SPORTS

St. Joseph survives Carteret's test to take division title

Josh Rosenfeld
Correspondent
web-art sports Football

METUCHEN - Undefeated St. Joseph captured the Greater Middlesex Conference White Division title Saturday and, for the first time this season, the Falcons were tested for the full 48 minutes.

It wasn't pretty, but St. Joseph held on to edge Carteret, 14-7, in a gritty, hard-fought affair simply by making more big plays when it mattered most. The Falcons improved to 8-0.

"We had high expectations, we knew what we had coming back," said St. Joseph coach Casey Ransone. "We may have struggled a little bit in the win-loss columns but it was really a building process.These kids have been in those situations and they know how to finish now."

Manny Resto, a Carteret native, provided most off the offense for St. Joseph by running 39 times for 153 yards and a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs.

"I'm a little exhausted, but I'm glad I was able to hold the ball," Resto said, downplaying the motivation of playing against his hometown school. "I just came here to play a game, it just happened that it was (against) them."

St. Joseph's ability to convert on fourth downs proved to be decisive. The Falcons picked up two fourth-and-1s en route to Resto's first score on the game's initial possession and converted two more on its second scoring march, including the game-winning touchdown run.

"That was really the difference in this football game," Ransone said. "In those situations, fourth-and-short, we go for it because I feel that it's a high percentage shot that we're going to pick up those first downs."

Carteret (5-2) got its big play late in the first half when Michael Bennett blocked a St. Joseph punt, giving the Ramblers the ball at the Falcon 18 with 40 second remaining in the second quarter. It took Carteret six plays before quarterback Angelo Goilino slipped across the goal line on the final play of the half with the score   7-all.

"That was a huge momentum-changer for us," said Carteret coach Matt Yascko. "We just couldn't make one big play in the second half to get us over the hump."

Resto continued to pound the ball in the second half, carrying on nine straight plays over three possessions at one juncture. But it was two of his teammates in the secondary that provided the biggest plays in the fourth quarter, as A.J. Murray and Jordan Davis each made leaping interceptions to terminate Carteret drives.

CARTERET (5-2)  0-7-0-0-7

ST. JOSEPH  (8-0)  7-0-7-0-14

SCORING SUMMARY

 

SJ - Resto 1 run (Sot kick)

C - Ang. Golino 1 run (Hart kick)

SJ - Resto 1 run (Sot kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: C: Byrd 14-69, Chandler 8-38, Ang. Golino 6-0; SJ: Resto 39-153, Epstein 3-18, Yakely 5-11, Davis 1-2, Reilly 3-0.

 

Passing: C: Ang. Golino 6-15-2-67; SJ: Epstein 2-4-0-9.