Road Warriors: Manasquan dominates in the trenches to knock off Toms River South

TOMS RIVER – From the moment Manasquan took the field for warmups and lined up its offense, the intention was clear that the Warriors had no plans to try to finesse Toms River South with the passing game or rely on trick plays or misdirection on Friday night.

Like vintage Manasquan teams from the 1990s and 2000s, the Warriors lined up under center in the I-formation with a plan to run downhill from start to finish with bad intentions. Manasquan stuck to its identity, dominating in the running game and playing sound, physical defense, which led to a 27-0 opening night victory over Toms River South in a nondivisional game at Detwiler Field.

Manasquan head coach Jay Price was pleased with the effort, but believes his team has a lot to clean up after the Week Zero win over an Indians squad that graduated the bulk of its starting lineup from last year’s team that won a share of the Class B South title.

“A win is a win. This is a great place to play. Coach (Matt) Martin has those kids coached up. This is one of the top 10 places to play in the Shore,” Price said. “We played some young kids, we made some mental mistakes, but it’s good to come out with a win.”

On Manasquan’s first drive, after carries of 3 and 8 yards, senior running back Ace Etienne, playing in his first game since breaking his femur on Thanksgiving, bounced off his own blocker at the line of scrimmage, spun out and raced down the sideline for a 64-yard touchdown. Senior kicker Joey Dettlinger added the extra point to put the Warriors up 7-0.

The teams traded punts over the next three series. On Manasquan’s third possession, a 39-yard gain to the Indians’ 1-yard line by senior running back Dylan Lu was wiped out by a holding penalty. Two plays later, on a third-and-14 from the Toms River South 43-yard line, senior quarterback Frankie Tackett found junior tight end Luke Barry for a 23-yard strike to extend the drive.

On third-and-goal from the 5, Etienne rammed the ball up the middle for his second touchdown of the game to extend the lead to 13-0 before a missed extra point. That drive took a total of 5:23, spanning the end of the first and beginning of the second quarter.

On Manasquan’s last drive of the half, the Warriors marched 60 yards for a scoring drive capped off by junior running back Dax Klein’s 29-yard touchdown scamper and Dettlinger’s extra point to take a 20-0 halftime lead.

Manasquan’s defense refused to allow Toms River South back into the game. The swarming Big Blue defense held the Indians to a total of 55 yards and two first downs in the first half. A sack by Manasquan junior defensive end Nick Loughrey, who was seemingly living in the Toms River South backfield for much of the night, followed by a tackle for loss by junior defensive end Jackson McDonald, sent the game to halftime with the Warriors up 20-0.

“The running backs are picking up where they left off last season,” Price said.  “We asked a lot of Klein last season, probably a little too much before he was ready, but he had a great offseason, and he has matured a lot. We are going to have to depend on him a lot moving forward. You know what you are getting out of Ace. He is a great competitor, and as long as he is able to run, he’ll keep running.”

The second half was much like the first. Toms River South went three-and-out on its first drive, and an 11-yard punt gave the Warriors great field position at the Toms River South 39-yard line.

After a 14-yard touchdown run by Klein was nullified by another holding penalty, Manasquan found itself with a 4th-and-8 from the 17-yard line. The Warriors kept the offense on the field, and Tackett lofted a beautiful pass over the defense to senior wideout Jack O’Reilly, who made a fantastic fingertip catch in the back of the end zone over a defender. Dettlinger added the extra point to make it 27-0 with 6:25 left in the third quarter.

Manasquan’s defense did the rest of the work, holding Toms River South to 44 yards and 2 first downs in the second half, keeping the Indians under 100 total yards for the game.

In total, the Warriors offense rumbled for 247 yards on the ground on 43 carries, with Etienne leading the way with 15 carries for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Klein chipped in with nine carries for 69 yards and a touchdown. Tackett passed for 61 yards on 4-for-7 accuracy with a touchdown pass. Barry caught two passes for 34 yards while O’Reilly caught two passes for 27 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, senior linebacker Jake McDaid had a team-high six tackles. Loughrey finished with five tackles, including four for a loss, and a sack. McDonald finished with three tackles for a loss. Junior defensive tackle Bubba O’Donnell recorded a sack, and Klein recovered a fumble on a punt that bounced off a Toms River South returner.

“We will celebrate this win for the next 3 hours and 52 minutes, and then it’s on to getting ready for Point Boro next week,” Price said. “We need to clean up the mental mistakes, like jumping offsides twice. We had a couple of holding penalties, which is just guys not moving their feet. If we can tighten up our technique and the stuff from the neck up, we won’t be killing ourselves on drives.”

Manasquan (1-0) takes on a very tough Point Boro team (0-1) that it has lost to the last three seasons next week at home on Saturday at 1 p.m., while Toms River South (0-1) takes on Marlboro (1-0) at home on Friday night at 6 p.m.