Bears gear up for shot at state title
East Brunswick, Jackson to square off Sunday at RU Stadium
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

The East Brunswick Bears did not have a very good Thanksgiving, losing the “Battle of Route 18” to rival Old Bridge for the 10th straight time.

But the Bears did not have long to lament their 20-0 defeat to the Knights, as the next day they were preparing for this Sunday’s Central Jersey Group IV championship game at Rutgers Stadium against the undefeated Jackson Jaguars.

“We didn’t play our best game against Old Bridge,” head coach Marcus Borden admitted. “But all the credit goes to Old Bridge. They were well-prepared and ready for us. We did not play well, but they had a lot to do with that, and I think the field conditions also had something to do with it.”

Borden admitted that perhaps his team’s looming date with Jackson may also have affected its focus a bit, despite the emotion that is always associated with the Thanksgiving Day rivalry.

“That’s no excuse, but it certainly makes it a bit more difficult,” he said. “But it really was a matter of Old Bridge playing extremely well.”

The Knights’ defense was up to the challenge of slowing down the Bear offense, holding quarterback Matt Mariano and company to just 68 total yards of offense in pitching the shutout. Meanwhile, the Old Bridge offense was in high gear, in the second half anyway, led by senior quarterback Matt Hornlein, who rushed for 154 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries.

After the two teams played to a 0-0 deadlock in the first half (when both teams combined for just 66 yards of offense), Old Bridge scored on its first three possessions of the second half, with Hornlein finding the end zone on runs of 46, 7 and 55 yards.

The Bears, who were playing their third game in 12 days, could never get its triple-option attack in gear, and played without Mariano, who is nursing a sore back, for much of the fourth quarter.

With the win, Old Bridge finished another strong season at 6-4, and improved its lead in the series to 10-1.

As for the Bears, they fell to 9-2 on the season but have a great opportunity to end their campaign on a high note this Sunday.

And Borden’s team knows it will need to play its best game of the year to knock off the 11-0 Jaguars, who blew out Sayreville, 38-7, in their state semifinal game.

“I’ve seen them in-person several times, and I realize that they are an outstanding football team,” Borden said. “The have tremendous team speed and are equally balanced offensively as both a running and a passing team.”

Defensively, the Bears will need to find a way to slow down Jackson tailback John Reggio, who rushed for 234 yards and three touchdowns against Sayreville, and has over 1,000 yards on the season.

“We have to concentrate on tackling Reggio, and I mean gang-tackling him,” Borden said. “He is a tremendous runner who never stops moving his feet, and can run with power and be elusive.”

But the Jaguars have another weapon in senior quarterback Bill Fenimore, whose ability to spread the ball around keeps defenses from focusing on any one receiving threat. Add to the mix a pair of talented wide receivers in Joe Arneth and Bobby Cole, and the Bears will have their hands full.

“We need to do a good job of covering in the secondary,” Borden said. “And we have to put pressure on the quarterback. If you give him time, he’ll pick you apart.”

Offensively, the Bears will stick with what has worked all year — their patented triple-option attack.

“That’s what got us where we are,” the coach said. “They’ve only seen one option team all year in Toms River East, and they do some things very similar to us and some things differently. We hope that them not seeing our kind of offense all that much will work to our advantage.”

As for Jackson, don’t expect the Jaguars to add any new wrinkles to their game plan

Nope, second-year Jaguars’ coach Mike Smith plans to stick closely to the strategies that have resulted in Jackson posting a perfect 11-0 mark so far.

“We’ll prepare the same way we do each week,” Smith said. “The team knows the importance of this game. Of course, we’ll gear our offensive and defensive schemes to best attack East Brunswick. It is going to be a great game. Both teams have worked very hard to get to this point in the season. We’re not going to deviate from what carried us to this point.”

“We feel we can move the ball both ways,” Smith added. “We’ve demonstrated that both our ground game and passing game are effective. Luckily, we’re able to adjust during the course of the game. We’ll see how things are playing out and adjust accordingly.”

Defensively, Jackson has done a good job of containing the opposition’s offense. A solid group of defensive linemen and linebackers have done a solid job of shutting down the run. On occasion, however, Jackson has looked susceptible against the pass.

“We’ve worked very hard on improving in the secondary,” Smith said. “It was an area that we had trouble with early in the season. We are extremely confident in shutting down the run. It has been a high point for us all season.”

And for his part, Smith is doing his best to convince his team that it is in for a battle this Sunday, despite the manner in which it handled Sayreville, a team that was ranked ahead of East Brunswick for much of the season.

“We’ll need to have solid efforts from both our running and passing games against East Brunswick,” Smith said. “They have a good defensive team. I feel confident that our team will put forth its best effort. We have worked hard all season and deserve a shot at winning a state title.”

Borden feels a similar sense of pride toward his team, and in particular quarterback Matt Mariano, who has emerged as the team’s leader on the field despite being relatively undersized for a quarterback.

“You can’t measure heart,” Borden said. “To run an option offense, you have to put a lot of stake in your quarterback, and his ability to lead the team will be the difference if you’re able to be successful. You need someone smart, heady and with tremendous athletic ability. That’s Matt. He makes it go. Everything starts with him.

“What I’m most pleased with is the kind of team player he’s become,” the coach added. “He has put the team first in front of all the personal stuff, and has been a tremendous leader, on and off the field.”

The pride the coach feels in his team is shared with the entire East Brunswick community, which has rallied around this team throughout the season.

“They’ve been great all year, but the last few weeks the school has gone football crazy,” Borden said. “And I understand why — we played an exciting game against Brick, and came back the next week to play an overtime game with Hillsborough that, from a fan’s standpoint, was a tremendous game. There is a great level of excitement surrounding this team.”

And regardless of the outcome on Sunday, Borden said his senior-laden team, which starts just four juniors and no sophomores, has already accomplished all that he could have hoped for this year.

“Every football coach goes into the season with one objective — get into the state playoffs, with the ultimate goal of competing for a state championship,” he said. “Then you break it all down and say ‘Maybe we’ll win this game,’ and so on. And as the season unfolds, things change before your eyes.

“These kids were successful at the freshman level and as underclassmen at the jayvee level,” he added. “You just hoped it would translate to the varsity level, and that’s exactly what has happened here.”

Now they have one more game to play, with the ultimate prize at stake.

They’ve overachieved all season, and head into Sunday’s game as the underdog. Don’t let the Old Bridge game fool you. This team is ready for its shot at a state championship.

Game time is 5 p.m.