Rams preparing to conquer the Titans
Sayreville, Monroe fall in first-round action
BY RICHARD JEROME
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Sayreville's Michael Knight breaks free for a big return on a punt during the Bombers' loss to Brick Memorial on Friday in Sayreville.

The 7-3 South River High School football team hosts fourth-seeded Keansburg this weekend in the semifinal round of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I tournament, and for the 7-3 Rams it will be a challenge.

"They're a very, very tough team, a very interesting club," said Coach Rich Marchesi.

Of course, South River has already logged a season that, even in the context of the school's rich and storied gridiron tradition, is nothing to sneeze at. The Rams dispatched Manville, 35-14, in the tourney opener, although it was a little more difficult than the lopsided score suggests. The injury-depleted Manville closed the gap to 21-13 in the waning minutes of the third quarter before SRHS came on to close the deal.

The star of the game for the Rams was safety Eric Seawright, a junior who picked off four interceptions. He has a total of nine on the year, two short of the school record.

While generally pleased with the Rams' performance, the South River coach would like to see his squad display just a bit more consistency.

"The season has gone pretty much the way we thought it would so far," said Marchesi. "We've had good games and bad games - games where we looked like we could beat everybody, and then there were times when it seemed like we couldn't beat anybody."

Certainly there are no complaints about the offensive sparkplug for SRHS, the 5-10, 185-pound junior tailback Jarvis Crandall, who leads Middlesex County in both rushing yards, with 1,348 and touchdowns, with 16.

"He's really had a fine year," said Marchesi. "He's come into his own and he works extremely hard. And we're lucky enough to have him back next year."

Of course, the quarterback, Markeith Dobbins, has also been a tremendous force in the team's 50-50 run-and-pass offense. Overall, Dobbins has passed for 1,008 yards this fall, good for 10 touchdowns, one of them a 15-yard toss to Kwasi Bell for the first Ram score against Manville, capping a six-play, 45-yard drive.

"He's a huge part of our attack," Marchesi points out.

Also starring on the receiving end, Brandon Hodges has had an excellent campaign, hauling in 31 passes for 406 yards and five TDs.

"He's been one of the leaders of the team from day one," said his admiring coach.

Bolstering the offense, and, as usual, getting little ink, is the burly offensive line of left tackle Lee Beirnacki, left guard Dan Litz, center Justin Hortelao, right guard Dan Fodor and right tackle Dan Kaminsky. Most of that group does double-duty on defense, par for the course in a Group I school.

"On defense, our middle linebacker, Matt Dezarlo, has had an outstanding year for a junior," said Marchesi.

Another key contributor is safety Tyler Christiana, who has complemented Seawright, the interception machine.

Looking ahead to Keansburg, Marchesi knows that offense alone won't do the trick and get his squad into the finals.

"They're one of the better passing teams we've faced," he said, "and we'll definitely have to contain their quarterback, Anthony Vail, who not only throws the ball well but also has about 600 rushing yards."

Bombers no match for Mustangs

Brick Memorial may be the eighth seed in the Central Jersey Group IV bracket, but they sure didn't play like it on Friday night in Sayreville.

The Mustangs dominated both sides of the ball in knocking off top-seeded Sayreville, 35-9, in their first-round match-up.

Sayreville was unable to do much of anything against the Brick Memorial defense throughout the game, mustering just 18 total yards of offense on the night, while defensively, the Bombers had no answer for tailback Vin Falkiewicz, who finished with 248 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 37 carries.

Sayreville actually had the lead for much of the first half, thanks to the efforts of Michael Knight. Knight returned a punt in the first quarter 75 yards to the Brick Memorial 8-yard line, setting up a Mark Marges nine-yard rushing touchdown. After the two-point conversion attempt failed, the Mustangs took the lead on Falkiewicz's first TD of the night from eight yards out.

Knight then burned the Memorial kick-off team again, racing 72 yards to the Mustangs' 23, setting up a Bobby Woods 42-yard field goal, and a 9-7 Sayreville lead.

But it was all Brick Memorial from there, as they reeled off 28 straight points to end the Bombers' season in dominating fashion. With the win, Brick Memorial moved on to this weekend's second round, where they'll take on Howell.

As for the Bombers, they ended the year at 8-2.

The Monroe Falcons saw their dream season come to an end on Saturday, but not before putting up the good fight against a strong Hamilton West squad in the CJ Group III first round.

Monroe eventually lost the contest, 42-13, to the Hornets, but certainly proved they belonged in the postseason for the first time in school history.

The Falcons fell behind 14-0 early on, and it looked like the Hornets were about to cruise. But Monroe fought back, getting within 14-13 on a Mark Gulick nine-yard scoring run near the end of the first quarter, and a 23-yard scoring strike on fourth-and-13 from quarterback Ryan Cushman to David Gregor with time winding down in the second quarter.

With momentum seemingly turning in Monroe's favor, the Hornets took it right back, launching an 80-yard scoring drive, to push the lead to 21-13, and they never looked back.

For Monroe, it marked the end of the finest season in school history - an 8-2 campaign that included a division title and the team's first-ever playoff game.

They walked off the field on Saturday with nothing left to prove.