Monmouth dominates All-Shore Football Classic
Raritan stand-outs combine for the
game-breaking score
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Raritan’s David White hauls in a touchdown pass for Monmouth County in between Ocean defenders Josh Davison (l) and Manny DeSilva during Friday’s All-Shore game. The pass was thrown by White’s high school teammate Glenn Nicholl.
Familiarity does not breed contempt in all-star games. If anything, it creates the formula for success.
The Monmouth County all-star team relied heavily on high school teammates to blank the Ocean County stars, 23-0, in Friday night’s 23rd annual All-Shore Football Classic, played at Toms River North. It was Monmouth’s ability to hit the big play that proved the difference in this all-star struggle between the best graduated seniors from Monmouth and Ocean counties.
One of the combinations that proved so lethal for Monmouth County was the Raritan Rocket combination of quarterback Glenn Nicholl to wide receiver David White. The Rocket duo combined on what perhaps was the biggest play of the game in the waning seconds of the first half.
With Monmouth County holding a 3-0 lead in a game dominated by defense, Nicholl engineered a 67-yard drive in the final 65 seconds that led to the first touchdown, a one-yard dive by Mater Dei’s John Ellison. The big play of the drive was a 28-yard pass from Nicholl to White that put the ball on the 1-yard line. It was a post corner route used by the Rockets, whose head coach, Bob Generelli, just happened to be Monmouth’s offensive coordinator. The 6-4 White used all of his height and reach to outleap a pair of Ocean defensive backs and then pull down Nicholl’s pass while straddling the left sideline to put Monmouth in a scoring position.
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Mater Dei’s John Ellison celebrates his first-quarter touchdown run with Manasquan’s Larry Kelly on Friday.
"We’ve been playing together for four years," said White, who is headed for Towson University in Maryland in the fall. "Glenn knows where to put the ball. We’ve done it hundreds of times. It’s second nature to us. It’s not bad having the quarterback, wide receiver and offensive co-ordinator from the same school."
Nicholl, who will be throwing passes for Monmouth University in West Long Branch, appreciates what a receiver like White can do for a quarterback.
"The play called for David to go to the corner," he pointed out. "Having a receiver like him makes it a lot better for the quarterback. You don’t have to be on target all the time. He just goes up there and gets it."
On the very next play with 17 seconds to go in the half, Ellison dove through the line for the first touchdown of the game and a 10-0 lead at intermission for Monmouth.
The score was huge because it gave Monmouth a two-score edge in the defensive struggle. The way that Monmouth was dominating the Ocean offense, two scores were more than enough.
Ocean did not manage a single passing yard until the fourth quarter and its attempt to control the ball via the ground was brought to a stop by the likes of Freehold Borough linebacker Darrell Reid, who flashed some of the form that made him one of the Shore’s biggest intimidators. Behind the play of the Minnesota University-bound Reid, Ocean was held to just 122 total yards and the big zero on the scoreboard.
The other combo that hurt the Ocean stars was Long Branch’s Dave Rodriguez to teammate Damian Womack. They hooked up on a 30-yard score in the fourth quarter that made it 23-0.
In the third quarter, Rodriguez, who will be going to SUNY at Stony Brook, showed what made him an outstanding high school quarterback. He was about to be tackled for a loss when he found a way to get a pass off to Manasquan’s Ty Walker, who was left wide open on a blown coverage. The result was a 24-yard touchdown play that made it 17-0 early in the third quarter and sealed Ocean’s fate.
With the presence of Keyport’s Malcolm Postell and Walker in the Monmouth backfield, Ocean was determined not to let these talented running backs beat them. That opened things up for the passing games, and Nicholl and Rodriguez exploited it to the max. Nicholl was 8-10 for 107 yards (he engineered the first quarter drive that led to a 31-yard field goal by Shore’s Chris Ryerson as well as the TD drive at the end of the half) while Rodriguez was 4-5 for 75 yards and two scores.
Ellison, the starting fullback, was one of the Monmouth stars. He rushed for 40 yards, caught two passes for 24 and scored on that 1-yard run right before the half. He helped set up the opening scoring drive of the game when he gathered in a Nicholl pass and turned it into a 24-yard gain. With that play, Monmouth unveiled the versatility of its offense and the superior passing game that would prove to be the difference.
Rumson-Fair Haven’s Rob Petitti enjoyed a solid game as one of the defensive linemen who helped the Monmouth stars shut down the Ocean offense.
The win was the third straight for the Monmouth all-stars and increased their edge in the series to 13-10.