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GAME STORY: South River football rallies for dramatic win over Metuchen

Angel D. Ospina
@AngelDOspina
Keyport High School football team traveled into Middlesex County to take on South River in a varsity football game in South RIver on Saturday October 1, 2016.
South River coach Rich Marchesi  (left) waits with his team before taking to the field.

After scoring the potential game tying touchdown with the extra point pending, South River head coach Rich Marchesi made the gutsy decision to try and win the game rather than playing it safe against Metuchen (1-3).

Senior wide receiver Travis Thomas scored the game-winning touchdown on Saturday with a 39-yard reception to cap off a 63-yard drive with 3:52 remaining in the fourth quarter. Sophomore running back Billy Drum sealed the 22-21 victory over Metuchen as he lunged into the end zone on the two-point conversion.

With the win, Marchesi tied legendary coach and mentor, Bill Denny, who coached the program for 35 years and was the winningest coach with 193 wins. Now sitting at 193 wins alongside Denny, Marchesi more importantly, salvaged the season with the dramatic win by avoiding falling to 1-4.

READ GREG TUFARO'S COLUMN: Rich Marchesi ties legendary Bill Denny as South River's winningest football coach

“I looked at the clock and said ‘we have to go for two’,” he said. “We were 1-3 so we had to put our kids in a position to win. I knew we weren’t going to get the ball back with three minutes to go.”

South River’s comeback win in the rain wasn’t pretty but for the young team it was a stepping stone in the right direction.

Metuchen struck first as it scored on the first possession of the game with a 60-yard touchdown drive that lasted three minutes and 49 seconds. Quarterback Will Hronich scored on a 1-yard QB-sneak to put the Bulldogs up 7-0 early in the first quarter.

The Rams would immediately answer on the ensuing drive as tight end Davine Mayes caught a pass from quarterback Michael Desantis, who finished the contest 18 of 25 throwing the ball and racked up 204 passing yards with two touchdowns.

“He’s a sophomore but he doesn’t play like a sophomore,” Marchesi said as spoke about his young quarterback. “He listens, he’s taught well by my staff and taught well by his dad.”

Both defenses would trade possessions until the Bulldogs reached the end zone midway through the 2nd quarter. Wide receiver Danny Russell hauled in a 24-yard pass on a fade route that the ball was place perfectly near the pylon by Hronich. The score expanded lead to 14-6 with 6:40 remaining in the first half.

Following a punt by South River, the Metuchen offense had an opportunity to add more points on the board with under two minutes remaining until the break. The Bulldogs offense eventually stalled, were forced to punt and that’s when South River’s special teams made the game changing play. The Rams brought the house on the punt and a gang of players were able to block the punt, giving South River possession in the red zone with 1:06 remaining in the half.

Two plays later, the Rams offensive callers ran a trick play that caught the Bulldogs defense by surprise. Desantis thew a backwards screen to running back Tyler Ribau-Marques who then threw it to wide receiver Kasper Murdzek, who was wide open in the end zone. The Rams converted the two-point conversion with a catch by Thomas to tie the game at 14 at the half.

After teams traded possessions, the Bulldogs put together an impressive drive that lasted seven minutes and 23 seconds and resulted in a one-yard touchdown run by running back Willie Rojas, putting Metuchen up 21-14 with 7:02 remaining in regulation.

From there, the game-winning drive occurred for the Rams where Travis Thomas reached the end zone after breaking several tackles and outpaced the Bulldogs defenders for the score.

Thomas finished with four receptions and 55-yards, including the game winning touchdown.

“He’s easy to rely on,” said Desantis as he spoke about Thomas’ outstanding play. “Every time I need a big play I can just go to him.”

The young dynamic duo making big plays is a scary sight for the rest of the coaches in the Greater Middlesex Conference to see and the combination can help add a few more wins to Marchesi’s hall of fame career.

The longtime coach will have an opportunity to surpass Bulldogs legend, Denny next week when his team squares up against Highland Park (2-2).

We’re a young team,” Marchesi said.  “We’re a sophomore-junior dominated team, we’re going to be good very shortly and maybe today was a start.