It may not have been pretty, and it certainly was low scoring, but the Dunellen football team will take it.

The Destroyers (1-4) got a lone first half touchdown and made it stand, in an 8-6 road victory at South River (0-5) in a Big Central Conference crossover game between two winless schools, one of who – Dunellen – no longer has that destination.

What turned out to be the decisive score came at the 8:45 mark of the second quarter, when sophomore quarterback Kayson Boyd hit junior wideout Jermal Goodridge for a touchdown pass, then Boyd – after an off-side by South River – ran it in from the one for a two-point conversion to make it 8-0 Destroyers.

That’s the way things stayed until late in the third quarter, when South River got a 48-yard touchdown run from Ethan Chamberlain to cut the deficit to 8-6. But the Rams failed on the two-point try, and Dunellen kept the lead.

South River would threaten again, moving the ball late in the third quarter, but sophomore defensive back Jowell Morales jumped the route in front of the intended receiver, Jordyn Ramos, and picked off the pass.

And in another general display of how the afternoon went, after that interception, Dunellen got a big run to get to the Ram 25 yard line, but fumbled, with Ramos recovering the ball. They failed to score, got the ball back on another fumble recovery by the Rams, but again, they were stopped, turning it over on downs with 5:14 to go.

At that point, Dunellen controlled the football and ate the clock, for an 8-6 road win, their first of the season, and the first for first-year head coach Kyle Baach. It also snapped the state’s longest active losing streak at 24 games, leaving that distinction now to Gloucester Catholic at 17, after a loss Saturday to Pitman.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden with Dunellen head coach Kyle Baach, junior WR/DB Jermal Goodridge, and sophomore quarterback Kayson Boyd, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: