Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com

Rumson rallies past Shabazz to win first state title and finish undefeated

Bob Badders|December 4, 2024|Last Updated December 12, 2024

PISCATAWAY — Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium has been the site of heartbreak for the Rumson-Fair Haven football team over the past three seasons.

On Wednesday night, the Bulldogs changed the narrative to put the finishing touches on a legendary season.

Junior running back Kellen Murray ran for 170 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries, senior quarterback Owen O’Toole ran for a score and delivered two huge fourth-down conversions, and the defense came through with clutch stops over the final three quarters when Rumson defeated Shabazz, 26-24, to win the NJSIAA Group 2 state championship on the final day of the 2024 New Jersey high school football season.

After two straight crushing losses in the Group 2 final by a combined five points, Rumson finished the job to win its first state title and finish 13-0 for the program’s first undefeated season since 1959 (7-0-2).

Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com - Rumson-Fair Haven 2024 Group 2 state champs

Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com

“This means everything,” O’Toole said. “Those two losses, they hurt. That was a really good football team we just played. It feels unreal. This is what we worked for. Those countless hours in the weight room, on the field, watching film. It was for moments like this.”

“It’s so special,” said senior offensive lineman Matt Smith. “Walking off the field the last two years was the worst feeling I’ve had in my whole life. It hurt so bad. We knew we had to finish what we started.”

Down 16-6 midway through the second quarter, Rumson scored three straight touchdowns between the 4:40 mark of the second quarter and 6:06 left in the fourth quarter to surge to a 26-16 lead. Shabazz scored a late touchdown with 17 seconds left but Rumson recovered the onside kick to clinch the historic victory. Murray had touchdown runs of 3, 7 and 17 yards and O’Toole had a 1-yard touchdown run. Junior tight end Jack Gyimesi and senior tight end Carson Memmott had critical catches to covert fourth downs, including a 22-yard gain by Memmott on 4th-and-7 from the Shabazz 38-yard line with 6:35 left. The conversion led to Murray’s 3-yard touchdown run for a 26-16 lead.

Junior linebacker Dylan Plesser recorded a game-high 15 tackles (9 solo) with one pass breakup and sophomore defensive lineman Ben Gredell had 7 tackles, 1 sack and 3 tackles for loss to lead Rumson’s defense. Junior defensive back Beau Devine intercepted a pass and broke up two others.

“This team had a chip on their shoulder,” Murray said. “After tough losses the last two years we knew we had to get back here.”

 

Shabazz Strikes First

Rumson won the coin toss and deferred its choice to the second half, and Shabazz almost made the Bulldogs pay on the game’s opening series. After Shabazz crossed midfield, Daveion Porter ripped off a 34-yard run down to the Rumson 13-yard line. The RFH defense buckled down and forced a fourth-and-7 where Gredell sacked Shabazz quarterback Romelo Tables for a turnover on downs.

Shabazz returned the favor on defense to force a three-and-out and get the ball back at its own 30-yard line. On third-and-13 from the 27, Tables threw a short pass over the middle to senior running back Jalen Cline, who turned the modest reception into a dazzling 73-yard touchdown. Porter then added the 2-point conversion run for an 8-0 Shabazz lead with 4:41 left in the first quarter.

 

Rumson started its next drive with a 22-yard pass from O’Toole to senior wide receiver Jordan Angstreich and got the ground game going with Murray to advance to the Shabazz 11-yard line. But on third-and-goal from the 8-yard line, Shabazz senior defensive back Omari Gaines, who signed with Stanford on Wednesday, picked off O’Toole and returned the interception out to the 29-yard line.

Rumson’s defense forced a three-and-out and the Bulldogs took over at the Shabazz 47-yard line early in the second quarter. Rumson’s no-huddle, up-tempo offense kept Shabazz on its heels and Murray carried on five straight plays to the Shabazz 17-yard line. After an 11-yard pass to Gyimesi down to the 1-yard, O’Toole punched it in on the next play to get Rumson on the board. The Bulldogs went for the 2-point conversion but the pass fell incomplete to leave Shabazz ahead, 8-6, with 9:27 left in the first half.

Shabazz started its next possession with great field position thanks to a 41-yard kick return by Samir Wilkins to the 48-yard line. Shabazz burned Rumson with two third-down conversions, first when Tables scrambled for 19 yards on third-and-12. Later on the drive with Shabazz facing a third-and-6 from the Rumson 31-yard line, Tables scrambled to his right and tossed a touchdown pass to a wide-open Talib McLean. Porter then threw the 2-point conversion pass to Ian Adrien to give Shabazz a 16-6 advantage with 5:34 left in the first half.

“They are incredibly talented,” Rumson-Fair Haven head coach Jeremy Schulte said. “Playing a team like that, any time they have the ball you’re worried they’re going to score.”

 

Rumson Responds to Take the Lead

Down by 10 with halftime approaching, Rumson needed a spark to get itself back on track. Senior Arthur Tambaro provided it with a 40-yard kick return to the Shabazz 33-yard line, setting up a quick-strike scoring drive. O’Toole hit senior wideout Nick Thomas for 26 yards and Murray scored on a 7-yard touchdown run on the next play to pull Rumson within three points at 16-13.

Rumson’s defense delivered another three-and-out to give the Bulldogs’ offense the ball back at their own 34-yard line with 2:41 left in the half. A pass interference call advanced the ball across midfield but a pass to Gyimesi on third down that was initially ruled a completion was deemed to be incomplete, bringing up a fourth-and-5 from the Shabazz 44-yard line with 1:59 on the clock. This is where Rumson went to its bag of tricks for a game-changing play that helped continue its comeback.

The call was “Goose”, a play Rumson had drilled consistently over the past three weeks. The Rumson punt unit was on the field ready to get set when suddenly they sprinted off the field as the entire offense sprinted back on and quickly got into their stances. Shabazz had no timeouts left and was stuck with its punt return unit on the field. O’Toole received the snap and fired a pass over the middle to Gyimesi for a 17-yard gain down to the Shabazz 27.

After a penalty on Shabazz, Murray got to the corner around the right side and flipped head over heels into the end zone on a 17-yard touchdown run.  Memmott added the extra point to give Rumson a 20-16 lead with 1:20 left in the first half.

 

“We practiced it every day for the last two weeks,” Schulte said. “As soon as we put it in the kids loved it, and we knew if we had the opportunity we were going to take it. I think it gave us a lot of (momentum) going into the half up. We had to do things we don’t normally do in games. Caldwell ran a fake field goal on us, Westwood took some chances against us last year. We knew if we were back in this we had to take our own chances and make them count.”

“It’s not the only time we’ve been down this year,” Murray said. “This team is tough and has heart. We knew we were going to be able to come back.”

 

The RFH Defense Digs In

The second half turned into a defensive battle with no scoring in the third quarter. The teams traded punts, alternated forcing turnovers on downs, and then traded punts again before Rumson regained possession at the Shabazz 48-yard line with 8:37 left in the game. Two strong punts by junior Drew Cavise, including a 43-yarder downed at the 12-yard line, helped Rumson flip the field and set up the eventual game-winning touchdown.

Consecutive runs by Murray moved the ball to the 31-yard line, but O’Toole was sacked on second down and Murray was stopped for just four yards on third down to bring up a critical fourth-and-7 from the Shabazz 34-yard line with 6:35 on the clock. O’Toole delivered again on fourth down, this time finding Memmott for a 22-yard catch-and-run to the Shabazz 12-yard line. Two plays later, Murray scored from three yards out to give Rumson a 26-16 lead with 6:06 left.

 

“We already had the play called and we used a timeout just so we could burn a little clock,” Schulte said. “We knew it was going to be open based on their coverages.”

Shabazz eventually got the ball back at its own 20 after a booming 65-yard punt by Cavise with 3:19 left in the game. Karriem Coston entered at quarterback for Tables, who was injured on the interception by Devine on the previous series. Coston led Shabazz on a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive that ended with a great 7-yard touchdown catch by McLean off a deflected pass. Shabazz again converted the 2-point play to cut Rumson’s lead to 26-24 with 17 seconds left.

Rumson was able to recover the onside kick and take a knee to clinch the state championship.

“We let the past kind of keep us in this one,” O’Toole said. “The last two years we didn’t finish, but we finished this year.”

 

A Historic Season

With a 13-0 season and Group 2 state championship, Rumson officially closed out the greatest season in program history. It is the first overall state championship for the football program to add to the nine sectional titles it has won – all since 2010. It is the second undefeated season for the Bulldogs, the first in the NJSIAA playoff era, and the first unbeaten and untied campaign in program history. They finished with the Shore’s No. 1 scoring offense with O’Toole throwing for a conference-leading 2,893 yards and 25 touchdowns, Murray rushing for 1,581 yards and 31 touchdowns, and Angstreich setting what is believed to be the Shore Conference single-season receiving record with 1,186 yards and 13 touchdowns. Defensively, they allowed 13.4 points per game and delivered huge plays in the biggest games. It was a season for the ages on Ridge Road.

“We worked so hard for this,” Smith said. “No offense to the 1959 team, but we just went 13-0.”

Rumson’s season was perfect. The record says so, but it would have felt that way for the Bulldogs regardless as long as they got the job done in the state final. On a frigid night at Rutgers on the final day of the season, Rumson finally secured the one trophy it wanted the most.

 

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