By Warren Rappleyea
Sayreville War Memorial High School’s football team rallied from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit on the heels of an outstanding performance by running back Jaquae Roberts to win the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section II, Group IV championship Dec. 3 at Rutgers University’s High Point Solutions Stadium.
The final score was 41-14, although most of the game was much closer than that. Middletown High School North had several opportunities to add to its lead, but a few dropped passes and a missed field goal kept the Lions at 14 points.
The second-seeded Lions defense seemed to be able to keep Sayreville’s many weapons in check early, at least until Roberts emerged in the second quarter as the shape of things to come. By the time it was over, Roberts ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries.
“We don’t have a fullback in our offense, but Jaquae is built like a fullback,” Sayreville coach Chris Beagan said. “Having him gives us so much more versatility. What he can do gives us a good change of pace. He can run around or through people, and he’ll break right through arm tackles. Also, our offensive line did a tremendous job. Sometimes you need that kind of running game. We did today.”
Sayreville took possession at its own 42-yard line two minutes into the second quarter and with Roberts leading the way, it marched down the field. The 240-pound Roberts ploughed through the Lions like a freight train and several times carried Middletown North tacklers with him for extra yardage. Quarterback Jayson DeMild eventually scoring on a 2-yard keeper to make it 14-7.
Despite threatening twice, the Lions could not extend their lead and went into halftime up 14-7. After stalling on its first possession, Sayreville again used Roberts to move the ball and frustrate the Middletown North defense as the senior reeled off runs of 11, 16 and 10 yards — the latter for a touchdown — on the drive. Sayreville missed the PAT, so the Lions were left clinging to a one-point lead with 4:06 left in the third quarter, but the Bombers had the momentum.
The Sayreville defensive pressure on Lions quarterback Donald Glenn resulted in an interception by Brandon Cenci, who took the ball 41 yards into the end zone to put the Bombers ahead, 20-13.
On the ensuing kickoff, twice Nick Milewski booted the ball out of bounds and both times Middletown North opted to have Sayreville re-kick. Milewski’s third kick was a squibber, which the Bombers recovered. That led to another touchdown by DeMild, who followed a block by Roberts, and the route was on.
The Lions turned the ball over three more times and Sayreville cashed in twice: on a 22-yard run by Roberts and on a 35-yard run by Ciyro McMoore with just 1:08 remaining in the game.
“We kind of stabilized things in the second period,” Beagan said. “Our guys settled down and our defense held them a few times. Then we were able to make it 14-7 and our defense was great the rest of the way. We consistently had a lot of pressure on their quarterback and we went with just a four-man line all game because we had to make sure their receivers were covered.”