Two local football teams entered the state playoffs this weekend with very different recent histories to their credit.
Middletown South, who entered Friday night’s action with 11 straight postseason wins, is seeking its fifth sectional title in a row, and its ninth sectional title overall.
Holmdel, meanwhile, was seeking its first state playoff win since 1991. However, once their respective games were complete, they finally had something in common.
They were both moving on to the semifinals of their state sectionals.
Middletown South, the fifth seed in the Central Jersey Group III tournament, was in the unfamiliar position of playing a road game in the state playoffs, traveling to Lawrence to take on the fourth-seeded Cardinals on their home field.
And for a team that has been nothing short of dominant in postseason play in recent years, the Eagles struggled out of the blocks on offense, heading into the half emerged in a scoreless defensive struggle.
Lawrence then took the lead in the third quarter, when Dion Ross picked off a Patrick Campbell pass and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown. However, the Eagles responded like a champion, and like it has throughout their remarkable championship run, it started with the Eagle defense sparking the comeback. The South defense pinned Lawrence up against its own goal line, leading the Cardinals to concede a safety on fourth down from the one-yard line. Down 6-2, the Eagles, got the ensuing kick-off on their own 47, and quickly marched down the field on the strength of Campbell’s running to score the go-ahead touchdown with just over 10 minutes to play.
After making a big tackle of Lawrence tight end Andrew Lawrence on a fourthand four play at midfield with time running down, South’s Matt Martino then sealed the game with a 46-yard touchdown run with just 1:30 left to play, capping a strong game for the junior back, who finished with 126 yards for the day.
With the 16-6 win, the Eagles (7-2) earned a shot at the section’s top seed, Moorestown, who beat Wall Township, 42- 13, on Friday night in Moorestown. The Quakers jumped out to a 14-0 lead before Wall got a touchdown of their own to get with 14-7, but Moorestown’s Mike Reynolds returned the ensuing kick-off for a TD to make it 21-7. Wall did its best to stay with the Quakers, cutting the lead to 21-13, but Moorestown proved to be too much, adding another score before the half to go up 28-13, and putting the game away with a pair of Reynolds TDs in the fourth quarter.
Should the Eagles hope to be more successful against the unbeaten Quakers (9-0) this weekend, they will need to find a way to match the athleticism of their opponent, something the Crimson Knights were unable to do for four quarters on Friday. Moorestown, who lost to Middletown South last year in the CJ Group III final, is likely looking forward to facing an Eagles team that is not as prolific offensively as it has been in recent years.
However, the Eagles still have plenty of experience on both sides of the ball, and with their familial swarming defense, head coach Steve Antonucci’s squad remains a championship-caliber squad.
Game time is 7 p.m. in Moorestown.
The Holmdel Hornets, meanwhile, struggled a bit early on in their Central Jersey Group II opener against a Governor Livingston defense set up to stop the run, before breaking the game open in the second quarter en route to an impressive 27-0 win.
The victory marked the 12th straight for the Hornets (9-0), and their first playoff win since a 10-0 victory over Princeton in 1991.
After going three-and-out in their first two possessions, Holmdel stuck with the game plan and eventually resumed the type of multi-faceted running attack that has proved to be too much for opponents all year.
“They came at us with a lot of guys in the box and they stuffed us for a little while,” said quarterback Ryan Haslett.
However, on their third possession, Holmdel Kenny Laplante broke through the line and raced 67 yards for a touchdown.
Governor Livingston’s strategy backfired in the second quarter once again, when Glenn Grainger caught a shot pass from Haslett, then cut back across the field and raced 65 yards for a score. Then, after Chris Gallogly capped an eight-play, 67-yard drive with a two-yard scoring run later in the second quarter, Haslett put the game out of reach with an 89-yard scoring run before the half.
“It was a QB draw, and the offensive line opened it up and I was able to squeeze through there and move across the field,” Haslett said. “Glen led me the whole way down the field.”
Up 27-0 at the half, Holmdel did what it could to run out the clock throughout the second half, while the Hornet defense was simply unmovable once again, posting its fourth shutout of the year.
“We try to pride ourselves on our defense,” said junior defensive lineman Kenny Laplante. “We try to control the game. Our front four played well as usual. We were able to get after the quarterback without having to blitz very much. That definitely helped us.”
“You have to credit the coaches,” added senior linebacker Mike Lambert.
“We’ve been watching films all week and I pretty much knew what play was coming all game.”
With the win, the Hornets earned a match-up with a familiar foe in the semifinals, Rumson-Fair Haven (8-1).
Back in the preseason, Holmdel head coach Andy Carlstrom said that the only time he wasn’t particularly pleased with his team’s performance was during a scrimmage against the Bulldogs. On that day, RFH outplayed the Hornets in just about every facet of the game.
And without question, it left a sour taste in the Hornets’ mouths.
“Rumson’s been in the back of our minds,” admitted Laplante. “We’re looking forward to a big showdown in the semifinals. … We scrimmaged them and they beat us up pretty badly.”
RFH, whose only loss this season came against Keansburg, is led by quarterback Matt Wassel, who spearheaded an impressive third-quarter scoring drive to seal the Bulldogs’ 21-14 CJ II opening-game win over North Plainfield on Friday. Wassel, who finished the game 13-for-22 for 209 yards on the day, hit Johnny Lembeck from 11 yards out to break a 14-14 tie, and the RFH defense took it from there.
While Holmdel’s defense has been strong all year, so too has the Bulldogs’, as RFH had a string of four straight shutouts broken on Friday. Rumson is a deep team that beats a lot of teams with its ability to run fresh players on the field late in the game.
Holmdel will need to find a way to slow down the Bulldog offense, while also maintaining the type of offensive prowess it showed against Governor Livingston on Friday.
RFH is a step up in competition for the Hornets, however, the Holmdel players enter this game brimming with confidence, and are looking forward to earning some redemption against the Bulldogs.
“They definitely knocked us around in the preseason but we’re a totally different team right now,” Lambert said. “I don’t know if anyone is playing as good football as we are right now.”
And they’re hoping that continues this weekend.
“Every game we win we’re making history,” Laplante said. “We just have to keep the avalanche rolling.”
Game time is 7 p.m. Friday in Holmdel.