By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
EWING — In the end, the East emerged a 34-12 winner over the West in the 15th annual Sunshine Classic Football Game at The College of New Jersey last Thursday night.
But for the local players from West Windsor-Plainsboro High North, WW-P South, Princeton, Montgomery and Hun, everyone was a winner for the experience that led up to the game as much as the game itself.
”It was probably one of the most fun games I have been in all season,” said WW-P North graduate Juwan Lee, who was a defensive back for the winning East team. “It was fun being at practice with all these guys all week and working hard. I was happy to get to be part of it.
”It was fun at practice. We worked hard and even on the rainy days we stuck it out and worked hard.”
The East team set a Sunshine Classic record for points scored, with big contributions coming from former Knights’ quarterback Joe Jensen (6-for-7 for 122 yards and a touchdown) and former Knights’ running back Jaymar Anderson (three carries for 47 yards and a touchdown) who each contributed to the scoring. Anderson was one of two players in the game to play both offense and defense and made an impact on both sides of the line of scrimmages.
”It was kind of rough in the beginning when we started practice,” Anderson said. “But then once my body got back into football shape I felt a lot better.
”It was a great bonding time for us to get to play with guys from different teams. We were used to playing against each other, but we had good times being teammates.”
In addition to Jensen, Anderson and Lee, the Knights were also represented by Andrew Newman and Vince DiCindio in the win. WW-P South players on the winning East team were Alex Rohrbach, Connor McElwee, Etienne Aduya and Bijan Mathews.
Each one made their presence felt in the win.
”I just kept trying to do the things I have been doing all season,” said Lee, who will play next year at Rowan University. “I know the other guys have been working just as hard. It was good to get to play one more time with the guys from North.”
Anderson, who will attend Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va. After using up his eligibility at North as a junior, enjoyed the chance to make an impact on offense, defense and special teams.
”I had played defense in the beginning of the year, but then the coach shortened my reps by taking me off the defense,” Anderson said. “It was good to be out there on offense and defense and I got more playing time that way.”
The West squad was represented on the field by several Packet-area players. Nick Pierce of the Hun School had a big game on defense. Others in the game were Jeff Adebayo of Princeton, as well as Montgomery players Mike Reynolds, Joe Usifer, Will Joels, Kevin Brune and Chris Schultes.
All of the players involved either had a chance to use a game as a springboard into the college practices that begin next month or else one last chance to play against their former teammates and foes.
”It should be a great experience to get to play college football,” Lee said. “This game was good to get ready for that because it was longer and up-tempo. It was just a lot of fun to do this and be out there every day at practice.”
