Summit, Manville fall among 18 Big Central schools to fall in opening round of playoffs

In the opening round of the NJSIAA high school football playoffs, 18 of the 27 Big Central teams in action saw their seasons come to an end Friday night, Summit and Manville among them.

Read on for game recaps and postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden in Manville, and reporter Chris Tsakonas up in Morris County:

North 1, Group 4: (3) Morris Knolls 42, (6) Summit 21

Summit quarterback Matt McKeever completed 14 of 20 passes in the loss for 188 yards and picked up 92 yards and a touchdown on 17 rushes, while Gavin Schnall led the Hilltoppers in the passing game with five catches for 85 yards.

Summit received the opening kickoff and moved the ball efficiently, taking eight plays to go from their own 35 to the Morris Knolls 35 before failing to convert on fourth and one.

The Golden Eagles got the ball on downs and wasted no time capitalizing. On the second play from scrimmage, McDonald found space on the left side and ran 59 yards for an uncontested touchdown to open the scoring.

The Hilltoppers had another efficient drive, and this time it paid off. McKeever ran it in from six yards out to level it at 7-7 with 2:03 to go in the first quarter.

On the second play of the next drive, Morris Knolls did it again. McDonald found a lot of room to run on the left and took it the distance again, this time scoring on a 79-yard run to take a 14-7 lead with 6:40 left in the quarter.

Summit followed up on that by going three-and-out, and a short punt set the Golden Eagles up in dangerous field position at the Hilltoppers’ 28 yard line. Six plays later, McDonald punched in a one-yard run to give Morris Knolls a 21-7 lead with 10:18 left in the first half.

Summit responded with a methodical scoring drive, capped off by an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that culminated in a 13-yard Jackson Marx touchdown run with 4:37 to go in the second quarter. The Golden Eagles responded with another drive of their own, and Lucas Zurvansky scored on a five-yard touchdown run with 1:14 left in the half to go up 28-14.

After receiving the second half kickoff, Morris Knolls immediately worked the clock with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run from McDonald to grow the lead to 35-14 with 4:11 to play in the third quarter.

The Hilltoppers answered again on the next drive, which culminated in a 21-yard McKeever touchdown run that saw him break through several tackles to reach the goal line. At the end of the third quarter, it was a 35-21 game.

Morris Knolls got the ball with 35 seconds left in the third quarter, and they burned the next 10:11 of game clock on a 14-play, 76-yard drive that ended in a five-yard touchdown run from Zurvansky with 2:22 to play that clinched the game at 42-21.

For Morris Knolls, McDonald led the way with 11 carries for 171 yards and three touchdowns. Zurvansky also contributed with 24 carries for 141 yards and two touchdowns.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Chris Tsakonas with Summit head coach Kevin Kostibos, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

South Jersey, Group 1: (5) Shore 34, (4) Manville 7

The Blue Devils jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a four-yard touchdown run by Cole Torres, and he added four more before Manville could get on the board.

Torres scored three times in the second – from seven, eleven and 12 yards out – to build a 28-0 halftime lead, and he got a 42-yarder in the third to make it 34-0, before Jovani Maldonado got the Mustangs on the board, with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Ayden Hernandez.

Manville’s season ends at 6-4. Shore (4-5) will visit top-seed and unbeaten Schalick (10-0) in the sectional semifinals next Friday night.

Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden with Manville head coach Dave Markowitch, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: