Central Regional senior quarterback Joe Vezzosi. (Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com).

Huge nights from Joe Vezzosi and CJ Yates lead Central past Southern in B South thriller

Bob Badders|September 28, 2024|Last Updated September 30, 2024

STAFFORD TOWNSHIP — The Central Regional football team stared defeat in the eyes several times on Friday night. But the Golden Eagles never blinked, and instead found a way to deliver one of the most dramatic wins in the history of the Boyd-Emmert rivalry series.

Senior quarterback Joe Vezzosi threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver CJ Yates with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter as Central scored 12 points in the final 6:06 of the game for an edge-of-your-seat 26-21 Shore Conference Class B South victory over longtime rival Southern Regional on Friday night at Ron Emmert Field.

Central led 14-0 in the first quarter before Southern chipped away with three straight touchdowns to eventually take a 21-14 lead with 6:06 left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles saved their best for last with touchdown drives of 79 and 68 yards on their final two possessions sandwiched around a defensive three-and-out that helped the rally come to fruition.

“I’m going to tell my children, my grandkids, everyone about this game,” Vezzosi said. “I had a lot of fun out there.”

“It’s a program win,” Central head coach Jarrett Pidgeon said.

Vezzosi finished with a career-high 301 yards and four touchdowns on 15 of 21 passing, while Yates caught six passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns and senior wideout Royalty Riley caught six passes for 112 yards, including a must-have fourth-down conversion on the game-winning drive.

 

 

An Unforgettable Ending

Southern took a 21-14 lead with just over six minutes left when senior running back Evan Wyrsch muscled his way across the goal line for a 1-yard touchdown. Central had punted on three straight possessions spanning the second and third quarters but locked in with the game on the line. Vezzosi hit Riley for nine yards on first down and then connected with him down the visiting sideline for a 29-yard gain down to the Southern 35. Three plays later, Yates got behind the defense and Vezzosi floated a pass into his arms to cut Central’s deficit to 21-20.

The extra point attempt, however, rattled off the left upright and fell to the turf. No good. Southern still led, 21-20, with 2:56 to play.

From there, it was up to Central’s defense to keep the Golden Eagles alive.

Southern had its way on the ground for much of the second half and looked to close the game out with a couple of first downs starting from its own 9-yard line. Central put together its best defensive series by forcing a three-and-out when senior defensive back Nnaemeka Amaechina deflected Cooper Dempsey’s pass on third-and-6. Keegan Foote switched the field with a strong punt that was downed at Central’s 33-yard line, but the Golden Eagles’ offense had the opportunity it was waiting for.

“I was really mad after the missed extra point, but we all make mistakes,” Vezzosi said. “I said, ‘I love you guys. We need a stop. This is it, this is the game. This is why we play football’.”

“People were upset but we knew as a team that we were going to get the ball back and we’d have him kick it again because we trust him,” Yates said. “Or we’re just going to score (a touchdown), and that’s what we did.”

On first down, a personal-foul penalty on Southern for unnecessary roughness moved the ball up to the 48, but Central went sideways over the next five snaps with two false-start penalties negating its gains to bring up a critical fourth-and-10 with 39 seconds remaining.

“I told them we need one and that I believe in all of them,” Vezzosi said.

Vezzosi and Riley teamed up for a massive 41-yard gain over the middle that extended the drive and moved the ball to the Southern 11-yard line.

 

“It was one play at a time,” Vezzosi said. “We wanted to hit Royalty over the middle and we did just that. I dropped back, looked the safety off, saw someone right in my face and I was like, ‘Imma throw up a prayer, I trust my guy’. And what do you know, he came through.”

Two plays later, Central found the end zone when Yates motioned into single coverage and Vezzosi knew right away where he was going with the ball. He took the snap and immediately lofted a pass to the back-right corner of the end zone that Yates caught in stride for a 13-yard touchdown and a 26-21 lead with 20 seconds on the clock.

“I’m taking that matchup every day,” Vezzosi said. “I trust my guy CJ to catch any ball I throw at him.”

“They were playing press on me and I told (Vezzosi) to check fade and just get me the ball, I promise I’ll catch it,” Yates said.

Southern returned the ensuing kickoff to its own 40-yard line but a pair of incomplete passes on deep balls ran out the final 11 seconds.

 

Central Starts Fast

The Eagles’ passing attack wasted no time asserting itself. On the first play from scrimmage, Vezzosi went up top to Yates for a 62-yard gain that moved the ball from Central’s 23-yard line to the Southern 15. After a 10-yard catch by junior Elijah Reeder and a 5-yard run by senior running back Nick Ruggiero brought up first-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Vezzosi fired a touchdown pass to junior running back Austin Jarvis and junior kicker Michael Nieves added the extra point for a quick 7-0 lead.

A trend of false-start penalties – Southern had seven in the game – began for the Rams on their opening drive and contributed to a three-and-out. Central went right back to work from its own 41-yard line and jumped ahead 14-0 when Vezzosi connected with Yates for a 53-yard touchdown on fourth-and-four.

“We like to get out fast and get some momentum,” Vezzosi said.

 

Southern Claws Back

Southern’s defense got a stop on Central’s third possession by forcing a punt to halt a 10-play drive. Upon getting the ball back with 4:05 left in the second quarter, the Rams drove 87 yards in 3:38 to get on the board and cut their deficit in half.

Silva had a 14-yard catch and a 10-yard run, and sophomore wide receiver Chris Raub made the drive’s big play with an acrobatic 34-yard catch down to the Central 8-yard line. His reception set up Wyrsch for a 4-yard touchdown run that made it 14-7 at halftime.

The Rams received the kickoff to begin the third quarter and went 63 yards in seven plays to tie the game at 14. Senior wide receiver Talon Plenge caught fire on the drive with three huge catches. He brought down a 13-yard reception, then caught a 15-yard pass on third-and-six. A personal-foul penalty on Central moved the ball up to the Eagles 29-yard line where Dempsey connected with Plenge for a 29-yard game-tying touchdown.

Southern’s defense also flipped the script by forcing Central to punt on its first two possessions of the second half. The Rams then got the ball back at their own 29-yard line late in the third quarter and embarked on a 12-play, 71-yard drive to take the lead. Freshman Lukas Illiesco had a great 24-yard catch where he high-pointed the ball over a Central defensive back to put Southern at the Central 40-yard line. Runs by Silva, Raub and Wyrsch moved the ball inside the 5-yard line where Wyrsch scored from a yard out to give Southern a 21-14 lead with 6:06 left, setting the stage for the final theatrics.

 

A Program Win

Central is now 5-0 for the first time since 2021 when it began the season 6-0 en route to the Shore Conference Liberty Division championship. This game had the extra juice of being between two longtime rivals that entered the game undefeated with first place in the division on the line. Additionally, Pidgeon is a Southern Regional graduate who was a standout linebacker during his career with the Rams.

“We believe in our kids and a big focus this offseason was mental toughness,” Pidgeon said. “We talked during the offseason about mental training and sticking together and believing in ourselves. It’s the mental edge we needed to change the culture here, to win games like this.”

“We knew it was going to be four quarters and a hard-fought game. That’s a good program over there (Southern). They do everything the right way.”

“This means everything,” Yates said. “The whole team worked so hard for this.”

Central snapped a five-game losing streak to Southern and now leads the all-time series 27-24-1. Yates was named Central’s MVP and Dempsey was selected as Southern’s MVP.

“Five straight years of taking an L, we weren’t thinking about us, we were thinking of coach Pidgeon,” Vezzosi said. “We love that guy. We owe it to him and the past generations who have lost this game. We knew it was a big game but it’s also one week and we didn’t want to think ahead. We just wanted to beat Southern.”

 

What’s next for both teams?

Central will host Barnegat (3-2) in a nondivisional game while Southern will head up the Parkway to face No. 5 Brick Memorial (4-1), which defeated No. 9 Donovan Catholic, 34-27, in Week 4.

“We have to continue to keep growing and get better,” Pidgeon said. “It’s Week 5, this is not the end goal. We’re not middle-of-the-season champs. We have to get better tomorrow.”

 

 

Box Score

Central 26, Southern 21

Central

Southern

First downs

13

14

Rushes-yards

19-45

30-113

Passing

14-21-0

10-18-0

Passing yards

295

143

Fumbles-lost

0-0

1-0

Penalties-yards

8-67

8-50

 

1

2

3

4

F

Central (5-0, 3-0)

14

0

0

12

26

Southern (4-1, 2-1)

0

7

7

7

21

 

Scoring Summary

C — Austin Jarvis 1-yard pass from Joe Vezzosi (Michael Nieves kick)

C — CJ Yates 53-yard pass from Joe Vezzosi (Michael Nieves kick)

S — Evan Wyrsch 1-yard run (Keegan Foote kick)

S — Talon Plenge 29-yard pass from Cooper Dempsey (Keegan Foote kick)

S — Evan Wyrsch 1-yard run (Keegan Foote kick)

C — CJ Yates 20-yard pass from Joe Vezzosi (kick failed)

C — CJ Yates 13-yard pass from Joe Vezzosi (pass failed)

 

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — CR: Nick Ruggiero 15-41, Joe Vezzosi 4-4; SR: Justin Silva 15-61, Evan Wyrsch 8-28, Chris Raub 2-10, DJ Halm 4-10, Carson Abbato 1-4.

PASSING — CR: Joe Vezzosi 14-21-0 – 295; SR: Cooper Dempsey 8-14-0 – 128, Carson Abbato 2-4-0 – 15.

RECEIVING — CR: CJ Yates 5-173, Royalty Riley 6-101, Elijah Reeder 1-10, Nick Ruggiero 1-10, Austin Jarvis 1-1; SR: Talon Plenge 3-57, Chris Raub 3-49, Lukas Illiesco 1-24, Justin Silva 2-24, Evan Wyrsch 1-13.

 

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