Toms River North senior quarterback T.J. Valerio

No. 1 Toms River North scores in all three phases to rout No. 4 Brick Memorial

Scott Stump|September 20, 2024|Last Updated September 25, 2024

BRICK – As Toms River North senior Cam Thomas sped to the end zone with a pick-six that ignited the Mariners on Friday night against Brick Memorial, it was yet another example of what makes the Shore Conference’s No. 1 team so hard to solve for opponents.

There’s just too many guys to stop.

“We have a lot of superstars on our team,” senior running back Mordecai Ford said. “Honestly, anybody can pop off. It can be two of us, three of us, four of us. That’s what’s great about our team.”

The top-ranked Mariners and their array of playmakers scored on offense, defense and special teams in a 35-6 win over the No. 4 Mustangs (3-1, 1-1) in Class A South to take a big step toward locking down the division title. The two-time defending NJSIAA Group 5 champions have now won nine straight overall and 30 in a row against public school opponents.

Senior quarterback T.J. Valerio ran for 112 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries and threw for 93 yards and another score, and Ford had 94 yards rushing and a touchdown along with a touchdown catch to lead the way.

The starting defense surrendered its first touchdown of the season when the Mustangs scored in the first quarter, and that only seemed to make them mad. They held a team that entered averaging 34.3 points per game to 136 total yards, and only 13 total yards in the second half.

Senior linebacker/edge rusher Blaise Boland continues to be a leading Shore Conference Defensive Player of the Year candidate after registering two sacks, two tackles for a loss and a quarterback pressure that led to the pick-six by Thomas.

An early challenge

Toms River North (4-0, 2-0) had demolished all of its first three opponents right from the opening whistle, but found itself with only a 7-6 lead on Brick Memorial after the first quarter.

Valerio ran for a 34-yard touchdown on 4th-and-2 on the team’s opening possession for a 7-0 lead, but Brick Memorial answered with a 7-play, 82-yard drive. Junior quarterback Jason Lajara, who was coming off a five-touchdown performance against Howell, scored on a 5-yard run, but the extra point was no good to keep Toms River North in front.

“I’m glad that they gave us a fight,” Ford said. “Some teams quit in the first and second quarter. This team kept fighting, and it just made me and my teammates push harder.”

“With these past weeks we’ve been blowing people out,” Valerio said. “With a close game like that, you’ve really got to focus because one play can change the whole game, so that’s definitely something valuable that we can take away.”

Cam Thomas jumpstarts the Mariners

After a pass break-up by Mustangs junior linebacker Trey Tallmadge killed Toms River North’s second drive, Brick Memorial had a chance to put the Mariners on their heels. Instead, Thomas jumped a pass intended for Brick Memorial wideout Nyzier Matthews and returned it 31 yards for a 14-6 lead with 10:57 left in the second quarter.


“I knew they were going to test me and throw it to Number 4,” Thomas said. “I watched film all night because I’m always nervous before a game. I know how (Matthews) runs his routes, so I read it. I have to thank Blaise Boland for putting that pressure on the quarterback. Once I saw Blaise jumping up and down, stopping the quarterback, I knew he was going to have to throw it.”

“We finally stayed wide enough where we got pressure, and Blaise got the big hit on (Lajara), and he couldn’t see where he was throwing it, and Cam jumped the route,” Toms River North head coach Dave Oizerowitz said.

Energized by Thomas’ touchdown, the defense came up big again in the second quarter when senior Nasir Jackson intercepted a pass at the goal line and returned it 33 yards. The Mariners mounted an 8-play, 67-yard drive to make it 21-6 after Ford scored on a 6-yard touchdown run with 57.7 seconds left in the half.

“When Cam got that pick, it just opened up the whole game,” Ford said.

No team this season has held Toms River North under 21 points in the first half. After allowing 44 yards rushing to Lajara in the first quarter, the defense limited him to minus-one yard rushing the rest of the way.

“(Lajara) reminds me of (Eddie) Morales from Howell a few years back,” Oizerowitz said. “And you saw it once he broke contain. We talked about not letting him get outside. We widened our (defensive) ends a little bit, and I thought once we were able to keep him inside, the game changed a little bit defensively.”

Putting it away

The Mariners ended any suspense with a five-play, 60-yard scoring drive to open the second half. Ford took a swing pass from Valerio and went flying down the sideline before hurdling a defender for a 19-yard score and a 28-6 lead with 8:45 left in the third quarter.

 

“Oh man, I thought I was going to get boomed on, but I turned around and saw my great blockers in front of me, and I just tried to jump in,” Ford said.

“That was our best drive,” Oizerowitz said. “We talked about it being a championship drive, and it was going to be the one to seal the game, and it did.”

As if trying to stop Valerio, Ford, Thomas and Co. wasn’t enough, sophomore Cole Garrison showed he is yet another weapon for the Mariners. After a sack by Boland short-circuited a Brick Memorial drive, Garrison took a punt 75 yards to the house for a 35-6 advantage with 6:43 left in the third quarter.

 

Players attacking opponents from all angles was part of the plan coming into this season after the graduation of two-time N.J. Player of the Year Micah Ford, who is now a freshman running back at Stanford.

“We’re different than last year,” Oizerowitz said. “Everyone says we’re more diversified. Well, we have to be more diversified this year because of all of the different guys we have. This offense that you see now, we’ve always been that offense, we just haven’t been able to show it because we didn’t need it.

“If you can run the football and no one can stop it (like last year), you’re foolish for running anything but that with a guy that good. I think we’re probably very difficult to gameplan for this year.”

Toms River North didn’t score on its final three drives, including a pair of three-and-outs, which left Oizerowitz telling his team afterward there is still room for improvement.

“We won, but we’re not happy, and maybe that’s a good thing in the long run,” he said.

What’s next for both teams?

The Mariners look to all but officially clinch the Class A South title next week when they take on No. 5 Point Boro (3-1, 2-0) for sole possession of first place. The Panthers appear to be the final major obstacle to the division crown for a team that has outscored opponents 175-18 in four games.

Brick Memorial travels to Donovan Catholic (1-2, 1-1) to try to get back on track, while hoping for good news on the injury front. Lajara left the game early in the fourth quarter with a leg injury, and then one of their top linemen, 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior Ben Szuba, was taken off on a cart with 1:20 left in the game.

The Mustangs will also face one of their former players, as Donovan Catholic sophomore quarterback Kyle Dow transferred from Brick Memorial to the Griffins in the offseason.

Box score

Toms River North 35, Brick Memorial 6

 

.                                 T                        B

First downs            14                      8

Rushes-yards      27-198             33-74

Passing                  7-13-1             5-13-2

Passing yards           93                 62

Fumbles-lost           1-0               5-0

Penalties                8-60              5-50

Brick Mem (3-1, 1-1)    6  0   0   0 – 6

TR North (4-0, 2-0)      7  14 14 0 – 35

Scoring summary

T: Valerio 34-yard run (Papanikolas kick).

B: Lajara 5-yard run (kick failed).

T: Thomas 31-yard INT return (Papanikolas kick).

T: Ford 6-yard run (Papanikolas kick).

T: Ford 19-yard pass from Valerio (Papanikolas kick).

T: Garrison 75-yard punt return (Papanikolas kick).

Individual statistics

Rushing – B: Andrews 11-19, Lajara 13-43, Whittaker 4-20, Tallmadge 2-3, Schoellkopf 1-2. T: Ford 12-94, Valerio 14-112, Papanikolas 1-(-8).

Passing – B: Lajara 5-13-2 62. T: Valerio 7-13-1 93.

Receiving – B: Tallmadge 1-24, Matthews 1-15, Andrews 2-22, Dillon 1-1. T: Thomas 3-45, Hester 1-9, Garrison 1-10, Jackson 1-10, Ford 1-19.

Interceptions – B: Andrews 1-20. T: Jackson 1-33, Thomas 1-31.

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.  

Email: [email protected]

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