Shore Conference Week 0 Football Player of the Week: Point Boro’s Sam Young

Every week this season, Shore Conference football fans will have their chance to vote for the Orthopaedic Institute of Central Jersey/Shore Sports Network Football Player of the Week on our website.

The Week 0 Player of the Week winner is Point Boro senior wide receiver/defensive back Sam Young, who had an incredible high school football debut to lead the Panthers to a 23-13 season-opening victory over Barnegat.

Young is a standout on Point Boro’s baseball team as an outfielder and pitcher and this past season helped the Panthers win the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 2 sectional championship. He and his twin brother, Cole, decided to come out for the football team as seniors, and Sam’s first game could not have been better. The 6-foot-6 Young caught four passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns, including a 70-yard score, to provide all three of Point Boro’s touchdowns.

After falling behind, 6-0, Point Boro took a 7-0 lead when Young hauled in a 15-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Charles Vitale. Barnegat took a 13-7 lead but Young’s second touchdown – a perfectly fade down the home sideline that Young caught and took the rest of the way for a 70-yard score – tied the score at 13. After a field goal by Joe Picolli gave the Panthers a 16-13 lead, Young pulled down another 15-yard touchdown pass from Vitale with 37 seconds left in the game to clinch the victory.

Young also contributed on defense with a forced fumble.

Point Boro’s flexbone triple-option offense is geared almost exclusively toward running the ball, but Young’s presence on the outside clearly gives the Panthers a matchup problem in the passing game. Head coach Brian Staub wasted no time using the team’s newest weapon and the threat of the deep ball should only help open holes for the ground attack.

Young received 18.32 percent of the votes to win the poll over Colts Neck’s Delano Marcelus and Wall’s Casey Larkin.

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