SSI Football Report: Howell’s big-play defense

(Photo of Howell’s Vincent Meehan above by Peyton Collimore/@itspeytonc on Instagram)

Week Six Preview: Championship week

Howell’s defense has not given up a point in the Rebels’ last two games against a pair of playoff-bound teams and has only allowed 16 points per game against arguably the Shore Conference’s toughest schedule.

One reason sticks out clearly: takeaways.

The Rebels have forced an average of two turnovers per game to give them 10 turnovers in five games. As a team, they have seven interceptions, including two apiece for seniors Ryan Cross, Vincent Meehan and Zach Padilla. Senior Juan DeJesus has returned the other interception for a touchdown, and Padilla has a pick-six as well.

 

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In Howell’s biggest win of the season so far, Meehan had a pair of interceptions last week in a 14-6 victory over Freehold Regional District rival Manalapan, the first-place team in Class C North. The Braves’ lone touchdown came on a fumble return on defense.

In Howell’s wins over Freehold Township, Jackson Memorial and Manalapan, the Rebels forced a total of seven turnovers.

That opportunistic defense has become their calling card as they navigate a schedule in which it looks like every single team they face will be a playoff team, and every single team will have been ranked in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12 at one point this season. They are the only Monmouth County team in the Shore’s toughest division, the relentless Class A South.

The Rebels have reentered the SSI rankings at No. 10 this week and have their most difficult opponent of them all coming up – No. 1 Toms River North.

(Bonus coverage: ‘Life took a turn’: New Egypt’s Tommy Merlucci, a standout goalie, switched to football as a senior after losing his father)

 

Pinelands pushing for rare playoff berth

Following a gut-wrenching, 30-26 loss to Manchester in the final seconds on Sept. 13 that dashed its division title hopes, Pinelands could have had its season spin off in a frustrating direction.

Instead, the Wildcats responded with three straight wins after an 0-2 start and are within striking distance of only their third state playoff berth in school history and first since 2004.

“We didn’t have to regroup at all (after the Manchester loss),” Pinelands head coach John Tierney said. “I told our kids, ‘We had 500 yards of offense. We won that game.’ Plus, moving forward, we knew that we had three straight games at home, and we just felt as coaches, we had to simply coach better.”

Pinelands won all three and is now 13-1 at home during Tierney’s tenure. Now the Wildcats go back on the road for a crucial rivalry game that both teams need for their playoff hopes when they face Barnegat in Class C South on Friday night. They are currently on the outside looking in at No. 20 in South Group 3 in the United Power Rankings, so a win over Barnegat, which is in a similar position at No. 24, is huge toward getting them into the top 16 needed to qualify for the playoffs.

Pinelands (3-2, 2-1) has won two straight over the Bengals (3-3, 2-1) after Barnegat had the upper hand for years in the rivalry of southern Ocean County squads.

“We just call them ‘the team from up north,’” Tierney said, using the term Ohio State employs when talking about longtime rival Michigan. “To Barnegat’s credit, we finally built a rivalry with them. We hadn’t beaten them since 2010 until 2022. Forever we were the little brother and they were the big brother, and we’re trying to turn that around.”

A balanced attack led by the school’s all-time leading passer, senior quarterback Ty Kline, and one of the Shore’s top rushers, senior Jaimin Parkinson (826 yards, 7 TDs), has averaged 38.3 points per game during Pinelands’ winning streak. A big reason is because of an imposing offensive line led by Princeton recruit Jayden Hadzovic (6-6, 290) and FCS prospect Brady Fence (6-6, 250), along with sophomore Seth Ramirez (6-0, 290), senior Qasi Goode (5-7, 303) and senior Cooper Sobon (5-7, 220), plus senior tight end Chase Martin.

A defense led by two-way standout Eric Kobilnyk (51 tackles, 7 TFL) at linebacker has also been solid in not allowing more than 16 points during the winning streak. They will be tasked with slowing down a Barnegat offense led by running backs Myquan Rush-Esdaile and Johnnel Johnson that is looking to get it back in gear after being held to 12 total points in a two-game skid.

Adding urgency to the Wildcats’ playoff push is that they have a class of 20 seniors.

“This is going to be a hard group to replace,” Tierney said. “This team will be the standard for the rest of the time, at least in my eyes.”

Reenergized Raritan

Another team looking to make a playoff push is Raritan, which has rebounded from an 0-3 start with two straight wins. The Rockets have some momentum as the underdog heading into their “Battle of the Border” rivalry game with Holmdel, which is ranked No. 7 in the SSI Top 12.

After only scoring 20 total points in their first three games, Raritan erupted for 37 in a win over Manasquan and then followed that with 35, all in the first half, against Monmouth last week.

Two big keys have been the decision to elevate sophomore Parker Needham to the starting quarterback spot heading into the Manasquan game, and the return of versatile senior Xavier Nunez, who missed nearly two games with an injury in losses to Wall and Manalapan.

Needham has thrown for 206 yards in two games after the Rockets had previously only thrown for 32 all season. Meanwhile, Nunez is averaging an eye-opening 15.5 yards per carry.

“Parker is able to throw the ball a little bit better, and he brought a little life to the offense,” Raritan head coach Anthony Petruzzi said. “We were able to use more of the field, and then things become a little easier because you’re not seeing the condensed boxes. Not everything seems like it has to be three yards and a cloud of dust.”

Nunez and junior running back John Jeleniewski both went over 100 yards rushing in the win over Manasquan in Raritan’s triple option offense. Senior Jack McGreevy has moved from quarterback to playing the Rockets’ hybrid linebacker/defensive end position, where he’s given the defense a lift with his athleticism.

Now comes the rivalry game with the Hornets, who have beaten Raritan in six of their last seven matchups. Adding an extra twist is that Raritan’s defensive coordinator is John Principe, who was Holmdel’s DC last year when the Hornets registered a school-record six straight shutouts and led the Shore Conference in fewest amount of points allowed.

He will be tasked with figuring out a puzzle no team has really solved all season – stopping Holmdel star quarterback Jack Cannon. The offensive turnaround has at least given Raritan a boost heading into the game.

“We feel better about who we are right now,” Petruzzi said. “I think the kids have more confidence in general because they’ve seen some stuff working.”

Alumni Spotlight

Justin Reilly, GR, DB, Wagner

The former Manalapan standout was named the Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Week after finishing with 12 tackles, 10 of them solo, along with a tackle for a loss and a sack in Wagner’s 28-7 win over Stonehill. The graduate student ranks eighth in the NEC in tackles per game (6.7).

Sean Hurley, Jr., K, St. Anselm

The former Central kicker tied a program record by making all eight of his extra points in a 56-28 win over Post. Former Point Boro star Jake Croce also continued his lights-out freshman season for St. Anselm with a career-high 129 yards rushing and two touchdowns in the win.

Notes from around the Shore

• Middletown North is off to its first 5-0 start since going 11-0 in 1983 under legendary coach Vic Kubu.
• Central is 6-0 for the first time since 2021. The single-season school record for wins is nine set in 1971 and 1994.
• Rumson-Fair Haven is 5-0 for the first time since 2021, and Shore is 5-0 for the first time since going undefeated in 2015.
• Freehold Township senior quarterback Nick Cardone went over 5,000 yards passing for his career in a loss to Marlboro. He is the second passer to crack that mark in the Shore this year after Rumson-Fair Haven’s Owen O’Toole did it a week earlier.
• The 47 points Neptune scored in its win over Point Beach are the highest total for the Scarlet Fliers since scoring 50 on Lakewood in 2019.
• Marlboro kicker Max Luzio has two game-winning field goals this season after his 18-yarder with 5.2 seconds left in the game beat Freehold Township 22-21. He also had the only points of the game in a 3-0 win over Middletown South for the Mustangs first win over the Eagles since 1994.
• Jackson Memorial senior kicker Joe Muzzillo has made three huge field goals in all three wins for the Jaguars this season. He hit a 33-yard field goal inside the final four minutes to beat Middletown South, 17-14, last week, booted the game-winning field goal in the final seconds of a 37-34 win over Long Branch and hit a field goal that iced a 17-7 win over North Brunswick.
• Standout junior tailback Am’iere Massie is set to make his return for Asbury Park against Keansburg after sitting four games due to NJSIAA rule.

Scott Stump is an award-winning 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.  

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