HNT football: Sayreville rallies to edge Edison
EDISON - It seemed like an easy touchdown off a big play, but the sophomore defender wouldn’t stop running. Sayreville High School’s Jacari Carter chased down Edison’s Nick Yanik, knocking the ball out of his hands right before he scored and into the end zone for a touchback midway through the third quarter.
On the next snap, Sayreville’s Jayson DeMild hit Andrew Wille for an 80-yard touchdown and the lead. That super swing gave the Bombers an 18-13 win in the Home News Tribune’s Game of the Week. Sayreville’s defense held in the fourth quarter, and running back Michael Liberti helped eat the clock with strong runs in the final minutes.
“We grinded it out,” DeMild said. “We found a way to win, and I’m just so proud of each and everyone of our guys. Defense, offense, special teams — everyone stepped up in the second half. It was just a great game. I mean, a lot of respect for Edison, though. They came out hard. So I’m just really happy for our guys.”
It was mostly a game of defense and big plays. Edison led 13-6 at halftime behind a 69-yard touchdown pass from Justin Turner to Keanu Reed. Sincere Williams added an 85-yard touchdown run up the middle for the Eagles. Sayreville, ranked No. 4 in the HNT Top 10, scored on a 35-yard pass from DeMild to Jahsim Floyd.
“Hat’s off to Edison,” Sayreville coach Chris Beagan said. “They did a great job defensively bottling up our run in the first half. We made some adjustments. And I was just proud how the kids really grinded the whole second half. Despite a turnover and a couple penalties that went against us, we never point fingers. We stuck together.”
The third quarter featured several plays for a highlight reel. First, Sayreville drove into Edison territory as DeMild broke for a 57-yard run and nearly scored if Ronnie Spears didn’t tackle him at the 10-yard line. Three plays later, Yanik picked off DeMild’s pass in the left side of the end zone.
Sayreville, though, forced Edison to punt after three plays. On Edison’s third play, DeMild again found the tall and athletic Floyd for a 31-yard touchdown to cut the Eagles lead to 13-12 with just under seven minutes left in the third quarter.
Fans had barely just sat down when Turner threw to an open Yanik breaking downfield. He blazed down the left sideline for an apparent 70-yard touchdown. Carter, however, kept running and tackled Yanik by the thighs, and the ball rolled out of the end zone for the touchback.
“That’s Jacari for you,” DeMild said. “A hundred percent all the time. He could have easily stopped at the 40, and let him run in. But no, he sprints as hard as he can. … With Jacari’s endless effort, it gave us the momentum. We scored again to go up and it was one of the biggest plays of the game, by far.”
Carter said: “I was like, ‘Oh, man, we blew the coverage.’ But I was like, ‘You know what, I can catch this kid.’ And I just dove at his ankles and he fumbled the ball. …I just kept running. Didn’t stop.”
On the next play, DeMild saw Wille open near the left sideline and zipped him the ball. Wille outran Edison’s defenders en route for the 80-yard score with just a little over six minutes remaining in the game. Sayreville’s two-point conversion pass went incomplete, but they had the 18-13 lead.
“Huge momentum swing,” Edison coach Matt Fulham said. “Yeah, huge momentum swing. But even after that, we still had opportunities.
"That’s not the reason why we lost the game. Yes, we would have been up points there. But the bottom line is after that we have to play defense and we didn’t. … Both teams played well. It came down to a few plays. They executed those plays. We didn’t and that was the difference in the game. It literally came down to two or three plays that made a difference in the game.”
In the fourth quarter, Edison’s Austin Rivera had an interception to keep the Eagles alive, but Sayreville got the ball back on downs and ran the final 4:39 out.
Last season, the teams played in an equally wild game that Edison won 20-19 on Nov. 6. In that contest, both teams scored in the final 2:01. Sayreville had already clinched a playoff berth, but Edison earned a postseason berth with the win.
This time, it was Sayreville’s turn to come out on top in the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division game.
“I don’t know what I feel right now,” Carter said. “It just feels great.”
SAYREVILLE (2-0) 6-0-12-0-18
EDISON (1-1) 6-7-0-0-13
SCORING SUMMARY
E – Reed 69 pass from Turner (kick failed)
S – Floyd 35 pass from DeMild (run failed)
E – Williams 85 run (Kurtyan kick)
S – Floyd 31 pass from DeMild (kick failed)
S – Wille 80 pass from DeMild (pass failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – S: Liberti 21-58, DeMild 3-42; E: Williams 9-118, Reed 4-14, Rivera 2-13.
Passing - S: DeMild 16-24-2-252; E: Turner 10-17-0-204, Yanik 0-1-0-0.
Receiving - S: Wille 4-100, Floyd 4-84, Carter 6-35, Liberti 1-21, Clark 1-12; E: Reed 3-104, Yanik 4-91, Stansbury 1-9.
