HNT Football: South Brunswick surprises Sayreville

MONMOUTH JUNCTION - Friday, Josh Liao was named South Brunswick High School’s Homecoming King at halftime against Sayreville. The senior quarterback certainly played like a gridiron leader, scrambling for touchdowns, completing passes and taking hard hits.

But the Vikings won on a play best left for a joker. Late in the fourth quarter, receiver Jaylan Lawson took the handoff, paused and threw a perfect pass down the middle to Justin Shorter for a 54-yard touchdown with 3:45 remaining.

South Brunswick’s defense held for the 26-20 win in a key Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division game that had plenty of excitement. On the ensuing kickoff, Sayreville’s Jacari Carter sprinted down the left sideline for a long touchdown. The play was negated on a block in the back penalty.

Then on fourth-and-nine, Sayreville quarterback Jayson DeMild avoided pressure and bolted for eight yards, failing just short of the first down with under two minutes left. And with that, the Vikings celebrated and ran out the clock.

It was a crisp game played between two teams ranked in the Home News Tribune’s Top 10. No. 3 Sayreville (5-2) and No. 4 South Brunswick (4-2) were jockeying for NJSIAA playoff power points, as well as staying alive in the GMC Red race with Piscataway and Old Bridge.

“This is good high school football,” South Brunswick coach Joe Goerge said. “That’s what you saw today — two teams working hard. I thought it was well officiated. You never felt comfortable with a lead because you knew what they were capable of doing.  … I think it was like a program win where these kids just willed it.”

Liao ran for touchdown runs of 1-and 3-yards and threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Blakey. Sayreville got two touchdown runs from Michael Liberti (4 and 8 yards) and a 1-yard run from quarterback Jayson DeMild.

Indeed, the game went back and forth. South Brunswick led 13-7 at halftime and 20-13 entering the fourth quarter. Sayreville tied the game on the 4-yard touchdown by Liberti with 10:24 remaining. The Bombers’ two-point conversion run failed as it remained 20-20. On that drive, South Brunswick’s Andre Eldridge sacked DeMild setting up a third-and-15. DeMild completed a 47-yard pass to Connor Holmes to get to the Vikings’ 4-yard line.

After both teams turned the ball over on downs, it was trick time on first down. Lawson, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior, said he never threw a pass in a game before, but it was something the team had worked on in practice. Liao said they especially focused on handing the ball off, instead of the typical flip passes they sometimes complete during games.

Sayreville seemed surprised. So did Lawson.

“I was not expecting it all,” Lawson said. “Josh (Liao) just hit me by surprise and I knew I should just chuck it up. I knew Justin is really quick. He was going to get under the ball and score the touchdown. … If I thought about it, I would have been pretty gutsy about it. So I’m glad I got it by surprise.”

Shorter said: “It was a perfect throw. We’ve been practicing a lot in practice and it definitely showed in the game.”

In the second quarter, Lawson made a diving interception that was in the middle of back-to-back touchdowns that gave the Vikings a 13-7 lead heading into halftime.

The Vikings had a 13-play drive that lasted five minutes, which culminated in a 7-yard pass from Liao to an open Blakey in the left side of the end zone to cut the deficit to 7-6 with 7:08 remaining in the second quarter. Sayreville’s Connor Holmes blocked the extra point, the first of two for the game.

On Sayreville’s third play, South Brunswick’s Lawson snagged the interception on a short pass on Sayreville’s 36-yard line. He said, “I was really plotting the play the whole time. I was watching No. 5 (Liberti) come across. Once it tipped his hands, I knew I had to dive for it and take one for the team.”

The Vikings moved the ball with a 26-yard pass to Shorter. On the sixth play, Liao kept it for a 3-yard touchdown and Mitchell Fisher’s extra point gave the Vikings a 13-7 lead with 3:45 remaining in the first half.

At halftime, Liao remained with his teammates as the school’s mascot filled in for him at the ceremony. The game was just too important, and he said, “They wanted me to come out. I said, ‘I have to go with my team, man. I got to get my priorities straight.’ It’s my team. It’s my brothers. So I stayed in the locker room at halftime.”

“It’s fantastic,” said Liao of the win. “We knew coming into this game was make or break for our season. We came together this week in practice. We practiced real hard. And I wanted to see it play out because of all the work we did in the summer. And this is the type of game where you see that hard work show up, and not giving up on those sprints in the summer. Not giving up when we’re screwing up in practice. But keep grinding. That’s what won us the game today, the grind.”

SAYREVILLE (5-2) 7-0-6-7-20

SOUTH BRUNSWICK (4-2) 0-13-7-6-26

SV – Liberti 8 run (Crowley kick)

SB - Blakey 7 pass from Liao (kick failed)

SB – Liao 3 run (Fisher kick)

SV – DeMild 1 run (run failed)

SB – Liao 1 run (Fisher kick)

SV – Liberti 4 run (Crowley kick)

SB – Shorter 54 pass from Lawson (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - SV: Liberti 21-84, DeMild 14-50, Roberts 4-10; SB: Liao 16-65, Palmer 6-32, Shorter 3-40, Joe-Karma 2-15.

Passing - SV: DeMild 7-19-1-169; SB: Liao 10-16-0-159, Lawson 1-1-0-54.

Receiving - SV: Carter 2-60, Holmes 1-47, Floyd 2-35, Liberti 1-17, Wille 1-10; SB: Shorter 8-187, Quinones 1-19, Blakey 1-7, Lawson 1-0.