Vianney, Mid South football teams lose openers
BY DOUG McKENZIE Correspondent

CHRIS KELLY staff Holmdel High School's Josh Lindau (No. 20) tries to hang onto the ball during his team's 24-7 loss to Rumson-Fair Haven High School on Sept. 12. The Hornets will play Barnegat Friday at 7 p.m.

The Middletown South Eagles were looking forward to avenging a defeat to Freehold Borough a year ago. However, the Colonials were just as inspired to prove that last year's outcome was no fluke.

As it turned out, it was Freehold that was successful, leaving little doubt as to which team is better once again.

The Colonials beat the Eagles 22-7 on Saturday to re-establish themselves as the team to beat in the Federal Division. With senior running back Frank Nicosia doing most of the damage for Freehold, including two touchdowns in the game's final three minutes, Freehold was able to score more points than its stellar defensive unit would need.

The Colonial defense, which lost five of its front seven to graduation, set up both of Nicosia's late TDs with interceptions (just two of their five turnovers for the day), and allowed just 188 total yards of offense to an Eagles team that was expected to be one of the better offensive teams in the Shore once again.

Meanwhile, Freehold's offensive line, which lost all five starters from a year ago to graduation, got stronger as the game wore on, accumulating 186 yards rushing in the second half alone.

Early on, this was the hard-fought battle everyone expected, as Freehold opened the scoring with a 33-yard catch and run from Brandon Brown.

Middletown South responded with its only score of the game — a 37-yard scamper from quarterback Ryan Mullan with 1:36 to play in the first half.

With a Dan Kahan PAT, the Eagles had their only lead of the game.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Freehold senior QB Nick Tyson broke off a 31-yard run before hitting Brown with a 14-yard pass to set up a Gerry Plescia 29- yard field goal that ended the first half.

Once the second half began, it was all Freehold Borough, as the Colonials thoroughly dominated the Eagles on both sides of the ball.

It was not the start the Eagles were hoping for, as head coach Steve Antonucci's squad lost its first season opener since 2002.

Next up for South is a Friday night home game against a Freehold Township team that beat Marlboro, 12-0, in its opener. You can expect the Eagles to come out looking to re-establish themselves as a team to be reckoned with.

Game time is 7 p.m.

The Matawan Huskies got an openingday win on Saturday, but more importantly, they won bragging rights for the year over rival Keyport.

In what was the first meeting since 1997 between the two neighboring teams, the Huskies rode the legs of senior running back Nate King (13 carries for 139 yards) to post a 15-0 win against a Keyport team that was very much in this game most of the way.

After Matawan opened the scoring in the first half with a safety that came when Keyport snapped the ball through the end zone on a punt attempt, they padded that lead in the third quarter when Kyle Robinson raced 36 yards down the sideline for a touchdown with 2:30 left in the third quarter.

After a missed PAT, the score was 8-0. However, with just 3:13 to go in the fourth, King raced 36 yards before being pushed out at the one-yard line to set up a one-yard scoring plunge from QB Jared Allison. With a 15- 0 lead, and a smothering defense that was not about to allow the Red Raiders to entertain thoughts of a comeback, the Huskies had their season-opening win.

Keyport had its opportunities early on, turning the ball over on downs on the Matawan two-yard line on its first drive of the game, and later reaching the Matawan 11, before a John Short interception on third down ended that drive right before the half. Once the second half came around, the Matawan offensive line began to take over, allowing the Huskies to grind out the clock and control the game the rest of the way.

While Keyport has a week off to prepare for a Sept. 27 match-up against Point Pleasant Beach in Keyport, Matawan will look to make it 2-0 on Saturday when they travel to Red Bank Regional to take on a Bucs team that fell to St. John Vianney last weekend. Game time is 1 p.m.

Through one half of play on Friday night, the Red Bank Regional Bucs appeared poised to put an exclamation point on what was already an historic night. Hosting their first night game in the program's history, RBR clung to a 7-0 lead over St. John Vianney at the break before an energized hometown crowd.

SJV struggled to get anything going offensively, accumulating just 60 yards of total offense going into the break. However, once the second half began, the SJV offensive line took over, opening holes for the Lancers' dangerous duo of senior Chris Mayo and sophomore Charles Davis, allowing the visiting Lancers to come back and post an important 21-7 win on opening night.

With the Lancer O-line leading the way, Mayo ran for 103 of his 126 yards and a touchdown in the second half, while Davis added two touchdowns on 109 yards rushing. Meanwhile, the SJV defense held firm, clamping down on an RBR running game that allowed the home team to control the ball through much of the first half.

This was certainly a tale of two halves, but if the Lancers' running game continues to gel as it did in the second half against RBR, there will be very little flashiness to their game plans from here out. Next up for the Lancers is another early test as the revamped Raritan Rockets come to town on Friday night for a 7 p.m. start.

The Rockets knew they were taking on a program that didn't match up well with their personnel when they faced Mater Dei on Saturday.

However, while some teams might get complacent in such a position, this year's version of Raritan football appears to be focused on being the best it can be at all times.

The result was a 49-0 romp over the Seraphs, which saw Raritan revert to its championship form of a few years ago.

Junior running back Jesse Raymond led the charge with 152 yards and three touchdowns on just 13 carries, while senior QB Mark Stancati looked solid in tossing two TD passes to junior wideout Bennett Jackson. The first hook-up between the two came on the game's first play from scrimmage, when Stancati, after watching his team recover a failed Mater Dei onsides kick attempt at the Seraph 41, hit Jackson over the middle for a TD just 11 seconds into the game.

The rest of the way was more of the same, as Raritan overcame a steady drizzle to open its season with the impressive win it was looking for.

While Raritan will look to beat the Lancers, Mater Dei will take on defending CJ Group I champion Asbury Park on Saturday. The Blue Bishops beat Shore, 24-3, last weekend.

The Holmdel Hornets and Rumson- Fair Haven Bulldogs met on Friday night in a rematch of last year's Central Jersey Group II semifinal (won by RFH), only this time with very different teams.

Both Holmdel and RFH were ravaged by graduation following last year's stellar seasons, and it showed, as Friday's game didn't quite resemble the competitive, well-played game of last December. RFH, which returns more players than the Hornets, did prove to be the better team on this day as the Bulldogs cruised to a 24-7 win.

Junior Josh Brister was the story in the RFH victory, as the junior halfback torched the Hornet defense for 197 yards and three touchdowns on just 22 carries. Brister made his presence felt from the start, racing 25 yards for a TD on his very first carry, which came after RFH recovered a Holmdel fumble. His second TD came on the Bulldogs' next possession, when he carried the ball six times for 33 yards before plunging into the end zone from a yard out. Holmdel cut the lead in half on a 38-yard run from Mike Sasso, and appeared ready to make a game of it.

However, by the time Brister got his third score — a 48-yard tackle-breaking gallop with just over two minutes left in the half — Rumson was firmly in control of the game, with the more-experienced RFH defense proving it wasn't going to budge anymore against its inexperienced foes across the line of scrimmage. Tucker Smith padded the lead to 24-7 on the final play of the first half, before the two teams played the second half in a steady drizzle that made play difficult for both sides.

Holmdel will look to get that first win on Friday when they travel to Barnegat for a 7 p.m. start. Barnegat beat Point Beach, 36-6, in its opener over the weekend.