South Plainfield grinds one out, hangs on to beat Carteret on windy night at “The Pit”

South Plainfield got 114 yards rushing and a touchdown on just nine carries by Jayden Jones, but it helped make the difference as the Tigers ran the ball almost exclusively in a 14-6 road win over Carteret Friday night in the Big Central Game of the Week presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The Tigers attempted just three passes in the game, all going incomplete, while Christian Brown ran it 17 times for 62 yards and a score.

When Jones broke free on the second play from scrimmage in the game to score a touchdown just 55-seconds in, it looked like a battle of two teams with solid ground games might turn into a foot race. But it was not to be, as that was the only score of the first half. Both squads could move the ball, but no one else seemed to be able to get into the end zone.

With 8:55 left in the third, South Plainfield (3-2) got a 13-yard run from Brown to make it 14-0. That was another short drive, too, taking just three plays to go 25 yards after Carteret had turned it over on downs following a failed fourth-down conversion attempt.

Truly, this game belonged to the defenses, both of whom played very well, though penalties and mistakes seemed to plague Carteret, who had at least three bad snaps that resulted in significant losses of yardage, three for 30 yards in the first half alone. Starting center Brandon Byron broke his leg on the second play of last week’s game loss to Scotch Plains-Fanwood, a repeat injury after doing the same against Hillside last year.

Carteret looked done for in the fourth quarter until the Ramblers (3-2) got on the board with 2:47 to play, on a 13-yard touchdown run by Al-Naiquan Boseman. An onside kick was expected, but a line drive kick went well over ten yards, pinning South Plainfield back inside its own five, but they were able to ice the game anyway.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart with South Plainfield head coach Bill Hamilton and senior running back Jayden Jones, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: