Kellen Murray and Owen O’Toole lead Rumson to a third straight sectional title
RUMSON – Rumson-Fair Haven wanted to get right down to business on Friday night when it came to wrapping up its third straight NJSIAA sectional title.
The undefeated Bulldogs won the toss to start the Central Jersey Group 2 final at Borden Stadium and made the decision to receive instead of defer, putting the first possession of the game in the hands of the Shore Conference’s highest-scoring offense.
Head coach Jeremy Schulte looked like a smart man when top-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven drove right down and scored to set the tone in a 38-14 win over second-seeded Wall (8-2) to reach the Group 2 semifinals for the third straight season.
“It’s very rare that we receive when we win the coin toss,” senior quarterback Owen O’Toole said. “I expected us to defer and coach Schulte came up to me right before the coin toss and said we’re receiving (if we win it). We’re confident. We’re not happy when we don’t score.”
Rumson-Fair Haven celebrated its third straight sectional title after winning the Central Jersey Group 2 crown. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
“We came into the game knowing we were going to be able to pound the ball,” junior running back Kellen Murray said. “We have a physical O-line. We know that they have a physical front seven, but we were going to come in and do what we do every week, continue our run and make it back to Rutgers (for the Group 2 final).”
Rumson wins its 9th overall title
The Bulldogs (11-0), ranked No. 2 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12, racked up 408 yards of total offense, which included 153 yards rushing and a touchdown on 28 carries by Murray. O’Toole, who is the school’s all-time leading passer, went 15-for-22 for 207 yards and a touchdown and ran for 48 yards and three touchdowns, while senior wideout Jordan Angstreich had five catches for 86 yards and a touchdown.
It’s the ninth overall sectional title for Rumson, which ties the Bulldogs with Toms River North for the third-most of any program in Shore Conference history behind Manasquan (12) and Middletown South (10). They will now try to reach their third straight Group 2 final by winning a rematch with South Jersey Group 2 champion Point Boro in the Group semifinals at Borden Stadium on Nov. 22. Rumson beat Point Boro 41-28 in its season opener.
The scary thing is Rumson had two turnovers on an interception and a fumble, plus six offensive penalties, yet still hung 38 points on a Wall defense that was only allowing 12 points per game. The Bulldogs, who have won nine sectional titles in the last 14 years, entered the night averaging a Shore-best 42.2 points per game.
“Our offense didn’t play great tonight,” O’Toole said. “Better hope that we don’t play clean football, because if we do, you better score a lot.”
Junior Kellen Murray had 153 yards rushing and a touchdown in Rumson’s win. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
Bulldogs get off to a fast start
After electing to receive the opening kickoff, Rumson went 69 yards in 11 plays, scoring on a 1-yard keeper by O’Toole for a 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs’ defense then got a stop on fourth-and-2 at their own 30-yard line to set up a five-play, 70-yard drive that ended with another 1-yard keeper by O’Toole for a 14-0 advantage. The big play came when O’Toole hit senior wideout Nick Thomas for a 31-yard gain, and even after he fumbled, it was recovered by fellow wideout Nick Economou.
The lead swelled to 21-0 when Rumson polished off a 12-play, 79-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by O’Toole with 6:05 left in the first half. O’Toole is known primarily as a dropback passer, but he hurt Wall with his legs with four runs of nine or more yards in the game.
“I don’t put on film that I run that often,” O’Toole said. “I don’t love to run, but when they’re schematically not going to stop me (from running), and they’re going to guard all our receivers, it’s tough to stop every single person on the field. If you’re going to guard everyone, I’ll take it.”
Wall, ranked No. 8 in the SSI Top 12, got on the board with a six-play, 54-yard drive set up by an interception by junior linebacker Thomas Plisky. Sophomore quarterback Franny Scaramellino scored on a 13-yard run to cut the lead to 21-7 with 2:21 left in the half.
Rumson senior QB Owen O’Toole threw for 207 yards and a score and also ran for 48 yards and 3 touchdowns. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
Rumson killed any momentum the Crimson Knights might have taken into the locker room by driving 69 yards in 10 plays and scoring on a 27-yard field goal by senior Carson Memmott on the final play of the half for a 24-7 lead.
Rumson answers Wall’s long scoring drive
Wall crept further back into it with a monster 14-play, 85-yard drive that chewed 6:28 off the clock and cut the lead to 24-14 with 11:56 left in the game. Junior running back Dylan Cohen scored on a 1-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal.
The big play came when Scaramellino had to come out of the game for one play by rule because his helmet got knocked off. Backup quarterback Brian McKenna lofted up a 30-yard pass that junior wideout Heath Reinhardt pulled down over two defenders for a 30-yard gain to the 5-yard line on fourth-and-9. Reinhardt finished with six catches for 103 yards in the loss.
Rumson didn’t blink, immediately answering with a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 34-yard strike from O’Toole to Angstreich to make it 31-14 with 7:36 remaining.
“We’ve been in a few back-and-forth games this year against other teams,” Schulte said. “We knew we were going to be able to move the ball if we needed to move the ball, so we weren’t overly concerned there.”
Senior WR Nick Thomas had three catches for 52 yards in the win. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
Murray then tacked on a 2-yard touchdown run for the exclamation point with 3:33 left.
“I think it’s a testament to this team’s strength,” Murray said. “Being able to face adversity and tough times and push back and do our thing.”
The celebration afterward was relatively subdued, as Rumson has its eyes on a bigger prize, but the Bulldogs took some time to savor yet another championship.
“It doesn’t get old,” Murray said. “It’s a tradition and an expectation at this school – sectional titles and state chips.”
A highly anticipated rematch with Point Boro
The Bulldogs have come up heartbreakingly short of a Group 2 title the last two seasons, losing two close games in the final. Before they can get back to Rutgers, they must beat a tough Point Boro team for a second time. The Panthers grinded out a 15-7 win over Camden on Friday night to win their second sectional title in the last four seasons.
“It’s always a fun game against Boro,” Murray said. “It’s become a little rivalry the past few years and we’re just going to bring the same energy we brought in the last game against them and get another dub and get back to Rutgers.”
“It’s a totally different game, Week One to now,” O’Toole said. “They’re not the same team, and we’re not the same team. We had a lot of holes then, and we were only a fourth into our playbook. So you’re going to see a lot of new things, defense and offense. We kind of knew we were going to play them (again), so we’ve been looking forward to this one since Week One.”
Wall, which returns a bulk of its talent next season, still has a chance to finish the season with a championship. It can claim a share of the Class C North title with a win over rival Manasquan on Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, Rumson is also chasing history. It hasn’t gone unbeaten since finishing 7-0-2 in 1959, so this team could set itself apart from a lineage of championship teams in the program.
“You’re not only playing against other teams in the Shore and the state, you’re also playing against the teams of the past at RFH,” O’Toole said. “And we want to be the best one ever.”
Box score
Rumson-FH 38, Wall 14
. R W
First downs 23 13
Rushes-yards 37-201 31-109
Passing 15-22-1 15-22-0
Passing yards 207 128
Penalties 8-50 5-45
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Wall (8-2) 0 7 0 7 – 14
Rumson-FH (11-0) 14 10 0 14 – 38
Scoring summary
R: O’Toole 1-yard run (Memmott kick).
R: O’Toole 1-yard run (Memmott kick).
R: O’Toole 3-yard run (Memmott kick).
W: Scaramellino 13-yard run (Reinhardt kick).
R: Memmott 27-yard field goal.
W: Cohen 1-yard run (Reinhardt kick).
R: Angstreich 34-yard pass from O’Toole (Memmott kick).
R: Murray 2-yard run (Memmott kick).
Individual statistics
Rushing – R: Murray 28-153, O’Toole 9-48. W: Scaramellino 8-13, Adam 12-44, Vaccaro 3-10, Cohen 6-19, Credle 1-27, Reinhart 1-(-4).
Passing – R: O’Toole 15-22-1 207. W: Scaramellino 13-20-0 58, McKenna 1-1-0 30, Credle 1-1-0 40.
Receiving – R: Economou 4-31, Angstreich 5-86, Thomas 3-52, Murray 1-19, Gyimesi 1-9, Memmott 1-10. W: Reinhardt 6-103, Credle 6-25, Adam 1-3, Davis 1-(-8), Vaccaro 1-5.
Interceptions – W: Plisky 1-2.
Scott Stump is a 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]
