NJVarsity.com - Ocean dominates up front

October 19, 2009

Pat PJR Rice
NJVarsity.com Staff Writer

The Game At A Glance: Ocean's lines dominated both sides of the ball, as they had possession for 30 minutes, rushing for 306 yards to beat Long Branch 24-21 in a battle of undefeated teams. Long Branch kept battling and kept the game close with several big plays in the second half.

First Half Highlights: Ocean started the game on its own 6-yard line. After picking up two first downs running the ball, they were stopped on a reverse to Brandon Robinson for no gain on third down and 2 on its own 46. After forcing Long Branch to punt, they took over on their own 32 and marched down the field on a five minute drive. They scored on second and 5 when Christian Bailoni found Robinson on a 24-yard score, which gave them a 7-0 lead with 1:36 left in the quarter.

Ocean started its next drive with 33 seconds left in the quarter when Robinson intercepted and returned it 10 yards to the Long Branch 41. Five plays later, Kevin Rogers scored from 24 yards out to put Ocean in front, 14-0, just over a minute into the second quarter. Long Branch made use of the big play when quarterback Miles Shuler-Foster ran 43 yards out of the shotgun down to the 15. Three plays later, he fumbled and Ocean recovered on the 11. Ocean then marched nine plays, taking up five minutes, to the 50, but were forced to punt with a minute and half left in the half.

Second Half Highlights: After Long Branch punted, Ocean scored when Rogers went 57 yards down the left sideline for a score and the Spartans seemed to be in command with a 21-0 lead, two and a half minutes into the third quarter. Long Branch had a nice drive of its own when Shuler-Foster crashed in from the 1 to make it 21-7. The big play on the drive was a pass to Devron Clark of 38 yards to the 2. Ocean then went on a ten play drive of nearly five minutes. However, Rogers was stopped for a two yard loss on fourth down by Kevin Morris and Long Branch took over on their 18 with a minute left in the quarter.

The Green Wave had another big play when Shuler-Foster found Ezra Kelly for 65 yards down to the 12 on the first play of the fourth quarter. This was followed by a 10-yard pass to Clark, before Shuler-Foster scored from the 2 three plays later. This brough Long Branch to within 21-14 with nine and a half minutes left. Ocean then did what it does best: run the ball and consume the clock. They ate nearly six minutes off the clock and a 33-yard field goal by Joe Pingitore put them in front, 24-14 with 3:49 left. A squib kick to the Long Branch 42 put the Green Wave in good field position. They needed three plays, when Shuler-Foster scored on a keeper from 8 yards out to cut it to 24-21 with 2:49 left. The score was set up on a pass play of 12 yards to Kelly and 39 yards to Karon Hair on a crossing pattern. Long Branch went for the onsides kick, but recovered it before the required 10 yards, giving the ball to Ocean at the Long Branch 49. The Spartans picked up two first downs and let the clock expire.

Play Of The Game: The 57 yard touchdown run by Rogers, getting Ocean to a 21-0 lead and the field goal by Pingitore gave them the winning margin.

Game Balls: The Ocean line of George Sofield, Chris Herod, Albert Gallo, Connor Hayes, Sean Florke, and tight end Eric Bucklelew did a fabulous job. They had the ball for 30 minutes, including 16 in the first half, controlling the game, and keeping the big play Long Branch offense off the field. They rushed for 306 yards, including 153 yards from Rogers and 105 yards from Greg Moore. The Ocean defense did a very good job, limiting Long Branch to 79 yards rushing. In addition, Pingitore hit the field goal for the deciding points in a clutch situation.

For Long Branch, Shuler-Foster made some big passing plays, keeping them in the game.

Audibles:

Ocean head coach Don Klein - "We run the ball and play great defense, that's what we do. That's what I believe in and my staff believes in. The kids believe in it, also. In conditions like this where it's rainy and windy, you better be able to move the ball up front. Throughout the game, we were pretty much able to do that, the first half especially. We're fortunate we have upper classmen up front who work hard in the weight room. I've been waiting for us to play that well because we're capable of it, but the first half was as well as we could have played. We knew Long Branch was going to make a run at some point. They're so talented and well coached. The Shuler kid is electric and he can run and throw the ball. In the end, it came down to, 'can you move people?' and we did today."

Ocean running back Kevin "Juice" Rogers - "I just followed my linemen and my fullback, RJ D'Apolito. My coach makes great plays. We thought we could beat them up front. Our linemen are better and we knew we were going to come out here and pound them. All I do is run the ball. The line gets the job done. Our offensive line coach does a great job with them and all I have to do is follow them."

Ocean tackle/defensive tackle George Sofield - "We definitely had confidence up front this game. We knew it was a big part of what we were going to do today. It was a great day for our offensive line. The biggest time in the game is when we know we have to get the first down, and it's coming on the ground. 5-0 is great, we're really excited, and we can't wait to keep it rolling."

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