There is one more week left until the playoffs and there are still spots and seeding to be decided….It is hard to see games being postponed or canceled for safety reasons. The Shore Conference had one in each of the last two weeks with Neptune being concerned about possible incidents in Long Branch and Asbury Park postponing a game last week….Quarterback Matt Sims of Brearley had a big night running the ball, rushing for 201 yards and five touchdowns on 20 carries against Middlesex….When it comes to playoff seedings, a part of me liked the old power point system when we could figure out power points ourselves. I know I would calculate who was where in what group or section. Now we are dependent on what the present system provides. There may be a way to calculate them, but I have not figured it out….While Toms River North beat Toms River East, 70-6, they did not run up the score. The score was 49-0 at the half and their second half touchdowns were a run by a reserve, a kick return, and a punt return. Factor in a running clock and I judge TRN as not guilty….I never knew why people go crazy to Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. I don’t care for the song and have never been a fan of his. The only two songs of his I like are Cherry Cherry and America….From Joe Hofmann’s Hot Takes on Morris Sussex Sports has a review in his week seven edition about how local sports coverage has gone downhill in many newspapers and how staff shortages and earlier deadlines have hurt high school football coverage. His week six Hot Takes cover top players in the Morris Sussex area….No, not again: Brick Memorial’s Connor Dietz followed up a big performance last week with an even bigger one: rushing for 385 yards and 7 touchdowns, while going 13-16-180 in their win against Central….Other encores from last week include Overbrook’s DeAngello Conquest completing 7 of 10 for 224 yards and 4 touchdowns and Maurice Williams of Orange going 13-23-226-4….A top dual performance was from Ramapo’s Landon DePrima, filling in for the injured Jack Grusser, completing 20 of 25 for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns, while running for 172 yards and one score….Another passing performance came from Edison’s Matt Yascko, Jr., who went 22-27-271-2….I have always said any team needs two wrestlers. One is North Hunterdon’s Alex Uryniak, who rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries….Other top rushing performances include DJ McClary of Snyder, going 25-301-4, Newton’s Brayden Nolan with 18-242-3, Gary Rowe of Cherry Hill West with 13-211-2, Jakir Thomas of Carteret going 11-204-2, and Colonia’s Jaeden Jones was the workhorse, rushing for 241 yards and 4 touchdowns on 36 carries….On the receiving end, Matthew D’Avino of Montgomery caught 9 passes for 211 yards and 3 touchdowns, Nate Burleson of Ramapo was 3-156-2, and Winston Yates of Paul VI caught 5 for 199 yards and a touchdown….Future watch: the Bergen Catholic-St. Joe’s (Montvale) featured good performances from sophomores, including two quarterbacks: Joey Gaston for SJR and Dominic Campanile for BC. Top receivers include Quincy Porter for Bergen and John Forster and Mekhi Rossignol for Joe’s….That’s all for this week! I will be back with more bull next week!!
- Most stats come from nj.com