Scanning the High School Football Scene: Week 7

The Middletown South football team proved they are truely the #1 team in the Shore with a hard fought "blue collar" win at Brick Memorial on Friday night.  After spotting the Mustangs a 3-0 lead after 1 quarter on a Matt Cuppari 40 yard field goal, the Eagles scored 3 TDs in the last 5 minutes of the first half and kept the Mustangs out of the end zone in the 2nd half to win it 21-3.  There were chances for the Stangs, but the stout Eagle "D" withstood any chance Brick Memorial (5-2) had of winning this one.  With South's excellent linebackers keying in on QB Tim Santiago, yardage was tough to come by for Santiago.  He finished with 91 hard earned yards which puts him at a Shore leading 1075 yards.  LBs Dylan Rogers, James McCarthy and Kevin Higgins were all over Santiago every time he kept the ball in Memorial's flex-bone offense.  Turnovers and penalties killed the Mustangs on this night, while Middletown South took advantage of key mistakes to continue unbeaten at 7-0.  Leading the way on offense was QB Matt Mosquera with an excellent passing attack.  He was 12-18 for 132 yards with 7 going to Peerless in the slot. Cole Rogers chipped in with 100 hard nosed yards and 2 TDs.  Many quality points were at stake on this night and the Eagles picked up 25 of them with the victory. The win virtually assures them a top seed in the North 2 Group 4, important because the top seed gets them 2 home games before a neutral field final.  Phillipsburg (6-1) looks like the likely opponent for the Eagles in the finals. Meanwhile, Middletown South leads the pack in their conference, but will not get to wrap up their A-North championship until Thanksgiving Day when they play cross town rival Middletown North.  Brick Memorial has 2 games remaining in A-South (TR South and Southern), games they will be favored in, as they trail Brick by a game for the title.  Brick plays Toms River North on Oct. 30th in what will be a tough one for the unbeaten Dragons (7-0).  Big trap games coming for both teams as Brick Memorial travels to Toms River South next Friday night and South gets a pretty good Freehold Boro team.  Both opponents are 4-2 on the year and it will be a big week for both coaching staff's to get them ready.Another huge non-conference game on Saturday was Rumson at Lakewood.  Rumson's only loss was a 13-7 loss to unbeaten SJV in week 2.  They left little doubt that they will make a run again this year and defend their back to back State titles.  Saturday it was Mike Carusso's pick 6 for 87 yards which made it 14-3 and the Dogs never looked back (30-14).  All HC Bryan Batchlor has done in his 2 years is win State championships.  He's 2 for 2, but has a tough bracket this year with Red Bank, Ocean and Matawan from the Shore and Hopewell Valley and South Plainfield up North.  Red Bank is having their best year in a long time, while Matawan won a State championship last year under John Kaye. Ocean has Tyler Thompson running the ball and South Plainfield is 6-1 with their lone loss coming at the hands of unbeaten New Brunswick.  A very interesting bracket is beginning to form.

Brick threw their 5th shutout at Colts Neck (24-0) which sets up a huge A-South game this week vs. Toms River North.  We will be there as this is our Jersey Mike's Game of the Week on Friday night.  North has 1 loss in conference (Brick Memorial) and a North victory will throw the race into a 3 way tie with those 3 teams.  Brick wasn't great on offense last week against winless Colts Neck, but they are living on their outstanding defense, with just enough offense to stay unbeaten.

Point Boro (7-0) is for real. They beat a pretty good Raritan team 33-27, as QB Noah Husack scored once on the ground and threw for 2 in the air to lead the Panthers.  Raritan had a shot to win it at the end, but Austin Drucquer picked off a Rocket pass at the 5 yard line to ice it for Boro.  On November 7th, Lakewood travels to Point Boro for a 2PM Saturday afternoon game which will decide the B-South championship.  Looks like a radio game for us at the Shore Sports Network.

Look out for Matawan who has won 4 straight after starting 0-3.  QB George Pearson is back and the Huskies are playing well going into States in 2 weeks.  This week, Pearson threw for 241 yards and 2 TDs in Matawan's 38-7 victory over Long Branch.

Jackson Memorial (4-3) got back in the win column with a 28-7 victory over Toms River South.  Kyle Johnson was the star for the Jags with 2 big TDs - one on a 58 yard pass and the other on a 50 yard pick 6.  Jackson played without injured QB Dan Barker while Toms River South is playing with their 3rd string QB.

Congrats to Lacey (27-0 over Jackson Liberty) and Holmdel (34-3 over Pinelands) for picking up their first wins of the year.  Both teams are now 1-6.

SJV (7-0) remains the top seed in Non-Public Group 3 as they put up 63 points against Donovan Catholic.  Can we be looking at a possible matchup with RBC down the road?  Many people are looking forward to that game as both play in the same section.

RBC, led by QB Eddie Hahn easily beat Manalapan 33-14.  Hahn passed for 260 yards and 2 TDs while also running for 65 yards and a TD.  Both TD passes went to Max Hazard. The Braces (4-3) are still alive in Central Group 5.

Shore (6-0) continues to run over all opponents on their schedule. This week it was South River who took the beating, as Shore scored on their first 7 possessions on their way to a 52-7 victory.  The offense rolled up 519 total yards. Things may get a little tougher for the Devils in the next 2 weeks. Point Beach and Asbury Park will take their shot at Shore.

Big games this week: