SPORTS

New Brunswick builds early lead then hold off South Plainfield

Greg Tufaro
@GregTufaro

The New Brunswick High School football team raced out to a two-touchdown halftime lead and held on for a thrilling 21-19 victory over South Plainfield at Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

Trailing 21-13 late in the fourth quarter, the Tigers closed the deficit to two points on quarterback Kyle Dickerson’s touchdown pass to L.J. Scarpitto. New Brunswick thwarted the ensuing two-point conversion attempt to seal the win.

“They wanted it more, that’s the bottom line,” South Plainfield head coach Gary Cassio said. “They were hungrier than us. They are a good bunch of kids. They play the game the right way and they play hard-nosed football.”

Cassio credited first-year New Brunswick coach Don Sofilkanich, who is renowned for masterminding outstanding defenses, with shutting down South Plainfield’s attack.

“They were very well coached,” Cassio said, noting the difference between New Brunswick from last year, when the Zebras won just one game, to this year is “like night and day.”

“They are much more disciplined and much more organized and they are hard-nosed football players. They deserved the win.”

The Tigers were coming off an impressive victory over defending Greater Middlesex Conference White Division champion St. Joseph.

After South Plainfield drove to the New Brunswick 5 yard line but came up empty on its opening possession, the Zebras scored on a Hail Mary pass for a 7-0 lead.

Running back Maurice Ffrench, who rushed for more than 100 yards for the second consecutive weekend, scored on a 30-yard run to give New Brunswick a 14-0 halftime lead.

Dickerson, who finished with 225 rushing yards, scored on a 70-yard jaunt, trimming the deficit to 14-7. Another touchdown closed the gap to one point, but New Brunswick blocked the PAT to preserve a 14-13 advantage.

New Brunswick, which was coming off a heartbreaking 24-21 loss on a last-second field goal to J.F. Kennedy, scored what proved to be the winning touchdown on a fourth-and 15 play to take a 21-13 late in the fourth quarter.

Both teams are 1-1.