Dunellen offense in high gear in rout of Metuchen

METUCHEN – The Dunellen High School football team proved once again that its run game was no fluke.

The Destroyers were more physical, more dominant and more aggressive than Metuchen's defense in Saturday's 46-22 win at Metuchen.

The Destroyers have now put up 96 points in their last two games, led by senior running back Nassan Anderson. Anderson coming off a 100-yard performance last week, exploded for 227 rushing yards in the first half and added an 11-yard catch.

"We went out there and executed," Anderson stated. "We had a good game plan made by our coaches and the line up front, they won the game for us. We were running through tunnels out there."

The tunnels were all lanes open for the whole team which rushed for 372 yards and five touchdowns in the first half. Dunellen held a 413-117 total yards advantage in the first two quarters.

The Destroyers started the game scoring touchdowns on six of their first seven drives, with two touchdowns apiece by Anderson and senior running back Robert Young.

Senior quarterback David Johnson added another rushing touchdown and a 30-yard touchdown strike to senior Danny Russamanno to extend Dunellen's lead to 36-8.

"We got that first game out of the way but now we have the ball rolling and we don't plan on stopping it," Johnson stated.

The Destroyers; offense struggled in a season-opening loss but have rushed for over 700 yards in the last two weeks. Saturday they averaged 17.7 yards per carry in the first half.

"They weren't stopping it (running the ball), we were getting eight yards a pop," Dunellen coach Dave DeNapoli said. "Sometimes we hurt ourselves but that's a good football team (Metuchen). Right now we're finishing drives and not turning the ball over."

Metuchen's lone score in the first half came on a 12-yard passing touchdown from quarterback Jake Lebovits to junior Evan Collier. They headed to the half with a demoralizing 46-8 deficit.

Many of the starters were pulled from both teams towards the end of the third quarter. One of the only bright sides for Metuchen was the play of backup quarterback Tyler Valovcin, who went 2 of 4 for 48 yards and set up a Joe Cammarano rushing touchdown.

In garbage time he also turned the corner on a keeper and took a 55-yard rush to the end zone, showing excellent speed and acceleration.

Metuchen's Danny Briggs, who rushed for 100 yards last week, only managed 10 yards on six carries.

Dunellen looks to ride the momentum and extend their winning streak into next week when it hosts Shore Regional while Metuchen will have the weekend off.

DUNELLEN (2-1) …16 30 0 0 — 46

METUCHEN (2-1)… 0 8 8 6 — 22

SCORING SUMMARY:

D – Johnson 59 yd run (Johnson run)

D – Anderson 47 yd run (Johnson run)

M – Collier 12 yd catch (Young run)

D – Young 1 yd run (Johnson run)

D – Anderson 13 yd run (Run failed)

D – Russamanno 30 yd catch (Anderson run)

D – Young 3 yd run (Anderson run)

M – Cammarano 1 yd run (Hall run)

M –Valovcin 55 yd run (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – D: Anderson 9-227, Johnson 6-99, Young 5-41, McCann 4 -32, Appleton 5-21, Seelee 2-7, Smith 1-4 M: Valovcin 2-53, Hall 5-42, Lebovits 5-11, Briggs 6-10, DiMeglio 3-7, Cammarano 1-1.

Receiving – D: Russamanno 1-30, Anderson 1-11 M: Collier 3-38, Seriux 1-37, Miller 1-11, Valovcin 1-10.

Passing – D: Johnson 2-2-1-41 M: Lebovits 4-15-1-48, Valovcin 2-5-0-48.