Old Bridge’s High Expectations For 2012 Take Early Hit As Bombers Roll, 35-0
OLD BRIDGE, NJ–Coming into opening night of the 2012 Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division football season, there were high expectations for the Old Bridge Knights. After finishing the 2011 season strong with three straight wins including an upset over Group IV and Shore Conference perennial powerhouse, Howell in an NJSIAA Consolation game (35-29), and a rout of long time Route 18 rival, East Brunswick (40-20) to end up at 5-5, the Knights were looking to build on that with the likes of QB Vin Gargano, and RBs Aaron Ford and Chris Middleton returning.
The Knights would be tested right out of the gate to start 2012 with three straight games against the top three teams in the GMC Red Division last year in Sayreville, Piscataway, and South Brunswick. The Bombers entered 2012 looking to pick up right where they started from in 2010 and 2011 when they won back to back Central Jersey Group IV Championships. With the likes of Isaiah Cureton at QB, talented RBs in Zeke Perkinson, Deon Miller, and Myles Hartsfield, and other veterans such as Mike Carey returning, Sayreville looks to contend for the Red Division crown again.
For a little more than a quarter, Old Bridge stood toe-to-toe with its neighborhood rival. The Knights managed to keep the Bombers potent Wing-T offense silent for the entire first quarter, and began the second quarter with a promising drive up to midfield. Unfortunately for Old Bridge and its enthusiastic student body, the game began to take a turn for the worse after that. With just over a minute gone by in the second period, Malik Pressley intercepted a Gargano pass, and returned it into OBHS territory. Moments later, Miller ran left, and rumbled down the Old Bridge sideline for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Sayreville fed off that new found momentum, and shut down the Knights on their next offensive series.
Getting the ball back, the Bombers embarked on another drive, which was much longer at nearly 80 yards, but still resulted in a touchdown as Miller ran the ball in from 18 yards out for a 14-0 lead with 24.9 seconds left. Old Bridge took the ensuing kickoff, and got a nifty run by Gargano on a keeper to get to about the 30 yard line of Sayreville, but Pressley picked off another Gargano pass in the end zone as time expired with Sayreville on top 14-0. The second half kickoff appeared to have been fumbled away to the Knights, but the officials ruled that Perkinson was down by contact, and the Bombers went on a 77 yard drive for a score, and a 21-0 lead at the 7:32 mark of the third.
Old Bridge got the ball, and put together another good drive into Sayreville territory highlighted by a nice run by Ford off the option pitch right from Gargano, and then a run by Michael Friedman down inside the Bomber 15, but the Knights were stopped on downs as a pass for the end zone was knocked away. Sayreville then took over, and drove the ball again for a score on a five yard run by Hartsfield for a 28-0 lead with 1:47 to go. The Knights turned the ball over on the ensuing kickoff as Ford fumbled the ball away, and that led to another Sayreville score in fourth with 11 minutes to go, which rounded out the scoring in the 35-0 win.
The Bombers did a solid job on defense by not allowing many big plays, keeping Old Bridge out of the end zone, and making life difficult for Gargano, Ford, and Middleton. Sayreville still has plenty of weapons on offense despite the graduation of Delon Stephenson this past June. This was a very impressive win for Sayreville, which made a statement to the rest of the Red Division that the Bombers will be fighting again for the top spot in the standings at season’s end. For Old Bridge, it was a difficult learning experience in trying to get the program back to where it was back before Madison Central and Cedar Ridge merged in the mid-1990s. However, with a win the following week against Piscataway and a close loss at South Brunswick the week after, the Knights proved that they could play with the big boys, and perhaps still be able to get a playoff spot in November.