Football: South River's Marchesi sets school wins record

SOUTH RIVER -  As the game clock read triple zero and he received his much deserved Gatorade bath, South River High School football coach Rich Marchesi moved to the top of his program's record books

With a 27-20 victory over Dunellen on Saturday afternoon, Marchesi won his 194th game with South River, the most all-time in Rams’ history. Marchesi broke the record of 193 wins set by legendary coach William Denny.

“There’s very little talk about records around here amongst myself, the coaches, the players, and we really haven’t talked about it all year,” Marchesi said. “I’m just really proud to be apart of this program.”

Trailing 20-19 about half way through the third quarter, the Rams orchestrated a long drive, utilizing the running game predominately, that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Trenton Balitsky, as the Rams took a 27-20 lead with 5:46 left to play in the third.

Balitsky filled in nicely for starting running back Billy Drum, who’s injured hand allowed him to play on defense but not in the backfield.

“Coming in as a freshman, it’s a lot to deal with, but sometimes you have to push for it, not just for yourself, but for your teammates and for Coach too,” Balitsky said. “Nobody can be replaced, everybody has their own unique skill set. Today we just had to get the W, especially for Coach’s record breaker.”

South River trailed Dunellen 20-13 early in the second half when quarterback Michael Desantis was intercepted by Dunellen’s Michael Harmon. Needing a stop desperately, the Rams forced and recovered a fumble on the first play of Dunellen’s ensuing drive.

The Rams were then able to cut the lead to 20-19 shortly before halftime when Desantis tossed a 74-yard touchdown pass to Travis Thomas.

“We just needed a stop,” Marchesi said. “We were effective moving the ball and getting points on the board, but getting that stop before halftime was huge.”

The Destroyers drove down to South River’s 20-yard line with 8:32 left to play but on 4th and 10, the Rams stuffed the Destroyers at the line of scrimmage as Dunellen turned the ball over on downs.

Dunellen running back Joseph Olsommer scored two rushing touchdowns, including a 30-yard scamper that gave the Destroyers a 14-13 lead with 10:52 left to play in the first half. On top of his second quarter interception, Harmon also ran for a 48-yard touchdown that extended the Dunellen lead to 10-13 with 10:40 after the Destroyers recovered an onside kick after Olsommer’s rushing touchdown.

Staff Writer Daniel LoGiudice can be reached at dlogiudice@gannettnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @danny_logiudice.