McCartney’s Fourth-Quarter Field Goal Lifts Point Beach Over Asbury Park

By Art Gordon - Shore Sports Network Contributor

ASBURY PARK - This time last year, Point Beach senior Zach McCartney was making saves for the Garnet Gulls' soccer team.

On Friday night, his 22-yard field goal with 1:49 left in the game might have saved the Garnet Gulls' chances of repeating as Class B Central champs by giving them a 10-7 win over Asbury Park (2-2, 2-1) in a slugfest in the rain at Asbury Park Stadium.

Point Beach (4-1 2-0) used its only possession of the fourth quarter to go on a 13-play, 7 ½-minute drive capped by McCartney’s game winning field goal.

“I was very nervous before the kick but I knew I could do it,'' McCartney said. "That’s why I came out for football, for times like this. I always wanted to play football and figured I was a goalie and I knew how to kick and punt, so why not give it a try?”

The winning drive started on the Asbury Park 47-yard line.The Garnet Gulls converted two fourth downs and three third downs on the march. The backfield of juniors Joe Wegrzyniak and Mike Frauenheim and senior Marshall Gombos did most of the damage in executing Point Beach's Wing-T offense. Junior quarterback Jake Fioretti also had two big runs on the drive for a total of 14 yards.

“We saw that the defensive end was crashing real hard on the dive to the short side so we adjusted and coach (John Wagner) said to keep it,” Fioretti said.

The teams were tied 7-7 after a first half played in a heavy downpour before McCartney's final heroics. Point Beach was on the scoreboard first on a 1-yard run by Wegrzyniak for a 7-0 lead with 9:30 left in the second quarter. The scoring drive took 16 plays and covered 64 yards.

“We tried to run right at their speed and not try to outrun them,'' Wagner said. "The time of possession stats were crazy, but we still had to put points on the board.”

The Garnet Gulls turned the ball over on their next possession on their own 48-yard line.  Three plays later, senior running back Daquane Bland-Bennett raced into the end zone from 45 yards out.  It appeared that he would be brought down for a loss on the play, as three Beach defenders converged on him, but he escaped and sprinted down the home sideline to help tie the game at seven.

“We had him stopped, and he made a great move and outran us,'' Wagner said. "We tell the kids don’t stand still with speed, and we did.  That kid (Bland-Bennett) is electric."

At halftime, Point Beach made a few subtle adjustments.

“We started mixing up the snap count, tried to take advantage of their aggressiveness and speed and hoped they wouldn't outrun us,'' Wagner said. "We also knew we had to pressure the quarterback because we knew we could not play 7-on-7 with them.”

On the Garnet Gulls' second possession of the third quarter, they went 12 plays, eating up seven minutes, only to turn the ball over on downs.

“We turned down a field goal at that time because we were going into the wind,'' Wagner said.

After Point Beach took a 10-7 lead on McCartney's field goal, the Blue Bishops had one more drive in them. They took the ensuing kick and moved the ball to Point Beach's 24-yard line, but Frauenheim’s interception at the 5-yard line sealed the win for the visitors.

“This game was good for us, because we are young and we have yet to face adversity,'' Fioretti said. "Last year we were never in any of these situations.  This year we have been in many.  We are working on being able to respond."

Box score

Point Beach 10, Asbury Park 7

SCORING

TEAMS                                    1          2          3          4          FINAL

BEACH                         0          7          0          3          10       

ASBURY                       0          7          0          0            7       

PB:  JOE WEGRZYNIAK 1 YARD RUN.  ZACH MCCARTNEY KICK

ASB:  DAQUANE BLAND-BENNETT 45 YARD RUN. DAQUAN YOUNG KICK

PB:  ZACH MCCARTNEY 22 YARD FIELD GOAL

STATISTICS

TEAMS                                    BEACH                         ASBURY          

FIRST DOWNS                           11                                  6

RUSHING                     51-175                         19-92

PASSING                       1-3 12                                   4-6-1-41

PENALTIES                     4-20                          7-44

PUNTS                             2-32                         3-40

FUMBLES                          2-2                           3-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: PB:  JOE WEGRZYNIAK 3-85, MIKE FRAUENHEIM 9-51, MARSHALL GOMBOS 9-25, JAKE FIORETTI 3-14.  AP:  DAQUANE BLAND-BENNETT 7-64 TYQUIS DAVIS 2-3 ROBERT BARKSDALE 10-25

PASSING:  PB:  JAKE FIORETTI 1-3-12  AP:  ROBERT BARKSDALE 4-6-1 41

RECEIVING:  PB  BILL BARRY 1-12  AP:  DAQUANNE BLAND-BENNETT 2-22, TYQUIS DAVIS 2-19

INTERCEPTIONS:  MIKE FRAUENHEIM