Video Breakdown: How Brick Memorial Pulled Off a Game-Winning TD Pass with 6 Seconds Left
It’s the most electrifying ending to any Shore Conference football game this season.
Division rivals Brick Memorial and Toms River North were tied at 21 in a top 10 matchup last week when Mustangs senior quarterback Jason Lajara put up a 33-yard pass to senior wide receiver Nyzier Matthews with the clock running down to single digits.
The star receiver hauled it in over two defenders for the game-winning touchdown with only six seconds remaining in regulation for a hard-fought, 28-21 victory over the defending Class A South champions in a thriller at Gernerd Field.
Shore Sports Insider spoke to Mustangs head coach Walt Currie, offensive coordinator James Mahoney, Lajara and Matthews about how they pulled it off to end Toms River North’s 40-game winning streak against public schools.
“The call was a formation and a motion we thought we could use to get Naz singled up, which worked,” Currie said. “Jay put the ball right up to give Naz a chance, and he went up and high-pointed it and made the play.”
Mahoney, who breaks the play down in the video below, was trying to find a way to get Matthews, one of the state’s top receivers, isolated in one-on-one coverage.
“Toms River North is so good, and they have kids and coaches who make everything hard,” Mahoney said.
The Mustangs lined up with three receivers to the right and then motioned running back Nazeer Whittaker across the formation toward that side to leave Matthews as the only receiver on the left side. Lajara had picked up on something earlier in the game and alerted the coaches.
“I told Mahoney that whenever we were running spread and motioning the running back to the opposite side, the safety was shifting over,” Lajara said. “After that last timeout, I said, ‘This is the time.’ Mahoney puts a lot of trust in me.”
The goal of the motion was to influence the safety just enough to move him to the hash mark on the opposite side of the field from Matthews. That way it would be too hard for the safety to recover to give help over the top to the defender covering Matthews one on one.
“I wasn’t surprised about the playcall,” Matthews said. “I knew the coach trusted me and my ability to catch the ball and win the game.”
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If the safety ran to immediately double Matthews, Lajara would then try to go to either Whittaker, tight end Joe Livio, who was running an underneath route, or wide receivers Ricky Dillon and Rocco Iacullo on the other side of the field for enough of a gain to at least attempt a game-winning field goal.
The Mustangs had been operating at warp speed after getting the ball back with only 1:24 left at their own 24-yard line and driving to the Toms River North 33-yard line.
They also were also without two of their top receiving options. Star tight end/linebacker Trey Tallmadge has been out with an injury since a loss to Rumson-Fair Haven, and another talented receiver, junior Shawn Fowler, was out of the game after suffering a hamstring injury in the first half while playing defense.
The motion by Whittaker made the safety take a couple steps toward the opposite hash mark before the snap.
“Once I saw that I was like, ‘We’re gonna take our shot,’” Mahoney said.
The offensive line held up against Toms River North’s three-man rush. Lajara quickly looked right to try to freeze the safety and then came back left and put it up for Matthews in the corner of the end zone. At first, he feared he made a crucial error.
“The safety didn’t shift as much as I thought he would,” Lajara said. “Naz had leverage outside, and it was a bit underthrown. Honestly from my angle I was scared because I thought I threw it a bit inside, but Naz went up and made a play.”
There also was the factor of Matthews just being a great athlete and winning a contested catch with multiple Toms River North defenders right there.
“My mindset going into a one on one is that I just really trust in my ability every time that I’m going to get the ball,” Matthews said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of people that can stop me. I wasn’t worried about double teams. I’m kind of used to it by now.”
The Brick Memorial sideline erupted as Matthews came down with a career-high third touchdown catch in the game.
“It felt like 10 minutes passed before the referee put his hands up,” Mahoney said. “You don’t get that kind of euphoric moment doing anything but coaching football.”
“That was definitely some adrenaline in the end,” Lajara said.
The winning touchdown polished off a monster 9-catch, 169-yard night for Matthews. Lajara also had a huge night with 327 yards passing on 18-for-25 accuracy with four touchdowns, as well as 93 yards rushing on 12 carries.
A returning SSI first-team All-Shore selection, Matthews now has 17 catches for 361 yards and five touchdowns in four games. Those totals are especially impressive because Tallmadge had to play quarterback for the first two games. Lajara, a two-year starter, was out with an illness.
“He’s the best wide receiver I’ve coached in 34 years,” Currie said.
It took everything the Mustangs had to beat the Mariners (1-3), who are the three-time defending Group 5 champions.
“I think they’re a lot better team than their record says,” Lajara said. “They’re always playing hard teams, private schools. It’s Toms River North. They’re always developing guys, and it’s always a good game against them.”
The win means that Brick Memorial, ranked No. 4 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12, can clinch no worse than a tie for the Class A South title with a win Friday against No. 10 Donovan Catholic (1-3) and a loss by Jackson to Point Boro.
“It’s A South, so there’s hard games every week,” Matthews said. “We have another tough game against Donovan. We have to keep executing and get that dub.”
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
