group I semifinal. The semifinal winners will play for the Central Jersey Group I championship on the first weekend in December.