GMC Football–Piscataway @ Sayreville–September 17, 2009

September 30, 2009 Greg Machos GMC Gridiron 0

Bomber Defense Bends, But Doesn’t Break In Sayreville 14-7 Victory Over P-Way

SAYREVILLE, NJ–We all know the old saying that offense wins games, but defense wins championships. Well, that statement couldn’t be any truer when Sayreville hooked up with Piscataway in a key GMC Red showdown to open conference play at Sayreville War Memorial High School. The Bombers only had three significant drives the entire contest while the Chiefs had numerous drives start inside the Sayreville 50 yard line only to either get stopped on downs, fumble it away, or get intercepted.

Piscataway had the ball to start drives on the Sayreville 43 (twice), Sayreville 19, Sayreville 35, and Sayreville 46, and each time, the Chiefs came up empty. Meanwhile, the Bombers offense had drives of 85, 80, and 50 yards. Two of those drives resulted in touchdowns with the latter coming on a one yard run by Alex Yanuzzelli with 7:30 to play in the contest for a 14-7 victory. Shakir Goodrich played a pivotal role in all three of Sayreville’s drives. On the first drive in the opening quarter, Goodrich took a rollout screen pass up the left sideline for 58 yards to turn a 1st and 19 at the Bomber 21 into a 1st and 10 on the Piscataway 11. Then, in the fourth quarter, Goodrich came up with a 14 yard run on 2nd and 11 at the Bomber 19, and followed that up with a 30 yard run from the Sayreville 49 to the Piscataway 21. On the final drive, Goodrich came up with a 3rd Down and 2 conversion at the P-Way 44 with a four yard run.

Delon Stephenson (4 receptions for 50 yards) also chipped in on the go ahead touchdown drive midway through the fourth with catches of 16 yards and 20 yards while Dave Milewski caught a first quarter touchdown pass from Joe Geiger, picked up a second quarter fumble, and then caught a 17 yard pass from Geiger on a rollout to the right side to convert a 4th Down and 3 play that sealed the seven point victory. Syd Holt, George Koblentz, and Basim Fain were the heroes on defense as Holt stopped a Piscataway drive deep into Sayreville territory with a sack of Griggs on the 19 yard line while Koblentz came up with a sack of Malcolm Griggs on a 3rd Down and 8 play at the 28 yard line. Fain came up with an interception of Aaron Stith at the Sayreville 11 yard line, and picked off a Griggs pass into the end zone late in the second period.

Although Anthony Tillman scored Piscataway’s lone touchdown, he was held in check by the Sayreville defense as was teammate, and wide receiver, Javaun Wynn. Tillman was stopped for either no gain, or for a loss at least five times in the contest while Wynn only had one catch the entire game. The Rutgers recruit did have an interception for Piscataway in the third quarter. The Chiefs committed three turnovers, and were stopped on downs twice. Joe Geiger, who came up big in the Bombers opening weekend victory at Brick Memorial, played well again for Sayreville with 11 completions on 16 pass attempts for 151 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.

For Sayreville, the win capped off a huge week with the Bombers defeating two state sectional champions to start the season. After holding off defending Central Jersey Group IV Champion, Brick Memorial on the road (29-26), the Bombers knocked off defending North Jersey Section 2 Group IV Champion, P-Way. For the Chiefs, it was the second straight loss to start the 2009 campaign after losing 26-14 in their opener against Howell at Rutgers Stadium. Sayreville started the game strong after Piscataway’s first drive ended with a punt.

Starting on their own 15 yard line, the Bombers began their march with a three yard run by Goodrich. Sayreville picked up several more yards before converting a 3rd Down and 2 at its own 24 yard line on a five yard run by Alex Yanuzzelli. Following a ten yard penalty against the Bombers, Geiger rolled to his right, and threw back to his left to Goodrich, who turned up field, and burst up the Piscataway sideline for a 58 yard completion to the Chief 11 yard line. Two plays later, on a 3rd Down and 9 from the Piscataway 10, Geiger rolled right again, and found Milewski for a touchdown to cap the eight play, 85 yard drive. Daryl Stephenson added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

From this point on until early in the fourth quarter, Piscataway dominated the game. Problem was, the Chiefs weren’t able to show it on the scoreboard. The second quarter began with P-Way having the ball on the Sayreville 43 yard line after moving the ball up the field to end the first quarter. On third down, Griggs run for the first down marker, but was stopped short. Piscataway then went for it on fourth down, and Griggs rolled to his right, and passed to Taj Watkins for a 23 yard pass play to the Sayreville 16 yard line. After Tillman was stopped for no gain on 1st and 10, Stith ran for five yards before absorbing a hard hit by a Bomber defender at the Sayreville 10 yard line. Tillman was again stopped for no gain on 3rd and 5, and then Holt got his pivotal sack of Griggs on 4th and 5.

The Chiefs eventually got the ball back, and had a 1st and 10 at the Sayreville 43 yard line when Stith threw a pass down field, and up for grabs. Fain came down with the interception at the Sayreville 11 yard line. The Bombers couldn’t do much with it though, and after a shaky punt by Milewski that went about 25 yards before being picked up by Anthony Gratz for a 21 yard return to the Sayreville 19, P-Way was back in business. However, it was not for long. On a subsequent Chiefs play, Tillman got the ball on a handoff, and fumbled. Milewski picked up the turnover at the Sayreville 15 ending that drive. Once more, the Bombers weren’t able to produce much on offense, and Milewski was forced to punt again. This time, it was a better kick that sailed to about midfield before Jahaad Coleman returned the punt to the Sayreville 35.

This drive for Piscataway started out with some promise as Griggs found Wynn for a 23 yard gain to the Sayreville 12. Griggs followed that up by battling is way up the middle for a five yard gain to the Bomber 7. However, the Chiefs were unable to get any closer, and punch it in. On 4th and 5 from the Sayreville 7, Griggs began to run left, then moved to his right before throwing an interception to Fain in the end zone. Sayreville then ran out the clock to take a 7-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. The third quarter started with Piscataway taking the ball at the 38 yard line after stopping Sayreville. Griggs passed on the run again to Watkins for a 30 yard gain to the Sayreville 32.

Once gain though, the Sayreville defense would hold as the Bombers got a huge stop by Koblentz, who sacked Griggs on a 3rd and 8 play from the Bomber 28 yard line. The Bombers continued to have short possessions on offense as Geiger threw his only interception of the game to Wynn, who ran the ball back to the Sayreville 46 yard line. On first and ten for the Chiefs, Tillman ran for five yards. On the next play, Tillman only got one yard, and on 3rd and 4 from the Sayreville 40 yard line, Griggs scrambled for just a yard setting up a 4th and 3. At the 39 yard line of Sayreville, the Chiefs handed off to Tillman, who was then stopped short of the first down by Vincent Ford. Once more though, Sayreville couldn’t sustain a good drive, and the Chiefs would get the ball back.

Nearing the end of the third quarter, Piscataway began their best drive of the game in their own territory. P-Way got a nice first down run from Matt Recine to start things off. Then, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Tillman was stopped for a loss of four yards. On second and long, Griggs picked up half the yardage with a seven yard play to the Sayreville 43. After both teams called timeouts, Griggs found Rutgers bound, Kyle Polk for a 38 yard pass play to the Bombers five yard line to not only keep the drive going, but set up a tying score. Following a run of two yards, Tillman crossed the goal line on a run to the left from three yards out to knot the score at 7-7 with 9:14 remaining.

On the ensuing Sayreville possession, the Bombers offense came to life again. After Fain was stopped for a yard loss on first down at the Bomber 20, Goodrich came up with a 14 yard run to the Sayreville 33. Geiger then followed that up with a 16 yard pass to Delon Stephenson to the Bomber 49. Goodrich added a 30 yard run on first down to the Piscataway 21. On the next play, Geiger went to Delon Stephenson again for a 20 yard gain to the Chiefs one yard line, where Yanuzzelli burst through for the go ahead score. Daryl Stephenson added the extra point, and the score was 14-7 in favor of the Bombers with 7:30 to play. When Piscataway got the ball back, its final drive started with some promise.

Fullback Jaleel Hunter ran up the middle for about eight yards on first down, but the Chiefs weren’t able to convert a first down, and were forced to punt. Sayreville got the ball on their own 34 yard line. The Bombers moved the ball for eight yards on first and second down before Yanuzzelli converted a key 3rd Down and 2 run from the Bombers 42 yard line. Several plays later, Sayreville was faced with another critical third down at the Piscataway 44 yard line. This time, it was Goodrich that came through with the conversion. After Davon Jackson was stopped by Jonathan Kinslow on third down. Geiger rolled out to his right on a 4th and 3, eluded the Piscataway blitz, and threw to Milewski for a 17 yard completion that sealed the victory.

With the win, Sayreville improved to 2-0 while Piscataway fell to 0-2. Both teams were back in action on Friday, September 25 as the Bombers defeated Woodbridge (23-8) and the Chiefs beat North Brunswick (28-15).

See video highlights from this game by following the links below:

Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Sayreville (2-0) 7 0 0 7 14
Piscataway (0-2) 0 0 0 7 7