All good things must come to an end.
That’s the 35-game Big Central winning streak – the longest in the short history of the fledgling league – which came to a crashing thud for No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas Friday night, as No. 1 St. Joseph controlled their matchup in North Edison from start to finish for a convincing 41-19 win.
And with one end, comes a new beginning for the Falcons, who last week ascended to the top spot in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten with a 21-0 win over then-No. 1 Phillipsburg at home.
Maybe they’ll be the next one to put together such a streak. If they way they’ve been playing this year is any indication, that could be a distinct possibility.
Senior quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo opened the scoring with a touchdown pass to Kenny Noonan with 2:23 left in the opening quarter, then followed it up with a 20-yard strike to Reggie Bropleh at 8:55 of the second – following a fourth-down stop by the Falcons’ defense – to make it 14-0.
But the Trojans would cut it to a one-score game with 2:59 left before halftime with a Zymere Weaver six-yard touchdown pass to Anwar Witherspoon. A one-yard Scaramuzzo run with 29 ticks on the clock put Joe’s up 21-7 headed into the locker room.
In the third, after an Aquinas touchdown was called back on a penalty, they were stopped on fourth down and Joe’s answered with a 16-yard TD catch by Edgar Cruz with 3:54 left in the third.
But Aquinas would get the next two scores to stay in it. They got a kickoff return for a score by Anthony Perez, making it 28-13 after they missed a two-point try, then Weaver found Witherspoon again from 35-yards out to make it 28-19, again missing on a two-point try.
From there, the Falcons hunkered down, and pulled away.
Scaramuzzo hit Bropleh from 25-yards out to make it 35-19 with 9:29 left, the Falcons recovered a fumble on the next possession, and capitalized with the third Scaramuzzo-Bropleh connection of the game with 6:49 to go, making it 41-19.
St. Joseph (7-0) is back in action next Saturday against No. 2 Woodbridge (7-0), while the Trojans will visit No. 7 Sayreville (6-1).
Click below to watch postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden with St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Bill Tracy and seniors Reggie Bropleh and Justin Scaramuzzo, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: