Xavian Pena – Central Jersey Sports Radio

Thanks to three first-half touchdowns from Zaimer Wright – who finished with five in the game – sixth-seed Sayreville knocked off third-seed and unbeaten Montgomery on the road Friday night in an All-Big Central opening round North 2, Group 4 playoff game.

But just as in control as the Bombers looked, up 21-0 with 4:07 left in the second quarter, they were a bit lucky to be up two scores at the break.

Montgomery got on the board late – with just 28 seconds left before the half – on a 20-yard connection from Michael Schmelzer, Jr., to Trey McFadden.

The Bombers then fumbled the kickoff return – and after calling a timeout with 1.7 seconds to go, Schmelzer found Brady Post wide open at the goal line as time expired. But the officials ruled Schmelzer – who had taken off down field – was past the line of scrimmage when he heaved it up. The score was nullified, the half was over, and Sayreville could breathe a sigh of relief.

In the second half, Wright scored again with under five minutes to go in the third quarter, but Montgomery got it right back to make it 28-14.

And Wright capped it all off with 18.7 seconds to go in the third, on a 72-yard touchdown run.

The Bombers (8-2) move on to visit second-seed Mount Olive next Friday night; the Marauders beat seventh-seed Wayne Valley 28-21 Friday night. Montgomery took its first loss to fall to 8-1-1, going 0-1-1 in its last two games of the year.

Click below for postgame interviews by Marcus Borden presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Without runningback Zaimer Wright for a second straight week, No. 8 Sayreville diversified its offense, using nearly everyone it had available – and all of the field – in a 24-12 road win over Edison heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Then the defense held Edison in check – and came up with some especially big plays – to do its part.

That included a goal line stand in the first half, and – on a long, wacky drive in the second half where penalties moved the ball back and forth between the Sayreville 25 and 10 yard lines – Edison nearly had a fourth quarter score on fourth and goal at the 20.

Edison already had one touchdown called back on that possession. Quarterback Anthony Calantoni completed a pass to near the goal line, but it came up a foot or so short, and resulted in a turnover in downs.

That’s 12 to 16 points off the board that the Eagles desperately could have used.

Sayreville improved to 3-1 with the win, while Edison dropped to 1-3.

Click below for postgame reaction with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: