Piscataway football team capitalizes on mistakes

Long before the Piscataway High School football team established its relentless pass rush, Monroe made two costly first-quarter mistakes to spot the Chiefs an early lead and the Falcons were never able to recover in a 24-14 loss at Hugh Walsh Stadium on Friday night.

Monroe was outgained 302 to 112 in total yards from scrimmage, 60 of which came on Stephen Karoly's touchdown pass to David Matel-Okoh, who outleaped two defenders to help the Falcons close a 10-point deficit to 17-14 with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter.

Senior running back Elijah Pierson, who amassed a game-high 93 yards on 24 carries, produced the final margin, capping a 10-play, 60-yard drive on a 1-yard scoring plunge with 1:04 remaining.

The Chiefs (2-0) converted a key fourth-and-3 from the Monroe 30 on the game-clinching march when quarterback Danny Haus, who returned after missing the previous three series with leg cramps, connected with Eti-Ini Udott on a 16-yard swing pass.

Piscataway raced out to a 17-0 lead. Monroe lost a fumble (linebacker Aidan Rosa recovered) at its own 24 yard line on the game's first play from scrimmage. Pierson scored three plays later on a 14-yard run to give the Chiefs a 6-0 lead just 1:55 into the contest.

The Chiefs registered a safety for an 8-0 advantage just five minutes later when Monroe's long snapper sailed the ball over the head of punter Justin Woods, who could not prevent the pigskin from floating out of the end zone.

Following Pierson's 35-yard return on the ensuing free kick, which brought the ball to the Monroe 15 yard line, the Chiefs capitalized on a short field yet again as Ryan Kuchnicki booted a 29-yard field goal for an 11-0 advantage with 2:45 left in the opening quarter.

Piscataway extended the lead to 17-0 when Elijah Barnwell capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive on a 2-yard run with 1:28 left in the opening half.

Monroe's Akeer Franklin returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown, closing the deficit to 17-7 and giving the Falcons some much-needed momentum going into the lockerroom at halftime.

Karoly, who completed 14 of 18 passes for 240 yards in a season-opening victory over Edison, was limited to 7 of 16 passing for 109 yards Friday night. Sixty of that came on his scoring strike to Matel-Okoh, and another 20 came on a screen pass to Franklin in the closing minute.

Piscataway's front four, led by hard-charging defensive end Elorm Lumor, hurried and harassed Karoly all night, flushing him from the pocket. Karoly endured three sacks and finished with minus-13 rushing yards.

"Even though we are really talented in the perimeter, we knew coming in that if we gave him time we are in trouble," Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins said. "I was very pleased with our pass rush. We've got some kids who can get after the quarterback, so it was a really important part of the game for us."

"That's a really good offensive team," Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins said. "I thought our discipline was outstanding. Everybody did their jobs. Obviously they are going to make a play at some point and they did (with Matel-Okoh's catch). I'm not even mad about that. There were two guys on him and he outleaped them to make a play. I'm really proud of our defense and that to me is the biggest improvement from last year to this year."

Even though the Chiefs rolled up 194 yards on the ground, Monroe's run defense performed admirably.

"They did a great job defensively," Higgins said. "We thought we'd be able to run. I think they did a good job of run support with the second levels. They were changing the box up. They were going from odd to even and confusing us a little bit. They were penetrating, so we've got a lot of work to do. But I thought they did a great job stopping the run."

Monroe coach Chris Beagan said Piscataway's front four limited his offensive playbook.

"In the face of a relentless pass rush, I was proud of Stephen hanging in there," Beagan said. "He was able to find a few receivers here and there but nothing where we were able to establish any continuity offensively.

"It really boiled down to protection. Some things have to get taken out of the play-calling when you are worried can you protect, and we weren't able to get things going in the run game and it's something we are going to have to work on."

Franklin, who was limited to 77 yards on 22 carries in the season opener, rushed 10 times for just nine yards on Friday night.

"You have to give tremendous credit to their defensive line," said Beagan, whose team was outgained 141 to 9 in first-half yards from scrimmage. "It made things difficult for us."