Bragging rights of Edison Township will be on the Thanksgiving Day table.
On Nov. 23, the football teams from Edison High School and John P. Stevens High School will work up an appetite when they clash in their traditional holiday game at 10:30 a.m. The game will be played at J.P. Stevens’ field in the northern section of Edison and will signal the end of he 2017 season for both clubs.
Edison will bid to not only close the gap that J.P. Stevens owns in this series, but it will also try to become the first team to win five straight years in the rivalry game.
J.P. Stevens holds a 25-21 edge in the series, while Edison has claimed victories in each of the last four seasons. Edison enters the showdown with a 2-7 record, while J.P. Stevens stands at 3-6.
“I expect them to play their hearts out,” Edison coach Matt Fulham said. “It’s a really good rivalry. We’re from the same town. A lot of these kids probably went to middle school or elementary school together. They play rec basketball or other sports together. They’re competitive in other sports too, but everyone points to the November football game. I expect the kids to be fired up. Both teams will be. I think it’s going to be a well-played game on both sides. It should be a good one.”
Fulham believes that in order for his Eagles to soar, they must be able to play the best game they’ve played all year.
“We got to do some things that we haven’t done all season,” Fulham said. “We need to protect the ball on offense. On defense, we need to cause turnovers, and then we need to win the field position battle.”
The Hawks present speed and athleticism that Fulham wants his team to look out for, including senior Junior Mersola, who has been playing quarterback for J.P. Stevens in the later part of the season, senior wide receiver Nadale Buntin and senior slot back Matthew Zranchev.
“They have a lot of playmakers,” Fulham said. “[Mersola], I think, is an excellent athlete. He’s filled in at quarterback due to an injury, but he’s done an outstanding job. He’s a threat. [Buntin] is an excellent football player, along with [Zranchev], so we’re going to gang tackle and wrap up. We’re going to have to play great, tight coverage. And we’re going to have to [play] good, responsible football when it comes to stopping the option.”
Despite the challenges, Fulham stated that he loves the way his team has been dialed in lately and believes that its focus will pay off on Thanksgiving.
“Just this week, we’ve had better practices,” the coach said. “You play as well as you practice; that cliché is very true. We haven’t had a lot of good practices this year, and that’s been part of the issue. But this week in particular, we’ve been practicing a lot better. We’ve tried to do some more fun activities that are a little more competitive that the guys have been more receptive to. It’s turned around into better play in our individual and group sessions.”
Junior center Anthony Burke, junior defensive end Keegan McGuire and senior wide receiver Ahmed Ali are Edison players who are excited to play in the holiday clash.
“We got to come out with full intensity, and we need to stay aggressive,” Burke said. “We beat them four times in a row, and if we win this year, it’ll be the first time that Edison has beaten them five times in a row.”
“We have to execute,” McGuire said. “I feel like we have a lot of talent, but in the past few weeks, our game performance hasn’t really shown that. I feel like we have to have good practices throughout the week, which we have been, and we’ll be fine.”
“We have some returning starters in the lineup,” Ali said. “Our practices have been a lot more live. They’ve been a lot better.”
The trio echoed Fulham’s belief about the new attitude in practice and believe that they now have what it takes to win.
“We’ve been having a high tempo in practice,” Burke said. “Our effort has been better, and it should be able to make us play with high intensity.”
“It’s the last game of the year. At this point, everyone’s all banged up. It’s a battle to come out there, so we’ve been making these practices a lot more fun, making it a joy to come out here,” McGuire said. “It’s a big thing because we’re getting better and we’re having fun while getting more prepared for J.P. [Stevens].”
“[We’re] having more fun like [McGuire said],” Ali said. “We just want to win that five-peat. It’s always about that J.P. [Stevens] football game. We have to do this.”
The group has big expectations for the game.
“I expect us to shut them out,” Burke said. “I think we’re better than them. If we play our brand of football, we should be able to win.”
“I think we’re going to win,” McGuire said.
“We got to shut them out,” Ali said. “We have to shut them out.”