By Jeff Appelblatt
First-year head coach Kevin Coleman emphasized the need to score to his football team at Woodbridge High School. Proven by a number of losses early in the season, the Barrons weren’t going to win when relying solely on their defense.
Following the team’s fourth game of the season — a 28-6 loss to Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen, which dropped Woodbridge’s record to 1-3 — the offense came alive. Scoring more than 36 points per game in four October outings, Woodbridge has upped its record (4-4) to the .500 mark.
Even though the wins have gathered and the points have piled on, Coleman said that there haven’t been changes for the team since the start of the season.
“We haven’t changed anything,” the coach said following Woodbridge’s 44-0 thrashing of J.P. Stevens High School Oct. 28. “We’ve just executed.”
Much of the successful execution came on the ground in that win, dominated by usual suspects Da’Avian Ellington and Keshaun Henry. Ellington carried the ball 118 yards and Henry ran for 111. They took the ball into the end zone five times.
The first of Henry’s two touchdowns on the ground came early in the game when he carried the ball 80 yards into scoring territory. He added on a third score when he caught a pass from replacement quarterback Quassim Glover.
Glover was moved to the top spot when starter Donovan Tabon left due to injury. Glover had a strong showing while serving as Woodbridge’s quarterback for the first time; he completed six of nine passes for 114 yards. But Coleman is eager to get Tabon back into that role so that Glover, who caught a touchdown pass from Tabon early in the game, could get back to his role as one of Woodbridge’s best receivers.
“Our offense is a lot more dynamic with [Tabon] at quarterback,” Coleman said after acknowledging Tabon will likely miss the rest of the year.
But even days after the injury, Woodbridge’s coach hoped it wasn’t as severe as he first believed.
“Maybe we’ll find out it’s a bruise,” Coleman said.
Either way, the coach hopes his team will continue playing well in preparation for the playoffs.
First up for the Barrons is the final game of the regular season Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in Woodbridge against North Brunswick Township High School.
“They’re not a terrible team,” Woodbridge’s coach said about the Raiders (1-7). “They just lose gas at the end [of games].”
It was clear Coleman was thinking about North Brunswick’s most recent losses. On Oct. 7 against J.P. Stevens and Oct. 14 against John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, the Raiders entered the fourth quarter tied with the opponent. But the Raiders failed to score in the final frame of either and wound up losing both.
With those games and the games the Barrons dropped this season on his mind, Coleman refuses to let his team think that facing North Brunswick will be easy.
“We’re not in a place to be complacent. We lost four games ourselves,” he said. “We’re going to watch film, and we’re going to have to go out there and play.”
At this point, every game is tremendously important for Woodbridge. Five wins in nine chances would more or less guarantee a spot for the Barrons in the playoffs. Four wins may have them in, too, but Coleman doesn’t want to even think about a loss to start November.
“We need to win this game,” Woodbridge’s coach said. “We need to go [into the playoffs] on a high note.”