Credle’s blocked extra point sends No. 8 Wall past Manalapan in defensive slugfest

MANALAPAN — For most of Thursday night’s Shore Conference Class C North showdown between Wall and Manalapan it felt like two boxers trying to win a fight against their own shadow.

Given the teams’ similar philosophies and coaching staffs that are very familiar with one another, it was no surprise to see a physical slugfest where the margin for error was minuscule. One key play had the potential to decide the game, and it was the Crimson Knights who came up with that play midway through the fourth quarter.

After Manalapan scored to pull within a point with 7:29 remaining in the game, Wall senior Tony Credle knifed through the protection and blocked the extra point, giving the No. 8 Crimson Knights the edge they needed to hold on for a 7-6 victory that re-opened the prospect of a division championship.

Wall drained nearly six minutes off the clock with its next possession before punting the ball back to Manalapan with 1:31 remaining. They pushed the Braves back and forced a turnover on downs to clinch a bounce-back win that forced a three-way tie atop the division standings.

Wall, which is ranked No. 8 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12, along with Manalapan and No. 7 Holmdel are tied for first place in Class C North with one division game remaining for each team. Holmdel and Manalapan will clash in Week 8, but the division title won’t be settled until Manasquan and Wall meet on Thanksgiving. Holmdel or Manalapan could win the division title outright with a victory and a Wall loss, while the Crimson Knights can earn a share by beating the rival Warriors on Turkey Day.

“Our coach was telling us all week that it’s going to come down to who is the more physical team, and he was right,” said junior linebacker Dylan Cohen, who recorded two sacks. “It was a physical battle back-and-forth all game.”

“You gotta learn how to win and these guys are learning how to win,” Wall head coach Ed Gurrieri said.

 

Dominant Defenses

Senior running back Mason Adam ran for a game-high 67 yards and gave Wall a 7-0 lead with a 6-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. The advantage held up thanks to a Crimson Knights’ defense that held Manalapan to 129 yards of offense and six first downs. Cohen had two sacks and senior linebacker Justin Davis had multiple tackles for loss behind a defensive front that controlled the line of scrimmage.

Manalapan’s defense was equally as stout and limited Wall to 121 yards of offense and six first downs. There were just four plays that gained 15 yards or more – a 24-yard run by Adam and a 15-yard reception by Joe Vaccaro for Wall, and a 37-yard reception by Jackson Pfister and a 41-yard run by Ahsere Woolfolk for Manalapan. This was a likely outcome given how intertwined the teams are. Gurrieri was previously Manalapan’s head coach for over a decade and led the Braves to an NJSIAA sectional title and multiple division championships and appearances in sectional finals. Manalapan head coach Dom Lepore was previously the Braves’ defensive coordinator under Gurrieri, and multiple staff members on both sides have coached together.

“We practiced their plays all week and we knew what was coming,” Cohen said. “It was about who wanted it more and who fought harder at the end of the day.”

Wall broke through early in the second quarter when its defense forced a punt from the Manalapan 26-yard line and the kick traveled just 11 yards. Beginning at the Manalapan 37-yard line, the Knights converted a fourth-and-7 when Adam showed great balance to tip-toe the sideline and power ahead for a 7-yard gain. An 11-yard run by sophomore quarterback Franny Scaramellino moved the ball to the 14-yard line and three plays later Adam made a move in the hole to find daylight and score on a 6-yard run. Junior Heath Reinhardt added the extra point to give Wall a 7-0 lead with 11:09 left in the first half.

From there, the teams took turns squashing any notion of a promising drive until Manalapan finally got on the board.

 

Fourth Quarter Drama

After its third three-and-out in seven possessions, Manalapan punted the ball back to Wall on the final play of the third quarter and the Knights took over with solid field position at their own 41-yard line. The Braves desperately needed a stop and senior linebacker Dennis Healy delivered a clutch play when he dropped Adam for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 from the Manalapan 32-yard line.

Sophomore running back Nicky Palmieri ran for gains of 8 and 3 yards, and an offsides penalty on Wall followed to bring up first-and-5 from just shy of midfield. Woolfolk then produced the longest play of the night when he bounced a run to the outside and beat Wall’s defense to the edge before sprinting for a 41-yard gain down to the Knights’ 10-yard line. On the next play, Palmieri took a handoff and raced to the pylon for a 10-yard touchdown run to cut Wall’s lead to 7-6.

Manalapan still had to convert the extra point to tie the game. Credle had other plans.

“Me and coach O (Wall special teams coordinator Pete Ottaviano) were talking about it all week,” Credle said. “He knows I’m capable of blocking extra points so he put me there and told me the end was going to bend in a lot, to stay tight. So I did that and used my speed to run in and block it.”

There was still plenty of time left for Manalapan to get a stop and regain possession, so Wall needed to move the ball and at least trim some clock. After being stuffed on first and second downs, senior Joe Vaccaro took a quick pass from Scaramellino and turned it into a 15-yard gain on third-and-10. Later on the drive, an offsides penalty on Manalapan on third-and-2 moved the chains to the Wall 42-yard line.

Manalapan held Wall from there and forced a punt that was downed at the Braves’ 33-yard line, but had to use the rest of its timeouts in the process. Manalapan had about 45 yards to get into field goal range and 1:31 on the clock with no timeouts remaining. Gurrieri has seen his fare share of magical comebacks on that field but liked his team’s chances given the circumstances.

“The good news is that they’re a Wing-T team and at that point all the play action is out the window,” Gurrieri said. “We’re going to go get the quarterback and play coverage behind it. Our guys up front can go hunt, they’re pretty good at getting to the quarterback.”

On first down, Davis created pressure immediately and forced Dougherty into an incomplete pass. On second down, junior linebacker Wyatt Capro came on the blitz and sacked Dougherty for an 8-yard loss. The Braves had to hurry back to the line of scrimmage to run the next play on third down where a pressure by Davis forced Dougherty to scramble for no gain. It was more of the same on fourth down as the Knights collapsed the pocket and Davis and senior Jerry Tsandiotis swarmed Dougherty to force a turnover on downs and allow Wall to enter victory formation.

“They scored but on the extra point we didn’t stop, we didn’t quit,” Cohen said. “Our offense got the job done to kill some clock a little bit and then we went back out there and stopped them.”

“They were outstanding,” Gurrieri said of Wall’s defense. “Everybody up front did a really good job tonight.”

 

A Bounce-back win

Wall was riding high through a 4-0 start that ended abruptly when Holmdel headed into town and handed the Crimson Knights a 35-14 defeat in Week 4. The two weeks between that loss and Thursday’s game versus Manalapan were about getting healthy and getting back to doing what got them to 4-0 in the first place.

“I told these guys two weeks ago – I try not to throw Manalapan in their face – that in 2014 we were rolling along and we lost to RBC, and that was the last game we lost the rest of the year,” Gurrieri said. “Sometimes you have to lose to give a wake-up call. We came out against SJV (a 36-26 win over St. John Vianney in Week 3) firing and then against Holmdel we were flat. We thought we could just show up and win, and we’re not that good. Tonight we came out firing on all cylinders and got back to flying around and playing physical football.”

“During Holmdel we were missing two of our crucial guys, Justin Davis and Matteo Masotti, two of our best defensive players, so it was definitely a challenge,” Cohen said. “Having them back tonight definitely helped us get this win. After that loss were were just eager to get back out there and we were hyped all week to play some football. We came out here and gave it all we had.”

“We wanted to get out here really bad,” Credle said. “We used our bye week to get stronger and get back healthy and show Manalapan what we’re about.”

 

What’s next for both teams?

Wall has an intriguing non-divisional game with No. 10 Howell in Week 7 that will be huge for playoff positioning. The Knights entered Week 6 ninth in the United Power Ranking in the South Group 2 super section, so the win over Manalapan and a win over Howell could help them secure a first-round home game. That will be Wall’s final regular-season game before the NJSIAA playoffs. Their Thanksgiving Day game vs. Manasquan will decide who gets a piece of the division title.

Manalapan will face district rival Freehold Township in Week 7 ahead of a massive division game vs. Holmdel in the regular-season finale. The Braves entered Week 6 eighth in UPR in South Group 4 while Freehold Township is eighth in South Group 5. A win by Manalapan would bring a nice haul of power points and get the Braves back to. 500.

 

Box Score

No. 8 Wall 7, Manalapan 6

	Wall	Manalapan
First downs	6	6
Rushes-yards	28-79	21-65
Passing	8-12-0	6-9-0
Passing yards	42	64
Fumbles-lost	1-0	2-0
Penalties-yards	6-35	4-18

 

	1	2	3	4	F
Wall (5-1, 3-1)	0	7	0	0	7
Manalapan (3-4, 3-1)	0	0	0	6	6

 

Scoring Summary

W — Mason Adam 6-yard run (Heath Reinhardt kick)

M — Nicky Palmieri 10-yard run (kick blocked)

 

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — W: Mason Adam 21-67, Franny Scaramellino 5-12, Heath Reinhardt 1-0, Dylan Cohen 1-0; M: Ahsere Woolfolk 11-64, Nicky Palmieri 3-21, Ethan Fogelstrom 1-7, Vin DiFilippo 2-4, Justin Rizzo-Troxell 1-(-6), Ryan Dougherty 3-(-25).

PASSING — W: Franny Scaramellino 8-12-0, 42; M: Ryan Dougherty 6-9-0, 64.

RECEIVING — W: Joe Vaccaro 1-15, Heath Reinhardt 2-11, Mason Adam 4-9, Justin Davis 1-7; M: Jackson Pfister 2-43, Justin Rizzo-Troxell 2-18, Anthony Hammel 1-3, Ethan Fogelstrom 1-0.