Bulldogs Overcome Fast Start By Jays With Key Plays On Offense And Defense For 20-13 Win
METUCHEN, NJ–For the first 13 plus minutes of the game, Middlesex appeared poised to blowout the hometown Bulldogs. In those first 13 or so minutes, the Blue Jays had amassed about 142 yards on 23 plays including a 16 play, 80 yard touchdown drive. The Jays, which were projected to finish second in the GMC Gold ahead of Metuchen by the Star-Ledger, drove again to the Bulldog 15. However, basketball standout and junior defensive back, Elijah Sellers came up with a huge interception at the Metuchen five yard line on third down, and halted Middlesex’s momentum.
From that point until the end of the first half, Metuchen dominated the football game as quarterback Steve Deinzer took over the contest with his arm and his legs. Despite throwing an interception, Denizer ended up passing for two touchdowns including a 33 yard pass to tight end, Chris Warren on a 4th and 9 play for the first score, and then a 13 yard pass to Steve Serieux for the second. He then added a toss to Warren for the two point conversion after the second score for a 14-7 lead at the half. Middlesex, which fumbled and then went three and out before running out the clock in the second period, turned the ball over on its first possession of the second half.
Deinzer then got the Bulldogs down to the Blue Jay 24 yard line, but was eventually stopped on downs after being backed up a bit. Middlesex almost fumbled the ball away again, and eventually punted from its own 40 yard line to the Metuchen 21. There began the third scoring drive of the game for the Bulldogs. A 12 play, 79 yard march down the field that bridged the end of the third quarter with the start of the fourth. A drive that had a combination of the big play capability of Metuchen as well as a pounding inside running game from Ray Bonet and Quinn Meng. This drive didn’t start out all that well for Metuchen though. Deinzer was sacked for a three yard loss on first and ten, and then had his pass knocked down by a Middlesex defender.
On 3rd Down and 13 from the Bulldog 18 yard line, Deinzer let loose a long pass down the right side for Serieux, who made a diving catch at midfield for a 32 yard gain. Several plays later, Meng made a juggling catch on a 3rd and 8 play, and Bonet bullied his way to 24 yards on four bruising carries to set up Elijah Sellers for a five yard touchdown run for a 20-7 lead. Middlesex finally came to its senses, and rallied with a scoring drive of its own midway through the fourth quarter, but after stopping Metuchen on downs, the Blue Jays squandered their comeback bid with a fumble on 4th and 7 from near midfield. In the 20-13 Bulldog victory, Deinzer completed 60 percent of his passes for over 200 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. He also had three runs for a total of about 55 yards although Middlesex was able to get to him for several sacks.
The Metuchen defense got an interception, and three fumble recoveries as it was able to slow Middlesex down. The Blue Jays started the game by running the ball inside with its fullback, Matt Cleveland, who ran for three yards on the game’s first offensive play, and then followed that up with a five yard gain on second down, and a three yard carry on third down to the Blue Jay 31 yard line. Middlesex then opened things up a bit with an option play to halfback Mike Passanante, who rushed 12 yards to the Blue Jay 43. On the opening drive’s tenth play, Middlesex quarterback, Dan Skazenski, threw a 23 yard strike to the right side for Dave Fekete. Option plays to Passanante and Fekete got the ball to the Metuchen five yard line despite Fekete almost fumbling the ball away on his carry.
Following a penalty on Middlesex that made it second and goal from the 11 yard line, Skazenski ran hard to his right on the keeper for six yards to get back to the original line of scrimmage. Finally, on 3rd and Goal from the five, Passanante scored on a run to the right side. Chris Petiya added the extra point, and Middlesex was up 7-0 with five minutes and change to go in the first period. After Metuchen went quietly in its first offensive series of the game, the Blue Jays got the ball back on its 22 yard line. Middlesex ran inside to Cleveland, and then pitched outside to Fekete, who ran up the left side of the field for a gain of about 24 yards to the Blue Jay 49 yard line. After a sweep to Passanante ended with a loss of two yards as well as play in the first quarter, Middlesex pulled out a bag of tricks to open the second with a halfback option pass down the right sideline for 39 yards to the Bulldog 14.
The Blue Jays ran the ball inside again with Cleveland, and tried to go outside again with Fekete, who slipped for a loss. Then, on 3rd Down from about the 16 yard line, Skazenski threw left where several Metuchen defenders were, and one of them, Prince Richardson, put on a hit that deflected the pass into the arms of Sellers, who went down at the Metuchen five yard line with about 10:47 to go in the first half. Deinzer, who sat out the first quarter, began in dire straits as the Bulldogs were penalized half the distance to the three on its next play. Sellers got those yards back with a short run, and then Deinzer rolled left, and ran up the sideline for about a 17 yard gain to the Metuchen 22.
A couple plays later, Deinzer threw to his right on a slant play to Anthony Terenzi, who turned up the field, broke a few tackles, and picked up about 27 yards. Then, after overthrowing his tight end on a subsequent play, Deinzer hooked up with Chris Warren for a first down. The senior quarterback for Metuchen, who eluded a sack, ran out of the pocket to his right, but threw back across his body to the left, where Mike Cianflone was waiting for the interception. The Middlesex linebacker then ran the ball back to about the Blue Jay 45 yard line. Unfortunately, the Blue Jay offensive series didn’t last long because the Jays fumbled it right back to Metuchen, and Deinzer, who made them pay.
After pitching to Sellers for a first down run on 3rd and 2, Deinzer threw for the end zone on 2nd and 9 only to have his pass knocked away at the last possible second by Fekete. Following a Middlesex stop on third down, the Bulldogs went for it, and Deinzer rolled slightly to his left, and threw a 33 yard strike to Warren for a touchdown. John Arny failed to make the point after, and the Blue Jays still hung on to a 7-6 lead with 3:07 left in the half. On its next offensive possession, Middlesex went three and out, and ended up punting from its own 40 yard line. Terenzi received the kick, and made an entertaining jaunt to as far as about the Bulldog 45 yard line when a Middlesex defender grabbed his arm just enough to slow him down, and make him turn back to the Metuchen 39.
Taking over, Deinzer ran up the middle for 21 yards on a 2nd and 10 play to the Middlesex 40 yard line. Two plays later, Deinzer again scrambled right, and threw back to his left, but Terenzi was there to slide and make the catch for a 25 yard gain to the Blue Jay 15. Two plays later, Deinzer threw to his right for a touchdown pass to Serieux for 13 yards at the 35 second mark, and added the two point conversion to Warren for a 14-7 lead as the two teams went into their respective locker rooms. The third quarter saw no scoring as Middlesex continued to have problems fumbling the ball. The Blue Jays turned the ball over again, and Deinzer drove Metuchen to the Middlesex 24 yard line before the Jays defense pushed the Bulldogs back, and eventually forced them to turn the ball over on downs.
Middlesex couldn’t take advantage though as it eventually punted the ball away from its own 45 yard line to the Metuchen 21. There, the pivotal drive began for the Bulldogs. Again, it didn’t start out that promising as Middlesex sacked Deinzer for a three yard loss back to the 18. On the next play, the Jays “D” knocked down a Deinzer pass setting up third and long from inside the Metuchen 20 yard line. Deinzer came up with a play though as he uncorked a bomb down the right side to Serieux, who dove for the reception at the 50 yard line. After only gaining two yards on the next two plays, Metuchen went back to the air again as Deinzer threw in the direction of Meng, the ball was deflected, and the Bulldog fullback made the catch for a first down. Enter Raymond Bonet.
Bonet bulldozed his way for six yards to the Middlesex 27 on first down. Then, ran up the middle again for another 12 as the Blue Jays seemed to be wearing down at this point. On another 1st and 10, Bonet ran inside again for six yards to get to the Middlesex six. Meng ran several yards to the Blue Jay six as the third quarter ended. Bonet then began the fourth quarter with a first down run on 3rd and 1 from the Jays six to set up Sellers for the score. With 11:16 remaining, Sellers took the handoff from Deinzer, ran left, hurdled over a Middlesex defender, and proceeded to run into the end zone. Metuchen missed the extra point, but now led 20-7. On the ropes, Middlesex would respond with a 62 yard drive led by Skazenski that would take up a span of 4:07.
The Middlesex quarterback took it upon himself, literally, to get his team back into the game. He ran the ball on several keepers including a 17 yard gain to the Metuchen 40. The Blue Jays picked up six more yards on the next two plays before Skazenski pitched to Fekete, who ran all over the field for a 29 yard run to the Bulldog five yard line. Middlesex had difficulty punching it in on the next two plays, and appeared poised for a score when it got the ball to Fekete again. However, he was denied the touchdown on a great diving tackle by a Metuchen defender at the one yard line. With 7:12 to go, and on 4th and 1, Skazenski dove on the left side of the Middlesex offensive line for a score. The Blue Jays missed the point after attempt, but now only trailed 20-13.
The Middlesex defense was able to take over and stop Metuchen on downs including a third and one, and fourth and one plays from near midfield. However, the Blue Jays couldn’t take advantage. Forced to go for it on 4th and 7 with about three minutes to play, Middlesex shot itself in the foot again with a fumble. Metuchen recovered, and proceeded to run out the clock. The Bulldogs, which lost 42-14 in its opener on the road at Keyport/Henry Hudson, evened its record at 1-1 while Middlesex, which was playing in its season opener, dropped to 0-1. Both teams continued to go in opposite directions the following week as Metuchen defeated Shore Regional in a rematch of last year’s state playoff game, 35-21 while Middlesex lost in its much ballyhooed showdown with Highland Park, 44-21.
See video highlights from this game by following the links below:
- GMC Football–Video Highlights–Monmouth Regional @ Highland Park–October 9, 2009–First Quarter
- GMC Football–Video Highlights–Monmouth Regional @ Highland Park–October 9, 2009–Second Quarter
- GMC Football–Video Highlights–Monmouth Regional @ Highland Park–October 9, 2009–Third Quarter
- GMC Football–Video Highlights–Monmouth Regional @ Highland Park–October 9, 2009–Fourth Quarter
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metuchen (1-1) | 0 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 20 |
| Middlesex (0-1) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 |