Both of the Freehold Regional High School District’s undefeated football teams needed wake-up calls on Oct. 2 before keeping their perfect records intact.
Lightning struck twice at Manalapan High School, with long touchdown plays by Middletown High School North that led to a quick 14-0 lead for the Lions. Manalapan was able to restore order behind its punishing running game, however, and went on to win, 56-34, in the Shore Conference A North Division matchup.
At Freehold High School, a goal-line stand by the Colonials’ defense was the spark behind their 17-6 win over Raritan High School in a non-division tilt.
MANALAPAN
Manalapan (4-0 overall, 3-0 in A North) escaped what head coach Ed Gurrieri called “a trap game.” The Braves were coming off a huge win over previously undefeated Sayreville War Memorial High School on Sept. 27 and were playing a well-rested Lions team that came off their bye week. The Braves had a short week of practice and were not fully recovered from the Sayreville win.
With almost two weeks to prepare for the Braves, the Lions were the fresher team and threw everything they had at the Braves.
“They had a couple of tricks up their sleeves,” Gurrieri said of Middletown North, coached by ex-Braves head coach Steve Bush.
It took just three plays for the Lions to break out on top. Tight end Troy Thompson found space in the middle of the Braves’ defense and hauled in quarterback Donald Glenn’s pass. He broke a couple of tackles and turned the pass into an 83-yard touchdown.
It was three-and-out for Manalapan on its first possession, and Middletown North struck again with Jordan Pitts stunning the Braves with his 71-yard touchdown run on an end around that was perfectly sold by Glenn.
The Braves were not about to panic, though. It was time to wake up. They went to their bread-and-butter, the running game, and started “leaning on” the Lions’ defense, as Gurrieri phrased it, by feeding them a straight diet of Imamu Mayfield.
Manalapan responded to the 14-0 deficit by marching 61 yards behind Mayfield to get on the scoreboard. It was the start of a 28-0 run by the Braves.
“We had to focus and get our minds right,” said Mayfield, who rushed for 183 yards and four touchdowns. “It was mental.
“As a team captain, I feel a responsibility to put the team on my back.”
Manalapan quickly turned things around following Mayfield’s run. Fullback Ben Sieczkowski plunged in from 1 yard out. Mike Caggiano’s extra point kick, which tied the game at 14-14, was the 200th point of his career.
Middletown North had one more trick up its sleeve, an option pass by Thompson that was picked off by Dan Debner. On the first play from scrimmage following Debner’s interception, Mayfield scampered 35 yards for the goahead score.
After a punt pinned Manalapan on its own 3-yard line, the Braves traveled 97 yards in two minutes as quarterback Dan Anerella opened up the passing game. He hooked up with Gerard Hodge-Rocourt on a 25-yard scoring play to make it 28-14.
Middletown North scored on the last play of the half on a Hail Mary from Glenn to Thompson in the back corner of the end zone from 30 yards away. The missed extra point left the score 28-20.
Manalapan received the second-half kickoff. In less than two minutes, the Braves made the score 35-20, with Mayfield romping 28 yards for the touchdown. A 35-yard hookup from Anerella to Hodge-Rocourt got the drive moving.
The Braves were now unstoppable, and Debner scored on a 40-yard run. Mayfield had a score from 1-yard out and John Cheung hit paydirt on a 4-yard run to complete the 56-point evening.
Gurrieri pointed out after the game that by leaning on the Lions, the Braves’ offensive line eventually wore Middletown North down.
Trailing by two touchdowns for the first time this year gave the Braves an opportunity to see how they would react to adversity. Mayfield said it was a test to see if “we could come back together.”
The Braves attacked the deficit as a team, which will help them down the road.
Anerella completed 10-of-16 passes for 254 yards, and Hodge-Rocourt caught three of those passes for 85 yards.
Mayfield is carrying on Manalapan’s tradition at the tailback position and enjoying it. After his 183-yard night against Middletown North, he has run for 700 yards and 14 touchdowns in the Braves’ first four games.
“It’s a great feeling,” the senior said of being Manalapan’s No. 1 back.
Mayfield showed everyone what he was capable of last fall, when he started a couple of games for the injured Tyler Leonetti. He was ready for 2014.
“I knew it was my time,” he said, pointing out that he spent countless hours in the gym during the offseason.
Mayfield wears No. 13, which is the same number as 2,000-yard rusher John Sieczkowski, now a starting linebacker at Monmouth University. He remarked that he has a lot to live up to.
“I’m wearing John
Sieczkowski’s number, which means I have to give it 100 percent all the time,” Mayfield said.
Manalapan steps out of A North this weekend, traveling to Lacey Township HighSchool(0-4)onOct.11fora1p.m.start.
FREEHOLD
Freehold stayed perfect (4-0), but not without a struggle against Raritan (1-2).
The Colonials were coming off their bye week and after three impressive wins in A North, may have taken the visiting Rockets too lightly.
Freehold took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on Josh Dixon’s 10-yard run, and that first-quarter lead seemed to put the Colonials to sleep, as the score stayed 7-0 heading into halftime.
Raritan shook things up in the third quarter when Derick Ernst broke through the right side of the Colonials’ defense and raced 57 yards for a touchdown. The conversion kick was wide, leaving Freehold clinging to a 7-6 lead.
Raritan followed the touchdown with an onside kick that was recovered by the Rockets’ Colby Jones. Raritan methodically drove down the short field behind Ernst. It got to the doorstep — the 1-yard line — and Freehold’s Jah’sim Fenn made the stop of the game on third down. He came up from his defensive back position to tackle Ernst behind the line of scrimmage on the 4-yard line.
The play forced Raritan to go to the air on fourth down, and the pass was low to receiver Dylan Dewysockie on the 4-yard line, stalling the drive. The Colonials held, and it seemed to give the offense a lift. Behind quarterback Jake Curry, Freehold put together a 96-yard scoring drive, capped by his 30-yard scamper into the end zone. With Matt Curcio’s extra point kick, it was 14-6.
The Colonials could breathe easier midway through the fourth quarter when Curcio’s 34-yard field goal sailed through the uprights, sealing Freehold’s fourth win of the season, which is two more than the Colonials had all of last year.
It may not have been pretty, but the Colonials will take it.
Dixon rushed for a game-high 115 yards in the win.
The Colonials stay at home this week, welcoming Marlboro High School (0-4) for an A North contest on Oct. 11. Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m.
Rest of the district
It was not such a good week for the rest of the district.
Freehold Township High School fell to 1-3 after losing, 44-0, at Middletown High School South (3-1), while Colts Neck High School and Marlboro, both searching for their first wins, came up short.
Colts Neck (0-4) lost at home to Long Branch High School (3-1), 35-0. Marlboro, playing a rare home night game at the Recreation Center, was beaten by Toms River High School North (3-1), 48-12.
Howell High School waited until Oct. 5 to play an out-of-division game at Southern Regional High School. The Rebels fell to 1-3, losing a defensive struggle to the Rams (2-2), 7-0. Jarvis Leaks had 70 total yards for Howell in the loss, 41 rushing and 29 receiving.
The Rebels will take on once-beaten Middletown South on Oct. 10 in Howell at 6:30 p.m.
Freehold Township travels to Toms River High School East on Oct. 10 (7 p.m.), while Colts Neck will visit undefeated Red Bank Catholic High School the same evening (7 p.m.) at the Count Basie Field in Red Bank.