Toms River East rallies late on Dylan Errion’s TD catch

TOMS RIVER — Toms River East head coach Kyle Sandberg often talks to his team about handling adversity and the importance of playing with equal parts physical and mental toughness. Those lessons paid off immediately for the Raiders.

Trailing by four points in the fourth quarter and with its offense struggling to get untracked, Toms River East used clutch plays in all three phases to rally for a dramatic 12-7 victory over Barnegat in a season-opening Shore Conference nondivisional game on Thursday night at Dvorak Field.

Senior wide receiver Dylan Errion leaped at the goal line to bring down a 26-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Anthony DeMarco with 7:26 left in the fourth quarter, and the Raiders recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and another on defense with under four minutes remaining to clinch the victory.

“We got some dogs on this team and we don’t give up,” Errion said.

“We’re tough,” Sandberg said. “We’ve got grit here at East. We’re scrappy. They were much bigger, more athletic and probably faster, too. But we’re a team and we’re tough. All that stuff carries into the fourth quarter where it matters most. This team is mentally tough.”

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The momentum shift began with a special teams play. Barnegat had taken a 7-3 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when sophomore running back Christopher Santero hit the hole and burst into the end zone on a 10-yard touchdown run. Toms River East then went three and out and was set to punt the ball back to a Bengals’ offense that had found its groove with Santero, who became the Bengals’ lead back when senior starter Myquan Rush-Esdaile exited with an apparent injury in the first half and did not return.

Barnegat did not have a punt returner back deep, so when senior Mert Fat connected on a solidly struck kick, it bounced deep into Bengals territory before being downed at the 2-yard line. On the next play, senior defensive tackle James Lynch tackled Santero in the end zone for a safety to cut the Raiders’ deficit to 7-5 with 9:55 to play.

“We felt everything switch,” Lynch said. “We got into the offensive huddle and everybody was hyped and ready to put the ball in the end zone. Right there I felt the swing of the momentum and I knew it was our game.”

After the safety punt, Toms River East took over at its own 45-yard line and DeMarco scrambled to his left for a five-yard gain on first down. Barnegat was flagged for a horse collar tackle, which added 15 yards and put the ball at the Bengals’ 35. Senior running back Christian Valeo converted on third down with a five-yard gain, and two plays later DeMarco took a shot deep down the seam where Errion out-jumped two Barnegat defensive backs to secure the go-ahead score.

“We missed one earlier and coach said we were going to go back to it,” Errion said. “He believed in me and it worked out.”

“That was amazing,” Lynch said. “He’s been talking about catching a touchdown since last year and all summer. I know he’s been waiting a long time for that so it was a really big moment for him.”

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It wasn’t exactly an offensive showcase for either team, but Barnegat out-gained Toms River East 211-131, including 145 to 67 in rushing yards. The Bengals hurt themselves with turnovers, however, fumbling five times and losing four of them. They also could not put points on the board during a key sequence in the first quarter. Fat inadvertently touched his knee to the ground while bending down to field a bouncing snap on a punt, gifting Barnegat excellent field position at the 10-yard line. After a short run and an incompletion, the Bengals allowed a sack on third down to force them to settle for a field goal attempt that missed wide.

“We rallied as a team and didn’t let them score, and that’s why we won this game,” Errion said.

“Every time we made a mistake we just put it in the past and kept moving forward,” Valeo said. “Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes wins and we pushed through for the win.”

Toms River East went three and out after the missed field goal, but Barnegat muffed the punt and junior Brayden Flanagan pounced on the loose ball at the Bengals’ 45-yard line. That led to Fat’s 28-yard field goal with 9:46 remaining in the first half for a 3-0 lead. The score remained that way until Barnegat’s touchdown early in the fourth quarter put the wheels in motion for a lively final 12 minutes.

“I always talk about adversity,” Sandberg said. “There’s going to be moments in a game where it’s not going to go your way. How are you going to answer and respond to that? What I’m most proud of my guys for is that all the little things we did in the offseason and the mental toughness we talked about really paid off.”

 

Box Score

	Barnegat	Toms River East
First downs	12	10
Rushes-yards	31-145	36-67
Passing	7-15-0	10-13-0
Passing yards	66	64
Fumbles-lost	5-4	2-0
Penalties-yards	4-45	5-35

 

 

	1	2	3	4	F
Barnegat (0-1)	0	0	0	7	7
Toms River East (1-0)	0	3	0	9	12

 

Scoring Summary

TRE — Mert Fat 28-yard field goal

BAR — Christopher Santero 10-yard run (Anthony Dringus kick)

TRE — James Lynch tackled running back in end zone

TRE — Dylan Errion 26-yard pass from Anthony DeMarco (Mert Fat kick)

 

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — B: Christopher Santero 13-82, Jack Haviland 10-39, Myquan Rush-Esdaile 5-30, Jamison Prince 1-2, Johnnel Johnson 2-(-8); TRE: Christian Valeo 20-58, Anthony DeMarco 14-9, Izzy Singleton 2-0.

PASSING — B: Jack Haviland 7-15-0, 66; TRE: Anthony DeMarco 10-13-0, 64.

RECEIVING — B: Todd Muhammed 4-36, David Gonzalez 2-25, Cole Toddings 1-5; TRE: Dylan Errion 3-42, Izzy Singleton 6-25, Mert Fat 1-8.