Elizabeth runs out the clock on a 35-28 season-opening home win over Linden on August 30, 2024. (Photo: Marcus Borden)
Elizabeth fumbled three times, but built up a big lead that they would need most of in order to hold on for a 35-28 victory over Linden – thanks, in part, to the heroics of Jamad Lyles’ interception in the final minute – in the opening game of the 2024 season for both teams.
The Tigers battled back, with sophomore quarterback Tyrone Hinton running for two second half touchdowns – he had three total – and throwing another, but the rally fell just short.
After a sloppy early going in which, on successive possessions, the Minutemen fumbled, Linden recovered with Hinton throwing an interception, then Elizabeth fumbling again, the Tigers led with 4:03 to go in the first period on Hinton’s one-yard run. A failed two-point try left it at 6-0.
But Elizabeth would get the next four scores, starting on the very next play, as Antoine Blount returned the ensuing kick for six, plus a two-point run by sophomore QB Arique Fleming to make it 8-6 Minutemen.
In the second quarter, Jamal Lyles added a four-yard run, and Fleming hit Kyshan Decartaret for another TD, giving Elizabeth a 21-6 lead at that half that they would extend to 28-6 by the end of the third on a Lyles’ three-yard run, plus the PAT.
But that’s when Linden started to make a run.
Hinton scored from one-yard out 2:55 into the fourth, and with the failed two-point try, the Tigers were down 16. Elizabeth scored again just over two minutes later, to give them an important insurance touchdown and a 35-12 lead on a three-yard scoring run by Fleming.
Linden was not done yet. They scored with 3:18 to go – despite a bad snap – as Hinton took it into the end zone from seven yards out, and after a fast Elizabeth fumble on the next possession, scored with 2:48 to go on a nine-yard pass from Hinton to Juwan Gass. With a two-point run, that made it 35-28.
And it got even more dramatic when Elizabeth was stopped on fourth down with 94 seconds to play, giving Linden the ball back. But the Minutemen were saved when Lyles picked off Hinton to seal the game.
The win was the first for the Minutemen over their Union County rivals since 2016, a 23-10 win. The Tigers won last year’s season-opening meeting at Kean, as well as the three prior matchups in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden with Elizabeth’s Jamad Lyles and head coach John Fiore, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
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