Football: Balanced Bridgewater-Raritan tops Franklin

FRANKLIN — The Bridgewater-Raritan High School football team parlayed a balanced offense and a resilient defense to forge a 35-7 triumph over Franklin on Friday evening.

The Panthers (5-2), ranked third in the Courier News Top 10, amassed 413 yards of total offense in winning for the third time in four games.

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Greg Verano passed for 180 yards, all in the first half, and threw for Bridgewater-Raritan's first two touchdowns, while Anthony Goffe carried 27 times for 140 yards and the Panthers’ next two scores. Justin Bryant, the reigning Courier News Player of the Week, completed the scoring with a 71-yard dash with 6:02 to play.

“We knew we had to throw the ball tonight, passing the ball early had to be huge for us,” Bridgewater-Raritan coach Scott Bray said. “It was the game plan we had, throw early and then open up with the run later.”

Bridgewater-Raritan took the opening kick and marched 65 yards in 10 plays, ending with a 15-yard pass from Verano to Brandon Myers five minutes in. 

A 6-yard shanked Franklin punt followed by a 50-yard Bridgewater-Raritan boot tilted the field and the Panthers took a 14-0 advantage on a 23-yard pass from Verano to Colton Rosseland early in the second quarter.

Franklin (2-4), ranked eighth in the Courier News Top 10, gained some momentum on a 30-yard halfback option pass from Daley Merricks to Claiborne Fields III (five catches for a game-high 86 yards) that reduced the gap to 14-7 with 5:54 left in the half. But Goffe answered with a 3-yard run just a minute and a half later and Bridgewater-Raritan maintained a two-score lead for the rest of the night.

But Franklin did not go down quietly. It managed three more trips to the red zone but was denied each time by a blocked field goal by Chike Nwankwo, a stop at the 5 and a fumble recovery in the end zone by Nick Vizzoni.

The blocked field goal came with 21 seconds left in the half after the Warriors reeled off three consecutive 20-yard runs, two by Merricks and one by Tykey Reinberry.

“They’re a big play team,” Bray said. “You know you’re going to give up some yardage and like we told our kids, ‘Bend, don’t break,’ and our kids did a great job.”

The score may have been one-sided but the stat sheet wasn’t as Franklin compiled 301 yards of offense, including a healthy 169 on the ground.

BRIDGEWATER-RARITAN  (5-2)  7-14-7-7-35

FRANKLIN  (2-4)  0-7-0-0-7

SCORING SUMMARY

BR - Myers 15 pass from Verano (Balliro kick)

BR - Rosseland 23 pass from Verano (Balliro kick)

F - Fields 30 pass from Merricks (Bampoe-Parry kick)

BR - Goffe 3 run (Balliro kick)

BR - Goffe 23 run (Balliro kick)

BR - Bryant 71 run (Balliro kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 
Rushing - BR: Goffe 27-140, Bryant 1-71, Verano 6-22; F: Reinberry 15-91, Merricks 9-56, Scott 6-19, Myers 1-4, Cruz 1-minus 1.

Passing - BR: Verano 8-19-0-180; F: Scott 5-12-1-57, Reinberry 5-7-0-45, Merricks 1-1-0-30.

Receiving - BR: Myers 3-71, Rosseland 2-53, Bryant 2-29, Goffe 1-27; F:  Fields 5-86, Scott 2-25, Reinberry 2-16, Badru 2-5.