GMC Football: Analyst Borden breaks down Carteret's win

MyCentralJersey.con gridiron analyst Marcus Borden provides an inside look at the Carteret High School football team's 14-7 season-opening victory over Woodbridge on Friday night. Following is Borden's report:

If there is anything that I have come to know in my 32 years watching high school football in Central Jersey, it's that Carteret and Woodbridge like to play physical football. Friday night was no exception as the Barrons and Ramblers traded punches for four quarters.

Woodbridge looked poised to score first from less than a yard out when Junior Quarterback Tracy Fudge was stuffed by the entire Rambler D on fourth-and-goal. The ensuing drive by Carteret saw Ra'keem Bennett bust several would-be-tacklers en route to a 63-yard touchdown run putting the Ramblers up 7-0 with less than a minute in the first quarter.

Carteret then tried to pin the Barrons down with a sky-high pooch kickoff. However, Woodbridge sophomore Kashaun Henry returned the kick 80 yards for a touchdown, which along with the PAT knotted the game at 7 apiece.

Woodbridge had a long drive before the half with an apparent 13-yard Henry touchdown called back for holding. The Barrons attempted a 43-yard field goal by 6-foot-2, 250-pound sophomore lineman Harry Rutkowski. The kick was long enough but wide left.

In the third quarter, neither team could sustain a drive. Bennett did not play most of the second half due to cramping. It was Sophomore Da'Avion Ellington's 32-yard run down the Woodbridge sideline that put the Ramblers up 14-7 with 9:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Woodbridge had several opportunities to tie the game but a toss pass fell incomplete and a red zone interception by Carteret's Brandon Gilder with 6:29 remaining in the game thwarted another Barron drive.

The Ramblers went to a Power I formation and attempted to run out the clock. Woodbridge had other ideas and was able to have two more opportunities in the final 2 minutes of the game. It was not to be for the youthful Barrons as the final score on the Overholt Stadium scoreboard read Carteret 14, Woodbridge 7.