South Brunswick Football Holds on for Dramatic Win

The clock may have said zero, but it was clearly not the time for the South Brunswick High School football team to stop playing.

"We may have had to win the game twice, but we came away with a big victory today," South Brunswick Coach Rick Mantz noted of his team's 28-24 victory at Woodbridge on Sunday.

On a day in which the two teams combined for 741 total yards of offense, South Brunswick was able to take a 28-24 lead with 1:14 to play on a 1-yard touchdown run by Darrell Harper.

The defense of those final 74 seconds, however, would not be easy.

"It was a hot day and both teams were getting kind of gassed," Mantz noted.

Woodbridge went 53 yards on its final drive, taking the ball all the way to the South Brunswick 8.

"Woodbridge has a really good offensive team," Mantz said. "We knew they would be tough. We never thought this would be an easy game."

Not with Woodbridge quarterback Kyle Anderson completing 18 of 34 passes for 372 yards.

According to Mantz, it should have been 18 of 33.

"The clock said zero and we thought the game was over," Mantz recalled seeing after an Anderson incompletion from the 8.

After a discussion among the officials, one second was put back on the clock.

"It's such an emotional letdown," Mantz said. "The guys went from thinking the game was over to having to go back out there for one more play. One of the things that helped out was we called a timeout and regained our focus."

Jevon Tyree then knocked down a pass to secure the South Brunswick win. Earlier from the 8, Dion Hooper also knocked down a pass.

"We made the plays we had to make," Mantz said. "We have a resilient group."

South Brunswick needed to be really resilient, as it trailed after each of the first three quarters. It was down 10-0 after the first quarter. Despite touchdown runs of 3 yards by Tyree and 41 yards by TJ Perkowski, South Brunswick trailed 17-14 at the half.

"We missed a field goal before the half," Mantz noted. "Playing a team as good as Wodbridge, you hate to leave points out on the field."

The two teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, leaving Woodbridge up 24-21 going into the final 12 minutes of play.

David Flanders scored on a 6-yard run for South Brunswick's third-quarter score.

South Brunswick finished with 305 yards rushing, which included Azim Blakely (3-19), Tyree (5-27), Harper (8-72), Dahrae Ford (17-70), Perkowski (3-29), Dan Gorzynski (4-28) and Flanders (3-40) all gaining positive ground.

Woodbridge finished with 409 yards of offense. It needed 417.

"We found a way to hang on and win," Mantz noted of his now 4-0 team. "It was like a heavyweight fight out there, but we emerged with the win."

Even when it was decided there was a second left for Woodbridge to take one final shot.