SPORTS

Timely plays lift Shore past Spotswood

Matt Conklin
Correspondent

WEST LONG BRANCH – On a night when Shore Regional’s injury plagued offense struggled to put points on the board, the Blue Devils relied on several timely plays from its defense to secure a 10-0 victory over Spotswood.

The Blue Devils kept the Chargers scoreless thanks to three interceptions and five fourth-quarter sacks. Senior defensive end Mitchell Candido led the way for Shore with two sacks and a tackle for a loss. In the fourth quarter, he dragged down Spotswood quarterback Ryan Smolin behind the line of scrimmage to force a fourth-and-20 that sealed the game for the Blue Devils.

“We’ve got a lot of people missing, so we came out knowing our defense was going to win the game,” Candido said. “In the first quarter, we gave the quarterback no pressure, so we came back out and knew we had to give him pressure when they were going to start throwing it more.”

Senior defense tackle Rob Fallon, junior linebacker Connor Rempel and senior defensive end Austin Lucisano were also in on second-half sacks for the Blue Devils.

“We made an adjustment,” said head coach Mark Costantino. “We moved one of our linebackers to D-end, and he just wrecked havoc. It was hard to block him … It was only a matter of time. We thought that if we stuffed the run and forced them to pass, we’d be OK.”

Shore broke through early in the second quarter when senior running back Mike Moore took a sweep 15 yards into the end zone. On the previous play, senior running back Kyle Mascia picked off a Smolin pass and returned it 20 yards to the Chargers’ 15-yard line.

Moore led the Blue Devils with 42 yards on six carries and Mascia added 30 yards on eight carries.

“We haven’t had a healthy back field all season,” said Costantino. “We are still missing four quality guys, so it shows in the little details.”

On the second play of the fourth quarter, senior Jake Monteiro kicked a crucial 33-yard field goal that made it a two-possession game for Shore Regional. He also snagged an interception in the first quarter to stymie a Chargers’ drive that reached the Blue Devils’ 25-yard line.

“He’s awesome,” said Costantino. “He’s such a weapon, and he was sucking it up today with an injury.”

“The crossover games between the GMC and the Shore are good,” said Spotswood head coach Andy Cammarata. “It’s good competition. Playing them is good for our program. They do a great job. They run the ball, they don’t make mistakes, and they play great defense. That’s exactly what we are trying to be.”