Garbolino powers Team Rose to 37-15 win in Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl

In the end, it’s all about the kids. Frankie Garbolino and the dozens of players, cheerleaders and coaches involved in the Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl know this.

But in his final game before heading to college in upstate New York, the just-graduated North Brunswick senior made it count, and used both his feet and arm to power Team Rose to a 35-17 win over Team Marisa in Thursday night’s Middlesex County senior all-star game to benefit the Marisa Tufaro Foundation, the Lakeview School in Edison, and the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick. The game was heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Garbolino threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 84 yards and two more scores on the ground. He was named the game’s MVP by the attending media.

Frankie got things started on the first play from scrimmage with a 43-yard pass completion to his Raider teammate Alani Ajigbotosho. The pair bookended the drive with an eight-yard hookup to grab a 7-0 lead just 3:35 into the game.

After a safety – a sack of Team Marisa QB Matt Yascko of Edison in the end zone – put Rose up 9-0, Marisa got within two at 9-7 with a touchdown one-yard touchdown catch by Piscataway’s Jalen Thomas. They started the drive just a yard form the end zone after a high snap on a Team Marisa punt.

But that was as close as Team Rose would get. Garbolino ran for another score, and Ajigbotosho caught another, to put Rose up 23-7 at the half.

In the second half, Team Rose – led by North Brunswick head coach Mike Cipot – would continue to empty the playbook. After taking a one-yard run in the first half near the goal line, 6-5, 370-pound lineman Omar Rackley of East Brunswick took his third carry of the game in a short yardage situation for his first-ever touchdown – at least since the start of high school.

Then Garbolino ran in another TD for a 37-7 lead before Team Marisa scored in the waning seconds, with Yascko hitting Eagle teammate Jon Baio for a touchdown to make it 37-13, with Yascko completing a pass to another fellow Eagle – Michael Strachan – for the two-point conversion.

The Marisa Rose Bowl is now in its second year, the continuation of the Snapple Bowl, started by then-East Brunswick head coach Marcus Borden in 1994. In the nearly three decades since, the game has raised $736,000 for local charities, with the list of beneficiaries increasing with the involvement of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation.