SPORTS

Sayreville flattens North Brunswick 48-12

KEN WEINGARTNER
CORRESPONDENT

SAYREVILLE – There seems to be no stopping Sayreville.

A week after rushing for 409 yards in a 42-7 win at J.P. Stevens, the Bombers rolled up 391 more Friday night on their way to a 48-12 victory over North Brunswick in the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division.

Myles Hartsfield led the way with 149 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 406 yards and eight TDs in two games. Linwood Crump added 69 yards and a score on six carries as the Bombers built a 41-0 lead midway through the third quarter.

Sayreville (2-0) scored on all seven of its possessions before taking a knee on the eighth to end the game.

In addition to the ground attack, rookie quarterback Jayson DeMild threw for 132 yards, including a 71-yard scoring strike to Shaun Abubakar on the Bombers’ first play from scrimmage.

“This offense is really powerful, we have so many different weapons,” Hartsfield said. “I don’t have to touch the ball on every play for us to score. We have great threats. With a quarterback like Jayson throwing it around, they can’t load the box on us. That makes it easier for me and Linwood.

“Our line is unbelievable. They want to get after it every play, ground and pound.”

DeMild threw for only 39 yards last week, but showed what he could do with his arm last night, completing 7 of 11 passes. Abubakar, who outjumped a North Brunswick defender to take away the ball on his 71-yard TD reception, caught two passes for 76 yards.

“I was a little nervous coming out, with it being our first home game and everything,” DeMild said. “But coach said let’s go up top to (Abubakar), so we went up top and he came down with it and took it to the house. It was fun. Very fun.

“The line protected me very well. I didn’t get sacked at all. It was very good.”

Hartsfield scored on an 11-yard run, capping a six-play, 62-yard drive that gave Sayreville a 14-0 lead with 4:28 remaining in the first quarter. He added a 5-yard TD scamper with 2:45 remaining in the second quarter, ending a 13-play, 82-yard march to make it 28-0.

North Brunswick looked to have the Bombers stopped on downs on that drive, but a facemask penalty gave Sayreville a first down. Four plays later, Hartsfield scored.

Sandwiched between Hartsfield’s first-half TDs, Crump scored on a 26-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. It capped a nine-play, 65-yard march. Crump’s run came five snaps after Hartsfield had a 59-yard scoring run negated by a holding penalty.

North Brunswick (0-2) advanced into Bombers’ territory on its first four possessions, but failed to threaten. Ciryo McMoore intercepted a pass to halt the Raiders on one drive and Hartsfield stuffed a run on a fourth-and-1 to end another. The two remaining possessions culminated with punts.

Last week, the Raiders failed to score on three red zone chances in a 28-0 loss to Old Bridge.

“We moved the ball again, and then we shot ourselves in the foot,” North Brunswick coach Mark Zielinski said. “When things happen in week one, you’ve got to fix them in week two, and we didn’t really fix them. The option now is week three. We’ve got to keep at it.”

North Brunswick got 119 yards and a touchdown from Max Emmanuel.

Sayreville had nine players carry the ball at least once. Mike Liberti and James Lopez added second-half touchdowns for the Bombers, who saw their non-starters rush for 148 yards.

“I’ve known since the preseason that our team could do this,” Hartsfield said. “Our team was so strong in the preseason and worked so hard. I knew that great things were going to happen this year.

NORTH BRUNSWICK (0-2) …0 0 6 6 — 12

SAYREVILLE (2-0) …14 14 13 7 — 48

SCORING SUMMARY

S – Abubakar 71 pass from DeMild (Lapinski kick)

S – Hartsfield 11 run (Lapinski kick)

S – Crump 26 run (Lapinski kick)

S – Hartsfield 5 run (Lapinski kick)

S – Hartsfield 22 run (kick failed)

S – Liberti 28 run (Lapinski kick)

NB – Emmanuel 8 run (kick failed)

S – Lopez 24 run (Lapinski kick)

NB – Bryant 12 run (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - NB: Emmanuel 11-119, Poindexter 6-29, Bryant 6-28, Silbetz 2-17; S: Hartsfield 14-149, Crump 6-69, Negron 5-41, Liberti 2-41, Cenci 5-31, Lopez 3-31, Rodriguez 3-25, Mason 1-4, Herbert 1-0.

Passing - NB: Poindexter 7-10-1-74; S: DeMild 7-11-0-132.

Receiving - NB: Castellano 6-69, Thomas 1-5; S: Abubakar 2-76, Crump 2-35, Gallagher 3-21.