South Brunswick Football Keeps Focus, Improves to 3-0

The South Brunswick High School football team spent Friday night looking for ways to get around and through Edison. One thing Coach Rick Mantz stressed, however, is that South Brunswick didn't look past Edison.

Playing on a wet and muddy field at home, South Brunswick kept its footing and came away with a 27-0 win over Edison.

"You're always concerned about a game like this," Mantz said.

The reason for Mantz's concern was South Brunswick was coming off a pair of impressive wins (over Sayreville and Piscataway) against state ranked teams. He wanted to make sure his players knew there was nothing more Edison wanted than to do the same thing to South Brunswick.

"He stressed that all week," Darrell Harper noted. "He wanted to make sure we didn't sleep on these guys. We kept our composure and held it together."

More importantly, South Brunswick kept the football. It had no turnovers. It also did a good job of controlling the clock with several long and deliberate drives.

South Brunswick scored on its first possession in both the first and second quarters.

South Brunswick went 57 yards on seven plays to take a 7-0 lead with 6:42 to play in the first quarter. The big play of the drive was a 27-yard touchdown run by Harper.

"It was slippery, muddy and tough to run out there," Harper noted. "It was really hard to get traction out there, but we made it happen."

For the most part, South Brunswick kept the ball on the ground. Of course, when South Brunswick did pass, the receivers were wide open.

South Brunswick completed two of its three passing attempts. Harper caught a 24-yard pass from Dan Gorzynski in the fourth quarter. The other completion was a 49-yard touchdown pass from Gorzynski to TJ Taylor in the second quarter.

South Brunswick finished the half up 20-0. Harper scored on a 9-yard run with 2:15 to play in the half for South Brunswick's third score.

"This was a wet, sloppy night where the field gets worse as the game goes along," Mantz noted. "This was a game where it was important to get some scores early."

Those early scores allowed South Brunswick to continue to play cautiously. This was clearly a night when the team wasn't about to let the ball or game slip away.

"It was a difficult situation, but the kids really stepped up tonight," Mantz said.

As a result, South Brunswick improved to 3-0 on the year. The outstanding season continues.

"It was a big game tonight," Mantz said. "The kids got the job done. You can't ever be 12-0 without being 3-0 first."

NOTES: South Brunswick's defense held Edison to a total of 109 yards. Edison never even threatened to score.

Jevon Tyree finished the scoring for South Brunswick with a 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Tyree was one of seven South Brunswick players to rush for positive yardage.

South Brunswick is off for two weeks now. South Brunswick will be back in action at Woodbridge on Oct. 9.