Bridgewater-Raritan's Justin Bryant voted CN Football Player of Week

It doesn't matter if he's playing on offense or defense, senior Justin Bryant will do everything in his power to help put the Bridgewater-Raritan High School football team in a position to win the game.

Last Friday night, Bryant came through in a big way as Bridgewater-Raritan bounced back from a heart-breaking loss to North Hunterdon with a 28-12 victory over Linden. 

READ: VERANO POWERS BRIDGEWATER-RARITAN OVER LINDEN 

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"He’s just a solid all-around performer in all areas, he helps us every week, that's the type of player he is," Bridgewater-Raritan coach Scott Bray said. "Against Linden the big thing was his understanding on defense, he’s like our QB on defense, we put a lot of pressure on him to recognize the plays and putting our defense in the right position and then what we get out of him on offense is just a bonus."

Against Linden, Bryant led the defense with 15 tackles and recorded an interception, then turned around and scored two touchdowns on offense as the Panthers improved to 4-2. 

Trailing Linden 6-0 at the half, Bridgewater-Raritan came out firing in the second half, taking a 14-6 lead at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth, it was all Bryant as he scored on a 6-yard pass from quarterback Greg Verano, then scored on a one-yard run to seal the victory.

For his efforts, Bryant was voted the Courier News/Mid-State 37 Football Player of the Week with 40.8 percent of the votes. 

"He did a great job for us as a fullback, in the fourth quarter our starter was a little tired and we wanted to keep a big body back there and he did a great job. It was just one of those great all-around games from a great kid," Bray said of Bryant's performance. "Week in and week out, we recognized his talent his sophomore year, he’s a silent leader and he goes out and does his job every day."

Bryant, a co-captain and three-year starter who has been playing football since he was 5 years old, prefers playing on defense as he's been a linebacker longer than any other position. 

"Running the defense gives my team a sense of security because I’m going to be putting them in a spot where they need to be," Bryant said. 

In high school football, so many players have to play two different positions, and it can be a grueling experience having to constantly be on the field for the entire game, but Bryant takes it as it is. 

"It’s definitely tiring and fun at the same time, last game in the fourth quarter my calves were cramping up but when you’re in the game you’re not thinking about anything but playing," he said. "Playing both sides of the ball, it’s tiring but I want to play the whole game, and it gives you the opportunity to have the most fun and do the best for the team in order to win."

At this point in the season, Bryant has 60 tackles and three interceptions on defense. On the offensive side, he has 74 rushing yards and one touchdown, along with six receptions for 82 yards and two touchdowns. With three games remaining against Franklin, Union and Elizabeth, Bryant just wants to help the Panthers fulfill their goal of getting back to MetLife and winning a state championship. 

"I think that the Linden game gave our offensive line confidence. To come out in the second half and to score 28 points on four straight drives, it shows we can run the ball and that gave the offense confidence that they can push teams around and they can run up the gut even with the other team knowing we’re going to run," Bryant said. "I think we’re in a really good spot right now, we lost to Phillipsburg and we lost to North Hunterdon, but we had a great bounce back win against Linden and if we can keep playing like that we can do something this year and finish what we started two years ago and win at MetLife. After the game we had against I think we have a great opportunity to do that."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego