Neptune Wins First Overall Division Title in 27 Years in Honor of Late Coach

NEPTUNE – In a season dedicated to a coach who was a fixture in the program for 40 years, Neptune had a message for the late Tom Walsh and a proud community on Friday night. 

The Scarlet Fliers are back on top. 

Neptune beat Raritan 26-13 at Memorial Field to clinch the Shore Conference Class D North championship for its first overall division title since the days of legendary coach John Amabile in 1998. The Scarlet Fliers (8-1, 4-0) also won public division titles in 2011 and 2014 when they finished behind Red Bank Catholic. 

“It feels great to be able to do something that we haven’t done in a long time,” junior quarterback Caleb Brown-Mason said. “It took a lot of hard work, a lot of learning experiences, and a lot of losses.” 

“It’s priceless,” Neptune head coach Mike Seber said. “We put the time in, these kids worked their butts off, and we’re finally seeing the work pay off.” 

The Scarlet Fliers, who have won eight straight for the first time since 2011, have played this season in memory of Walsh, who died at 66 on June 30, just days after he retired from Neptune. He was a longtime assistant as well as the head coach from 2001-05, when he succeeded Amabile. 

“We were talking about him at halftime,” Brown-Mason said. “His wife and them were here, and they said he would be proud of us and that he’s watching us.” 

“His sister texted me yesterday, his wife texted me yesterday, and they go, ‘Tom would be proud of you,’” Seber said. “He’s watching over us.” 

Brown-Mason threw three touchdown passes, including two to junior Hassin McMillian, and also ran for 104 yards on 16 carries as the host Scarlet Fliers led the Rockets (3-5, 3-1) from start to finish. The defense limited Raritan to 151 total yards. 

“(This division title) means a lot,” McMillian said. “I’ve been working on this for three years. First year, we went 2-7, sophomore year we went 5-5, and now we’re 8-1. It feels great. I’m proud of my team. We came a long way.” 

Neptune isn’t done yet, as it will make its first trip to the state playoffs in six years next week, against an opponent that will be announced when the NJSIAA releases the brackets on Sunday. In their third year under Seber, the Scarlet Fliers have emerged from the abyss that preceded him, when the program had four different coaches in five years and struggled to regain its status as a perennial contender. 

A big reason for this year’s leap has been the development of Brown-Mason, who is in his second year as a starter and went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season on Friday night. He had never played quarterback until Seber installed him as the starter last season as a sophomore. Brown-Mason is an explosive runner who is averaging 10.7 yards per carry for the season and does enough in the passing game to keep teams honest. 

“He’s the most underrated quarterback in the Shore,” Seber said. “He’s a special kid. You could just see it. At quarterback you need a guy that’s going to be able to handle the pressure.” 

A simple moment in practice when Brown-Mason was a sophomore got the wheels turning for Seber as far as trying him at quarterback. 

“He threw a halfback pass in practice, and it was like 25 yards on the point,” Seber said. “How far do you need to throw the ball in high school football? You throw the ball accurately in 20 yards, I’ll take it.” 

Neptune Dominates the First Half 

After an interception by Raritan’s Marko Brown killed Neptune’s initial drive, the Scarlet Fliers scored on three of their last four possessions of the first half. 

Neptune caught a break when a low snap skidded past the punter and was recovered by the Scarlet Fliers at Raritan’s 3-yard line midway through the first quarter. Three plays later, junior running back Kingston Pinnock scored on a 1-yard touchdown run that made it 7-0 with 2:54 left in the first quarter. 

The Scarlet Fliers made it 13-0 when they drove 58 yards in six plays, scoring on a six-yard touchdown pass from Brown-Mason to McMillian on third-and-goal with 3:58 left in the half. 

McMillian then set up his second touchdown when he scooped up a fumble on defense off an errant option pitch and returned it 39 yards to Raritan’s 5-yard line. However, Rockets linebacker John Jeleniewski came up with an interception in the end zone. 

An illegal block by Raritan on the interception return kept the ball at the Rockets’ 4-yard line, and Neptune’s defense forced a three-and-out while also calling two timeouts. That preserved enough time for the Scarlet Fliers to punch in one more score before halftime. 

McMillian returned a punt 17 yards to Raritan’s 18-yard line. On the next play, Brown-Mason found McMillian streaking across the end zone for an 18-yard score with just 17 seconds left in the half for a 19-0 lead at the break.  

“I was just breaking some tackles, and I just found my playmaker open, so I had to get him the ball,” Brown-Mason said. 

Neptune’s defense dominated the first half, holding Raritan to 18 total yards and two first downs, one of which came on a pass interference penalty. 

“Many people doubted us,” McMillian said. “We came out here and showed them we’ve got the No. 1 defense in the Shore. I’ve tried to tell people.” 

“Frank Iachetta is one of the best defensive coordinators in the Shore,” Seber said. “Our defense is underrated. We’ve been holding teams under 100 yards left and right.” 

Neptune Closes Out a Championship

Raritan got on the board in the third quarter when Brown took off for a 37-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 19-6 before a failed two-point conversion attempt with 7:44 left in the period. 

Neptune answered with an 11-play, 65-yard drive highlighted by a 24-yard run up the middle by Pinnock. Brown-Mason capped the drive when he found junior wide receiver Daaron Lynch for a 13-yard touchdown on fourth-and-8 to push the lead to 26-6. 

Raritan added another score on a 22-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Parker Needham to junior Eric Berg with 5:04 left in the game, but that was as close as it would get. A young Scarlet Fliers team that struggled to finish games last season has now become a championship squad. 

“The games that we did lose last year were tight games, so we just had to clean up everything this year to make sure that those close games that we were losing turned into W’s,” Brown-Mason said. 

They also found the perfect way to honor their late coach. 

“RIP my man Coach Walsh,” McMillian said. “He was a good teacher, coach, father. I know he’s proud looking down over us and smiling.” 

Box Score

Neptune 26, Raritan 13

	N	R
First downs	10	8
Rushes-yards	36-183	21-54
Passing	6-15-2	7-16-0
Passing yards	52	97
Fumbles-lost	0-0	4-1
Penalties-yards	8-65	4-20

 

Raritan (3-5, 3-1)	0	0	6	7	19
Neptune (8-1, 4-0)	7	12	7	0	26

 

Scoring Summary

N: Pinnock 1-yard run (Gartley kick). 

N: McMillian 6-yard pass from Brown-Mason (kick failed).

N: McMillian 18-yard pass from Brown-Mason (run failed). 

R: Brown 37-yard run (pass failed).

N: Lynch 18-yard pass from Brown-Mason (Gartley kick).

R: Berg 22-yard pass from Needham (Davis kick). 

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — N: McMillian 3-15, Holland 1-1, Pinnock 12-56, Brown-Mason 16-104, MacLennan 2-4, Brown 2-3. R: Needham 8-(-19), Brown 3-35, Jeleniewski 9-21, L. Zweidinger 1-11, Berg 1-16, Team 1-(-10). 

PASSING — N: Brown-Mason 6-14-1 52. R: Needham 7-16-0 97. 

RECEIVING – N: McMillian 2-24, Lynch 2-29, Holland 2-(-1). R: Jeleniewski 2-4, Berg 2-28, Brown 1-26, L. Zweidinger 2-39. 

INTERCEPTIONS — R: Brown 1-0, Jeleniewski 1-8. 

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