Bull Session Week Ten
November 2, 2023
It was a weekend where I saw the winners control the clock: Shabazz with 35 minutes of possession in their win over Cedar Grove and Morris Knolls with 34 minutes in their win over Linden…..Speaking of Morris Knolls, they have a fabulous facility in Denville. It is very scenic and located in a valley below the parking lot, a walk down to the field and up the hill after the game. There is a lot of property and there was some beautiful foliage last weekend…..While Clifton has the best band in North Jersey, the Shabazz band is also very good. They don’t appear to be a marching band the way Clifton is, but they entertain throughout the game with constant playing of the drums. I was on that sideline and it was very lively with the band right behind us…..Last week’s Giant-Jet game was one where both teams found at least five ways to give the game away. But somebody had to win, and it was the Jets…..Games that surprised me some in last week’s opening round of the playoffs were Glen Ridge beating Waldwick/Midland Park, Sparta beating Hillside, and Passaic Valley beating Vernon…..Some of the individual performances that caught my eye were – Passing: Victor Oquendo of Timber Creek completing 15 of 19 for 44 yards and 6 touchdowns, Lamar Best of Willingboro going 16-23-263-6, Connor Laverty of Bernards completing 13 of 14 for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns, Ayden Shansey of Burlington City going 8-11-258-3, Owen O’Toole of Rumson-Fair Haven completing 14 of 19 for 231 yards and 3 scores, Robbie Carcich of Westwood going 19-21-203-1, and Connor Dietz of Brick Memorial completing 14 of 18 for 202 yards and a touchdown; Rushing: Kyle Perry of Butler gaining 282 yards and 5 touchdowns on 20 carries, Zaimer Wright of Sayreville gaining 233 and 5 scores on 30 carries, Anthony Tudda of Newton going 12-218-3, Dan Russo of Delsea gaining 213 yards and 3 touchdowns on 20 carries, Giuliano Scavetta of Washington Township gaining 207 and 3 touchdowns on 16 carries, Chris Scully of Colts Neck going 187-4-18, Rashawn Marshall of Weequahic with 148-4-11 and Jake Croce of Point Pleasant Boro gaining 182 yards and 5 touchdowns on 8 carries; Receiving: Zach Garmont of Verona catching 17 for 217 yards and a score, Renick Dorilas of Union 5 receptions for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns, Nick Iannacone of Cedar Grove with 10-184-2, Brad Foster of Glen Ridge with 5 receptions for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns, Marcus Upton of Timber Creek with 3-156-2, Brayden Kelly of Watchung Hills with 12 receptions for 142 yards and a score, Lotzeir Brooks of Millville with 5-134-3, and Jack Morra of Bernards had 6 receptions for 134 yards and 3 touchdowns……One player who stood out in a consolation game I saw was Snyder’s DJ McClary. He gained 239 yards and 3 touchdowns on 18 carries. And he missed parts of the game with an injury…..Some may wonder why I have Toms River North ranked #1 in the Public Groups 3-4-5 poll with two losses. Those losses were to Donovan Catholic and Red Bank Catholic, two Catholic schools, and I generally do not penalize those teams for losing to a competitive Catholic school. And the Red Bank Catholic game went to overtime. Besides, how many of the public school teams would beat either of those Catholic schools?…..Millville is #2 with one loss because they lost a close game to Toms River North in the opener, 14-7…..When I initially did my rankings back to my days at NJ Varsity, I was reluctant, but I realized it was fun and still holds true today…..When younger people think of the Las Vegas Raiders, they don’t realize what a big deal they were when they were winning many games. They were known for having some crazy guys on the team. When they acquired the wild and crazy John Matuszak, then-head coach John Madden asked linebacker Ted Hendricks if Matuszak would be a bad influence? Hendricks replied “look around, one more’s not going to make a difference.” I use that line when a player transfers to a Catholic school and has one parent who is known to be crazy and how they could drive the coach crazy: “look around one more’s not going to make a difference!”…..That’s all for now. I will be back soon with some more bull!
Most stats come from nj.com – some from Maxpreps and Jersey Sports Zone