A strong regular season finish into the playoffs continued Friday night at Brooks Field in Somerville, where the seventh-ranked Pioneers won a bit of a see-saw battle – at least in terms of momentum – with visiting Plainfield, 40-28, in the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
The ‘Ville got a 288-yard rushing game from senior Aidan Vesuvio-Bush, who finished with three rushing touchdowns, and also added four catches for 76 yards.
The rest of the night went much better than his first touch, when Vesuvio-Bush fumbled on the first play from scrimmage trying to extend a long run. But Plainfield went three-and-out, and the Pioneers got the ball after a punt further up field than they had it on the prior possession.
Then the scoring began, as the teams totaled fifty first-half points.
The Pioneers got a 17-yard touchdown catch from Justin Bowen, but had the extra point blocked. Then Tylor Hunter caught a 17-yarder of his own, with a two-point conversion making it 8-6 Cardinals with 3:39 to go in the quarter. And Vesuvio-Bush answered on the next possession to make it 14-8, including a two-point conversion, with 40 seconds to go in the first.
On the ensuing kickoff, freshman Connor Kossowitz blooped one that was recovered about 20 yards downfield – in between two Plainfield players – by Shyheim Hobbs-Harris, setting up a drive that would end in a two-yard touchdown run by Bowen, making it 22-8 with another successful two-point try.
But Plainfield would get two of the next three scores, answering with a Kion Jones nine-yard TD catch, with Somerville busting off a 77-yard TD run out of a nothing play to keep it a two-score game 28-15. But the Cardinals got it right back with 61 seconds left in the half, on another nothing play run that turned out to be a 35-yard score on the ground by QB Devin Thomas. That left it 28-22 at the half.
After the break, Somerville slowed down its up-tempo, no-huddle offense, and that limited the possessions. They got a 34-yard touchdown catch by Justin Bowen – and a failed two-point run – to make it 34-22 with 9:22 to go in the quarter. Plainfield got it back – on a 16-yard strike from QB Devin Thomas to Tylor Hunter with 29 seconds left in the third, but they missed the extra point try with a bad snap, leaving it 34-28.
That’s when Somerville really ate the clock. They put together a 13-play, 5:16 long drive that only had to go 60-yards, with a steady diet of Vesuvio-Bush, who capped things with a one-yard touchdown run.
Somerville is now 7-1, winners of 5 straight heading into their regular season finale at Watchung Hills (3-5) next Friday night. Plainfield (3-5) will be at Linden, which was 2-5 heading into this weekend.
Click below to hear Justin Sontupe with postgame reaction from Somerville RB Aidan-Vesuvio Bush and head coach Matt Bloom, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
