Chalk up a league championship and an undefeated record for the regular season for the Manalapan High School football team.
Now the Braves will focus on their next and final goal of the season: an NJSIAA sectional playoff championship.
Manalapan achieved winning both a Shore Conference A North Division title and ending the regular season with a 9-0 record when the Braves coasted past rival Freehold Township High School, 48-7, on Nov. 3 in Freehold Township.
All of the scoring in the game was rung up in the first half.
The spark behind Manalapan’s high-fueled attack once again was standout back Naim Mayfield, who rushed for 197 rushing yards and ended with five touchdowns.
Mayfield ripped off long touchdown sprints of 52 and 58 yards, while he also hit the end zone from 17 and 7 yards outs. His other touchdown was when he returned a kickoff 97 yards.
Symir Blacknall scored on a 17-yard run, and receiver Alan Presler caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Luke Corcione to deliver the other Manalapan scores.
Now it is playoff time for the Braves.
Manalapan will seek a return to the Central Jersey, Group 5 state finals when the playoffs open this weekend. The Braves open the state sectional tournament at home on Nov. 10 against Perth Amboy High School at 7 p.m.
The Braves will try to secure the title after they were defeated by Piscataway Township High School, 34-13, in the Central Jersey, Group 5 finals last year.
Mayfield and his team are geared up for the playoffs.
“It tells us that we have a long road ahead of us,” Mayfield said. “It’s another season, like our coaches keep telling us. We have to play every game like it’s a championship game because it’s one-and-done.”
Mayfield believes the Braves can reach the next level.
“I feel like we can tighten up on our defense a little bit, just a little bit in the secondary to be better, “said Mayfield, who is headed to Fordham University in the fall. “That comes with a lot of practice. We’ll do that and get better.”
Winning a state title will cap what has been a superb senior year for Mayfield.
“My expectations are no less than they were in the regular season: play every game like it’s your last because now it is, for the seniors especially,” he said. “And come with the same intensity every week.”
Coach Ed Gurrieri was pleased with what his Manalapan troops accomplished.
“We wanted to win this game,” Gurrieri said following the victory over Freehold Township. “This was for the [Shore Conference] A North championship, so that’s seven out of the last eight years, so that was important to us. We wanted to build on everything that we did up to this point, and we didn’t want to lose our momentum. We wanted to play hard.”
Gurrieri revealed that his team is motivated by last year’s loss in the state championship game.
“We remind them every once and a while about the feeling we had walking off that field last year and that bad taste we had in our mouth,” Gurrieri said. “Hopefully, that’s what pushed them the whole winter, spring and fall. We’ll see when we get out there.”
Freehold Township coach Cory Davies and junior quarterback Nick Reardon agreed that the Patriots need to work this week in preparation for the state playoffs. Reardon threw for a touchdown against Manalapan, which was the only score for the Patriots in the game.
The Patriots, who are 7-2 on the season, are scheduled to play in the Central Jersey, Group 5 playoffs, hosting North Brunswick Township High School on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
“We’re going to work on the same things we’ve been working on all year long,” Davies said. “We just have to get better at them. One thing that we’ve been doing is making the same errors, so we have to get better at a number of things, and we’ll be fine heading into the playoffs.”
“We just have to perfect our mistakes, both on offense and defense,” Reardon said. “We just have to work through it and bounce back next week.”
The Patriots lost to South Brunswick High School, 23-21, in the first round of the Central Jersey, Group 5 playoffs last year.
“We’re very hungry,” Reardon said. “We want to win, so we’re going to work hard all week, play hard and hope everything goes in our favor.”