| On the Right Foot - Manasquan 13, Point Boro 10 | ||||
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POINT PLEASANT --Manasquan had not won its season opener since 2006, had not scored a touchdown against Point Boro's defense since the same year, and over the past few seasons had developed a trend of starting slow offensively. Those tendencies looked even more ominous when it was revealed that star running back Lorenzo Venable would be out of Friday night's opener at Point Boro because of injury.
Manasquan, however, has never been a program defined by one player. It is quite the opposite actually, so it should come as no surprise that the Warriors came together and found a way to outlast the Panthers, 13-10, in a Shore Conference National Division game on Friday night at Al Saner Field. Senior quarterback C.J. Davis threw a 71-yard touchdown to Ryland McTighe and kicked two field goals, the last of which gave the Warriors (1-0, 1-0) the lead with 2:28 to play. Manasquan's defense did the rest, allowing just 238 yards of offense and intercepting three passes to help the Warriors get off to the start they were looking for.
"It's a great win, you know," Davis said. "We had a lot of injured players, a lot of sick players during the week. I myself had the flu. Practice was kind of slow but the seniors got everyone together."
"We had some guys playing, not out of position, but filling in," said Warriors head coach Pete Cahill. "When we went through our positions we felt we were pretty deep at running back and thank God we did because our starting tandem basically was out. But we didn't change our game plan. We ran the plays we always run."
"Power, toss - we run the ball and we run it with whoever is in the backfield," Davis said.
Manasquan finished with 239 yards of total offense led by Davis going 12-of-17 for 162 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. After starting off slow, he completed 10 passes in a row during the second and third quarters including the 71-yard touchdown to McTighe early in the third.
Point Boro senior Zach Hayden ran for 57 yards and sophomore John Dunbar ran for 56 yards to lead the Panthers on the ground. Dunbar also threw for 63 yards after replacing fellow sophomore Steven Krohn in the second quarter. A lingering injury to Krohn's throwing arm was taking some zip off his passes, according to head coach Calvin Thompson, and so he was replaced by Dunbar. Junior receiver Ryan Malleck had three catches for 51 yards.
With 7:16 left in the game and the score tied at 10, Manasquan started its final drive from the Point Boro 37. On second down, Davis hit Ogden on a screen pass in the left flat and the junior raced 15 yards for a first down. A 15-yard facemask penalty was tacked on to give the Warriors the ball at the Panthers' 34-yard line. A five-yard run by Davis was followed by a four-yard run by Ogden, but a holding penalty pushed Manasquan back 10 yards and brought up a second-and-11. That's when Stovall took over with six straight carries to move the ball down to the 1-yard line. The Warriors had a first-and-goal from the five, but were forced to settle for the field goal with Davis, who was no stranger to that situation.
"Last year it was the same situation, we won 3-0 and I had to make that kick," Davis said. "It was basically like kicking an extra point, but I knew I had to make it and I'm glad I did because we needed this."
Davis split the uprights from 18 yards out to make it 13-10 with 2:28 to play. Point Boro started from its own 28 and ran the ball on two straight downs to bring up a third-and-six from the 32. Dunbar dropped back to pass but was flushed out of the pocket and taken down after a gain of only three yards. With the clock still running, Dunbar went over the middle on fourth down to freshman Kyle McGarry, who made a juggling catch for a first down. With 49 seconds left, Dunbar dropped back to pass and was being chased as he rolled right. He was outside the tackle box and threw the ball out of bounds toward the line of scrimmage, but was flagged for a very questionable intentional grounding call. Receivers were also in the area.
"He (the official) told me I didn't have any receivers in the area," Thompson said. "The formation we ran had four receivers to the right, so how is that possible?"
The penalty was a spot foul and delivered a crushing 22-yard loss to the Panthers and made it second-and-32. After an incompletion, Dunbar was picked off by senior Chris Ariante, who returned it 38 yards to clinch the victory for the Warriors.
"Beating Point is always a big thing," Davis said. "And it's a big confidence boost knowing we didn't have everybody and we were able to get the rust off and get a win. We're hoping to keep getting better every week."
The Panthers (0-2, 0-1) took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on a 28-yard field goal by Malleck. It was a short drive that started at the Manasquan 22 after a bad snap on a punt forced Davis to run with the ball. Each team wasn't finding much success with the ground game and Manasquan was able create a turnover when McTighe made the first of his two interceptions when he came away with a ball that was deflected by Malleck on a ball thrown behind him. The Warriors went three-and-out after that, but after McTighe made his second interception late in the second quarter, the Warriors were able to capitalize by putting points on the board.
Point Boro had just recovered a fumble at the Manasquan 26 and had the ball first-and-goal from the nine after Dunbar connected with Malleck for 16 yards. A holding penalty on first down, however, pushed the Panthers back to the 21 and two players later McTighe jumped a drag route and picked off Dunbar's pass at the 18.
Manasquan then embarked on an 11-play, 62-yard drive that culminated in a 30-yard field goal by Davis to tie the score at 10. Davis was 4-for-4 for 44 yards on the drive as the Warriors moved into a first-and-goal at the eight. After three straight runs it was fourth-and-goal at the one and Manasquan decided to go for it. Ogden ran right for the touchdown, but it was called back on a holding penalty, which was Manasquan's first penalty of the game. Davis then came out and drilled the field goal for a 3-3 tie at halftime.
Manasquan got the ball to start the second half and didn't waste any time in scoring its first touchdown in three games against Point Boro. Davis came out firing with a 15-yard pass to senior Neal Sterling and a quick dump-off to McTighe before connecting again with McTighe on second-and-six for a 71-yard touchdown and a 10-3 lead. McTighe ran a skinny post and split two defenders after he caught the ball, racing untouched to the end zone.
"At halftime (coach Lou) Certo said to widen out my stance and that play was going to be open," McTighe said. "The corner bit, the safety bit and C.J. threw a perfect pass."
"It was a play that had been working a lot in practice and when I saw the safety drop back and the rover shoot out, it gave me a nice lane to throw and I just hit him and he did the rest," Davis said. "It was such a relief and a lot of pressure off myself. As a first-year (starting) quarterback I just wanted to make a play."
"Right before the half we were a little disappointed we didn't punch it in," Cahill said. "So that was a game-changing play."
Point Boro responded nicely though with a vintage option attack that drove 70 yards in 13 plays to tie the score at 10 on a six-yard run by Dunbar. The Panthers ran the ball on 12 of the 13 plays with Dunbar carrying eight times for 42 yards and Hayden toting the ball four times for 18 yards. Dunbar also had a key 15-yard completion on third-and-eight to Mike Mazza that gave the Panthers a first-and-goal from the eight. On a third-and-goal from the six, Dunbar ran up the middle for the touchdown.
"That drive, 13 plays, that shows the kids grasp what we're doing even though they're young," Thompson said.
Manasquan's defense made the necessary adjustments afterwards and forced the Panthers to go three-and-out on their next two drives to set up the Warriors' game-winning drive.
A 1-0 start is certainly a great launch point for a Manasquan team trying to bring state title No. 12 home. The Warriors schedule is littered with potential landmines, one of which was Point Boro, so a win on the road against a division rival while playing at less than 100 percent has to be a confidence builder.
"The kids showed some heart and character," Cahill said. "It was nice to get a win on opening day and we're happy with the outcome. We'll find out how good we played (when we watch the film) tomorrow."
Point Boro, meanwhile, knows it needs to limit its mistakes to beat any team, let alone top flight teams like Long Branch and Manasquan.
"If you look at our losses and turnovers there's a direct correlation," Thompson said. "Three turnovers and eight penalties, you can't do that against the good teams because they are going to make you pay for it. We had plenty of opportunities to win the game but we made too many mistakes."
Box Score
Manasquan 13, Point Boro 10
. M P
First downs 11 12
Rushes-yards 29-99 35-118
Passing 12-17-0 9-18-3
Passing yards 162 132
Fumbles 2-1 1-0
Penalties 3-27 8-82
Manasquan (1-0, 1-0) 0 3 7 3 - 13
Point Boro (0-2, 0-1) 3 0 7 0 - 10
Scoring Summary
PB - Ryan Malleck 28-yard field goal.
M - C.J. Davis 30-yard field goal.
M - C.J. Davis 71-yard pass to Ryland McTighe (Davis kick).
PB - John Dunbar six-yard run (Malleck kick)
M - C.J. Davis 18-yard field goal.
Individual statistics
Rushing - M: James Stovall 10-48, Zack Ogden 14-45, C.J. Davis 4-7, Ryland McTighe 1-(-1); PB: Zach Hayden 13-57, John Dunbar 15-56, Steven Krohn 5-8, Austin Smith 2-(-3).
Passing - M: C.J. Davis 12-17-0 162; PB: John Dunbar 5-9-2 63, Steven Krohn 4-9-1 59.
Receiving - M: Rylan McTighe 3-78, Neal Sterling 5-39, Brendan Brock 1-16, Zack Ogden 1-15, James Stovall 2-14; PB: Ryan Malleck 3-51, Ross Kennel 2-36, Michael Mazza 2-27, Kyle McGarry 1-12, John Dunbar 1-6.
Interceptions - M: Ryland McTighe 2-0, Chris Ariante 1-38.
Senior Staff Writer Bob Badders can be reached at
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