Basketball Recruit: Brian McKenna Plays a Crucial Role in Wall Football’s Return to the Finals
(Read the game story here from Wall’s 17-13 win over Rumson-Fair Haven in the Central Jersey Group 2 semifinals)
WALL – One of the biggest moments of Wall’s football season came months before it even began.
Brian McKenna had played two seasons as a backup quarterback for Wall and was leaning toward not playing his senior year in order to focus on basketball, where he is a standout forward for the Crimson Knights.
Junior Franny Scaramellino was all set to return as Wall’s starting quarterback, so McKenna figured he might just use the fall to gear up for basketball season.
“He wasn’t sure which way it was going to go, and thank God he decided he wanted to play football,” Wall head coach Ed Gurrieri said.
His importance became dramatically magnified when Scaramellino transferred to Red Bank Catholic in the summer and then transferred back to Wall. Since that constituted two transfers, he had to sit 30 days, so Wall now was in a desperate search for a starting quarterback.
McKenna suddenly was being lobbied by his friends and teammates to come back and play.
“We would hang out, go get food, and just try to ease into the topic of football and coming back,” junior offensive lineman Nick Rogers said. “At first he was like, ‘I’m going to stick with basketball.’ Then he found out Franny was originally leaving, so he was like, ‘OK I’ll come back,’ and he’s been nothing but great for us since then.”
“He was on the line of playing because Franny obviously started last year,” senior tight end/defensive end Justin Davis said. “He is a really good basketball player. When Franny transferred, we talked him into coming back, and he was all in.”
McKenna ultimately made his decision early in the summer.
“I was iffy about playing at first just because of the whole thing that happened (with Scaramellino),” he said. “But I’m really happy I came out for the team.”
Brian McKenna was convinced by his teammates to come out for football as a senior and has been a key member of a team playing for a state sectional title. (Photo by Patrick Olivero)
So are the Crimson Knights, who advanced to their second straight sectional final on Friday night with a 17-13 win over Rumson-Fair Haven, which beat them in last year’s Central Jersey Group 2 championship game. Wall ended a Shore Conference-record streak of 11 straight sectional final appearances by the Bulldogs.
McKenna has not only stabilized a position that could’ve become a major problem early in the season for the Crimson Knights, he has become a clutch playmaker. On Friday night, he threw a 23-yard touchdown to senior wideout Maddox Mizelle on fourth-and-9 in the second quarter and hit Davis on a key 21-yard pass on third-and-10 that kept a 22-play drive alive that swallowed up more than 12 minutes in the second half.
Wall senior Brian McKenna is one of the Shore’s top returning basketball players. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspimages.com)
“We would miss him very much if he didn’t play, but he’s showing out,” Mizelle said.
“I’m really happy about the season I’m having,” McKenna said. “It’s been really fun.”
In his only season as a starter, McKenna has thrown for 1,107 yards and 11 touchdowns with a 66.7% completion rate as the perfect complement in a Wall offense based around the run game.
“We don’t throw the ball a lot, but when you do throw it, you’ve got to make sure to hit those throws, and he does,” Gurrieri said.
McKenna also persevered through a rocky start that might’ve had him wondering if it was such a good idea to put the pads back on instead of a basketball jersey. Wall started 0-2 with losses to Brick Memorial and Tottenville of Staten Island, and McKenna threw for 132 total yards, two interceptions and zero touchdowns.
Wall senior quarterback Brian McKenna has thrown for 1,107 yards and 11 touchdowns in his only season as the starter. (Photo by Doug Phillips/Frame Grabs LLC)
The Crimson Knights haven’t lost a game since, rattling off eight in a row and putting a Class B North title on their resume.
“I think we knew what we were,” McKenna said. “We just came out slow. I knew we were going to go on this run.”
“He’s very confident in himself, and you’ve got to have that when you’re a quarterback,” Davis said.
Gurrieri also eased any anxiety for McKenna when Scaramellino became eligible after sitting out for 30 days due to the transfer rule. He made it clear that McKenna would remain the starter.
“That really helped my confidence,” McKenna said. “Franny’s actually getting involved with the offense now, and I think it’s great, and he’s really helped out the defense, too, so it’s great to have him back. I think I’ve just been getting way more comfortable being on the field and playing.”
“He’s grown into the role,” Gurrieri said. “He leads the offense, and he puts us in the right calls.”
When the Crimson Knights have needed a play to be made in a pressure spot, he has made it, and that goes beyond just playing quarterback.
After Rumson scored its second unanswered touchdown to cut the lead to 17-13 with 2:13 left in the game on Friday night, the Bulldogs attempted an onside kick they had to have with no timeouts remaining. The kick skidded on the grass and right into the hands of – guess who – McKenna.
It won’t be long before those hands are grabbing rebounds and flicking jumpers on the basketball court. But right now, they will be needed again on Nov. 14 when Wall heads to top-seeded Camden to try to win its first state sectional title since 2019.
“Basketball can wait,” McKenna said before smiling.
Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
Email: scottstump25@gmail.com
