Jersey Mike’s Week 4 Shore Conference Football Team of the Week: St. John Vianney
Every week this fall, Jersey Mike’s and Shore Sports Network will be teaming up to select the Shore Conference Football Team of the Week based on its performance over the past weekend.
The Jersey Mike’s Team of the Week for Week 4 is St. John Vianney, which rallied around injured teammate Aaron Van Trease to defeat Manasquan, 32-0, for its fourth straight victory. Shore Sports Network stopped by practice on Tuesday to present the Lancers and head coach Jeff Papcun with a special game ball and a $500 Jersey Mike's Gift Card. The football team will be donating the gift card to the Van Trease Family.
On the third play of Friday's Independence Division game, Van Trease, a senior who is St. John Vianney's starting quarterback and safety, suffered a severe spinal cord injury while playing defense and had to be airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. According to a GoFundMe fundraiser, he underwent immediate emergency surgery to remove the fractured vertebrae.
The Shore Conference football community has quickly mobilized to offer its support to the Van Trease Family. There is a GoFundMe page set up to assist the family during Aaron's recovery and there is an online clothing store through Asylum Sports Center that has "AVT 18" apparel for sale with all proceeds going to the Van Trease Family.
As he was being taken off the field, Van Trease's message to Papcun was "Don't worry about me. Go win this game", and that is exactly what his teammates did.
Senior running back Jack Farrah ran for 124 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries and the Lancers' defense allowed just 140 yards of offense to shut out Manasquan and improve to 4-1. Senior Kyle Verriest ran for 52 yards and a touchdown, Michael Foley had a touchdown run stepping in as SJV's quarterback, and Luca Minaro ran for 88 yards.
It was St. John Vianney's fourth straight victory since a season-opening loss to No. 1 Red Bank Catholic and enabled the Lancers to keep pace with No. 4 Point Boro atop the Independence Division standings. The Lancers moved up one spot to No. 8 in the latest Jeep Store Football Top 10.
As fate would have it, St. John Vianney's next opponent is also dealing with a serious injury to its starting quarterback. Marlboro lost standout senior quarterback AJ Schwartz for the season with a lower leg injury suffered in the Mustangs' Week 4 loss to Howell. St. John Vianney will travel to Marlboro (3-1) for a nondivisional game on Saturday at noon in an important matchup for both teams heading into the second half of the season.
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