With beautiful weather for most of the pre-season, coaches hardly missed a practice as they prepared for week 1.  Well, true to form with New Jersey weather, the rains came Thursday night when most teams were set to open because of the Jewish holidays.

Brick Township Green Dragon QB Carmen Scalfani
Brick Township Green Dragon QB Carmen Scalfani (Ed Sarluca, Townsquare Media NJ)
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The lightning and rain created the usual nightmares for area ADs as they scrambled to re-schedule games. After the rain cleared out, there were many good games over the course of the weekend.

Lets look at week 1.

Congrats to Bryan Batchler of Rumson, Keith Killea of Asbury Park, Rich Mosca of Monmouth Reg. for winning their first games as new head coaches at their respective schools.  Of course Rich Mosca had many more wins at Keyport, Middletown South, Monmouth (first tour there) and FDU in the college ranks.

TR South offense was explosive, as predicted by many around the Shore.  They put up 41 points and held off a much improved Central team who scored 27 against a vulnerable Indian "D".  New Central Reg. Head Coach Willie Jacobs team looked very sharp on offense with Marquis Drumwright at the QB spot. 2 winnable games against Jax Liberty and Point Boro are up next for Central.  South used all their weapons -Otis Kearney, Tymere Berry, Khaleel Green, Billy Kosh and Darrius Hart.  The Indians will be tough to stop this year, but it's defense that usually wins at the end.  They must improve in that phase of the game.

The next 3 will tell you about the Indians--Southern, Brick and Lacey.  Wow, that's a tough 3 game span.  By the way, my best wishes to Indian Russell Messler who was injured early in the contest.  Lets hope the knee injury is not severe.

Brick's Carmen Sclafani made his immediate presence known at his new school, in their 21-14 win over crosstown rival Brick Memorial.  Sclafani threw for 103 yds. and ran for another 85 to lead the Dragons. The short passing game was especially effective for the Dragons, as they had 15 completions in the game.

BM star Rec/RB Mike Basile who was cramping for most of the game, only had 3 touches in the game and did not catch a pass.   Junior QB Joe Hans proved he could run the Stang offense, as he had TD runs of 69 and 11 yds.  Overall these 2 teams will win games in the very tough A-South.  Up next for the Dragons is Middletown South who is hungry to take the field after a week 1 bye.

Rumson's big 13-6 victory over Shore was another highlight of week 1.  The Bulldogs unleashed RB Charlie Volker who ran for 188 yds and scored both Rumson TDs. The only guy happier than new coach Brian Batchler was Shane Fallon, who seems to have left the program in good shape.

Classy move by John Wagner of Point Beach.  Beach's opponent Cardinal McCarrick dressed 18 players and Beach scored 41 points by half.  It ended 41-6.  Great job by Coach Wagner!
Congrats to Mater Dei Prep for their 34-14 victory over Keansburg.  It was the first time they have won on opening day in 18 years!  The Seraphs had 417 yds. of offense and returned the opening KO (Tyson White) 85 yds. for a TD.  White, Dereck Lopez and Sam Miles are some of the Seraphs to watch this year.  Congrats to HC Steve Sciarappa.

Lacey puts up 61 points in 3 quarters of work.  The Lions, like the Indians of TR South, are powerful on offense, but defense will define their season. They will score points in bunches, and if they find a RB to replace Kyle Spatz, they will be unable to game plan against.  By the way, how many teams would live to have backup QB Conner Davies on their team?  Only a junior, Lacey is one team that won't lose anything if QB # 1 goes down.

Logan Sheehan seemed to be a very capable QB for Southern Reg.  He threw 3 TD passes in the Ram's 26-6 win over Free Twp.  One of those went to Mike Gesicki, who will catch a few this year.  Rams will take the trip up the parkway Friday night to Toms River, where the Indians will be waiting.

Tough to practice for a game since last December and to have it rained out and postponed to Oct 11th.  That's what happen to Manalapan and Jackson. Heavy rain on Thursday night forced a delay and after more lightning, it was decided to play on the mutual bye week of Oct 11th. Tough call for the coaches and players.  You prepare all pre-season for week 1 and get disappointed.  Jackson now hosts TR East and Manalapan is at Free Twp in their first action of the year. Both games are Fri night.

Teams with high expectations in 2013 start with loses.  This is the list you don't want to be on.

Long Branch
Brick Memorial
Toms River East
Shore

Keep in mind one loss does not define a season-- however game # 2 becomes a must win situation for those teams.  LB has Monmouth Reg.(1-0), Brick Mem. has Mid North(0-0) TRE has Jackson(0-0). and Shore is at Asbury Park(1-0). Of the 4, TR East is reeling after a 45-0 drubbing at the hands of Colts Neck.  This program needs some wins after back to back 2-8 seasons.

Big games this week:

Southern at TR South--Brick at Middletown South--SJV at Rumson--Ocean at Neptune--RBC at Manasquan

Big individual games week 1:

RB Otis Kearney Jr(TRS) 190 yds.  2 TDs. (Our player of game) check out pix on our web site
RB Anthony Gargiulo(CN) 137 yds, 2TDs
RB Pete Miceli(Wall). 177 yds.
QB Tom Kelly(Lacey) threw 3 and ran for 1
Rec Christian Tutela(Lacey)  caught 3 TD passes and ran for 1
RB Charlie Volker(Rumson) 188 yds and 2TDs
QB  Connor McGlynn(Howell)  333 yds. passing for 5TDs and 1 rushing TD

Some notable out of town results:

Old Bridge beats Sayreville 35-19--defending champs go down
Williamstown beats Cherry Hill East 67-6-- undefeated last year
Cherokee beats Lenape 34-7--always tough in SJ playoffs
Shawnee beats Kingsway 25-19--likewise
Timber Creek beats Camden Catholic 34-7--defending champs good again
Hun Central beats Franklin 42-7-- tough in CJ 5
Nottingham beats Hightstown 48-7-- best in Middlesex
Eastern beats Wash Twp 63-19-- Southern is keeping an eye on Eastern

Week 2 Top Ten

1- RBC(1-0) 49-6 win over Red Bank. Next up away at 1-0 Manasquan.
2- Manalapan (0-0)  Did not play due to storms.  Rescheduled for Oct. 11th.
3- Lacey (1-0)  61-7 over Pinelands. Travel to TR North for a Sat. Night game.
4- Middletown South(0-0). Bye week. Chomping at the bit to play a game.
5- Barnegat(1-0) impressive 37-6 win over Holmdel. Travel to Manchester Friday night.
6- Colts Neck(1-0) demolished TR East 45-0. North Brunswick travels tonCN on Sat. afternoon.
7- Ocean(1-0)   Big Red, 51-21 over Manchester.  Next- Neptune on the road, won't be easy.
8- TR South(1-0) 41-27 over Central. Southern comes to town next.
9- Southern Reg(1-0) 26-6 over Free Twp. Big one with TRS this week on road.
10- Rumson(1-0) 13-6 over Shore. 1-0 SJV comes calling Friday night.

Peaking into Top Ten:

Brick(1-0) beat BM 21-14. To the swamp on Friday night.
Point Beach(1-0) easy 41-6 opener. Dunellen in town for home opener.
Lakewood(1-0) 12-6 OT win vs. Freehold Boro. Travel to 9-1 Mon Don in our game if week.
Manasquan(1-0) 13-3 win over LB.  get to play # 1 RBC this week. Lucky they get them home.
Neptune(1-0) shutout Raritan 24-0. Big Red bring their 1-0 record to Neptune Fri night.
SJV(1-0) Bye after opening a week early with a win over Mon Don.  Travels to Rumson week 2

Week 2 of the Investors Bank High School Football Show at Water Street Grill in Toms River.  7-8:39pm--High school Football talk at its best.  Join us in person, on 105.7FM, or online on ShoreSportsNetwork.com.  Friday night we are at the home of Mon Don for a big game with Lakewood.  7 pm start.

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