No. 8 Southern shuts down Brick to stay undefeated atop Class B South

STAFFORD TOWNSHIP — Friday night’s game between Southern and Brick was billed as a separation game between two undefeated teams in Class B South. It took just five minutes for the host to pull away for good.

Spurred by an interception and a fumble recovery on its first four defensive snaps, Southern jumped out to a quick two-score lead and never looked back as the Rams, ranked No. 8 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12, rolled to a 35-7 Shore Conference Class B South victory over visiting Brick to take over sole possession of first place in the division.

Junior quarterback Carson Abbato engineered Southern’s no-frills yet ultra-efficient offense with three touchdown passes, and senior running back Aidan Covell ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns behind an offensive line that made life easy for the Rams’ skill players. Sophomore tight end Lukas Iliescu caught touchdown passes of 19 and 35 yards, and senior wide receiver Ace Williams collected a 5-yard touchdown reception. Abbato completed 8 of 10 passes for 103 yards and three scores, with one of the incompletions resulting from a drop.

“This was a big game for us,” Abbato said. “We knew coming in it was a big division game, and we wanted to come out on our home turf and handle business. We won the division with a three-way tie last year, and this year we want to win it by ourselves.”

Southern’s offense didn’t pile up yardage — mostly because it didn’t have to. The Rams worked with a short field for much of the evening thanks to a defense that forced three turnovers and yielded just 22 yards and zero first downs in the first half. Junior defensive back Luke Iorio intercepted a pass on the second play from scrimmage to set up Southern’s first touchdown, then Williams forced and recovered a fumble that led to Southern’s second score just a few minutes later. A fumble recovery by senior defensive back Harrison Grose in the second quarter also led to a touchdown.

The Rams led 35-0 at halftime and held Brick scoreless until late in the game when much of the starting defense had given way to the backups. Brick was averaging 32.3 points per game entering Friday night and senior quarterback James Hirtes had rushed for 464 yards on 9.9 yards per attempt. He had just 13 yards in the first half and 36 for the game.

“We knew he was going to run quarterback draw the whole game, so the game plan was to pinch inside and give him no room to run,” Lukas Iliescu said.

“We didn’t want him outside, that’s for sure,” Southern head coach Chuck Donohue Sr. said. “The other thing we were concerned with was his ability to change direction. We thought he was the scariest player on offense.”

Brick’s lone touchdown came on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Hirtes to senior wide receiver Germaine Rice Jr. with 3:30 left and the clock running.

“We consider ourselves a defensive team and Matt (Abbato) does a tremendous job coordinating it,” Donohue said. “Our assistants do a good job with their positions, and everyone works well together. The guys all played in the system at some point so it’s easy to make adjustments.”

Any late-arriving fans missed out on the early fireworks courtesy of Southern’s defense. Brick won the toss and elected to receive, and on the first play Hirtes was driven back for a one-yard loss by Iliescu. On the next play, Iorio jumped a route in the flat for an interception that gave the Rams the ball at the Brick 27-yard line. An 11-yard pass from Abbato to Iliescu brought up first-and-goal, and on second down, Covell plowed in from three yards out for a 7-0 lead just 2:28 into the game.

On the second play of the ensuing Brick possession, Williams stripped a Brick receiver and recovered the fumble at the Brick 43-yard line. A 16-yard gain by Covell on third down moved the ball to the 19-yard line, and on first down, Iliescu took a short pass and picked up great downfield blocking on his way to the end zone. Less than five minutes into the game Southern had surged to a 14-0 advantage.

“Our defense has done a great job this season. I think they’ve allowed two touchdowns all year and each drive they set us up within the 50 almost every time,” Abbato said. “It makes my job a lot easier as a quarterback.”

Southern forced a three-and-out on the next series before going to work on a 15-play, 71-scoring drive that broke the game open. The Rams went for it on fourth-and-2 from their own 38-yard line and Covell converted with a 4-yard gain. Southern continued to chip away and drain the clock with modest runs, including another fourth-down conversion at the Brick 19-yard line, before Covell scored on a 2-yard run for a 21-0 lead with 8:09 left in the first half.

An illegal shift penalty turned a third-and-4 into a third-and-9 for Brick on its next series, and Southern was able to hold to force another punt. Taking over at their own 45-yard line, the Rams needed just four plays to get back into the end zone and take a four-touchdown lead. Covell ran for 16 yards on second down to move the ball to the Brick 38. Two plays later, Abbato found Iliescu wide open and with plenty of grass in front of him. The standout sophomore did the rest on a 35-yard catch-and-run touchdown that extended Southern’s lead to 28-0.

Three plays into Brick’s next possession, the Dragons fumbled again, and Grose was right there to fall on the bouncing ball at the Brick 30-yard line. Iliescu ran for seven yards on second down and gained 15 yards on the next play. Brick appeared to have Southern stopped when Abbato’s third-down pass fell incomplete, but a dead-ball, personal-foul penalty on Brick extended the drive and gave Southern a first down at the Dragons’ 6-yard line. Abbato tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Williams on second-and-goal for a commanding 35-0 lead with 14.9 seconds left in the half.

With the clock running to start the third quarter, all Southern had to do was hold onto the ball and keep doing its thing. The Rams obliged, and even though Brick avoided a shutout with a late score, Southern’s defense came up with another highlight when it stopped Brick on downs at the 2-yard line early in the fourth quarter.

Southern is now 4-0 for the second straight year and full of confidence heading into next week’s road game against Toms River North. The three-time defending Group 5 champion Mariners are 1-3 after a last-second loss to Brick Memorial on Friday night, but their losses have come to No. 1 Red Bank Catholic, No. 4 Brick Memorial, and No. 6 Donovan Catholic. They will be a dangerous – and desperate – opponent.

“Our motto is just to go 1-0 each week,” Abbato said. “That’s how we’re attacking the season. We’re a cohesive unit that plays for each other. We go to battle for each other.”

 

Box Score

No. 8 Southern 35, Brick 7

	Brick	Southern
First downs	6	13
Rushes-yards	16-56	34-122
Passing	5-8-1	8-10-0
Passing yard	67	103
Fumbles-lost	3-2	2-0
Penalties-yards	3-22	0-0

 

	1	2	3	4	F
Brick (3-1, 1-1)	0	0	0	7	7
Southern (4-0, 2-0)	14	21	0	0	35

 

Scoring Summary

S — Aidan Covell 3-yard run (Cole Celeste kick)

S — Lukas Iliescu 19-yard pass from Carson Abbato (Cole Celeste kick)

S — Aidan Covell 2-yard run (Cole Celeste kick)

S — Lukas Iliescu 35-yard pass from Carson Abbato (Cole Celeste kick)

S — Ace Williams 5-yard pass from Carson Abbato (Cole Celeste kick)

B — Germain Rice Jr. 43-yard pass from James Hirtes (James Hirtes kick)

 

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — B: James Hirtes 8-36, Matt McGuigan 5-23, Germaine Rice Jr. 3-(-3); S: Aidan Covell 16-91, Lukas Iliescu 3-19, Niko Iliescu 4-15, Carson Abbato 4-4, Jayden Krug 1-2, Darren Hamlin 1-1, Dillon Wolfer 1-1, Sawyer Grose 3-(-2), Team 1-(-9).

PASSING — B: James Hirtes 5-8-1 67; S: Carson Abbato 8-10-0 103.

RECEIVING — B: Germaine Rice Jr. 1-43, Cole Perrine 2-13, #0 1-9, Matt McGuigan 1-2; S: Lukas Iliescu 3-65, Colton Oravets 1-18, Ace Williams 2-13, Darren Hamlin 1-5, Niko Iliescu 1-2.

INTERCEPTIONS — S: Luke Iorio 1-0.