The Manville football team had only made the playoffs five times prior to this season, which has been a dominant one against Big Central competition any way you slice it.
Turns out, after coming up empty in all five previous appearances, the sixth time was the charm.
The fourth-seeded Mustangs got two touchdowns from Isaiah Bennett, two from Sam Echeverri – one on a run and one on a pass from Josh D’Ambrosio – and a run from D’Ambrosio himself en route to a 35-0 dismantling of fifth-seed Asbury Park Friday night in the Central Jersey Group 1 first round, to give Manville its first playoff win in program history.
In the Friday night “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, the Mustangs – who started on offense – needed just three plays to score, on a 61-yard TD catch by Echeverri. After a long Asbury Drive took six minutes off the clock and came up empty, the teams traded possessions before Manville went ten plays in just under five minutes, capped by a Bennett two-yard run to make it 14-0.
The rest of the scoring came in the second half, and the Blue Bishops only really threatened once, late in the third quarter, when they made it as far as the eight yard line. But they got driven back, and Matt Gorbatuk had a big sack to get out of danger and preserve the shutout.
The victory makes Manville 10-0 – setting a new program record for wins – and will send the Mustangs down to top-seed Burlington City for a 6 pm game next Friday. (No early dismissal will be needed, as there’s no school for the teachers’ convention.) The Blue Devils (8-1) were 49-0 winners at home over eight-seed Bound Brook, 49-0, Friday night. The Crusaders’ bounceback season ends at 5-5.
Click below for Mike Pavlichko with postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!
