I must say I goofed big-time on Friday night with the streams. I thought I was watching Toms River North host Kingsway. I tuned in and I was thinking Kingsway was going to beat them and was told it was last year’s game. I was posting scores on Twitter and I feel like a fool. The fact both games were at Toms RIver North and many players returned from last year did not help….Last week’s sectional final at Ramapo against Northern Highlands was one to remember. I missed last year’s sectional final because I was at Giants Stadium watching DePaul play Red Bank Catholic. All I know is last week’s game was a wild one and having the lights go out twice made it very surreal….If it was up to me, I would not allow kids to be offered any scholarships until after they completed their sophomore seasons. Offering kids who are 13, 14, or 15 puts unrealistic expectations on these players. They are offered because of their potential and how they are going to be when they are 20; meanwhile they are 15 with a lot to learn and people wonder how a kid with major offers can make the mistakes they see….I have never been a fan of instant replay in football. I am going with what we see in the NFL and the rule is to overturn egregiously blown calls. What we have is an infinite amount of time being taken in super-slow motion to determine things. The officials don’t get to call the play in super-slow motion, but they are determining things that way. I think there should be a 30-to-45-second time limit and if they can’t make a decision, the call stands. On with the game….Willingboro faces Rumson-Fair Haven this week at Cherokee and they have come back from a 1-5 start with a young team, including freshman quarterback Lamar Best. The Chimeras faced only one Group 2 opponent before the playoffs, playing Group 3 and 4 teams plus St. Joe’s (Hammonton) before the playoffs….The only North Jersey game that is not a rematch from either this year or last year’s playoffs is the Group 4 encounter between Northern Highlands and North Hunterdon….The South Jersey Group 5 final will feature top quarterbacks in Micah Ford of Toms River North and Matt Yascko of Edison. Ford ran for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns last week on 29 carries, while Yascko 172 on 19 carries….There were other top performances last weekend. In the passing game, North Hunterdon’s Luke Martini was 17-27-411-5, Caldwell’s Luke Kurzum was 12-13-191-1, Holy Spirit’s Sean Burns was 21-35-333-2, and Ramapo’s Jack Grusser was 16-24-4. Two freshman passers who impressed were the aforementioned Best, going 10-15-169-3 and DePaul’s Derek Zammit, going 8-13-183-3….There were top running games belonging to Delbarton’s Ryan Trafford rushing for 282 yards and 3 touchdowns on 28 carries, West Morris’ Stefano Montella with 256-2-30, Toms River North’s Josh Moore going 225-2-15, Woodbury’s Anthony Reagan gaining 172 yards on 16 carries, West Orange’s Adonis White running 157 on 12 carries, and Delsea’s Wayne Adair gaining 136 yards and 3 touchdowns on 10 carries….Some receiving outings came from Holy Spirit’s Gavin Roman with 14 receptions for 191 yards and the North Hunterdon duo of Derek Vaddis with 8 receptions and 2 touchdowns and 163 yards and DannyDeLusant with 5 and 3 touchdowns for 139 yards….….That’s all for this week! I will be back with more bull next week!!
- Most stats come from nj.com – some from Maxpreps