Adewusi, Pero lead Colonia to 26-7 win

COLONIA – The simple answer in explaining the Colonia football team’s success on offense would be to point to the play of quarterback Tenny Adewusi and running back Sam Pero.

While both players are outstanding in their own right, both agreed that it takes the proper execution and cohesion of all 11 men to make the offense’s fast-paced, no-huddle attack run to perfection.

Adewusi was close to perfect as he connected with six different receivers and Pero rushed for three touchdowns behind a solid offensive line as Colonia defeated John F. Kennedy, 26-7, in a Greater Middlesex Conference-White Division matchup.

“I said it earlier in the season, but we have too much talent on this team,” said Adewusi, who finished 11-for-13 passing for 168 yards with a TD and an interception. “If you try to stop one of our players, we have six more ready to get the ball and score. I have a lot of guys I can distribute the ball to and they make it easier on me.”

Pharoah Napoleon, Chase and Bryce Barneys, Tyler Santos, Solomon Manning and Raul Cardona each caught a pass and Pero finished with 140 yards rushing on 22 carries. They shined behind the work up front of Anthony Nystrom, Billy Fitzsimmons, Jimmy Becker, Brian McGovern and Michael Quinn to total 351 yards of offense.

“We have a very good line and they get overlooked,” Pero said. “We’re a very fast-paced offense, so the line has to be very conditioned. They are fast, conditioned and help run guys off the ball.”

Colonia raced out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter behind TD runs of 10 and 1 yards from Pero. The first score was set up by a 44-yard kickoff return by James Corbett and the second was a 17-play, 79-yard drive that took 7:48 off the clock.

John F. Kennedy responded in the second quarter when Stepp Oziegbe forced a fumble that led to a 36-yard TD run by Andrew Roberts, who alluded multiple tacklers to make it 12-7 with 7:33 to go in the second quarter. Roberts finished with 66 yards rushing and went 14 of 24 passing for 144 yards, while Terrence Young hauled in eight passes for 91 yards and intercepted a pass.

Jafet Tatis gave Kennedy the ball right back when he recovered a fumble forced on the kickoff forced by Jerry Mott, but the Colonia defense forced a quick three-and-out.

Later in the quarter, the Colonia offense received a boost from the defense when Chase Barneys intercepted a pass, leading to Adewusi throwing a 28-yard TD strike off his back foot to a leaping Napoleon in the end zone to extend the lead to 20-7 with 1:14 remaining.

On Kennedy’s opening drive of the third quarter, Bryce Barneys stopped a drive at the Colonia 44 with an interception, leading to Pero’s third TD run of the game to cap an 8-play, 74-drive to make it a 19-point game with 4:29 left in the third quarter.

Bryan Pedrosa intercepted a tipped pass on the next drive for Colonia’s third takeaway of the game and solidified a strong night for the defense. Manning finished with two sacks and headed the Colonia defense with Cardona, Becker, Brandon Haines, Ryan Petti and Chase Barneys.

Mike Hogan, Brandon Ramirez, Mott, Ari King and Andrew Allen were the leading tacklers for Kennedy.

JOHN F. KENNEDY (1-1) …0 7 0 0 — 7

COLONIA (2-0) … 12 8 6 0 — 26

SCORING SUMMARY

C-Pero 10 run (kick failed)

C-Pero 1 run (pass failed)

J-Roberts 36 run (Scalia kick)

C-Adewusi to Napoleon 28 pass (Adewusi to Napoleon)

C-Pero 3 run (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – J: Roberts 14-66, King 9-19, Young 4-11, Mott 1-4; C: Pero 22-140, Adewusi 10-35, B. Barneys 3-8, Manning 1-0.

Passing – J: Roberts 14-24-3-144; C: Adewusi 11-13-1-168.

Receiving – J: Young 8-91, Rudolf 2-33, Oziegbe 2-29, Mott 1-11, Allen 1-0 ; C: Napoleon 3-56, C. Barneys 2-36, B. Barneys 2-26, Santos 1-23, Cardona 2-16, Manning 1-4 .