Highland Park football falls just short at Keansburg

KEANSBURG – The Keansburg High School football team’s defense was able to hold off Highland Park on its last drive of the game to get its first victory of the season Saturday 22-20.

The Titans punted the ball with 2:50 left in the game and it was up to Highland Park sophomore quarterback Ryan O’Shea to put together a drive for the Owls to score.

On 4th-and-19, the Owls pulled a double reverse flea flicker and O’Shea found Justin Sims for a 20-yard gain to keep Highland Park driving. O’Shea found Sims again on the next play for a 13-yard gain. With time winding down, the sophomore threw a pass into the end zone, but Keansburg’s Patrick Sullivan intercepted the pass in the end zone killing the Owls’ hopes of a game-winner.

Keansburg’s Richie Squeo also sacked O’Shea to force a 4th-and-long situation for the Owls.

“I think it was a great team effort,” Keansburg head coach Chris Damian said. The defense definitely came up big after our offense put us into a bad situation at the end. It was good to see them bounce back.”

After tying the game toward the end of the second quarter when quarterback Ian Terry ran 31 yards for a touchdown giving the Titans hope heading into halftime.

The Titans went up eight points after Joe Agostini scored a 35-yard rushing touchdown. The Titans completed the two-point conversion with a jump pass from Dylan Alt.

Terry finished the game 5-for-16 with 104 yards passing and a touchdown pass. Terry also had 56 yards on the ground with a rushing touchdown. Agostini had 94 yards rushing on 11 carries and finished with a touchdown.

“Ian was all over the field for us today,” Damian said. “He was throwing the ball well. He had a good run on the power where he bounced off about three or four guys. Then he hit the long run for the touchdown. He keeps developing every game.

Highland Park got within two points of the Titans’ lead after a 16-play drive in the third quarter, that saw two fourth-down conversions and a stalled drive at the Titans’ 5-yard-line. Terry fumbled the snap on the next play, turning it over to the Owls. The turnover led to an O’Shea touchdown pass to Justin Melgazo.

O’Shea finished the game 14-for-20 with 165 yards passing, a touchdown and an interception.

Mezgalo led all receivers with three receptions for 79 yards.

Keansburg (1-1) will play Shore Regional next Friday night, while Highland Park (0-2) will be on the road to play Spotswood.

“I think we need to execute better. Assignments in the run game are a big game,” Damian said. “We need to be crisper with our motions on offense. On defense we need to tackle better. Running after the football was better today. It will help us better offensively and defensively. My goal is to improve everyday.”

HIGHLAND PARK 0-14-0-6-20

KEANSBURG 0-14-0-7-22

SCORING SUMMARY

HP- Boynton 3 run (Lenaris kick)

K- Terry to Brown 45 pass (run failed)

HP- Boynton 1 run (Lenaris kick)

K- Terry 31 run (Alt run)

K- Agostini 35 run (Alt pass)

HP- O’Shea to Melgazo 5 pass (pass fail)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing- HP: Nwadike 7-50, Boynton 12-25, Boykins 6-9, O’Shea 2-0; K: Agostini 11-94, Terry 13-56, Bakala 1-5, Alt 2-4

Passing- HP: O’Shea 14-20-1-165; K- Terry 5-16-0-104

Receiving- HP: Mezgalo 3-79, Sims 9-65, Prots 1-21, Boynton 1-0; K: Brown 3-85, Bakala 1-10, Bauman 1-9