Owen O’Toole and No. 2 Rumson outduel Michael Thomas and No. 9 Donovan Catholic in high-octane shootout

RUMSON — Two of New Jersey’s top players put on a show when Rumson-Fair Haven and Donovan Catholic squared off in a Shore Conference nondivisional game on Friday night at Borden Stadium.

When the clock finally hit triple zeros in the fourth quarter, Rumson senior quarterback Owen O’Toole and Donovan senior playmaker Michael Thomas III had combined for 652 yards and seven touchdowns. It was a back-and-forth game the entire way until a dominant fourth quarter sent the undefeated Bulldogs to their seventh victory of the season.

O’Toole completed 26 of 30 passes for a career-high 331 yards and a touchdown and ran for 35 yards and a touchdown to lead Rumson, ranked No. 2 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12, to a wild 56-32 victory over the No. 9 Griffins.

O’Toole also became the Bulldogs’ all-time leading passer with 5,942 yards and counting, passing the previous record of 5,635 yards held by 2006 graduate Michael Roberto.

Junior running back Kellen Murray ran for 83 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries, senior wide receiver Nick Thomas caught 8 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown, junior tight end Jack Gyimesi caught a touchdown pass and senior defensive back Evan Ridgway returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown.

The Bulldogs (7-0) needed as much offense as possible on a night when Thomas, a Rutgers recruit as a wide receiver and a two-time First Team All-Shore selection, ran for a career-high 278 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries and threw a touchdown pass.

Rumson led 28-26 at halftime and 35-32 heading into the fourth quarter where it closed the game with 21 unanswered points to improve to 7-0 for the first time since 2013.

“Against any team, especially in the Shore Conference, a win’s a win,” O’Toole said. “These ones are tough.

“I think it just shows what type of team this really is,” Rumson head coach Jeremy Schulte said. “They all have each other’s backs. It’s a special senior class and you can tell. If the defense is struggling the offense is going to show up, and vice versa.”

 

Michael Thomas III runs wild

Thomas was unstoppable in the first half when Donovan deployed him in the backfield either as a wildcat quarterback or lined up behind sophomore quarterback Kyle Dow. After the Griffins stopped Rumson on fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line on the game’s opening possession, Thomas took his first carry of the game 94 yards for a touchdown on an electrifying run that gave Donovan a 6-0 lead. The Griffins’ kicker is junior Gavin Nascimento, who suffered a serious season-ending leg injury during a Week 6 win over Jackson Memorial. Donovan attempted a 2-point conversion after all five of its touchdowns and the first attempt failed when Dow’s pass fell incomplete.

Thomas’s second carry came early in the second quarter after Rumson had taken a 14-6 lead, and he took it 93 yards for a touchdown to pull the Griffins within 14-12.

Two carries, 187 yards, 2 touchdowns.

He added a 13-yard touchdown later in the second quarter and entered halftime with 233 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just eight carries. Rumson did a much better job on him and the Griffins’ offense in general in the second half by holding him to 45 yards on seven carries. Thomas threw a touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Jayden Nascimento in the third quarter.

The Griffins ran for 411 yards and totaled 496 yards of offense.

“We clamped down when we needed to and got them in positions where we could hopefully try to neutralize Michael Thomas, which is not the easiest thing to do because he’s on a different planet,” Schulte said. “And a really good kid, too.”

“Michael Thomas is a heck of a player,” O’Toole said. “He hasn’t played a lot this year so there’s not much film on him but, yeah, that kid’s unreal.”

 

Rumson cranks the pace to warp speed

From the first play of the game, Rumson ran a no-huddle, hurry-up offense that saw O’Toole slice and dice the Donovan Catholic defense. He led Rumson down the field on its first series before a penalty negated a touchdown and forced the Bulldogs to go for it on 4th-and-goal from the 6-yard line. Donovan forced a turnover on downs and then went ahead on Thomas’s 94-yard touchdown run.

Aside from a kneeldown at the end of the first half, that was the only time Rumson would end a drive with anything other than a touchdown.

Rumson responded with an 8-play, 63-yard scoring drive that ended with O’Toole tossing a 9-yard touchdown pass to Thomas. The touchdown was set up by a great leaping 26-yard catch by Thomas one play earlier.

The Bulldogs’ next drive covered 69 yards across eight plays and concluded with O’Toole swinging a pass to Gyimesi for a 9-yard catch-and-run touchdown reception and a 14-6 lead. He then piloted drives of 70 and 60 yards to lead Rumson to a 28-26 halftime lead. He was 21 of 24 for 234 yards in the first half and completed 16 straight passes entering the break. His ability to diagnose a defense pre-snap and check in and out of plays allowed Rumson to thrive without huddling.

“He’s a really smart, savvy football player,” Schulte said. “We told him in the beginning of the season we were going to have some of these things in and last week (in a 26-11 win over Red Bank Catholic) we told him we’ll give him the keys to the car. We trust him and have full faith in him. He knows the offense inside and out.”

“Another thing that’s huge is that everyone on the offense trusts him. They know if he’s making a check or a call there’s no question, they just go with it. He’s like having another coach on the field. It’s something special.”

“We don’t have a lot of guys that play both ways and a lot of teams do, so we try to take advantage of that,” O’Toole said. “Going up-tempo, they had to come off the field and then go play offense. We like to move quick and we’re very good at it.”

It was more of the same in the second half. Rumson’s defense came up with a crucial stop to force Donovan to punt on the opening possession of the third quarter. From there, the Bulldogs marched 75 yards in just four players to take a 35-26 lead on a 23-yard touchdown run by Murray. O’Toole had a 32-yard pass to Angstreich and a 12-yard pass to Nick Economou to set up the score.

Donovan answered with a 77-yard drive that ended with the touchdown pass from Thomas to Nascimento, but once against Rumson punched back to take a 42-32 lead on a 7-yard touchdown run by Murray on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“I have the utmost confidence in our offense,” Nick Thomas said. “Our quarterback is amazing, our O-line is great, our receivers are the best in the Shore. Once we have the ball, there’s no stopping us.”

 

Turning point: A catch or an INT?

Rumson’s sixth touchdown was set up by a 31-yard catch by Angstreich when he came down with a 50/50 ball battling with Thomas downfield. It appeared Thomas had wrestled the ball away from Angstreich for an interception but the officials conferred and ruled that it was Rumson’s ball. On the next play, Murray darted into the end zone on a 7-yard touchdown run to cap a 7-play, 63-yard drive for a 42-32 advantage.

Rumson then broke the game open rather quickly when Ridgeway intercepted Dow on the next series and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown and a 49-32 lead. On its next possession, Donovan went for it on 4th-and-5 from its own 11-yard line and Rumson got a stop to force a turnover on downs. The Bulldogs found the end zone two plays later on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by O’Toole.

 

The revenge tour continues

Rumson has now avenged three of its five losses from last season with wins over Point Boro, Red Bank Catholic and Donovan Catholic. Friday’s win was especially satisfying for O’Toole, who struggled in his two previous starts versus the Griffins.

“They’ve had my number the last two years,” O’Toole said. “They shut us out my sophomore year and last year I had four interceptions against them. I wanted this one badly and I think a lot of us did. We’ve had a couple revenge games this year and this checks another box.”

 

Thoughts with Gavin Nascimento

Donovan Catholic junior Gavin Nascimento endured a gruesome season-ending leg injury last week when he suffered a break of his tibia and fibula bones in his left leg while being tackled versus Jackson Memorial. He required multiple surgeries to repair the break and a vein that was severed, according to his father Jack, who is also Donovan’s offensive coordinator. He is expected to make a full recovery.

“We are all keeping him in our thoughts and throwing positive energy his way,” Schulte said. “

 

What’s next for both teams?

Rumson will take on winless Colts Neck where a victory will clinch the outright Class A North division title.

Donovan faces one of its biggest rivals, No. 1 Toms River North, in a Class A South game.

 

BOX SCORE

No. 2 Rumson-Fair Haven 56, No. 9 Donovan Catholic 32

 

	Donovan Catholic	Rumson-Fair Haven
First downs	20	24
Rushes-yards	45-411	23-124
Passing	6-9-1	26-30-0
Passing yards	85	331
Fumbles-lost	1-0	0-0
Penalties-yards	4-40	5-65

 

	1	2	3	4	F
Donovan (2-4)	6	20	6	0	32
Rumson (7-0)	7	21	7	21	56

 

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

DC — Michael Thomas III 94-yard run (pass failed)

RFH — Nick Thomas 9-yard pass from Owen O’Toole (Carson Memmott kick)

 

SECOND QUARTER

RFH — Jack Gyimesi 9-yard pass from Owen O’Toole (Carson Memmott kick)

DC — Michael Thomas 93-yard run (run failed)

RFH — Kellen Murray 4-yard run (Carson Memmott kick)

DC — Michael Thomas III 13-yard run (AJ Pena run)

RFH — Kellen Murray 2-yard run (Carson Memmott kick)

DC — Isaac Correa 17-yard pass from Kyle Dow (run failed)

 

THIRD QUARTER

RFH — Kellen Murray 23-yard run (Carson Memmott kick)

DC — Jayden Nascimento 8-yard pass from Michael Thomas III (run failed)

 

FOURTH QUARTER

RFH — Kellen Murray 7-yard run (Carson Memmott kick)

RFH — Evan Ridgway 36-yard interception return (Carson Memmott kick)

RFH — Owen O’Toole 1-yard run (Carson Memmott kick)

 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — DC: Michael Thomas III 15-278, AJ Pena 10-84, Ethan Nicholas 12-50, Luke Vernieri 4-7, Isaac Correa 2-(-3), Kyle Dow 2-(-5). RFH: Kellen Murray 15-83, Owen O’Toole 7-35, Nick Thomas 1-6.

PASSING — DC: Kyle Dow 5-8-1, 77; Michael Thomas III 1-1-0, 8. RFH: Owen O’Toole 26-30-0, 331.

RECEIVING — DC: Isaac Correa 3-54, Jayden Nascimento 3-31. RFH: Nick Thomas 8-105, Jordan Angstreich 5-93, Nick Economou 5-56, Carson Memmott 3-33, Jack Gyimesi 2-24, Kellen Murray 2-14, Arthur Tambaro 1-6.

INTERCEPTIONS — RFH: Evan Ridgway 1-36.