Jake Henehan, Toms River South football

SSI Football Report: Jake Henehan takes off for Toms River South

Scott Stump|September 25, 2024|Last Updated September 27, 2024

When Toms River South head coach Matt Martin spoke with college coaches in the offseason about Jake Henehan, the speed of the Indians’ senior was often questioned.

Four games into this season, Martin feels his star running back has answered the critics.

He has rolled up 623 yards on just 42 carries in essentially three games for an eye-opening 14.8 yards per carry. Out of his eight rushing touchdowns, seven of them have been more than 50 yards.

“Once he gets into the second level, he’s been able to run away from people,” Martin said. “It reminds me of watching (former Toms River East star) Kevin Davis in 2002. The breakaway speed has been lights-out this year.”

Henehan, who ran for 834 yards and 10 touchdowns as a junior, took that doubt about his speed to heart in the offseason, going out for track last spring and putting in hours on his own trying to get faster.

“I researched a lot,” Henehan said. “I did a lot of sprints and a lot of things that have to do with resistance. I got resistance bands, a weighted vest, and even bought a parachute, and that resistance helped me gain a lot of speed.”

It has shown on the field, as Henehan is among the Shore Conference rushing leaders despite missing almost all of a 24-8 loss to unbeaten Southern on Sept. 13 due to a chest injury he suffered on the third play of the game.

His most recent effort was a 177-yard night in a 27-21 win over Brick in Week Three. In the second game of the season, Henehan ran for a career-high 271 yards in a win over Raritan, which was within striking distance of the single-game school record of 308 set by former star Lonzell Neal in 2002.

“When I get out in the open, there’s this fifth gear that turns on now,” Henehan said. “My mind just says ‘I don’t want to get caught.’”

It also helps that the Indians returned four starters up front – senior center Nick Mueller, senior right guard Mike Devivi, senior left tackle Gunnar Schwartz and senior left guard Joe Bacchetta. Junior right tackle Austin Reed has joined the veterans to complete the group.

They have helped the Indians (2-2) hold their own against a stepped-up schedule after being realigned into Class B South following their first division title in 21 years last season. Senior quarterback Gio Torres has also become an important part of the puzzle as teams scheme to stop the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Henehan.

“The perfect example is the Brick game,” Henehan said. “Obviously we do a lot of read option, and earlier in the game they had their ends crashing a lot to take away me and force my quarterback to run, and he ended up doing well.”

Torres finished with 108 yards rushing and a touchdown on just eight carries in the win.

While taking down some school records is a possibility if Henehan keeps up his prolific pace, he has his eyes on a postseason berth for the Indians. He’s an honors student who has garnered some interest from Wagner and Division II and III schools, according to Martin.

“I try not to think about that,” he said about the records and recruiting. “In reality, I’m focused on winning games and making it far into the playoffs. Nothing is better than winning.”

NJSIAA offers ‘sincere apologies’ for controversial Red Bank-Freehold Township ending

An NJSIAA spokesperson admitted the officials at Freehold Township’s 24-22 win over Red Bank made a mistake that essentially cost Red Bank the game on the final play. The Patriots had three attempts at a game-winning field goal, the first of which was whistled dead due to an offsides penalty on Red Bank. The Bucs blocked the second attempt, but the officials ruled that Red Bank’s players ran on the field in celebration while the play was still going on and flagged them for too many men on the field.

That gave Freehold Township a third crack at it, and James Russo hit a 22-yard field goal as time expired for a crucial Class B North win.

“Unfortunately, there was an error by game officials in the enforcement of a penalty during last week’s football game between Freehold Township and Red Bank,’’ NJSIAA spokesperson Mike Cherenson told Steve Falk of The Asbury Park Press. “We understand the frustration caused by this situation and join with the officials in offering our sincere apologies.

“While those of us involved in scholastic athletics consistently strive to minimize human error, sports at every level are inevitably impacted by human judgment.’’

Cherenson said the correct call would’ve been to give Red Bank a dead-ball penalty after the blocked field goal, which would’ve given the Bucs the win.

While the stakes weren’t nearly as high, the admission brought back memories of the controversial Camden win over Manasquan in boys basketball on a blown call during last season’s NJSIAA Group 2 semifinals that made national headlines.

The win not only kept Freehold Township tied for first place in the division with Middletown North, it also was a potentially huge swing in Red Bank’s state playoff hopes.

One other note from that game: Congrats to Freehold Township senior quarterback Nick Cardone, who completed 23 of 39 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns in the win to become the Patriots’ all-time leading passer with 4,453 career yards, breaking the previous mark of 4,216 held by Jack O’Brien (2013-2015). Cardone also holds program records for career touchdown passes (44) and completions (329).

Shore, Middletown North defenses quietly dominating

While it’s no surprise to see units like Toms River North’s defense stifling opponents, and we’ve already noted the strong performance by Southern, two other unbeaten teams have been suffocating on defense so far this season.

Shore Regional has allowed the fewest points in the Shore Conference (7) through Week Three, and those came in a season-opening 28-7 win over a Pinelands team that hasn’t been held under 26 by any other team.

The Blue Devils have been led by senior linebackers Brendan O’Brien (22 tackles, 3 TFL), Tommy Schroeder (34 tackles, 3 TFL) and junior Mike Marotta (22 tackles, 2 TFL) under new coordinator Erik Mammano.

“Defensively, from a personnel standpoint, those three guys have been dominant,” Shore head coach Don Klein said. “Our linebacking unit has been really physical, and they’re all bright, so they pick things up quickly. There are a handful of guys that we have right now who would play anywhere in the Shore at the bigger schools.”

Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com - Brendan O'Brien, Shore Regional football'Brien, Shore Regional football

Shore Regional’s Brendan O’Brien, shown running the ball here, has also been a leader of a defense that has been lights-out so far in 2024. (Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com)

Xavier Moro, a 300-pound senior, anchors the defensive line along with sophomore Cole Torres, who is contributing on defense while also averaging 15.2 yards a carry on offense. Also, Enzo Cagliastro is right among the Shore leaders with three interceptions in the secondary. It’s all added up to Shore’s best start in nine years in its first season under Klein.

Middletown North’s starting defense has not allowed a single point all season. The backups surrendered a touchdown to Lacey in the season opener, while Ocean’s lone touchdown in the Lions’ 24-7 win last week was a fumble return by the Ocean defense.

“It’s really been a team effort,” head coach Steve Bush said. “It’s just everybody doing their job. Our defensive line makes it hard to run on us, we have good athletes in the secondary, and our linebackers tackle well. It’s a good group.”

Seniors Joe Grasso, Mike Dwyer and Brody Tooker have been the standouts up front, while Ryan Clark has a pair of interceptions in the secondary. The Lions also have a new defensive coordinator in Jason Glezman, the former head coach of Keyport, who led the Red Raiders to a pair of division titles the last two seasons.

Vote for Plays of the Week

Get your vote in for the top play of this week captured by our partners at LAZ Creative. I think the 58-yard TD catch by Wall’s Tony Credle gets my vote between the spin move and the balance to stay upright.

 

 

Alumni Spotlight

Jake Croce, Fr., RB, St. Anselm

Point Boro’s all-time leading rusher is already making his presence felt at the next level. He was named the Northeast 10 Conference Rookie of the Week after putting up 94 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 8 carries in a win over American International in his first career start.

 

Michael Calton Jr., So., K, Monmouth University

The former Manalapan standout was named the Coastal Athletic Association’s Special Teams Player of the Week for his heroics in a landmark victory for Monmouth. Calton went 6-for-6 on extra points and booted the game-winning, 43-yard field goal with 1:52 remaining as the Hawks stunned Florida International, 45-42, for their first win over an FBS team in program history. Calton is 2-for-2 on field goals and 19-for-19 on extra points this season.

Monmouth defensive back Deuce Lee was also named the CAA’s Defensive Player of the Week for his forced fumble at the 1-yard line with 32 seconds left that sealed the win. He had a team-high 8 tackles.

Jermaine Corbett, Sr., RB, Merrimack

The former Long Branch star helped Merrimack knock off Bucknell with 166 yards rushing and a touchdown on 19 carries in a 31-21 victory.

P.J. Gibbs, former Manasquan and Matawan assistant

ESPN’s College GameDay did a great feature on Gibbs’ daughter, Payton, who is on the autism spectrum and has dreams of being a football coach at the college level and beyond. Watch it below. Bob Badders and I also spoke to Gibbs, who also played at Manasquan for legendary coach Vic Kubu, for an edition of our Inside Shore Conference Football podcast that will be coming up later this week.

 

Notes from around the Shore

  • Marlboro’s 3-0 win over Middletown South is believed to be the Mustangs’ first victory over the Eagles since 1994, when Marlboro won its only state title. Marlboro also became the first public school team to shut out Middletown South since Long Branch beat them 20-0 in 2017.
  • Middletown South defensive coordinator Jeremy Balina, a former star at Neptune and longtime coach in the Shore, was inducted into the Wagner College Hall of Fame over the weekend. Balina was a standout linebacker for Wagner in the early 2000s.
  • New Matawan coach Matt Walsh picked up his first career win when the Huskies downed Freehold 35-21 behind 237 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns by senior running back Colin Palumbo.
  • Middletown North can start 4-0 for the first time in at least 20 years and possibly since 1996 with a win over Freehold in Class B North.
  • Southern is looking to improve to 5-0 for the first time since possibly the 1980s or maybe ever by winning a matchup of unbeatens against Central. The Golden Eagles are trying to get to 5-0 for the first time since starting 6-0 in 2021.
  • Pinelands became the first team to hold the Shore’s leading rusher, Lakewood senior quarterback Rahmel Anderson, under 200 yards this season after he finished with 150 and two touchdowns. Senior quarterback Ty Kline led the Wildcats with 220 yards passing and two touchdowns in a 42-16 win.
  • New Egypt is looking for its first 4-0 start in 13 years when it faces Keyport on Saturday.
  • Red Bank Catholic has a 16-game winning streak against Shore Conference competition, the longest streak of any team in the Shore, heading into this weekend’s game against Marlboro.
  • Toms River North has the longest current winning streak in the state at nine games and has won 30 in a row against public school opponents.
  • Rumson-Fair Haven senior quarterback Owen O’Toole needs 134 yards to go over 5,000 yards passing for his career. The Bulldogs head to The Swamp to play Middletown South on Friday night. Rumson’s school record is 5,635 yards set by Mike Roberto.

Scott Stump is an award-winning reporter, newsletter writer and editor who first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.  

Email: [email protected]

 

 

 

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