Metuchen football team is optimistic about next season

By JIMMY ALLINDER Correspondent

 Metuchen High School’s Brianna Davis races to the finish line of the NJSIAA Meet of Champions (MOC) race held Nov. 23 at Holmdel Park. She and teammate Rachel Suss qualified individually for the season-ending MOC.  SCOTT FRIEDMAN Metuchen High School’s Brianna Davis races to the finish line of the NJSIAA Meet of Champions (MOC) race held Nov. 23 at Holmdel Park. She and teammate Rachel Suss qualified individually for the season-ending MOC. SCOTT FRIEDMAN METUCHEN

I t wasn’t a surprise that the Metuchen

High School football team finished this season with a 4-6 record. After all, the Bulldogs were young, inexperienced, and faced the challenge of learning new offensive and defensive systems implemented by Bob Ulmer, who returned as head coach after a three-year hiatus.

Despite the growing pains, which often led to mistakes, Ulmer is optimistic about 2014.

“[This season] was a challenge in every sense of the word,” said Ulmer, a physical education teacher at the high school, who stepped away as head coach in 2009 after nine years at the helm. “The kids were trying to learn offensive and defensive systems that involved a lot of different terminology. However, as we played more games, we started to mesh as a team.”

The last two games were victories. Although the Bulldogs did not qualify for the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I playoffs, they defeated Bound Brook High School, 25-7. The final contest was a renewal of the longtime Thanksgiving Day rivalry against Highland Park High School. That resulted in another convincing win, 39-0.

The other victories occurred midseason — the first being a 49-0 shutout over Cardinal McCarrick High School, followed by a 20-16 thriller over Middlesex High School. Ulmer said one of the team’s best performances was a 21-14 loss to Shore Regional High School, which is 10-1 and will play in the sectional finals against Point Pleasant Beach High School on Dec. 7.

“We finished as a better team than what our record indicates,” Ulmer said. “The fact we return a lot of players makes us confident about next season.”

One reason for optimism is that Ulmer can depend on two sophomores (who will become juniors), Trevor Firgau and Jake Lebovits, to play quarterback. He said the one who doesn’t win the job will become the starting running back.

Another source of strength is receiving, where junior Danny Briggs and sophomore Evan Collier return. Both possess good hands.

Ulmer is also excited about the possibilities of his offensive line, where juniors Tom Gorman, Rob Gilman and Dan Blanchard, as well as sophomore Jarrett Sims, bring size and valuable experience playing together.

“Our line coach, Ned Ennis, has done an outstanding job with these guys,” Ulmer said. “We expect the line to be a strength moving forward.”

Metuchen will be one of a number of teams expected to vie for the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Blue Division title. In addition to defending champion South River High School (8-2), New Brunswick High School (1-9) moves from the White Division to the Blue Division, where it is expected to be more competitive.

Cross-country

Metuchen’s girls cross-country team completed a successful season by placing third in the Group I state championships on Nov. 16 at Holmdel Park. With a lineup that featured three juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen, the Bulldogs are likely to continue with their success in future seasons.

The top runner was sophomore Rachel Suss, who finished second in the GMC, Central Jersey Group I and Group I meets. In her first season of competitive racing, she was named All-GMC. Suss’ time in the state meet was 19:35, nine seconds off the pace set by winner Kelly Shaffer of South Hunterdon Regional High School.

The other members of the team that placed in the top 50 in the Group I meet were junior Brianna Davis in 17th (21:20), junior Lyla Kaul in 26th (21:36) and sophomore Kristina Lignell in 49th (22:31). The remaining members that helped the Bulldogs complete an unbeaten dual meet season were junior Amanda Harding, and freshmen Sydney Yakowenko and Elizabeth Lawson.

Speaking of Suss’ progress throughout the season, head coach Kelli Holleran said the first-year runner learned something new with each race.

“Rachel gained a good understanding of the amount of work it takes to be good in this sport,” Holleran said.

Other area boys and girls to place in the top 50 in their respective state group meets were Metuchen’s James Hampsey in sixth (16:48), James Poandl in 30th (17:50) and Mike Stonehocker in 47th (18:13) in the boys Group I race.

J.P. Stevens High School’s Panth Patel was 29th (16:54) in boys Group IV.

Bishop George Ahr High School’s Trent Brinkofski (16:21) and Billy Foster (17:36) were 10th and 48th, respectively, in the boys Non-Public A race. St. Joseph High School of Metuchen’s Brandon D’Souza (16:59) and Dylan Tyrrell (17:34) were 22nd and 46th.

Bishop Ahr’s Violet Kimble placed 49th in the girls Non-Public A race with a time of 22:47.

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

The Rutgers University football team plays its final regular season game on Dec. 7 against the University of South Florida at High Point Solutions Stadium with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. The Scarlet Knights are hoping it won’t be the last of what has turned out to be a disappointing campaign.

Following a 4-1 start and needing just two wins to secure at least a mid-major bowl bid, Rutgers has only been able to win one of its last six contests. Unless the Scarlet Knights come away with a victory against the Bulls (2-9), they will end the season without playing in a postseason game for just the second time since 2005.

The reasons for the record, which dipped below .500 (5-6) with a 28-17 loss at the University of Connecticut on Nov. 30, are many. First, a defense that was depleted by significant graduation losses has been exposed due to its inexperience, especially in the secondary. Opposing quarterbacks without impressive résumés have looked like stars, finding receivers who have been wide open.

On the season, the Knights have yielded an average of 429 yards of total offense per game, including a whopping 327 passing yards. Another glaring statistic is the 31-19 passing touchdown difference opponents have enjoyed.

Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the ball, it took head coach Kyle Flood 10 games before replacing mistake-prone quarterback Gary Nova with senior Chas Dodd, who started his first game since 2011 against Connecticut. Dodd completed 16 passes in 37 attempts and was intercepted twice. Flood said Dodd will again be his starter against South Florida.