My Friday night game versus No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas and No. 1 St. Joseph of Metuchen was dubbed “The Battle of Plainfield Avenue” as the distance between the only two parochial schools in the Big Central Conference is a mere 1.8 miles.
Both schools did not play each other the first year of the Falcon football program, which was 2011 under Bob Molarz, the school’s first gridiron coach. They would play however in 2012 and from 2014-16 under Casey Ransone, Molarz’s successor. For whatever reason they did not play again until last season’s tilt at St. Joseph, which was won by Aquinas 34-20.
This year’s game was Senior Night for the Trojans Football team, the Marching Band and Cheerleaders. The home team would win the toss and defer the choice to the second half.
Joe’s would get the ball in decent field position at their 35-yard line and move the ball, mixing the run and pass with fullback Mike Wellet, halfback Reggie Bropleh, quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo and tight end Edgar Cruz deep into Trojan territory before they were stopped on fourth down at the 25-yard line with 7:15 remaining in the first quarter.
Aquinas would take over and run Ian Roberts on two consecutive power plays to the left for little or no gain. Quarterback Zymere Weaver would then find Anwar Witherspoon over the middle for a first down around the 40-yard line.
The Trojans would try Roberts again on a quick toss to the right but he was swallowed up immediately by the Falcons fast-flowing defense. On 2nd down Roberts took the handoff left for no gain. Weaver would then be sacked by Sebastian Assuncao on a safety blitz. Aquinas would punt at 2:35 in the first quarter with neither team scoring on their initial drive.
St. Joseph would waste little time on their second possession as Scaramuzzo would reverse pivot faking the belly looking downfield as his tightend ran down the middle of the field, the wingback running a deep out while the halfback Kenny Noonan runs a shallow out towards the home sideline while getting a tremendous block from Reggie Bropleh who knock three Aquinas players to the ground while Noonan stayed in bounds sprinting for a 55-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 2:23 in the first quarter.
St. Thomas’ Anthony Perez looked to have a decent return which was nullified by a holding penalty. Aquinas would try to get the running game going by getting their workhorse Ian Roberts the ball. However the Falcons defensive interior front line of Jason Gross, Tom Kwiatkowski, and Brody Picariello were reeking havoc early and often on three successive run plays as the first quarter came to a close.
When play resumed St. Thomas made the decision to go for it on fourth and two with Weaver faking the inside run to Roberts while looking to throw a slant pass which was batted down by St. Joseph linebacker Dylan Pierce.
The Falcons would look to run the ball with Scaramuzzo, Bropleh and Wellet getting most of the work while getting the ball to the Aquinas 22-yard line. After an incomplete play action pass to the left for dragging tightend Edgar Cruz, Joes would run counter for 2 yards setting up a 3rd and 8 from the St. Thomas 20-yard line. This time Scaramuzzo in the shotgun would find Bropleh on a slant play for a 20-yard score and a 14-0 advantage with 8:55 before halftime.
The Trojans would start at their 30-yard line with Weaver in the shotgun looking to throw. After a miscommunication and deep throw down the field, the sophomore quarterback would hit Perez on a deep out towards the Aquinas bench. On third and four Weaver would roll right and takes off to the Trojan’s 40-yard line and the first down.
Aquinas would get to about midfield with Weaver hitting Jaylen Frias on a slant route setting the offense up on about the 25-yard line of St. Joseph. On the very next play, the sophomore signal caller hits Perez on another slant who cuts back outside after the grab setting up St. Thomas with 1st and goal from the four yard line.
Weaver would try to run it in from the four but would lose a few yards and call timeout at 3:04 in the second quarter down 14-0. When play resumes Weaver sends Perez in motion to his left and then finds Witherspoon for a 6-yard touchdown on hook pattern while closing the gap to 14-7 at the 2:59 mark of the second quarter.
The Falcons would get the ball around the 40-yard line after an injury timeout on the kick return. Scaramuzzo would go deep on a fly pattern over throwing Dwayne Hunt. He would then run a screen to Wellet down the Aquinas sideline and then keep it himself getting to midfield. The very next play he would scramble again but there was a holding penalty on the play.
After moving the ball back, the shifty Scaramuzzo would run again this time straight down the middle of the field sidestepping the defense to the Trojans 25-yard line. Joes would run a screen to Wellet for three yards followed by an other quarterback scramble for a few yards with a timeout with 1:04 on the clock before halftime. Another inside run would force Joes to call their last timeout with 4th down and 5.
The Falcons elected not to kick the field goal as Scaramuzzo in the shotgun looked downfield as his right tightend Tom Meyers slow blocked the defensive end and then released wide open in the flat while getting the ball to the one setting up Scaramuzzo’s 1-yard plunge in the end zone and a 21-7 lead with 29 seconds on the game clock.
Aquinas would make it interesting with three straight completions, the last to Witherspoon who made it to the Falcons 25-yard line as he was knocked out of bounds by Falcon Franco Reinoso as time expired.
The Trojans took the second half kickoff but had a holding penalty on the play forcing them to start on their ten yard line. Weaver would throw a quick stop route but there was a roughing the passer penalty on the play moving the ball to the 25-yard line.
Weaver would hit Witherspoon on a quick out to about the 37-yard line. The Trojans would have a false start penalty making it 3rd and 8. A quick flair pass to Jaylen Frias who would sidestep multiple defenders getting the ball down to the 9-yard line setting up Aquinas with first and goal.
After a quick pass for four yards, Weaver would hit Witherspoon who would barrel his way through two would-be-tacklers into the end zone for an apparent 5-yard touchdown but a holding penalty nullified the score.
On second and goal Weaver would be sacked at the 20-yard line. He would scramble out of bounds toward the home sideline losing yardage. Aquinas would be stopped on 4th down after an in complete pass at 8:11 in the 3rd quarter down 21-7.
St. Joseph’s offensive line would start to wear down the Aquinas defense running the ball on ten consecutive plays while dominating the line of scrimmage and the game clock. After an injury timeout, Scaramuzzo would find Edgar Cruz for a 16-yard waggle pass and a 28-7 lead over St. Thomas Aquinas with 3:54 remaining the 3rd quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff Anthony Perez would take the ball towards the middle of the field and then cutback sharply to his right down the Aquinas sideline for an 88-yard score. A failed two-point conversion made at 3:42 made the score 28-13.
A fired-up Aquinas defense would force the Falcons to punt on their next play sequence with the snap hitting a Falcon player which was scooped up quickly and fortunately not blocked but setting up St. Thomas around midfield.
The Trojans would throw an incomplete pass and then have a short run for no gain. On 3rd and long Weaver would find Tyler Montgomery who would move the ball down inside the St. Joseph 30-yard line as the third quarter would run out with the score 28-13.
When play resumed to start the final stanza, Weaver would be sacked at the Joes 35-yard line. On the very next play Weaver looked to throw the ball to Montgomery but it went off his finger tips into the hands of Witherspoon who was running a crossing route behind him for what was surely the most unlikely of scores I have seen over my 13 years covering games.
The Aquinas two-point conversion play would fail making the score 28-19 with 11:25 remaining in the game. Following the score, Trojan placekicker Brandon Falke would attempt a pooch kick which was recovered by a leaping Elijah Contaldi giving St. Joseph excellent field position.
Scaramuzzo would run left on back to back runs then hand off to Wellet going right for a 1st down to the St. Thomas 25-yard line with an injury timeout with 10:00 to go in the game. On the very next play Scaramuzzo would find a wide-open Reggie Bopleh down the visitor sideline for a 25-yard touchdown pass and a 35-19 lead with 9:25 left on the game clock.
The Falcons would squib kick forcing Trojan returner Perez to dive on the ball to get possession. After getting a first down, St. Joes would strip the ball from the Aquinas runner while recovering it at the 8:22 mark in the game.
After two runs and facing third and eleven from the Aquinas 41-yard line, Scaramuzzo would launch a bomb down the middle of the field to Bropleh for his third score of the night and a comfortable 41-19 margin following a missed PAT with 6:49 left in the contest.
St. Thomas Aquinas would make a valiant effort to get back in the game but the Falcons defensive line made it extremely difficult as they put constant pressure on Weaver and his offensive line. The athletic sophomore would scramble but lose the handle on the ball while being chased down by the defense. Jack Cummings would recover the ball with 4:15 remaining in the game.
St. Joseph would run out the clock on St. Thomas Aquinas while ending their 35-game win streak against conference opponents which was the longest in the state while improving to 7-0 on the season.
Here are my Week 7 Top Tens for the entire Big Central Conference, plus the BCC West, Middlesex County and Union County:
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BWR should be ranked ahead of Pway; tougher schedule and beat Pway head to head on the field. Hopefully they will be a rematch in the Sectional.