Township rides defense to 2-0 start on the gridiron
Pats visit Southern
Regional Friday night
By TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

JERRY WOLKOWITZ Colts Neck quarterback Joe Merlo tries to break free from a Rumson-Fair Haven defender during Saturday’s game in Colts Neck.

Freehold Township is beginning to have the look of a team that is starting to get on a roll, picking up momentum from quarter to quarter.

The Patriots improved to 2-0 on the young season with a convincing 21-0 win at home over Toms River East Friday night.

It was the defense that stood out in this one, limiting the Raiders to just 30 total yards. It was a brilliant effort.

"We have real good athletes on that side of the ball," Lepore explained. "They are really playing well and putting our offense in good field position."

It was Mike Catellano and company on Friday night as the 6-3, 250-pound defensive end was all over the field. He recovered a fumble in the second quarter on the Raider 48 that set his team up to score the game’s first touchdown.

In the third quarter, he caused a fumble that Lorenzo Isidoro recaptured on the Raider one-one line with a jarring tackle. That set up the second score of the game (a quarterback keeper by Paul Lepore).

"Our defense put us in good position all game," said Lepore. "Our offense played with a sense of urgency inside the 10-yard that we haven’t always had. When we had the ball in close, we put it in."

Paul Lepore scored Township’s first TDs. The first, after Castellano’s fumble recovery, was a bootleg from four yards out on fourth down. He snuck it in from the one off the Isidoro recovery.

Freehold Township’s third tally was a five-yard run by the rapidly improving Chris Ramos-Herrera. The sophomore collected 101 yards on the night on just 11 carries. He set up his touchdown with a 54-yard run from scrimmage.

The defensive concern for Freehold Township was East’s wide receiver, Jason DeGennaro, who had 58 pass receptions for 1,131 yards in 2000.

"We had to stop DeGennaro. He’s their big threat," said Coach Dominick Lepore. "He can hurt you. We doubled-covered him all night with a cornerback and a linebacker. He had one catch for 12 yards.

"We wanted to take him out of the game and put eight or nine guys in the box to stop the run," he said.

The Raiders were held to just 18 yards on 30 rushes as Castellano, linebacker, and Mike Mounter and company kept the Raiders’ ball carriers in harness all night.

Freehold Township hits the road for the first time Friday night to take on a physical Southern Regional team (2-1). The Rams will be in a feisty mood, having just dropped their first game of the year, 55-14, to Brick.

"Southern Regional is a big, strong, physical team," said Lepore. "It will be a test for us."

It’s the kind of test the physical Patriots are looking forward to.

Elsewhere in the Freehold District it was not a good weekend on the gridiron. Colts Neck (2-1) dropped its first game of the season, 13-7, to Rumson-Fair Haven.

The Cougars’ offense, which has been so productive this year, was bottled up by the Bulldog defense. Colts Neck’s only score was a 90-yard punt return by Matt Murphy. The game ground that has been producing 100-yard rushers weekly was limited to just 60 yards.

Colts Neck will look to put this loss behind it on Saturday when the Cougars visit Keansburg (0-3) at 1 p.m. With everyone in the Shore National Division save Freehold Borough with at least one loss, the Cougars are not out of the championship race yet. But they can’t afford any more losses along the way.

Howell (0-2) lost to Toms River South in a defensive struggle, 10-3. Howell’s only points were a 28-yard field goal by Dan Loughlin in the third quarter that cut into the Indian’s 10-0 lead, which was set up by the legs of TRS quarterback Nick Ford, who rushed for 125 yards on 19 carries for the game. The field goal was set up by a 46-yard run by Rich Morello that put Howell inside the Indians’ 20.

The Rebels visit Neptune (0-3) Saturday. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m.

Manalapan (0-2) lost its home opener at the hands of Toms River North (1-2), 27-7. The Braves scored first on Chris Hegel’s 20-yard end-around run.

The Braves visit Pinelands (0-3) Saturday afternoon at 1.

Marlboro was outmatched against the Shore’s top-ranked team, Jackson (3-0), losing 49-0 Saturday. The Mustangs (0-3) suffered a second setback when their game with Brick was forfeited to the Green Dragons. The two schools could not come up with a date to make up the Sept. 15 game, postponed when the Freehold Regional District, in recognition of President Bush’s National Day of Mourning, canceled all athletic contests for that weekend. The teams could not come up with a date to replay the game and it was awarded to Brick.

Marlboro has its bye week this weekend. The Mustangs will return to the field on Oct. 6 when Southern Regional makes a call in Marlboro.