Jaguars secure back-to-back state football championships

By WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Correspondent

 Jackson Memorial High School’s Mike Gawlik (8) goes up and over the Brick Memorial High School defense to score one of his three touchdowns in the Jaguars’ 42-14 victory over the top-seeded Mustangs in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV championship playoff game Dec. 5 at Rutgers University’s High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway. Gawlik also passed for a touchdown as seventh-seeded Jackson Memorial won its second straight Central Jersey, Group IV title.  STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR Jackson Memorial High School’s Mike Gawlik (8) goes up and over the Brick Memorial High School defense to score one of his three touchdowns in the Jaguars’ 42-14 victory over the top-seeded Mustangs in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV championship playoff game Dec. 5 at Rutgers University’s High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway. Gawlik also passed for a touchdown as seventh-seeded Jackson Memorial won its second straight Central Jersey, Group IV title. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR There was a time when Jackson Memorial High School’s football team looked ordinary, losing three games in a row after winning the first three.

But by the end of the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV championship rout of Brick Memorial High School, 42-14, at Rutgers University’s High Point Solutions Stadium Dec. 5, the Jaguars again looked extraordinary, just like a year ago, in winning their fifth state title — all since 2000.

Last year, the Jaguars topped Middletown High School South, 21-18, for the same playoff title.

Many first-year starters and young players were on the field for only the second time the school has claimed back-to-back state titles.

“Seeing these kids overcome adversity is what stands out,” said Jackson Memorial coach Walt Krystopik, who has been with the program through all five state championship seasons since coming on board in 1998, the last five as head coach. “All the other times coming off championship seasons, they were expected to win [again]. Last year’s team had come off a [Shore Conference] A South title the year before. But this was a young group of kids with a lot of first-year starters.”

The team minimized mistakes and adjusted to the physical brand of football played by Brick Memorial, Brick Township High School and Toms River High School North during its early-season slump, said Krystopik.

“There was a learning curve, and they learned their lesson in the three losses and came out the better for it,” the coach said.

Mike Gawlik again was the workhorse, carrying the ball 32 times for 208 yards and three touchdowns as the Jaguars quickly dispatched the team that had beaten them, 28-7, in a Shore Conference A South Division matchup at the end of that three-game slide. From there, it was five victories over the final six games and an 8-4 final record.

But it wasn’t just the junior halfback’s touchdown runs of 1 and 27 yards in the first two quarters, followed by a 20-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Kyle Johnson that staked Jackson Memorial to a 21-0 lead. After Brick Memorial quarterback Tim Santiago narrowed the lead with a 20-yard touchdown run, it was Gawlik’s 49- yard pass to Johnson in the third quarter that made his performance extraordinary as well. He then scored on an 11-yard touchdown run later in the quarter to raise the lead to 35-7.

“I would compare [Gawlik] to some of the best kids I’ve coached here in my time at Jackson,’’ Krystopik said.

Gawlik set up his first touchdown by running 58 yards off a screen pass from Johnson on third down and long to Brick Memorial’s 1-yard line. He scored two plays later.

He never came off the field, playing every snap on the defensive side as well. Gawlik said he was inspired to play for a great sendoff for the seniors, particularly those on the offensive line who opened up holes for him throughout the season, such as Chris Mondello at center and Austin Ostrander at guard — as well as Dylan Smith, who was injured for most of the season. The other starters who also opened up holes were juniors Mitch Mills, with Sean Martin rotating in, at tackle and Larry Richardson at guard and sophomore Joe Hurley at tackle.

Johnson capped the scoring in the title game with a 34-yard touchdown run early in the final quarter.

Jared Calhoun kicked six extra points and also was a contributor on both sides of the ball throughout his senior season.

Jackson Memorial’s defense, meanwhile, yielded yardage to Brick Memorial’s triple option that grinded out 263 yards on the ground as well as 78 in the air, but it knuckled down near the end zone.

Tyler Towns was a steadying influence throughout the season and will be missed as he graduates in the spring along with linebacker Nick Papandrea, two-way stalwart Vin Lee and Kyle Lona, a reliable performer at free safety. Dan Barker, a senior, was one of the starters at quarterback, but A.J. Tolmachewich, who did well when he started at quarterback in two victories, returns for his junior season.