SSI Football Report: Rossi Leads Pt. Beach Aerial Explosion, Kabiri Stars for Jackson, Wall’s Offense Comes Alive

For much of the program’s 101-year history, Point Beach’s offense has revolved around the ground game. 

Not this season. 

“This is a different breed of Gulls,” head coach Joe Zaccone said. 

In the course of one year, Point Beach has gone from a Wing-T offense centered on all-time leading rusher Liam Brosnan to the most prolific aerial attack in the Shore Conference. 

Senior quarterback Matthew Rossi leads the Shore with 1,017 yards passing in four games, making him just the sixth passer in Point Beach history to even crack 1,000 yards. He is on pace to make a run at the program single-season record of 2,451 passing yards set by Paul Struncius in 1984. He has zoomed past the 628 yards and six touchdowns he threw for as a junior and already has more passing attempts (88) than he did all of last season (70). 

More importantly, the wins have followed. The Garnet Gulls are off to a 3-1 start and can clinch no worse than a tie for the Class D South title with a victory over Keyport (1-3) on Saturday. Their last division crown came in 2019. 

“I think it dates back to last year because we didn’t lose any receivers,” Rossi said about the switch in offensive philosophy. “Obviously we lost Liam, and we didn’t have an elite returning rusher. I put in a lot of work in the offseason, and they gave me the opportunity to show out.” 

After graduating Brosnan and the entire offensive line, Point Beach made the shift to becoming a passing team. The Garnet Gulls did it without scrapping their Wing-T offense. They just modified it instead. 

“We’re running a lot of shotgun now whereas last year we were typically under center, but our wings are essentially receivers now,” Zaccone said. “Personnel-wise, it doesn’t change. Your typical expectation for Point Beach is teams are loading the box and we’re running belly, power, trap and grinding you. Now we’re grinding you with the quick passing game, and our explosive plays come off play-action. We get enough in the run game where you have to respect it.” 

The Garnet Gulls are averaging 34 points per game after pulling out a 41-36 shootout win over Monmouth last week in a key divisional game. No team has held them under 29 points, one season after they finished 28th in the Shore Conference at 17.6 points per game.

The rapid progression of Rossi, who is averaging 18.8 yards per completion, is a big reason. He went from 5-foot-7 and 130 pounds as a freshman to 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds as a senior. His most impressive statistic may be that out of his 88 attempts, he has zero interceptions to go with his nine touchdowns. 

He said he trained in the offseason with Ocean County-based quarterback coach Steve Panasuk of Dime Dropper University and worked on his speed with former Toms River East All-Shore quarterback Jared Morris. 

“To make the leap he did, it changed everything,” Zaccone said. 

The Garnet Gulls have three receivers with at least 200 yards, so defenses can’t key on one guy. Junior Danny Cavanaugh (19-345-4), senior Elijah Ives (18-370-3) and freshman Jalen Kreiger (11-216-1) have led the way.

“I spread the ball around a lot,” Rossi said. 

Kreiger, who had never played football before high school, has been a crucial addition as a hybrid tight end/H-back and an outside linebacker. He has essentially filled the positions of two returning seniors (Mike Marzarella and Danny Neal) who have been out with shoulder injuries all season. Kreiger also leads the team with 99 yards rushing, with sophomore Gage Boyle right behind him at 96. 

“Before the season even started – we have four captains – and I’m the only one healthy,” Rossi said. “We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries, and Jalen has stepped up.” 

A rebuilt offensive line of junior left tackle Allan Micheletti, junior left guard Lucas Adams, sophomore center Jack Snyder, senior right guard Bruce Duran and junior right tackle CJ Engelhardt has transitioned from a run-blocking unit to a pass-protecting unit. 

“I think there were a lot of question marks going into the season with new guys playing, but we were confident,” Rossi said. “It’s cool to see it all coming together.” 

Jaguars Roar Back from Two-Game Skid

Combining players from two different schools into one team without a full offseason was never going to be easy for Jackson Township, and it showed in a bumpy 1-2 start. 

However, the Jaguars put together their most complete game of the season to roll over Donovan Catholic, 28-0, in Class A South last week to end a two-game slide. They also did it without standout senior running back Jonah Glenn, who was held out for precautionary reasons after tweaking his hamstring one game earlier. 

Senior Jio Kabiri filled the void with a career-high 185 yards rushing, and senior quarterback Mason Ciccariello ran for two scores and threw for another. 

“Jio has found that next gear,” Jackson head coach Vin Mistretta said. “He was always the power back, but now he’s got a little breakaway speed, too. He and Jonah remind me a lot of when we had (Mike) Gawlik and Vinny Lee.” 

Kabiri is also a playmaking linebacker who had 11 tackles, three for a loss, to help power the shutout. Senior linebacker Jacob Zapata also had a big night with 12 tackles, four for a loss, and yet another linebacker, senior Aidan Chornobroff, had 13 tackles, two for a loss. 

The Jaguars had so much success running the ball that they only attempted two passes, one of which went for a touchdown. It was the team’s most complete effort so far in their first season since Jackson Liberty and Jackson Memorial High Schools were consolidated into one school. It also marked their first home victory in the history of the unified school. 

“We had a lack of an offseason, but we’re not going to make excuses,” Mistretta said. “We know (the Donovan Catholic game) is what we can be, but now they have to raise their level every single week.” 

The Class A South gauntlet continues with a game against Point Boro (1-3) this week. 

Wall Offense Comes Alive

After struggling to get much going on the scoreboard against a pair of tough opponents to start the season, the Wall offense turned in its best performance in a 49-19 rout of Freehold Township in Class B North last week. 

Senior RB/LB Dylan Cohen ran for 161 yards and three touchdowns and also had 10.5 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Senior quarterback Brian McKenna threw for a career-high 232 yards and three touchdowns and wideout Heath Reinhardt had eight catches for a career-high 192 yards and a touchdown in the win. 

The Crimson Knights were held to one garbage time touchdown in a 35-7 loss to No. 4 Brick Memorial to open the season and then 15 points in a loss to Tottenville of Staten Island. Even a 21-0 win over Howell was somewhat deceiving because one of the touchdowns came on a blocked punt return. 

“I think we got a little comeuppance in those first two games, and I think it put us back to the starting blocks, and we’ve been working real hard since then,” Wall head coach Ed Gurrieri said. 

McKenna has made a steady progression in his first year as the starter. The all-around athlete, who is the point guard on the basketball team, has 444 yards passing and three touchdowns.

“He’s just a guy who’s really grown into the job and gotten better each week,” Gurrieri said. 

Last year’s starter, Franny Scaramellino, transferred to Red Bank Catholic in the summer and then transferred back to Wall about a week later, so he had to sit 30 days this season because he transferred twice. 

Now a junior, Scaramellino is eligible to play this week when the Crimson Knights face Raritan (2-1) in a nondivisional game. He had 1,048 yards passing and 12 touchdowns last season along with 215 yards rushing and five scores. 

Gurrieri said McKenna will remain the quarterback. 

“I would say that nobody’s handing anyone anything,” he said. “You can’t score 49 points and go to another quarterback. They’re both going to get reps. We’ll see how it goes, but I don’t foresee any changes being made right now.” 

Raritan to Honor Former Great Bennett Jackson

Ahead of its game against Wall on Friday night, Raritan will be retiring the No. 4 jersey of former star Bennett Jackson, a wide receiver for the Rockets who also played defensive back, kicker and occasionally quarterback during his All-Shore career from 2008-10. 

He went on to play cornerback at Notre Dame, where he was a captain on the Fighting Irish team that reached the national championship game in 2013 before falling to Alabama. 

Jackson was selected in the sixth round by the New York Giants in the 2014 NFL draft. He suffered a torn ACL in 2015 and was released by the Giants in 2016. He was out of the NFL for nearly three years but persevered to return in 2018. He played two stints with the Baltimore Ravens and also played safety for the New York Jets. 

 

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The Rockets are honoring Jackson one week after they honored their 2015 team for the 10th anniversary of their last state sectional title in their game against Freehold. 

Raritan also had one more flashback moment last week. The 55 points the Rockets scored in a 55-25 win over Freehold were their most in a game in 20 years. They beat Matawan 55-28 in 2005 behind All-State quarterback Andrew Mandeville. 

Notes From Around the Shore

—The Bayshore Bell Trophy has not left its spot in the 2020s as Keyport continues to have the upper hand in its rivalry game against Keansburg. The Red Raiders beat the Titans 51-20 for their sixth straight win in the series and first win of the season. 

—Brick Memorial snapped Toms River North’s 40-game winning streak against public schools with a 28-21 win over the Mariners. The last public school team to beat them was Kingsway in a sectional final in 2021, and the last Shore Conference public school to beat them was Rumson-Fair Haven in 2021. Lacey was the last Ocean County public school to defeat the Mariners in 2020. Just an incredible run by Toms River North. 

—The 268 yards passing by Shore Regional junior Logan Clark in a 36-21 loss to Manasquan on Saturday are a single-game school record. He passed Josh Moeller, who threw for 262 in a game last season in the Blue Devils’ new-look aerial attack under head coach Don Klein. 

—Freehold senior Damier Lester achieved a rare feat in Shore Conference history in a 55-25 loss to Raritan: He returned three kickoffs for touchdowns, all of them for 90 or more yards. He had touchdowns of 90, 94 and 95 yards on returns. 

—With its 35-0 win over New Egypt, Pinelands has posted back-to-back shutouts for what is believed to be the first time in program history. Sophomore Paul Veneri had 11 tackles, senior Will Hollingsworth had a pair of tackles for a loss and junior Sam Kilasi had an interception to power the shutout. The Wildcats beat Lakewood 29-0 a week earlier. 

—Asbury Park senior running back Amiere Massie is averaging an absurd 18 yards per carry this season after putting up 276 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries in a 28-14 loss to Ocean. He has 719 yards on 40 carries to go with eight touchdowns in only three games. 

—Lacey junior Joey Davis has had back-to-back 200-yard rushing games. He put 200 and four touchdowns on Barnegat last week after finishing with 223 and four touchdowns in a win over Manchester a week earlier. He is averaging 8.3 yards per carry this season for the Lions (2-2), who have surpassed their win total from last year. 

—Neptune is on its first three-game winning streak in six years after beating Toms River South 41-0. In order to make it four in a row for the first time since 2014, the Scarlet Fliers will have to end another streak. They face longtime rival Asbury Park in Class D North on Saturday – a team that has beaten Neptune five straight times. 

—Central senior C.J. Yates is putting the ball in the end zone in every way possible this year. He has a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown, an interception return for a touchdown and punt return touchdown. He had a 90-yard pick-six and a 70-yard punt return for a score in a win over Manchester last week. 

—-Rumson-Fair Haven has returned a crucial player to the lineup as senior tight end Jack Gyimesi, a Colgate recruit, played his first game in a 38-7 win over Marlboro. He had missed the first three games with an injury. The 6-foot-4 target had three catches for 28 yards and a touchdown in his 2025 debut. 

—The biggest game in college football this week is No. 6 Oregon at No. 3 Penn State, and a former Shore star could factor heavily in the outcome. Former Ocean standout wide receiver Trebor Pena is in his first season at Penn State after getting a seven-figure NIL deal to transfer from Syracuse. He leads the team in receiving yards (166) and is tied for second in catches (13) to go with one touchdown in his first three games for the Nittany Lions.

Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point. 

Email: scottstump25@gmail.com