By Rich Fisher, Packet Media Group
Ethan Jeros wants things to be like they used to be when he played football at Hightstown High.
He certainly got off to a good start.
The Rams made Jeros’ debut a memorable one last Friday, taking a 34-10 victory over at Windsor-Plainsboro South in the season opener.
One of the major factors in the victory was sophomore Johnny Andre, who rushed for 238 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, which earned him the season’s first Offensive Back of the Week at Tuesday’s 12th Man TD Club Dinner.
“He is one of the leaders of the team,” Jeros told the gathering at Leonardo’s II in Lawrence. “We didn’t vote him as a captain because he wanted to give it to the older guys but he is a captain just because he is a natural leader.”
The Rams took a 7-0 lead when Ryan Conlon found Cody Madden with a 17-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and Mike Ragno added the PAT. WWPS came back for a 10-7 lead before Conlon made his presence felt in the third quarter, finding Sam Nagy with a 23-yard TD pass and rushing for a TD to give the Rams a 21-10 advantage.
Hightstown broke it open in the fourth quarter when Andre exploded for a 78-yard scoring run and Kieran Murphy scored on a five-yard run.
Conlon finished 10-for-17 for 106 yards, while Nagy had five catches for 69 yards. The Rams defense came held WWPS to 66 passing yards and made three interceptions.
At Tuesday’s dinner, new Trenton coach Mohammad El-Sherbini talked about how he just tweaked a few things taking over for Tarig Holman. Jeros has taken a slightly different route.
“Coach (El-Sherbini) talked about not changing anything. We came in and changed everything,“ Jeros said. “I want to bring back my roots. Back when I was at Hightstown we took pride in being a team that you were going to have to buckle up and be ready to play. I’m hoping to build that within our program now.”
So far, so good.
