No. 2 Ranked Manalapan Pushes Win Streak Over Middletown South To Five Games

Photo above: ”Friday Night Lights” in Manalapan

By Mike Ready

The Manalapan Braves continued their mastery over Middletown South and the Shore Conference with a 21-3 victory over the Eagles in front of a raucous home-team crowd Friday night in Manalapan.

The win was the second-ranked Braves (6-0, 4-0) fifth straight over the Eagles (4-2, 3-1) and 30th in row versus Shore Conference competition. It also sets up the game of the year in a showdown pitting the top two teams in the Shore Conference next Friday at Red Bank Catholic.

The Caseys (6-0, 5-0) – ranked No.1 in the Shore Conference - won their 38th straight game against Shore teams Friday night shutting our Red Bank Regional 53-0 at Count Basie Field.

“They’re No.1 and we’re No.2 and it’s been that way for a while,” senior defensive end Kyle Mullen said. “We’ve never been able to prove whose No.1 on the field, now we get the chance to see who the best is.”

Mullen made sure they’d get their chance checking in with a dominating performance Friday night putting constant pressure on Eagle quarterback Matt Mosquera and spending most of his night in the South backfield. He had a game high 13 tackles including 1 ½ sacks, five quarterback pressures and a forced fumble that senior linebacker Simon Bublis scooped up and returned 65 yards to set up senior running back Imamu Mayfield’s second touchdown of the night.

Mullen, senior outside linebacker Joe Mendez (1 ½ sacks) and senior defensive end Ben Sieczkowski led a defensive surge that was constantly in Mosquera’s face and had him running for his life most the night.

“We knew we were the more physical team and we definitely came into this game with a chip on our shoulder,” Mendez said. “Everyone was talking about their four shutouts and the points we gave up to Middletown North. We had something to prove and we just wanted to show who had the better defense.”

“Those three guys have been great all season long,” Manalapan head coach Ed Gurrieti said. “Nobody can block them and nobody blocked them tonight, they were in the backfield all night chasing that quarterback around.”

Senior outside linebacker Simon Bublis, senior middle linebacker Carlos Teixeira and senior strong safety Marc Goldstein all stood out on defense as well for the Braves.

The night started ominously for the Eagles when the opening kickoff bounced off the chest of Middletown South returner Cole Rogers and out of bounds at the six-yard line. A personal foul penalty and a fumbled snap by Mosquera forced a three-and-out and a punt from their own end zone.

On the punt, Braves All-Shore returner John Cheung called for a fair catch but the Eagles Rob Hulse ran into him resulting in a 15-yard personal foul and a first-and-10 from the Middletown South 15-yard line.

Mayfield then carried four straight times for 15 yards, scoring on a one-yard plunge up the middle for a 7-0 lead with only three minutes gone in the game. On the night he carried a game-high 35 times for 136 yards, leaving him 75 yards short of a 1000-yards rushing on the season.

After the teams exchanged three-and-outs the Eagles fortunes took another turn for the worse just when it looked like they would get back in the game.

Following a Manalapan punt South took over at the Braves 47-yard line and drove to the Braves 11-yard line, aided by a 26 yard run by Rogers, who finished with 129-yards rushing. Then, on second-and-eight, Mullen hit Rogers behind the line of scrimmage causing him to fumble and that’s when Bublis took it all the way to the Eagle 20-yard line before South sophomore linebacker Kevin Higgins ran him down.

A 12-yard pass from Braves quarterback Dan Anerella to senior wideout Tyson Plummer set up a first-and-goal from the eight and on second down Mayfield ran it in from eight-yards out for his second touchdown of the night and a 14-0 lead at 3:30 of the first quarter.

Next the two teams traded punts on three consecutive possessions, with neither team able to muster much offense. The Eagles then took over at the Braves 42-yard line after a Mike Caggiano punt with 3:53 remaining in the half and desperately needing to put some points on the board.

The Eagles finally got something going behind the running of Rogers and drove for a first down at the Braves 18-yard line before a one-yard run by sophomore James McCarthy and two incomplete passes forced a fourth-and-9 from the 17. Eagle head coach Steve Antonucci elected to go for a field goal and Mosquera nailed it from 34-yards out, putting the Eagles on the board before halftime, 14-3, and handing then a touch of momentum.

Manalapan had deferred the opening kickoff so they received the ball to begin the second half and promptly took over the game squashing any momentum the Eagles had gained.

The Braves offensive line now began dominating the line of scrimmage and helped to shorten the game with two long second-half drives.

On the Braves initial drive of the second half they marched 67 yards in 11 plays, taking almost six minutes off the clock before Mayfield scored his third touchdown of the game on a bizarre 18-yards run in which he appeared to be down but somehow managed to kept his balance and run untouched into the end zone around right end – leaving Eagle defenders scratching their heads.

“I felt like I was sprawling like in wrestling,“ Mayfield said. “I kept my arm down for balance and just kept running.”

“The whole offensive line did a great job,” Gurrieri said. “They played great as a unit; the whole is greater than the individual parts. They came out and took over the game in the second half.”

Caggiano booted his third extra point of the game for a 21-3 Manalapan lead. Earlier in the game Caggiano broke the Shore Conference career scoring record for kickers with his 213th career point surpassing former Middletown South standout Connor Ryan. He also had a tremendous night punting, pinning the Eagles on the four-yard line in third quarter on one of his punts.

The two teams again traded possessions before the Eagles last gasp ended on a 13 play, 59-yard drive that came up empty when a fourth-and-18 desperation pass from the Braves 37-yard line fell incomplete with 9:22 remaining in the game.

Manalapan then ran almost six minutes off the clock, essentially ending the game.

With the Middletown South game behind them, Manalapan can now begin focusing on one of the most highly anticipated matchups in recent Shore Conference history.

“I haven’t had much of a chance to see them (RBC),” Gurrieri said. “But we’ll get our eyes on them tomorrow watching film and begin putting our game play together. That’s a very good football team that is very well coached. We love to play in big games and were excited to play the No.1 team in the Shore.”

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