Piscataway football rides team effort to win over South Brunswick

As he has done so many times throughout his brilliant career, Elijah Barnwell answered what appeared to be a seismic momentum shift for the opposition with a tide-turning touchdown.

The senior running back’s 63-yard scoring jaunt late in the third quarter catapulted the top-ranked Piscataway High School football team to an impressive 26-14 victory over defending Central Group V champion South Brunswick in a battle of Home News Tribune Top 10 teams on Friday night.

After Piscataway (3-0) turned the ball over on downs when it failed to convert a fourth-and-2 from the South Brunswick 38 on its first possession of the second half, incumbent first-team All-Area quarterback Josh Liao capped a 62-yard touchdown march with an 11-yard scoring strike off play action to Jaylan Lawson that trimmed the Chiefs’ lead to 12-7 with 5:15 remaining in the third quarter.

Two plays from scrimmage later – after just 55 seconds had elapsed – Barnwell broke off his 63-yard scoring run, picking up a huge block downfield from Trey Hogan with defensive back Anthony Blakey in close pursuit as the Chiefs rebuilt their lead to 20-7 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“We needed something to give us a push and when he broke that run off, it was huge,” Piscataway quarterback Danny Haus said. “We knew we could pull it out. We tried to execute our plays and trust each other and trust our coaches. The momentum on that play was huge. We really needed it.”

Strong safety Brevin Donerson iced the victory with a 14-yard interception return for a score, stepping in front of a pass that Liao telegraphed to junior wideout Justin Shorter, a Penn State University commit, and returning it unscathed down the near sideline for a 26-7 advantage with eight minutes left in the game.

“I knew he was throwing it (to Shorter) the whole time,” said Donerson, a sophomore who credited defensive backs coach Terrance Fox with preparing the Chiefs’ secondary well. “I watched a lot of film on (Shorter) and his routes.”

South Brunswick (1-2) made the score respectable as Lawson – a junior running back previously used sparingly this year – found the end zone for the second time on the night with a 4-yard plunge with 4:15 remaining to produce the final margin. Lawson finished with a career-high 60 yards rushing and receiving, 52 more than he collected in the first two games combined.

Piscataway ran the clock out with sophomore running back Juwon Jackson handling the bulk of the load as Barnwell, who finished with a game-high 159 yards and two scores – including a 14-yard run that gave the Chiefs a 12-0 lead late in the second quarter – received a well-earned rest on the bench in the closing minutes.

“That guy can play football,” Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins said of Jackson. “Anybody we put on the field we have a lot of confidence in. We saw (Jackson’s promise) in the preseason. We saw it against New Brunswick. He’s very talented, but he’s behind one of the best running backs in the state.”

Jackson amassed 84 rushing yards on 12 carries as the Chiefs finished with a whopping 282 yards on the ground.

Piscataway actually used the pass to set up the run. The Chiefs scored on their first play from scrimmage as Nazir James snuck behind the secondary – which was in man coverage – burning past a defender to race under a perfectly thrown 45-yard bomb from Haus, who hit the senior wideout in stride.

“We practiced that play all week,” James said. “We knew (the defensive back) was going to bite off the play action, so I slid behind him. We knew they were aggressive (safeties) so we planned to attack them. I was wide open.”

Piscataway did not attempt another pass for the remainder of the half until the Chiefs went to their hurry-up offense in the closing minutes of the second quarter.

South Brunswick – aided by a slew of Piscataway penalties (the Chiefs were flagged 12 times for 98 yards, two more penalty yards than they accumulated in two previous games combined) dominated time of possession, maintaining the ball for 17 of the first 24 minutes.

The Vikings had some success with the option in the first half. Piscataway’s defense, however, anchored by end Ibn Robinson, who had three of his team’s five sacks, was stout. Liao completed 9 of 14 passes for 103 yards, 55 of which came on South Brunswick’s second scoring drive. He had an apparent first-half touchdown pass to Blakey nullified by a penalty.

“I feel like I had a good game, but I give it up to my team,” said Robinson, who benefitted from the play of the entire line, especially Abdel Mohamed. “I felt like nobody on the O-line (the Vikings graduated four of five starters from a year ago) could stop me. I felt like I could do my job well.”

Piscataway’s veteran offensive line, conversely, provided solid protection for Haus and opened sizable holes for Barnwell and Jackson.

“The O-line comes out to play every week,” said Barnwell, Piscataway’s career rushing leader. “They know what they are supposed to do.”

Staff writer Greg Tufaro: gtufaro@njpressmedia.com