Ending on a High Note: TR South Routs Lakewood on Thanksgiving

By Art Gordon – Shore Sports Network contributor

LAKEWOOD – Coming into the Shore Conference’s longest continuous Thanksgiving rivalry game against Lakewood on Thursday, Toms River South was still stinging from its heartbreaking four-point loss to Shawnee in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV semifinals a week earlier.

“We had a bad taste in our mouths from last week,’’ head coach Ron Signorino Jr. said.

A win over their longtime rival to end the season was just what the Indians needed.

Using a third quarter in which they exploded for 30 unanswered points, the Indians coasted to a 53-26 nondivisional victory over the Piners (6-5) at Russell E. Wright Field in Lakewood to cap their best season since going 8-2 in 2002. This was the 94th meeting of the two teams, with Toms River South holding a 53-37-4 edge in the all-time series. It was a welcome ending after a 28-24 loss to Shawnee in which the Indians squandered a 24-0 halftime lead and were denied their first trip to a state final since 1998.

“It was tough this week,’’ Signorino said. “We were dragging for a couple days, but then we picked it up the last two days. Good way to finish. I told to kids it’s better to finish 8-3 than 7-4.”

Senior wide receiver Darrius Hart stepped in for junior quarterback Tymere Berry, who was out with an ankle injury suffered in the Shawnee game. Hart threw two touchdown passes to senior Russell Messler in the first half, one as time expired. Senior Otis Kearney Jr. led the Indians’ rushing attack with 160 yards on 15 carries as South rushed for a total of 322 yards. In the process, Kearney went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season.

“Darrius did a great job stepping in at quarterback,’’ Signorino said. “He has gotten reps all year as Tymere’s backup, so he was ready. We watered down the offensive game plan a little bit, not because Darrius couldn’t do the things but more because Tymere usually does so much for us.”

“We ran more option and counter option and not as much zone reads because I’m better at those reads,’’ Hart said.

The first half was a defensive struggle by two teams that were still struggling with the effects of last week’s playoff losses. Lakewood lost 34-0 to undefeated Weequahic in the Central Jersey Group II semifinals after the Piners had won their first state playoff game since 1986 in the first round.

Toms River South took an early 6-0 lead in the second quarter on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Hart to Messler. The Piners tied the game on their next possession, taking advantage of a miscue by the Indians when a Lakewood punt hit a Toms River South defender and was recovered by the Piners. Eight plays later, junior quarterback Naquese Joshua found senior Mike Randolph from 12 yards out to tie it 6-6. Toms River South then took the lead for good as time expired in the first half when Hart and Messler hooked up again on the same play from three yards out for a 13-6 halftime lead.

The Indians wasted no time in adding to their lead at the beginning of the second half when Kearney broke off a 51-yard touchdown run to start the third quarter. The defensive struggle that was waged in the first half was now just a memory as the high-scoring affair many expected exploded as the Indians scored their most points since a 61-0 win over Pinelands in 2011.

“All we said to them was to reverse what happened last week vs. Shawnee,’’ Signorino said. “Let’s play the way we are capable of playing, and they responded well.”

Two plays after Kearney’s touchdown, Lakewood was penalized for intentional grounding in the end zone, resulting in a safety for the Indians. Three plays into Toms River South’s ensuing possession, junior running back Khaleel Greene scored the first of his two touchdownson the day as he took a jet sweep from 13 yards out on a fourth-and-inches play to balloon the lead to 29-6.

After a three-and-out later in the quarter by the Indians, they lined up to punt from the Piners’ 37-yard-line only to see Messler, an all-around athlete headed to Rutgers on a baseball scholarship, take the snap and run 22 yards on a fake punt to the 15-yard line. He fumbled the ball, but teammate Quentin DeCarlo caught it in mid-air and sprinted the remaining 15 yards for the touchdown. After Messler’s extra point, the Indians had a commanding 36-6 lead.

Messler kicked five extra points, booted a 30-yard field goal, and had two touchdown receptions for the day to go along with his punting and middle linebacker responsibilities.

After a Hart interception on Lakewood’s first play after DeCarlo’s touchdown, the Indians pushed the lead 43-6 on another Kearney touchdown, this one an 11-yard run.

Lakewood scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Joshua, but Toms River South answered with a 30-yard field goal by Messler. Lakewood closed the gap to 46-26 on two touchdown passes from Joshua, a 13-yarder to Joey Keraitis and an 11-yarder to Randolph, but Greene put the exclamation point on the win with a 32-yard run in the final minutes to complete the scoring explosion for the visitors.

Box Score

Toms River South 53, Lakewood 26

.                                        T            L
First downs                      14          9
Rushes-yards               45-322     26-12
Passing                        4-7-0-34   14-22-2-146
Penalties                         3-35        4-30
Fumbles-lost                    6-3         2-0

TR South (8-3) 6 7  30 10 - 53

Lakewood (6-5) 0 6 0   20 - 26

Scoring summary
T- Messler 4-yard pass from Hart (kick failed).
L- Randolph 12-yard pass from Joshua (kick failed).
T- Messler 3-yard pass from Hart (Messler kick).
T- Kearney 51-yard run (Messler kick).
T- Safety, intentional grounding in end zone
T- Greene 13-yard run (Messler kick).
T-DeCarlo 15-yard fumble return (Messler kick).
T- Kearney 11-yard run (Messler kick).
L- Joshua 1-yard run (run failed).
L- Keraitis 13-yard pass from Joshua (run failed).
L- Randolph 32-yard pass from Joshua (Paseler pass from Joshua).
T- Greene 32-yard run (Messler kick).

Individual statistics
Rushing –TRS: Hart 18-53, Kearney 15-160, Mannato 4-15, Greene 4-62, Messler 1-21, Winkleman 1-0, Parker 1-13, Golumbeski 1- (13). L: Tyler 3-0, Cook 12-27, Cobbs 1-3, Joshua 4-(15), Randolph 4-8, Segui 1-(4), Keraitis 1-(7).

Passing – TRS: Hart 4-7-0-34. L: Joshua 11-18-1 115, Cook 3-4-1-31.

Receiving – TRS: Messler 2-7, Mannato 1-16, Greene 1-11. L: Keraitis 5-42, Randolph 3-33, Patterson 3-20, Butler 1-13, Joshua 1-23, Paseler 1-15.

Interceptions – TRS: Hart , Mannato