Bucs knock off Eagles; Monmouth, Wave notch wins

CHRIS KELLY Ocean Township quarterback Dan Murphy tries to find an open receiver while being chased by Lakewood’s Marcus Worthy during Saturday’s game in Lakewood. Murphy suffered a broken collarbone during the game and will miss four-six weeks while recovering.

By doug mckenzie

Staff Writer

Coaches throughout the Shore Conference have been buzzing about the work Red Bank Regional head football coach Harry Chebookjian and his staff have been doing with their program.

In the past two years, the team has shown tremendous improvement on the field and has developed into a contender in the highly competitive Shore Conference Federal Division.

However, few thought the Bucs had progressed enough to knock off Middletown South, the defending Central Jersey Group III champion and the preseason’s top-ranked team in the Shore.

Sure, South lost some key players on both sides of the ball, most notably all-state quarterback Brendan Kennedy, but the Eagles returned enough players from last year’s undefeated squad to warrant the top ranking and the lofty expectations.

But on Friday night the Eagles were caught unawares by the Bucs 18-12 and must now do something they went an entire season without having to do — bounce back from a loss.

After the win, Chebookjian couldn’t hide his excitement, calling it a "humongous" win for the program, a sentiment that was echoed by his players as they walked off Middletown South’s home field, known as "the swamp."

The Eagles got on the board first when running back Anthony Macaluso got into the Red Bank secondary and scampered 35 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. After a missed PAT, the Eagles were up 6-0. Red Bank responded with a touchdown of its own, with Jamar Lane finding the end zone from three yards out.

The score remained deadlocked at 6-6 through halftime, but the Bucs broke the tie in the third quarter, stunning the Eagles with a 31-yard TD pass from Keyron Sheard to Lane on a fourth-and-12 play. Once again the PAT failed, and the score was 12-6.

South tied the game at 12-12 with 9:57 left when Trent MacCray raced in from 18 yards out only to see the Bucs respond with a 12-yard TD of their own when Melvin Pearce found the end zone to cap off a 52-yard drive.

South fought valiantly to tie the game once again, but Lane stopped MacCray on the seven-yard line as time expired.

The win was a huge one for the Bucs, reaffirming what many people already knew — Red Bank is ready to win now. The Bucs face another stiff challenge on Saturday when they face another up-and-coming team in Pinelands.

Pinelands’ coach Craig Ciccardo, who coached at Mater Dei before moving on to the Tuckerton school, has a budding program on his hands, and it showed on Saturday, when they stunned Holmdel, 35-0.

Another local team that captured a week one win was Long Branch, who knocked off a talented Neptune team, 13-6.

The Green Wave held the Scarlet Fliers to just 102 total yards and four first downs in a classic defensive battle between two disciplined teams.

The big play of the game came in the second half, with Neptune 16 yards from tying the game at 13-13. Long Branch’s Michael Bland hit Wiley Evans in the backfield, causing him to fumble, effectively ending the threat. Bland was tremendous all game long for the Green Wave, recording nine tackles, four of which were sacks.

But it was a total team effort that led to the win, which is a good sign in week one. Long Branch got on the board in the second quarter when Gregg Otey found the end zone from 16 yards out following a 54-yard pass play from senior QB Mike Toffel to Kenny Gillespie.

They expanded that lead to 13-0 later in the second quarter when Toffel found Justin Foy from 32-yards out following a Pat Tedeschi interception.

Neptune narrowed the gap with less than two minutes to play in the first half when Doug Ford found the end zone from six yards out, but Bland blocked the PAT, and the Green Wave defense made the lead stand up in the second half, effectively shutting down the Neptune offense and giving coach Dan George’s team an all-important week one win.

The Green Wave will look to make it 2-0 on Saturday when they travel to Tinton Falls to face Monmouth Regional at 1:30 p.m.

The Falcons are also flying high after knocking off Manchester, impressively, 47-18 on Saturday.

Monmouth came out fired up, jumping out to a quick 20-point lead, only to allow Manchester back into the game before pulling away.

Coach Bob Merola’s team was clicking on all cylinders in the first quarter and got on the board when senior QB Jarrell Coleman hit Derrick Simmons for a 75-yard touchdown on the game’s first play from scrimmage.

Running back Aaron Shaw made it 13-0 on the Falcons’ next possession with a 66-yard scamper. From there, fullback Steve McQuay made it 20-0 with a 13-yard TD run on the next Monmouth possession.

Manchester scored three consecutive TDs to start the second quarter, but Monmouth expanded the lead to 26-18 before the half when Ronnie Stokes took a sweep and went 65 yards for a TD.

Whatever Merola said to his squad at halftime worked, because the second half was all Monmouth. The Falcons scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter to put the game away.

A Coleman three-yard keeper following a Manchester turnover got things started, and from there the Falcons added a McQuay two-yard TD following another Manchester turnover and a 43-yard TD pass from Coleman to Chris Ballard.

The win was a good one for the Falcons, who are anxious to show they are an improved football team this year. They could make quite a statement on Saturday with a win over Long Branch.

The remainder of the local teams suffered defeats this weekend, including the Ocean Township Spartans, who fell victim to the Lakewood Piners, 27-7.

Ocean saw firsthand what all the fuss about Lakewood junior tailback Dwayne Jones is about as the 6-1, 225-pound bruising back punished the Ocean defense from the opening snap.

Jones finished the game with 130 yards rushing and two TDs, leading the Piners to an early lead they would never relinquish.

Ocean got on the board in the third quarter when sophomore Dan Athans, who replaced starting QB Daniel Murphy after he injured his shoulder, guided the Spartans on a 40-yard drive, which culminated in a three-yard QB keeper for a touchdown.

But by then, the outcome was never in doubt, and the Spartans were facing a tough week one loss.

Ocean will look to get in the win column tonight when they host Toms River South in their home opener. TRS is 1-0 after blanking Central 34-0 last week and is ranked third in the Shore Conference behind Wall and Matawan. Game time is 7 p.m.

Things didn’t go much better for the Rumson-Fair Haven Bulldogs, who dropped their season opener to Colts Neck, 14-0.

RFH quarterback Ryan McDonough had a nightmare game for the ’Dawgs, getting picked off six times, two of which led to touchdowns. The Cougars seemed to know where the ball was going before it was thrown, and as a result, the dynamic Rumson offense could never get going.

The week one effort will be a tough one to forget for the Rumson signal caller, but Bulldog head coach Shane Fallon remains confident that his team will respond to the loss with renewed vigor.

The Bulldogs are generally considered a very good team this year, and it’s often said that you don’t want to play a good team following a bad loss.

The Shore Regional Blue Devils will find out if that theory holds true tonight when they host the Bulldogs in West Long Branch.

Shore is also coming off a tough loss, dropping a 20-14 contest to Asbury Park on Saturday after leading 14-0 at one point.

Shore got the lead in the first quarter when John Vaccerello found the end zone from four yards out, and then added to that lead in the second when Phil Greene dashed in from 37 yards out.

But Asbury Park fought back with an 82-yard scoring drive before the half to get within 14-6 and then got another score with 4:21 left on a seven-yard run from Fuquan Davis.

That set up a dramatic finish, where the Blue Bishops’ Pablo DeJesus outleaped a defender on a pass play to make the catch and then sprinted 76 yards with just 27 seconds on the clock to top a shocked Shore team.

The Blue Devils will be hungry for a W tonight but will face a Rumson team that needs a win just as badly. Game time is 7 p.m.