Post by admin on Dec 7, 2008 16:37:06 GMT -5
www.app.com/article/20081206/SPORTS0110/81206040/1071/SPORTS01
PISCATAWAY — As the Freehold crowd continued to erupt into hysterics, senior quarterback Nick Tyson couldn't bear to watch so he turned away from the Rutgers Stadium field. Senior wide receiver Gerry Plescia just knew that someone had to make a play.
With the Colonials (11-1) clinging to a 21-14 lead over Middletown South in their NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III title game on Saturday in Piscataway, the Eagles found themselves with fourth-and-13 on the Freehold 42-yard line. Ryan Mullan's pass toward the right sideline was intercepted by junior free safety Damar Bivins. He returned it 34 yards to the Middletown South 42 to seal Freehold's first state sectional title.
"Before that, I thought what better time to make a play than now," Bivins said. "Penalties hurt us in this game, but each drive we just came out harder and harder and we were able to persevere."
"Damar came up real big, he played great D all year and this was his time to shine," Tyson said. "Damar just came up so big right there. First title in school history, this is huge for us."
The Eagles (10-2) had outscored their last three sectional final opponents at Rutgers Stadium by a combined 74-0. Tyson and Plescia ended that streak within the first three plays of the game. On the game's opening play, with the Middletown South defense overplaying big-play threat Brandon Brown, Tyson hit a wide open Plescia along the right sideline for 45 yards down to the Eagles 4. Two plays later, Tyson dove in for the touchdown from 2 yards out. A Plescia extra point made the score 7-0.
Tyson finished finished 9-for-15 for 140 yards to go along with 60 rushing yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns.
With five state sectional championships to its credit since 2001 and nine overall, Middletown South has become as close to a sure thing as you can get when it advances to the first weekend of December. Freehold, with zero sectional titles and just one sectional final appearance to its credit back in 1985, wasn't buying into any of that on Saturday.
"We wanted to throw a haymaker real quick and we were able to accomplish that and maybe catch them off guard a bit," Tyson said.
After the teams traded short drives that did not yield any scoring, Tyson led his team on a 10-play, 58-yard drive that culminated in his second touchdown of the day, this time from 1 yard out to make it 14-0. Two plays earlier, with the ball at South's 20, senior running back Frank Nicosia ran 17 yards down to the 3 to set up first-and-goal to keep the drive going.
A Tezzy Thorpe 1-yard touchdown run with 2:46 to go in the first half capped Freehold's scoring and made it 21-0, but the Eagles were not going away without a fight.
Mullan connected with sophomore wide receiver Andrew Suarez for a 49-yard touchdown pass with 1:12 to go in the half, making it 21-7 at halftime.
A well played third quarter defensively by both teams gave way to Mullan finding Sean Campbell over the middle for an 11-yard score to cut the deficit to one possession.
South's only drive of the fourth quarter other than the game-ending one saw it have first-and-goal and the Freehold 6, but they could not capitalize. Junior strong safety Martin Corso dropped running Chris Bunge for a 12-yard loss and after Mullan found Campbell for 11 to get back to the 6, Mullan's pass to Suarez was overthrown in the end zone on fourth down to end the threat.
"They're a good football team and the quarterback (Tyson) was the difference in this game today in my opinion," Middletown South head coach Steve Antonucci said. "You can't the put the ball on the ground and you can't make too many mistakes and expect to win the game. They didn't make as many mistakes as we did."
PISCATAWAY — As the Freehold crowd continued to erupt into hysterics, senior quarterback Nick Tyson couldn't bear to watch so he turned away from the Rutgers Stadium field. Senior wide receiver Gerry Plescia just knew that someone had to make a play.
With the Colonials (11-1) clinging to a 21-14 lead over Middletown South in their NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III title game on Saturday in Piscataway, the Eagles found themselves with fourth-and-13 on the Freehold 42-yard line. Ryan Mullan's pass toward the right sideline was intercepted by junior free safety Damar Bivins. He returned it 34 yards to the Middletown South 42 to seal Freehold's first state sectional title.
"Before that, I thought what better time to make a play than now," Bivins said. "Penalties hurt us in this game, but each drive we just came out harder and harder and we were able to persevere."
"Damar came up real big, he played great D all year and this was his time to shine," Tyson said. "Damar just came up so big right there. First title in school history, this is huge for us."
The Eagles (10-2) had outscored their last three sectional final opponents at Rutgers Stadium by a combined 74-0. Tyson and Plescia ended that streak within the first three plays of the game. On the game's opening play, with the Middletown South defense overplaying big-play threat Brandon Brown, Tyson hit a wide open Plescia along the right sideline for 45 yards down to the Eagles 4. Two plays later, Tyson dove in for the touchdown from 2 yards out. A Plescia extra point made the score 7-0.
Tyson finished finished 9-for-15 for 140 yards to go along with 60 rushing yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns.
With five state sectional championships to its credit since 2001 and nine overall, Middletown South has become as close to a sure thing as you can get when it advances to the first weekend of December. Freehold, with zero sectional titles and just one sectional final appearance to its credit back in 1985, wasn't buying into any of that on Saturday.
"We wanted to throw a haymaker real quick and we were able to accomplish that and maybe catch them off guard a bit," Tyson said.
After the teams traded short drives that did not yield any scoring, Tyson led his team on a 10-play, 58-yard drive that culminated in his second touchdown of the day, this time from 1 yard out to make it 14-0. Two plays earlier, with the ball at South's 20, senior running back Frank Nicosia ran 17 yards down to the 3 to set up first-and-goal to keep the drive going.
A Tezzy Thorpe 1-yard touchdown run with 2:46 to go in the first half capped Freehold's scoring and made it 21-0, but the Eagles were not going away without a fight.
Mullan connected with sophomore wide receiver Andrew Suarez for a 49-yard touchdown pass with 1:12 to go in the half, making it 21-7 at halftime.
A well played third quarter defensively by both teams gave way to Mullan finding Sean Campbell over the middle for an 11-yard score to cut the deficit to one possession.
South's only drive of the fourth quarter other than the game-ending one saw it have first-and-goal and the Freehold 6, but they could not capitalize. Junior strong safety Martin Corso dropped running Chris Bunge for a 12-yard loss and after Mullan found Campbell for 11 to get back to the 6, Mullan's pass to Suarez was overthrown in the end zone on fourth down to end the threat.
"They're a good football team and the quarterback (Tyson) was the difference in this game today in my opinion," Middletown South head coach Steve Antonucci said. "You can't the put the ball on the ground and you can't make too many mistakes and expect to win the game. They didn't make as many mistakes as we did."