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MANSFIELD: Greyhounds deliver on Homecoming

By Anthony Williams, Special Writer
   MANSFIELD TOWNSHIP — Northern Burlington County Regional High School Greyhounds celebrated 50 years of history during the Homecoming game against West Windsor-Plainsboro North Northern Knights on Oct. 20 at The Farm.
   The festivities, which included historical displays, a homecoming carnival, and a football game, brought together old and new faces, including members from both of Northern Burlington’s state championship football teams and current standout transfer senior tailback Kenyatta Greene.
   The Greyhounds (4-3) entered the game as heavy favorites against the winless Northern Knights (0-8), and many people thought this wouldn’t be a game by halftime. However, West Windsor came out aggressive on both sides of the ball, and even appeared to have the stronger running game early on, putting together a bruising nine play drive in the opening frame.
   The game would remain scoreless after the first quarter, but the more experienced and talented Northern Burlington team began to emerge as the game wore on, and Colin Fitzpatrick broke open the scoring with a 28-yard pass to Tyler O’Dell on a crossing pattern to give the Greyhounds a 7-0 lead.
   The Greyhound advantage was short lived as West Windsor’s tailback Tyrone Parker capped off a 5 play 74-yard drive with a 53 touchdown run on fourth and one to knot the score up at seven a piece.
   Then, everybody got to see what they came there for — the electric play of Kenyatta Greene. On the ensuing kickoff, Greene got excellent blocking and one shoulder shake later was sprinting towards the endzone for an 83-yard touchdown to put the Greyhound back on top for good.
   ”We ran a middle wedge,” Greene said about the kick return. “I got great blocking, saw the hole and took it.”
   The rest was history.
   After forcing West Windsor to punt on their next possession, Northern players turned to Greene once again as he returned the kick to the West Windsor 29-yard line and gave the Greyhounds excellent field position as time was winding down in the second quarter. One play later, and Greene was waltzing into the endzone again for his second touchdown of the day and a 20-7 Northern Burlington lead.
   Two plays later, Luke Maybury intercepted a deflected pass and broke two tackles on his way to a 60-yard touchdown to extend the Greyhounds lead to 27-7.
   For West Windsor players, when it rains it pours; as their front lineman was hit in the facemask on the following kickoff and the loose ball was recovered by Northern Burlington on their own 46 yard line. A 47-yard halfback pass from O’Dell to Marshe Terry set the Greyhounds up for a last second field goal attempt at the half, but the kicked sailed wide right.
   The second half was more of the same, but did see the Northern Burlington offense take a more conservative approach, opening the third quarter with a grueling 9 play 52-yard drive that culminated in an 8-yard touchdown pass from the kicker Karl Butler to Ray Delfing on a fake field goal attempt to make the score 34-7. A West Windsor defender had a chance at an interception, but the ball passed through his hands and landed in Delfing’s lap for the touchdown.
   After going up 41-14 early in the fourth quarter, Northern gave other players an opportunity to get on the field for Homecoming, and West Windsor jumped at the opportunity to make it a game again. The Northern Knights scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives less than four minutes apart and pulled within thirteen, 41-28, with just under three minutes to play, but Greene would seal the deal for the Greyhounds and NBC fans, scoring his third touchdown of the day on an 18-yard scamper for the final 47-28 score.
   Greene was pleased with his offensive effort, but was critical of his teams pass defense and tackling.
   ”We need to get better in the secondary,” Greene said. “It was nice to get the win after a tough loss to Rancocas Valley last week, but we need to tighten up our defense and we’ll be all right.”
   Northern Burlington will take on Lawrence High School at home on Friday, Oct. 26, and must win in order to keep their Central Jersey Group III playoff hopes alive.