RBC, Mon. Regional among local winners
BY DOUG McKENZIE Correspondent
Championship teams respond to adversity. Pretenders wilt under pressure. This past Sunday, the Red Bank Catholic football team had an opportunity to decide which they were going to be - champions or pretenders.

Just one week after suffering their first loss of the year to Long Branch, the Caseys found themselves needing to prove that they were better than they showed against the Green Wave. And they needed to prove to everyone that their 5-1 mark heading into the weekend was not simply the result of a soft schedule. With a showdown against a Wall team that had already beaten Long Branch, and was playing for the outright Liberty Division title, the Caseys were in position to prove a lot of people wrong, and justify their claim as one of the Shore Conference's elite teams.

And that's just what they did, beating Wall, 25-17, thanks in large part to a gamewinning defensive play from senior defensive tackle John Kinzel, an opportunistic special teams unit that forced a pair of turnovers that resulted in touchdowns, and the solid play of a back-up quarterback making his first start in Connor O'Leary (playing for the injured Lou Bianchini).

Now that they've knocked off the secondranked team in the Shore, the Caseys can officially call themselves champions - well, co-champions, with Wall, and maybe Long Branch. (If the Green Wave beats Red Bank on Thanksgiving Day, they too will earn a share of the title.)

Saturday's game provided all the redemption the Caseys could have hoped for. After falling behind 7-0 when Wall's Blaze Caponegro found the end zone from seven yards out, capping a 16-play, 89-yard drive, O'Leary overcame some early jitters and led his team down the field for the game-tying TD. David Reeves got the Caseys on the board with a four-yard run, before both teams' defenses stiffened and held their ground for the rest of the first half.

Once the second half started, it didn't take long for RBC's special teams unit to capture the all-important momentum. RBC elected to squib the kick to open the half, and once the Crimson Knights struggled to control the ball, the Caseys were able to recover the kick on the 38-yard line. On the very next play, Pete Batesko made a leaping catch of an O'Leary pass and broke a pair of tackles before racing the rest of the way for the go-ahead score.

On the ensuing kick-off, the squib kick worked again, as the Caseys' Connor McHeffey caught the ball off a high bounce, giving RBC the ball once again.

Just three plays later, RBC's Michael Wilbur plunged into the end zone from a yard out to give RBC a 19-7 lead. RBC had several opportunities to put the game away over the final quarter, but five fumbles (including four lost fumbles) allowed Wall to hang around despite a strong effort from the Casey defense.

The Crimson Knights finally narrowed the score in the fourth quarter when Tim Wright capped an 11-play, 67-yard drive with a 10-yard TD catch with just over 10 minutes left to play. Following another RBC fumble, Wall seemed poised to put together a game-winning drive, advancing deep into RBC territory. That's when Kinzel made the play of the game.

With Wall QB Jim Louro drawing most of the defensive front towards him while setting up a screen to the left, Kinzel sniffed it out, stayed home, and calmly jumped the rout, picking the ball out of the air and racing 64 yards for the touchdown.

Following the game, Kinzel credited his coaching staff with drilling it into the RBC players' heads to be weary of the screen.

"We've been practicing against screens all week. It's been a little downfall of our defense the past two weeks," he said. "I just read it, perfectly, stepped in front of it, got on my horse, got a block ... touchdown.

"I just knew if I ran as fast as I could (that) no one was catching me," he added. "It's a defensive lineman's dream right there."

Coming into the game, few people, other than the Casey faithful, expected RBC to win on Sunday, especially with O'Leary (4- for-6 for 80 yards and one touchdown) starting in place of Bianchini. That only added to the Caseys' resolve.

"We had something to prove today," Kinzel said.

And that's just what they did, picking up 16 important power points in the process, which could help them secure a higher seed in the upcoming NJSIAA tournament.

Up next, the Caseys get a 4-3 Neptune team coming off its bye week. Those two teams will square off on Saturday in Neptune at 2:30 p.m. in a game which should present another challenge for the Caseys, who may have quieted their critics this past weekend, but could certainly use another strong performance against the Scarlet Fliers to further cement their status as one of the Shore's elite teams.

The Caseys weren't the only team celebrating a share of a championship over the weekend, as the Rumson-Fair Haven Bulldogs earned a share of the Patriot Division with their impressive 27-0 win over Point Beach on Sunday.

Behind touchdown runs from sophomore Robbie Kelly and senior Sean McDonald, as well as a TD pass from quarterback Matt Wassell to his favorite target,

Ryan Kirchner, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 20-0 lead by the half and never looked back. The RFH defense held Point Beach to just 51 yards of offense, as the Bulldogs improved to 6-1 on the year and earned a share of the division title with Asbury Park, and most likely Keansburg, the only team to defeat RFH this year.

Shore Regional saw its state playoff chances ended on Sunday with a disappointing 31-26 loss to Keyport. The Blue Devils watched the Red Raiders score a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to steal the win, after Shore reeled off 20 straight points to take the lead with just nine minutes to play. Shore seemed poised to escape with the win over a game Keyport team, only to fall to 3-5 on the year, meaning that despite the outcome of tomorrow's game with Manasquan, the Blue Devils will be below the .500 mark at the state playoff deadline.

Monmouth Regional overwhelmed a young Jackson Liberty team, 26-7, on Sunday to improve to 3-4 on the year. Head coach Sal Spampanato's team will look to get back to the .500 mark tomorrow night when they take on 0-7 Central Regional on the road. Getting back to .500 would be a very positive step for Spampanato's team, as the Golden Falcons represent one of the youngest teams in the Shore Conference.

Ocean Township suffered a tough 33-0 loss to a Middletown South team that finally resembled the Eagles of the past after losing two straight games coming in. With the loss, Ocean fell to 3-4 on the year, and will also look to get back to the .500 mark tomorrow night when they take on Long Branch.