By Ed Birch, Special Writer
The South Brunswick Vikings erupted in its first playoff game last Friday night with a resounding 63-14 victory over the Hillsborough Raiders.¶
The Vikings were able to score touchdowns on 9/12 possessions, mostly in the second half of the contest.¶
"The guys were making the big plays and maturing into a championship material team," Head Coach Rick Mantz said following the game.¶
The scoring started with the Vikings first play from scrimmage.¶
After Hillsborough’s kicker Jacob Partick unsuccessfully attempted a surprise on-side kick, Vikings running back Jevon Tyree overpowered the Raiders defense with a 55-yard touchdown run just 12 seconds into the game.¶
A large crowd of attendees were still lined up at the entrance gate, however, and did not see the play.¶
Despite the eventually lopsided victory, both teams traded some sloppy play following that first score until Raiders running back John Banaciski scored on a 13-yard run to tie the match at 7-7, ending the first quarter.¶
Forty-five seconds into the second quarter, South Brunswick’s Darrell Harper increased the score to 14-7 with a 1-yard touchdown run.¶
Jevon Tyree completed the next scoring drive with a 17-yard run increasing the lead to 21-7.¶
Hillsborough’s star runner, John Banaciski, scored on the Raiders final scoring drive from the 1-yard line bringing the Raiders as close as they would get to the Vikings at 21-14.¶
From that moment on, the Vikings took over the pace of the game and shut down Hillsborough for the rest of the evening.¶
The scoring in the first half ended with 1:35 remaining as Jevon Tyree ran the football into the end zone from 5-yards out, giving the Vikings a halftime lead of 28-14.¶
In the second half, Coach Mantz was able to rest many of his starting lineup.¶
The huge crowd then saw Azim Blaket (28-yard run) T.J. Perkowski (7 and 39 yard runs), and Dontae Strickland (1-yard run) add to the scoreboard with their respective touchdown runs.¶
Jevon Tyree added his fourth touchdown to cap the evening’s scoring and set a school record for one game.¶
Tyree ended the evening with 162 rushing yards on nine carries. T.J. Perkowski had 58 rushing yards including two, touchdown runs.¶
T.J. Taylor led the defense for the Vikings with six tackles followed by Joe Pietrefesa with five Raider stops.¶
The Vikings offense provided 16 first downs compared to just 11 for the Raiders and the Viking offense accounted for 276 passing yards compared to just 99 for the Hillsborough. The total offense numbers showed the Vikings with a 442-251 advantage.¶
Coach Mantz said the team had made adjustments to the game plan when the Raiders "came out in a different defense than our scouting and films had shown us."¶
Coach Mantz went on to talk about how "we just took the momentum right away with the start of the second half. I was able to rest my starters."¶
"We made too many mistakes, I knew we were going to have a hard time stopping them," Hillsborough’s first year Head Coach Kevin Carty said after the game. "We turned it over too much, it kind of snowballed on us."¶
Coach Carty said his team eventually could not get enough possessions to come back in the contest.¶
"We kept fumbling kicks," Coach Carty said. "That really hurt us."¶
Coach Carty said his team might have been able to keep up with the Vikings if they could’ve capitalized on mistakes.¶
"We could’ve hung around a bit longer if we were smarter," Coach Carty said. "(The Vikings) are tough and they are fast."¶
Coach Mantz said that despite the size of the victory, he feels the program at his former school of Hillsborough is improving and has the right person at the helm of the team.¶
"They (Hillsborough) are a great football team. Kev (Carty) is doing the right things down there to rebuild the team," Coach Mantz said.¶
South Brunswick graduate and Rutgers star receiver Mohammad Sanu (Big East Player of the Week this week) was in contact with his former coach after the game.¶
The Rutgers star said after the Army game at Yankee Stadium that "hard work that the coach and the team put in all year is paying off. It was a great win for the program back home."¶
Sanu said he has been following the game via his younger brother and their cell phones.¶
The Vikings next opponent will be a rematch with Sayreville, who the Vikings defeated 14-7 in the first week of the season.¶
Coach Mantz said he is excited about the match-up of a rival Greater Middlesex Conference school and knows that both teams have improved greatly since the opening of the season.¶
Game time is 7 p.m. tomorrow night with the winner advancing to the conference championship game. Spectators are urged to arrive early so that they can see all of the scoring drives.
