SPORTS

Football: Marlboro beats East Brunswick in overtime

Andy Mendlowitz
@andy_mendlowitz

MARLBORO - After Jonny Helff fumbled for the second time in the third quarter, the Marlboro High School running back took a seat on the bench. Teammates offered encouraging words as the Mustangs trailed East Brunswick by a point.

“The last person to come over was coach (Jason) Dagato,” Helff said. “And he told me, he goes, ‘It doesn’t mean anything. You’re going to win this game for us.’”

Helff, only playing tailback because of an injury in the first half to the starter, shook the miscues off and rushed for 158 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown and a 31-yard scoring scamper in overtime as the Mustangs nipped East Brunswick 20-14 Saturday in a Greater Middlesex Conference/Shore Conference crossover.

Helff caught his team’s first touchdown on a 9-yard pass from Kyle Moore. Marlboro (2-3) had lost the previous two weeks in games decided late in the fourth quarter. On homecoming, the Mustangs gutted it out.

“It was about time we made something amazing happen,” Helff said. “They were sad losses, but we knew it was time to bounce back, especially here. It’s an amazing feeling. The atmosphere from the sideline and during halftime in the locker room was completely different. No one was hanging their heads. Everyone knew that we were going to pull it out this time.”

Footballs lay on the turf.

Marlboro’s Cameron Caorsi rushed for 114 yards on 19 carries in the first half. But didn’t play in the second half because of a hamstring injury, according to Dagato. Helff had previously played tailback, but was moved to fullback early in the season after an injury to the starter. On the drive following his second fumble on the wet day, he gained 77 yards on four carries, including a 1-yard touchdown with 4:17 remaining in the third quarter. Moore’s two-yard conversion pass to Justin Marcus gave Marlboro a 14-7 lead.

In overtime, each team gets the ball on the other’s 25-yard line. East Brunswick picked up two first downs, but Marlboro’s Jared Wright snared the interception in the end zone. After Moore got sacked for a loss of five yards on a charge led by Matt Bartus, Helff bolted up the middle for the 31-yard touchdown, setting off the celebration.

“The hole opened wide and I saw nothing but green grass,” Helff said, “and I knew that I had to get to the end zone and we’ll win the game just like coach said.”

The Bears scored two touchdowns on passes from James Schuld to Alex Cameron. In the beginning of the second quarter, Cameron caught a pass around Marlboro’s 15-yard line just in front of the defender on the edge of the right sideline. Cameron stepped back a few steps to make sure he remained in bounds, kind of like a moonwalk, and then turned around and raced to the end zone untouched for a 45-yard touchdown. Joshua Safeer’s extra point gave East Brunswick a 7-0 lead with 9:02 left in the second quarter.

Trailing 14-7 in the fourth quarter, Schuld connected with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Cameron with 7:52 left in the game. Schuld nearly got sacked twice, but avoided both defenders and scrambled to give himself time to pass.

Defensively, Marlboro’s Marcus and Michael DiGangi each recovered a fumble, and East Brunswick’s Anthony Torres got an interception off a deflection, while Kevin Conley and Isaiah Jackson each recovered a fumble.

In the end, it was Marlboro’s day on homecoming.

“This week we were able to finish,” Dagato said. “We’ve been preaching that, going crazy about that in practice. 'We got to finish. We got to finish.' We’re giving ourselves a chance to win—we got to win. And we got that done. … It was a lot of guts from our kids. They dug deep and found strength when they needed to find strength.”

Key play: Helff’s 31-yard run won it for the Mustangs. Dagato said, “When Cameron went down there wasn’t a worry in me that Jonny was going to step in and get it done.”

Offensive game ball: Split in half to Marlboro’s two running backs, Jonny Helff and Cameron Caorsi. The duo combined for 272 rushing yards, each shouldering the load for a half. Dagato said they’re similar runners and that, “they’re going to run you over. There’s no real finesses about those two.”

Defensive game ball: Defensive end Nnamdi Unachukwu and his teammates limited East Brunswick’s running game. Kyle Wiggins and Zahir Jackson had combined for nearly 400 rushing yards.

Up next: Marlboro goes to Neptune, and East Brunswick hosts South Brunswick on Friday.

East Brunswick (1-2)

0

 7

0

7

14

Marlboro (1-3)

0

6

8

0

20

Second Quarter

EB – Cameron 45 pass Schuld (Safeer kick)

M – Helff 9 pass from Moore (kick failed)

Third Quarter

M – Helff 1 run (Marcus pass from Moore)

Fourth Quarter

EB – Cameron 30 pass Schuld (Safeer kick)

Overtime

M – Helff 31 run

 

East Brunswick

Marlboro

First downs

6

13

Rushes-yards

30-78

39-265

Passing

238

100

Comp-Att-Int

11-22-1

11-21-1

Punts

4-149

3-133

Fumbles-Lost

3-2

3-2

Penalties-Yards

5-25

3-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING— EB: Schuld 14-45, Wiggins 10-20, Jackson 6-13; M: Helff 18-158, Caorsi 19-114, Moore 2-minus 7.

PASSING—-EB: Schuld 11-22-1-238; M: Moore 11-19-1-100, Wolff 0-2-0-0.

RECEIVING—EB: Cameron 3-98, Wiggins 3-72, Bartus 1-29, Crocco 2-22, Torres 1-11, McSweeney 1-6; M: Marcus 8-82, Helff 3-18.

INTERCEPTIONS—East Brunswick: Anthony Torres; Marlboro: Jared Wright.