Knights Ride Huge First Half As Gargano Scores Four TDs In 41-13 Victory Over Raiders
OLD BRIDGE, NJ–After going through the murderer’s row of Sayreville, Piscataway, and South Brunswick in the first three week’s of the season, the Knights entered its fourth game of the season with a lot of confidence against a winless North Brunswick team playing without star tailback LaShawn Boyd. On Friday night against the Raiders, Old Bridge continued to build toward what will hopefully be a playoff berth with a convincing 41-13 win.
Behind the superb place kicking and punting by sophomore Ed Mish, the Knights were able to pin the Raiders deep in their own territory, and then the defense made quick work of North Brunswick’s offense to set up OBHS’ offensive unit with great field position. The average starting field position for North Brunswick in the first half was the 21 yard line, and the Raiders went three and out on four of its first half possessions with two others ending in turnovers. NBTHS didn’t get its first 1st down of the game until the 6:36 mark of the second quarter on a run by Tim Parson.
On the other hand, Old Bridge, which only had the ball for about 9:43 seconds in the first half, scored on five of its first six opening half possessions thanks in part to an average starting field position of the North Brunswick 44 yard line. Vin Gargano rushed for four touchdowns including three in the first half while Aaron Ford, who brought back memories of San Francisco 49er running back Roger Craig, with his hard charging running style, added two more for a 34-6 halftime lead. The Knights could not do anything wrong.
After stopping North Brunswick on just three plays, Old Bridge began its first drive at the NBTHS 48 yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Ford burst into the open for a 45 yard gain to the Raiders three yard line. Two plays later, Gargano was in the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 9:01 to go in the first period. North Brunswick was three and out again by the 7:15 mark of the first, and Old Bridge got the ball again in good field position on the North Brunswick 44 yard line. After a couple nice runs by Chris Middleton, the Knights went up 13-0 at the 4:30 mark on an 8 yard run by Gargano.
North Brunswick continued to struggle on offense following the ensuing kickoff. On a third and long, Parson threw an interception to Nick LaVecchia, who returned the ball to the 22 yard line of North Brunswick with 3:51 left in the opening quarter. The Knights were assessed a 15 yard illegal block penalty, and started at the 37 yard line of NBTHS. The flag hurt Old Bridge as it wasn’t able to capitalize on the scoring opportunity after turning the ball over on downs with 2:52 to go in the first. However, North Brunswick gave the ball back a couple plays later on a fumble at its own 28 yard line at the 2:02 mark.
Ford was able to get the Knights into the end zone this time with a great run that was created by the senior tailback reversing field and galloping in for the 21 yard touchdown and a 20-0 lead with 28.9 seconds remaining in the first. North Brunswick went three and out on its next two possessions to start the second quarter while Gargano ran for a 38 yard TD at the 11:09 mark of the second, and Ford followed up with a 12 yard run at the 6:50 mark for a 34-0 lead. The Raiders were finally able to settle down and put together an outstanding drive that took up nearly six and a half minutes. Highlighting the drive was a 4th down and 15 completion by Parson to set up a first and goal inside the Old Bridge 10 yard line at the 1:21 mark.
Several plays later, North Brunswick was in the end zone as Parson connected with Jarai Wise in the right corner with 24.5 seconds to go in the first half. The Knights blocked the extra point, but the Raiders were finally on the board. The score remained that way as both teams went into the locker room. The second half started promising with North Brunswick recovering an Old Bridge fumble at the Knights 31 yard line, but the Raiders were unable to get any points out of it. After putting together a drive of about 4:32, the Raiders were stopped on downs at the Old Bridge three yard line with 7:18 to go in the third.
The Knights, which honored their three youth football programs at the intermission, put the game away with a 97 yard march that consumed 5:54, and was capped by a 31 yard run up the middle by Gargano for a 41-6 lead with 1:24 remaining in the third. North Brunswick then closed out the scoring with a run of about 70 yards to the left side along the Old Bridge sideline by Jaylen Hobdy with 8:49 to play in the contest. With the win, Old Bridge improved to 2-2 while North Brunswick fell to 0-4.