In what appeared to be two different football contests, the Sayreville Bombers football team turned a one-point halftime lead into a 35-13 victory last Friday.
By Ed Birch, Special Writer
In what appeared to be two different football contests, the Sayreville Bombers football team turned a one-point halftime lead into a 35-13 victory last Friday.
Although it appeared that the Vikings came out to play, they seemed to have lost the entire offensive fight in the second half.
A three-yard power sweep by Dahrae Ford as the second quarter was about to end, appeared to have brought the Vikings even with the Bombers.
However, a point-after touchdown attempt by Matthew Golden hit off the front of the goalpost and rebounded onto the playing field.
Golden was performing the kicking duties due to the sprained ankle injury suffered by senior Dylan Olsson in the previous game against Middletown South.
The Vikings were also hurt badly by a sever ankle injury suffered by defensive standout, co-captain Rasheed Baker.
A third quarter run by quarterback Amir Johnson (along with a successful conversion by Golden) accounted for the balance of the Vikings scoring.
Johnson finished the game with six completions in 16 attempts for a total of 44 yards. Johnson also rushed for 105 yards in 15 attempts.
South Brunswick’s rushing game was limited to a total of 151 yards, with Ford accounting for 26 yards and Dante Strickland being limited to 16 yards.
Sayreville produced two touchdown runs by both Myles Hartsfield and Deion Miller, and a final scoring run by Malik Pressley.
Miller also accounted for 160 rushing yards in 15 attempts, while Hartsfield was credited with 100 yards in 15 attempts.
”We put up a great effort. They executed better than we did. We have to learn from this experience. At the beginning of our fourth quarter, we seemed to have lost our momentum. They are a three time state champion, and they were better than us” said Head Coach Joe Goerge after the game. “They are coached by George Najjar, who is truly a legend in high school football coaching in the metropolitan area” “We must forget about the score, hold our heads high and remember that we were in the game for a big part of the contest” said Goerge.
The Vikings are awaiting results from other contests in the division to determine if they have qualified for the playoffs.
If the team does not qualify for the playoffs, the Vikings will host 0-8 North Brunswick in the annual Thanksgiving Day contest.
Gametime is scheduled for 10 a.m., with a pre-game ceremony honoring senior cheerleaders, band members, and football players scheduled before the opening coin toss.

