As first reported Monday night, No. 3 Rumson-Fair Haven will be almost certainly be without a significant piece of its offense when it faces No. 5 St. John Vianney in a huge Class A Central showdown at Borden Stadium on Thursday night.

Princeton-bound senior tailback Charlie Volker is "very likely" to miss the game with a high ankle sprain that was aggravated in a win over Monmouth Regional last week, according to head coach Bryan Batchler. Volker was the Shore Sports Network Offensive Player of the Year as a junior with a school-record 2,108 yards rushing that led the Shore Conference and also scored 24 touchdowns.

Rumson-Fair Haven senior running back Charlie Volker will most likely miss a showdown of Top 10 teams with St. John Vianney in Class A Central on Thursday night. (Photo by Mark Brown/B51 Photography).
Rumson-Fair Haven senior running back Charlie Volker will most likely miss a showdown of Top 10 teams with St. John Vianney in Class A Central on Thursday night. (Photo by Mark Brown/B51 Photography).
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"He's such a tough kid and has such a high threshold for pain that he would try to play through anything, but we don't want to potentially risk further injury if he's not at full strength,'' Batchler said.

He has run for over 100 yards in each of Rumson's first two games, including 180 against Monmouth, despite sitting out some time for precautionary reasons with the nagging injury. The likely loss of Volker for the Lancers game is a tough blow, but the Bulldogs still have some weapons in sophomore quarterback Mike O'Connor, an explosive runner in his own right, as well as a solid group of receivers. Senior Sam Eisenstadt would most likely be part of a committee in the backfield to help replace Volker in the likely event that he can't play.

The defense, which returned standout linebacker Max Pfrang from injury last week, will also be called upon to deliver a strong performance against a Lancers offense that is averaging 41 points per game behind junior quarterback Anthony Brown in the program's best start since 1998. St. John Vianney is looking to try to take a big step toward its first division title since 1982 in its first season under coach Mark Ciccotelli.

This is a significant stretch for Rumson as far as the division title and playoff seeding is concerned, as they follow this week's game with a nondivisional game against Long Branch that carries power-point significance. The Bulldogs (2-0) are the defending Central Jersey Group II champions.

 

 

 

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